Dems demand answers from Treasury secretary on Trump's IRS settlement
Top Democrats are demanding answers from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano on the settlement between President Donald Trump and the IRS that created a nearly $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to compensate those who allege they were wrongly targeted under the Biden administration.
In a letter sent late Thursday evening to Bessent and Bisignano, Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren and Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden asked for clarity on the taxpayer fund, which they call “outrageously corrupt."
The fund stems from the settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit President Trump brought against the IRS and has been criticized by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
The settlement includes an addendum that ends any existing IRS audits of Trump, his family or their businesses.
In the letter, the Democratic senators expressed concern that the fund could be used to pay those who were prosecuted for entering or performing violent actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“This agreement appears to be a brazen scheme to corruptly dole out taxpayer money to President Trump’s allies and violent insurrectionists. The provisions of this agreement also provide for no disclosure of recipients, meaning that the President and his allies can hand out these rewards in secret and for whatever reason they deem fit," they wrote.
"Indeed, there appears to be no binding limitation that would prevent the President and his family from dipping into the settlement fund for as much money as they want."
Under the settlement Trump is not allowed to receive money from the fund, but those associated with him might be able to file claims, sources told ABC News.
This letter comes amid bipartisan outrage over the "Anti-Weaponization Fund."
Senate Republicans punted on plans to move forward with their $70 billion immigration enforcement bill on Thursday due to their concerns over the fund. A two-hour meeting between Republicans and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche did little to quell those concerns, and a number of Republicans have joined Democrats in publicly asking questions about how the fund would work and who would receive payments.
Trump sued the IRS after a government contractor pleaded guilty in 2023 to stealing the tax information of Trump and other wealthy Americans and leaking it to media outlets in 2019 and 2020.
The fund will be led by a five-person commission appointed by the attorney general, though Trump would have the right to remove any member.
The DOJ plans to pull money for the fund from the federal compensation fund, which is a perpetual appropriation normally used to pay court judgments and settlements.
Warren and Wyden said in their letter to Bessent and Bisignano that they are especially concerned about the addendum to the settlement that Blanche posted to the Justice Department’s website Tuesday that states that the IRS is "forever barred and precluded" from "prosecuting or pursuing" examinations or reviews of Trump or "related or affiliated individuals" and businesses which arise out of "any matters currently pending or that could be pending" before the IRS or other agencies or departments.
The DOJ said in a later statement that this addendum only applied “with respect to existing audits, not future."
“This is an astonishing abuse of presidential power and a corrupt giveaway of an unknown amount of taxpayer funds to the President. There is no conceivable rationale for this immunity agreement other than to personally enrich the President and his family by allowing them to get away with underpaying their taxes or violating tax law,” Warren and Wyden wrote.
Warren and Wyden are asking Bessent and Bisignano to furnish answers to a number of questions related to the settlement, including whether they or the President or members of the Executive office of the President, were directly involved in discussions surrounding the settlement.
They also ask for a list of all audits and other enforcement actions that were dropped due to the agreement and a list of all organizations covered by the settlements provisions “delivering immunity for matters pending before the federal government”.
The senators are also calling on the U.S. Treasury inspector general for tax administration to launch an investigation into the settlement and their questions concerning it. They sent a separate letter to Acting Inspector General Heather Hill calling for her office to look into the settlement.
ABC News' Katherine Faulders and Alex Mallin contributed to this report
Editor's note: This story has updated the titles of Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden.
