{"id":2607714,"date":"2026-05-28T07:34:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trumps-restitution-for-biden-era-lawfare-is-just-but-not-a-permanent-solution\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T07:40:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:40:05","slug":"trumps-restitution-for-biden-era-lawfare-is-just-but-not-a-permanent-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trumps-restitution-for-biden-era-lawfare-is-just-but-not-a-permanent-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s Restitution For Biden-Era Lawfare Is Just"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrumps-restitution-for-biden-era-lawfare-is-just-but-not-a-permanent-solution%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2607714&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The text argues that a May 18 settlement in **trump v. IRS** created a **$1.776 billion \u201c1776 Fund\u201d** to compensate Americans who claim they were targeted for political,personal,or ideological reasons through alleged \u201cweaponization\u201d of government institutions. The author says the fund draws from the U.S. Treasury\u2019s **Judgment Fund**, is open to U.S. persons and entities without a partisan test,and explicitly excludes **Trump,his sons,and the Trump Institution**. Although critics on the left and some Republicans portray the program as a partisan slush fund,the author insists it is mainly meant to address harms to people who were not charged,were unjustly charged,or were never convicted-rather than violent offenders.<\/p>\n<p>The article then claims that this kind of political legal pressure was widespread during the Biden era, citing the Senate Judiciary Committee\u2019s disclosure of a large secret-subpoena effort (\u201c**Arctic Frost**\u201d) that allegedly targeted election-related individuals, organizations, elected officials, and attorneys using nondisclosure and gag orders. The author provides a personal account of being subject to a secret subpoena and describes related civil cases, portraying them as examples of broader \u201clawfare.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It further argues that federal efforts were coordinated with state prosecutors, using mechanisms like **privilege waivers**, transcript access through committee materials, and grants, and describes the resulting human and financial costs faced by defendants (e.g., long legal battles, reputational damage, and personal hardship). The author contrasts this with what they characterize as different enforcement patterns during other periods of unrest.<\/p>\n<p>the text argues that restitution alone is not enough: it calls for structural reforms to limit or cap large Judgment Fund payouts, reinstate guardrails for politically sensitive settlements, restrict federal-state coordination practices that increase pressure on private citizens, and require clearer and quicker notification rules when investigations end without charges. The piece concludes that preventing future misuse of government power is necessary so the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >legal system treats lawful civic activities-<\/a>like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/virginia-county-stops-using-konnech-election-software-following-ceos-arrest\/\" title=\"Virginia County Stops Using Konnech Election Software Following CEO\u2019s Arrest\">election integrity work<\/a> and petitions for redress-fairly.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The <em>Trump<\/em> <em>v. IRS<\/em> settlement announced May 18 created a $1.776 billion <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-lawsuit-irs-leak-3729de38770b558be01712a143437bf8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">compensation pool<\/a> \u2014 already dubbed the \u201c1776 Fund\u201d \u2014 to provide redress for victims of the political <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/22\/senators-fight-harder-against-restitution-for-doj-weaponization-than-against-weaponization-itself\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">weaponization<\/a> of our government institutions. Drawn from the U.S. Treasury\u2019s permanent <a href=\"https:\/\/fiscal.treasury.gov\/payments-from-government\/judgment-fund\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Judgment Fund<\/a>, the money will compensate Americans who believe they were targeted for political, personal, or ideological reasons. The fund is open to any U.S. person or entity with no partisan test, though President Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization are explicitly barred from payouts. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has described it as a mechanism to hear claims from those subjected to \u201clawfare and weaponization\u201d by the prior administration.<\/p>\n<p>Even before the ink was dry on the <em>Trump v. IRS<\/em> settlement, Senate Republicans erupted in protest over the fund. Senators such as Thom Tillis, R-N.C., called it a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/congress\/ted-cruz-senators-screaming-todd-blanche-trump-anti-weaponization-fund-rcna346599\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">payout pot for punks<\/a>,\u201d and the <a href=\"https:\/\/rollcall.com\/2026\/05\/21\/reconciliation-bill-punted-until-after-memorial-day-recess\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">backlash<\/a> was so intense that GOP leaders <a href=\"https:\/\/rollcall.com\/2026\/05\/21\/reconciliation-bill-punted-until-after-memorial-day-recess\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">canceled<\/a> planned votes on border funding and sent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/epstein-files-paralyze-house-forcing-johnson-to-start-recess-early\/\" title=\"Epstein files paralyze House, forcing Johnson to start recess early\">members home early<\/a> for Memorial Day recess. Critics on the left have already <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/house\/5887952-jamie-raskin-legislation-block-doj-anti-weaponization-fund\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">labeled<\/a> the 1776 Fund \u201ca slush fund for January 6 cop-beaters and aggrieved MAGA foot soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those claims are false. The fund has no partisan requirements and is designed primarily for uncharged private citizens and those charged unjustly or never convicted who suffered harm. Violent offenders are not the focus; the settlement language and DOJ statements emphasize relief for the ideological targeting of ordinary Americans.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Scope and Coordination of Biden-Era Lawfare<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The scale of the targeting is now public. The\u00a0Senate Judiciary Committee\u00a0has <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/21\/5-arctic-frost-perpetrators-chuck-grassley-is-exposing-today-including-one-still-at-doj\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">revealed<\/a> that in\u00a0then-Special Counsel\u00a0Jack Smith\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/03\/24\/new-docs-jack-smiths-arctic-frost-lawfare-against-patel-gop-was-worse-than-originally-thought\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Arctic Frost<\/a>\u201d operation 197 secret subpoenas were issued to 34 individuals and 163 businesses seeking records on at least 430 Republican individuals and entities. Targets included election integrity analysts, private citizens, elected officials, and attorneys. Many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-docs-jack-smiths-arctic-frost-lawfare-against-patel-gop-was-worse-than-originally-thought\/\" title=\"Docs: Jack Smith Waged Extensive Lawfare Against Patel, GOP\">subpoenas carried nondisclosure<\/a> and gag orders, so victims often learned <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/03\/03\/jack-smith-spied-on-me-and-i-was-never-supposed-to-find-out\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">years later<\/a> they had been placed under surveillance.  <\/p>\n<p>Disclosure: I was one of those people. Smith filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/02\/27\/dems-silent-after-new-revelations-about-jack-smiths-spying-ops-on-political-enemies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">secret subpoena<\/a> for my phone records from October 2020 through January 2021. During that period, I was working with President Trump\u2019s legal team on <em>Trump v. Raffensperger<\/em>. I was also a defendant in <em>Fair Fight v. True<\/em> <em>the Vote<\/em>, a case we ultimately won after three years of Democrat lawfare. I intend to file a claim myself.<\/p>\n<p>The lawfare was not limited to federal actors. The Biden White House and DOJ <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/01\/09\/fani-willis-legal-team-billed-taxpayers-to-meet-with-biden-white-house-about-get-trump-case\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">coordinated<\/a> directly with state prosecutors. <a href=\"https:\/\/aflegal.org\/press-release\/america-first-legal-partners-with-just-the-news-to-reveal-the-biden-administrations-scandalous-role-in-fani-williss-prosecution-of-president-trump-in-fulton-county-georgia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Privilege waivers<\/a> allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis\u2019 team to obtain Jan. 6 Committee transcripts. <a href=\"http:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/chairman-jordan-launches-inquiry-whether-fulton-county-da-fani-willis-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Federal grants<\/a> flowed to her office while she built her Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act case against Republican activists. Similar <a href=\"https:\/\/ago.mo.gov\/attorney-general-bailey-demands-doj-turn-over-documents-relating-to-prosecutions-of-president-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">assistance<\/a> reached other state-level efforts, such as those led by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James, which also swept in private citizens as witnesses and collateral targets. This federal-state pincer amplified the pressure on private citizens engaged in lawful election-integrity work. The human toll is clearly visible in the \u201cFulton 19\u201d \u2014 the co-defendants in Willis\u2019s RICO case \u2014 who endured years of high legal costs, reputational damage, and personal hardship.<\/p>\n<p>A supporting example illustrates the dynamic. In <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/01\/04\/court-2020-challenges-to-georgias-voter-rolls-do-not-constitute-voter-intimidation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Fair Fight v. True the Vote<\/em><\/a>, the Biden DOJ intervened mid-case to defend the plaintiff\u2019s expansive reading of Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act that sought to turn lawful challenges to potentially unqualified voters into \u201cvoter intimidation.\u201d The intervention came after defendants raised First Amendment concerns about applying the statute to voter-roll challenges specifically authorized by <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/georgia\/title-21\/chapter-2\/article-6\/section-21-2-230\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Georgia law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The selective enforcement pattern was stark. The 2020 George Floyd riots produced billions of dollars in damage and dozens of deaths, yet federal prosecutions were comparatively limited. January 6, by contrast, triggered more than 1,500 federal charges, including hundreds of misdemeanors against non-violent participants who entered restricted grounds without weapons or property damage.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>It\u2019s Different When Democrats Do It <\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Democrats have long rewarded their own after controversy. James Comey, fired as FBI director, received a reported $2 million book advance for <em>A Higher Loyalty,<\/em> plus six-figure speaking fees, a Washington Post contract, and a CBS miniseries. Peter Strzok, fired over anti-Trump texts, secured a $1.2 million DOJ settlement and a teaching position at Georgetown. Mark Milley, criticized for public comments on Trump, moved into a senior JPMorgan advisory role and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/02\/13\/retired-mark-milley-georgetown-princeton-faculties\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">faculty positions<\/a> at Princeton and Georgetown. Eric Ciaramella, widely reported to be the Ukraine whistleblower, landed a <a href=\"https:\/\/carnegieendowment.org\/people\/eric-ciaramella\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">senior fellowship<\/a> at the Carnegie Endowment and a contributing editor role at the influential national-security blog <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawfaremedia.org\/contributors\/eciaramella\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lawfare<\/a>. These sinecures and windfalls flowed to high-profile politically aligned insiders.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u2018The Process Is the Punishment<\/strong>\u2018<\/h2>\n<p>The very real and human cost of government-sponsored lawfare is why large awards are necessary. As Mollie Hemingway <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2017\/06\/12\/james-comey-long-history-questionable-obstruction-cases\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">documented<\/a> in her 2017 Federalist analysis of Comey\u2019s obstruction cases, the process itself becomes the punishment. Even when targets aren\u2019t charged or are fully exonerated, the damage can be severe: legal fees that routinely ran into hundreds of thousands of dollars, lost income from job loss, forced retirement or blacklisting, reputational harm, and financial, medical, or marital damage triggered by prolonged stress and legal expenses.<\/p>\n<p>The roughly 430 Republican individuals and entities targeted in the Arctic Frost operation were placed under secret subpoenas and gag orders without their knowledge, often only learning <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/03\/03\/jack-smith-spied-on-me-and-i-was-never-supposed-to-find-out\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">years<\/a> later that they had been swept up in the dragnet. Parallel civil litigation often amplified the toll. Defendants in cases like <em>Fair Fight v. True the Vote<\/em> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brennancenter.org\/our-work\/research-reports\/voting-rights-litigation-tracker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">parallel<\/a> voter-challenge lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan faced massive defense costs and uncertainty while the Biden DOJ actively supported the opposing side. Those harms \u2014 financial, professional, and physical \u2014 cannot be dismissed as collateral damage. They are the predictable result of weaponizing government levers of power against lawful activity.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Beyond Restitution \u2014 Prevention is Needed<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Restitution through the 1776 Fund is just, but also not enough. Structural reforms are essential to deter the weaponization of our government institutions in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Congress should <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/crs-product\/IF13139\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">impose<\/a> caps or approval requirements on large Judgment Fund <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/22\/senators-fight-harder-against-restitution-for-doj-weaponization-than-against-weaponization-itself\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">payouts<\/a>. Guardrails removed under the Biden administration \u2014 such as those once enforced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark \u2014 must be reinstated for politically sensitive settlements. Federal-state coordination against political opponents should require tighter limits on privilege waivers, transcript sharing, and grants to state prosecutors. Subpoena and gag-order rules for private citizens should require prompt notification when investigations close without charges.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats established and defended the rules that allowed expansive use of the Judgment Fund. Republicans are now using those same rules to compensate victims of the weaponization those rules enabled.<\/p>\n<p>Restitution today is necessary. Prevention tomorrow is imperative. Government power must never again be turned on lawful private citizens doing the work of democracy \u2014 challenging voter rolls, researching election integrity, or petitioning officials for redress of grievances. Only then will the machinery of justice serve all Americans equally.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Mark Davis is President of Data Productions, Inc., has been working with voter data since 1986, and is a member of the Georgia Republican Party\u2019s Election Confidence Task Force. He has served as an analyst and expert witness in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-only-goes-after-elected-republicans-election-fraud\/\" title=\"Georgia Only Goes After Elected Republicans&#039; Election Fraud\">court cases involving disputed elections<\/a> seven times over the last 23 years, and has been invited to offer testimony before subcommittees of the Georgia General Assembly three times since 2020. Follow him @MarkDavisGOP on X.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The May 18 Trump v. IRS deal created the $1.776B \u201c1776 Fund\u201d from the Judgment Fund to compensate alleged victims of government \u201clawfare.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2711,"featured_media":2607715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/WH-e1779847464310.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[80383,32644,35277,32793,80382],"class_list":["post-2607714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-biden-era-lawfare","tag-election-integrity","tag-judicial-reform","tag-political-accountability","tag-trump-restitution"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/WH-e1779847464310.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2711"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2607714"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2607722,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607714\/revisions\/2607722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2607715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}