California will tax payments from Trump 'slush fund,' Newsom says
Noe PadillaCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday, March 27, that the state would tax any Californian who receives compensation from President Donald Trump's nearly $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund.
Trump's critics are fuming after the Justice Department announced a $1.776 billion fund that could compensate the president's allies who say they were unfairly targeted by the federal government, including those who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
"Any one from California that receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100% of those proceeds," Newsom said during a press conference on May 27. "That's an action the state of California can take, it's an action we look forward to taking."
Newsom made the comments after he signed Senate Bill 73, which aims to strengthen California’s election protection and create new safeguards for "voters, election workers, and ballots from intimidation, interference, and unauthorized law enforcement activity."
These statements add to the growing tension surrounding the Justice Department's recent decision to create the $1.776 billion fund for "victims of lawfare and weaponization" as part of a settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Trump and his family against the Internal Revenue Service.
Trump and his administration have faced intense bipartisan criticism over the anti-weaponization fund, which has few guardrails over the distribution of funds.
“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops?" Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said in a statement on May 21. "Utterly stupid, morally wrong – take your pick.”
A few days after the DOJ announcement, two U.S. Capitol police officers, Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges, who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, filed a lawsuit to block the administration from using the funds.
The plaintiffs argue the fund's creation endangers their lives because it encourages individuals who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 to continue acting violently. They also contend it will finance rioters, paramilitaries and other supporters who threatened their lives on Jan. 6 and "continue to do so."
"To prevent the public financing of paramilitary organizations in the United States, and to protect Plaintiffs from further violence, the fund must be dissolved," the suit, filed in Washington, DC, federal court, said.
On May 27, a bipartisan group of 35 federal judges filed a lawsuit in Florida asking the court to reopen the legal case between Trump and the IRS and investigate whether the two parties' out-of-court settlement was an act of fraud against the court.
The ex-judges contend Trump and co-plaintiffs failed to mention a planned settlement in their motion to withdraw the lawsuit against the IRS, and argue that the "Court was deceived."
Trump has defended the fund amid the backlash, writing last week on Truth Social that he is "helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!"
(This story was updated to add new information.)
USA TODAY reporter Zachary Schermele and Joey Garrison's reporting contributed to this article.