How Trump Created a Slush Fund for His Allies

The Justice Department created an Anti-Weaponization Fund intended to compensate people who claim government overreach. A Florida-based Republican operative, Michael Caputo, filed what is described as the first claim, seeking $2.7 million in damages for alleged harm caused by the Biden Administration. Caputo said the government machinery was politically weaponized against his family from July 2016 to December 2025. He cited being targeted by investigations related to Russian meddling in the 2016 election and a separate probe tied to his 2020 documentary. He claimed the actions drained savings, damaged health, ruined his career, and destroyed peace of mind, while asserting that nothing was found. He also emphasized the fund’s significance and its $1.776 billion size.

"The day after the Justice Department announced the creation of an enormous "Anti-Weaponization Fund" to recompense self-proclaimed victims of government overreach, a Florida-based Republican operative named Michael Caputo filed what is believed to be the very first claim, for $2.7 million in damages, that Caputo says he and his family suffered at the hands of the Biden Administration. "The machinery of government was clearly politically weaponized against my family from July 2016 to December 2025," Caputo wrote to Todd Blanche, the acting Attorney General, last Tuesday, May 19th."

"Over the years, Caputo has been, variously, an ally of the Trump adviser Roger Stone (he was once Stone's driver); a media consultant to the Russian state-owned energy conglomerate Gazprom; and the Trump Administration's chief spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. (He went on medical leave in September, 2020, after using his personal Facebook page to accuse government scientists of "sedition" against Donald Trump.) In his letter to Blanche, which was also posted on X, Caputo claimed he had been a target of the F.B.I.'s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, and a separate probe into his 2020 documentary, "The Ukraine Hoax: Impeachment, Biden Cash, and Mass Murder," for the One America News Network."

""This nine-year assault," he wrote, "drained our savings, destroyed our peace of mind, ruined my career, wrecked my health, and wreaked far more havoc on our family. They found nothing; we lost everything." When I spoke with Caputo later that day, he mentioned the significance of the fund, whose size was set at the politically resonant amount of $1.776 billion. "Without this fund," Caputo said, "the political, weaponized assault on thousands of families would go uncorrected, and"

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