Former official files first claim under Trump's 'slush fund,' seeks $2.7 million [View all]

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Trump set to use taxpayer-funded ‘slush fund’ to compensate allies who helped push the ‘big lie’
May 15, 2026 / 08:31
Former official files first claim under Trump’s ‘slush fund,’ seeks $2.7 million
In practical terms, the controversial fund has not yet taken root. Michael Caputo submitted a filing anyway.


May. 20, 2026, 10:58 AM EDT
By
Steve Benen
The Trump administration unveiled its $1.7 billion fund earlier this week, but in practical terms, the gambit, slammed by critics as a “slush fund,” doesn’t yet exist. In fact, the president’s former defense lawyer, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, will be responsible for choosing five people to administer the fund for the remainder of Donald Trump’s second term, and for now, that panel has no members.

But that didn’t stop one familiar figure from submitting the first known claim as part of the so-called anti-weaponization fund. NOTUS reported:


Former Trump administration official Michael Caputo on Tuesday filed the first known claim under the Justice Department’s new $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” claiming he was the target of “political weaponization.” […]

“I was the target of the illegal Crossfire Hurricane investigation and our family suffered greatly during that dark era of political weaponization,” Caputo wrote in a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, referencing the FBI’s 2016 investigation into possible collusion between the Russian government and individuals associated with Trump’s first presidential campaign.