We just sued the government for illegally withholding settlement information
We just sued the government for illegally withholding information
- Tue, Aug 4 2026 at 3:14 PM
Mark,
CREW just sued the government to force the prompt release of legally required information about Judgment Fund payments—including all payments made since the start of the current Trump administration—and to correct inaccurate and misleading descriptions of previous payments.
According to our lawsuit, the Treasury Department is illegally withholding information about who is receiving settlement money from its Judgment Fund, obscuring whether January 6th insurrectionists and Trump political allies are receiving massive taxpayer-funded payouts.
Taxpayers need to know whether January 6ers and Trump allies are getting massive payouts from the federal government.In May 2026, Trump entered into an unprecedented “settlement” with his own DOJ, which established a $1.776 billion slush fund intended to pay out victims of “weaponization,” including January 6th insurrectionists.
The slush fund garnered significant backlash, and the Trump administration declared the fund dead before formally rescinding the order establishing it this weekend after intense pressure from Congress.
It remains unclear whether the DOJ can unilaterally rescind the order without agreement from the other litigants involved in the underlying suit, including litigant Trump.
With the slush fund in limbo, Trump’s allies, including January 6th insurrectionists, have apparently turned to pursuing payouts through the FTCA settlement process, seeking millions of dollars in “restitution” for alleged wrongdoings related to their prosecution.
When the government settles with an individual under the FTCA, the Treasury Department pays that individual from its Judgment Fund. The Treasury Department is legally required to publicly disclose important settlement payment details, such as the names of claimants and their counsel, and a brief statement of facts giving rise to the claims being settled.
The Treasury Department, however, has for years adopted an across-the-board policy of noncompliance—omitting names and facts in every case and instead publishing opaque descriptors that are often inaccurate or misleading.
That means taxpayers are being kept in the dark about where their money is going—and whether politically connected individuals are receiving special treatment behind closed doors.
The Trump administration’s misuse of the FTCA claims settlement process is not mere conjecture. For months, the DOJ has been led by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who approved and defended Trump’s initial collusive settlement.
Under Blanche’s leadership as deputy attorney general and later acting attorney general, the DOJ has awarded generous settlements to January 6th insurrectionists and other political allies despite obvious defenses the government could have used to challenge their claims.
In one case, the DOJ agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle an FTCA case brought by Trump’s former National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, for wrongful prosecution, even though Flynn had pleaded guilty to his crimes and a district court had already dismissed Flynn’s FTCA case.
The Treasury Department has withheld payment information related to these suspect settlements.
Mark, taxpayers deserve to know where their money is going and why—especially if it’s being used to reward the president’s allies. There is a law requiring this information to be made public, and the Treasury cannot simply ignore it.
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