Trump Chose Transparency Over a Payout. His Critics Hate That.

Trump Chose Transparency Over a Payout. His Critics Hate That
Judicial Watch Sues CIA for Brennan’s Notes on Obama-Era Briefings
Judicial Watch Sues CIA for Records on 1996 Crash of TWA Flight 800
Soros-Funded Prosecutor Offers Illegal Immigrants Sweetheart Deals

Trump Chose Transparency Over a Payout. His Critics Hate That.

President Trump rejected potentially billions in damages in his IRS leak lawsuit for a settlement that would fund justice for alleged victims of government abuse. Critics now attack the remedy rather than confront the misconduct it exposes.

I explore this in my column in The Hill this week:

Last week, the Justice Department announced a new $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” as part of the settlement of President Trump’s lawsuit over the illegal leak of his tax returns. Trump did something rare in Washington: he walked away from potentially billions of dollars of direct damages for himself and his company so the federal government would instead set up a process to compensate Americans who say they were abused by that same government.

That is the truth behind this fund, and it is why so many of Trump’s political opponents and critics are now lining up against it—they are not objecting because the fund is corrupt, but because it exposes misconduct inside the government that was long downplayed or ignored.

For years, Americans watched federal agencies turn their power against citizens on the wrong side of the prevailing political consensus.

Conservatives were targeted by the IRS. Parents were treated as threats for speaking out at school board meetings. Prolife advocates were dragged into court. Catholics were monitored. Political opponents of the Biden administration were treated not simply as rivals, but as potential dangers.

President Trump has made clear that this pattern has to end, and the White House’s own fact sheet on ending the weaponization of the federal government says his FY 2027 budget is meant to restore a government “by and for the people,” not one that targets and intimidates them.

Now the anti-weaponization fund is in place, and many of the same voices that dismissed earlier complaints about abuse are suddenly gravely concerned about the process. Under the Justice Department’s settlement announcement, Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and the Trump Organization receive a formal apology for the improper handling of his tax information—but no money.

Instead, the government is establishing a structured process to hear claims from others who say they suffered political, personal or ideological retaliation, and to provide monetary relief or formal apologies where warranted. Claims can be filed by anyone who can show they were unfairly targeted on political, personal or ideological grounds, and the commission must finish its work by late 2028 under the settlement.

The fund will draw $1.776 billion from the existing “Judgment Fund,” which is used to cover legal settlements against the federal government. Participation in the new fund is voluntary, there are no partisan requirements for filing a claim, quarterly reports are built in, and any money left over ultimately returns to the federal government.

I hope those appointed to oversee the compensation fund have a broad understanding of the abuses of power and abuse that targeted not only Trump and his allies but countless other Americans who would have no effective redress of grievances but for this new fund.  The sooner the leadership and rules are established the better so justice can finally flow to the regular people harmed by lawfare.

Judicial Watch represented Ashli Babbitt’s family in the wrongful death lawsuit over her outrageous shooting death at the January 6 protests. Ashli’s family had to go through years of administrative delays and federal litigation before President Trump’s team settled the claims for her wrongful death. Other victims of government abuse and misconduct should have an easier time getting justice under the new compensation fund.

The new compensation fund has significantly more transparency than the federal tort claims process the Justice Department already uses for considering, settling, or ignoring citizen claims of abuse and misconduct by the federal government.

The deeper objection by the DC political-media Borg caterwauling about the anti-weaponization fund is not really about dollars and cents or transparency. It is about what the fund implicitly concedes: that government weaponization is a real problem, and that people who were harmed by it deserve an avenue for redress. Admitting that premise would mean acknowledging that Trump and his allies were abused through the worst government corruption in American history,  and that citizens on the wrong side of those decisions paid a price. For many of Trump’s critics, it is easier to attack the remedy than to confront that reality.

Americans across the political spectrum should be able to agree on a basic principle: a government that can abuse citizens must also be answerable to them. The anti-weaponization fund is one piece of that effort.

It signals that if the government targeted you for political reasons, you should not be told simply to move on and trust the same institutions that failed you. You should be heard. You should have a claim. And you should get some modicum of justice under law. President Trump and his family gave up countless amounts of money to ensure citizen victims of government abuse at least have a chance for compensation. He should be praised, not attacked, for this selflessness.

Judicial Watch Sues CIA for Brennan’s Notes on Obama-Era Briefings

Hillary Clinton cooked up a plan to tie candidate Donald Trump to Russia, and this plan was discussed in the Oval Office of President Obama. We’re digging into it.

We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for former CIA Director John Brennan’s unredacted handwritten notes and related records from White House briefings in 2016 that referenced intelligence regarding a Hillary Clinton campaign plan to link then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia (Judicial Watch Inc. v. Central Intelligence Agency (1:26-cv-01630)).

We sued after the CIA failed to respond to an August 5, 2025, FOIA request for:

Unredacted notes taken by former CIA Director John Brennan during the August 3, 2016, White House briefing, which reportedly discussed intelligence regarding a Hillary Clinton campaign plan to link Donald Trump to Russia. This includes any unredacted portions of President Obama’s and FBI Director Comey’s responses, which are currently redacted in publicly available versions of the Durham report.

In October 2020, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released heavily redacted handwritten notesthat revealed details about Brennan’s briefing with then-President Barack Obama about Hillary Clinton’s purported plan to tie then-candidate Trump to Russia as “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server” ahead of the 2016 presidential election. In one note Brennan writes:

We’re getting additional insight into Russian activities from [redacted]. CITE alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on 26 July of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security services.

According to the May 2023 report by Special Counsel John Durham, a section titled “Receipt of the Clinton Plan intelligence” states that the intelligence community immediately recognized the plan’s relevance to the presidential election. Records from Brennan’s office show he “personally received” the intelligence and reported to Obama in July 2016.

In a section of the report titled “White House briefing” that references Brennan’s handwritten notes, the report states:

On August 3, 2016, within days of receiving the Clinton Plan intelligence, Director Brennan met with the President, Vice President and other senior Administration officials, including but not limited to the Attorney General (who participated remotely) and the FBI Director, in the White House Situation Room to discuss Russian election interference efforts. According to Brennan’s handwritten notes and his recollections from the meeting, he briefed on relevant intelligence known to date on Russian election interference, including the Clinton Plan intelligence.

The Russiagate scandal was a politically driven operation. It served as an enormous deflection from Hillary Clinton’s use of a nongovernment email server, which was a serious violation of federal records laws and national security practices. The American people deserve to know the whole story.

We have been instrumental in uncovering much of what the public knows about Crossfire Hurricane/Russiagate, which involved a long list of Democratic political figures, lawyers, and staffers who shaped the narrative around the Trump-Russia hoax.

In January 2026, we sued the U.S. Department of Justice for fully unredacted records and previously withheld or missing portions of former Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane/Russiagate investigation.

In November 2025, we provided an in-depth recap of the Crossfire Hurricane/Russiagate debacle.

In August 2025, we sued the Justice Department for all records regarding the FBI, under then-Director James Comey, initiating an investigation of then-2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump.

In May 2025, we sued the Justice Department for all records regarding the FBI, under Comey, initiating an investigation of then-2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump.

In October 2020, we uncovered heavily redacted email communications among top-level State Department officials and a U.S. ambassador expressing skepticism about reports by Christopher Steele’s London-based private intelligence firm Orbis Business Intelligence. (Steele was the author of the Clinton-funded, anti-Trump dossier.) The emails show one assistant secretary of state saying some of Steele’s reports sound “extreme” and others “do not ring true,” while the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine called some of the Steele reports “flaky.”

In May 2020, we received the “electronic communication” (EC) that officially launched the counterintelligence investigation, termed “Crossfire Hurricane,” of President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

In April 2020, we obtained emails between former FBI official Peter Strzok and former FBI attorney Lisa Page, including an email dated January 10, 2017, in which Strzok said that the version of the Steele dossier published by BuzzFeed was “identical” to the version given to the FBI by McCain and had “differences” from the dossier provided to the FBI by Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson and Mother Jones reporter David Corn.

In August 2019, we obtained “302” investigative report material from 2016 FBI interviews of Associate Deputy U.S. Attorney Bruce Ohr, who was removed from his position in December 2017. In a November 22, 2016, interview, Ohr said that “reporting on Trump’s ties to Russia were going to the Clinton Campaign, Jon Winer at the U.S. State Department and the FBI.”

In July 2019, we uncovered FBI records showing that in June 2017, a month after Comey was fired by President Donald Trump, FBI agents visited his home and collected “as evidence” four memos that allegedly detail conversations he had with President Trump.

In August 2018, a federal court ordered the Justice Department to preserve federal records located in Comey’s personal email accounts.

In May 2018, emails uncovered by Judicial Watch showed Comey was advised by FBI officials in May 2017 to consult with Special Counsel Robert Mueller prior to testifying before any congressional committees regarding Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and his firing as FBI director.

In February 2018, in response to a Judicial Watch lawsuit, the FBI agreed to review 16,750 pages of Comey’s records that were archived after he was dismissed.

In January 2018, a Judicial Watch lawsuit forced the FBI to turn over to the court for in camera, non-public, review former Comey’s memos allegedly detailing conversations he had with President Donald Trump.

In November 2017, the Justice Department compared Comey to Wikileaks. After Comey was fired by President Trump on May 9, 2017, he gave The New York Times a February 14, 2017, memorandum written about a one-on-one conversation he had with President Trump regarding former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

In June 2017, we sent Acting FBI Director Andrew G. McCabe a warning letter concerning the FBI’s legal responsibility under the Federal Records Act (FRA) to recover records, including memos Comey subsequently leaked to the media, unlawfully removed from the Bureau by Comey.

Judicial Watch Sues CIA for Records on 1996 Crash of TWA Flight 800

We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for records regarding the agency’s involvement in the investigation of the 1996 crash of Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800, including the decision to produce a witness perception animation that purportedly demonstrated how witnesses could have mistaken the visual effect of the exploding aircraft for a missile launch (Judicial Watch Inc. v. Central Intelligence Agency(No. 1:26-cv-01788)).

After 30 years, serious questions remain about the federal government’s handling of the TWA Flight 800 investigation. We are suing for transparency about how the CIA became involved and how it reached conclusions that differ so significantly from the accounts of other experts and more than 200 eyewitnesses.

On July 17, 1996, at 8:31 p.m., TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747-131 bound for Paris, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean minutes after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. All 230 people died in the crash, including 212 passengers and 18 crew members.

We filed the lawsuit after the CIA failed to respond to a March 25, 2026, FOIA request for records related to the agency’s decision to participate in the TWA Flight 800 investigation. The request seeks records about the CIA’s production of its “witness perception” animation, including communications with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Department of Justice, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), White House, National Security Council, and U.S. Department of Defense.

We are also seeking records regarding the methodology, assumptions, software, drafts, peer reviews, and public release of the animation, as well as records concerning the CIA’s analysis of eyewitness testimony describing ascending streaks of light near the aircraft. In addition, the request asks for records regarding interagency coordination, including communications about missile theories, military radar data, and the FBI’s covert dredging operation, as well as records concerning the classification and declassification of TWA Flight 800-related materials. The request covers records created between July 1, 1996, and December 31, 2003.

The CIA would not typically be involved in a domestic aviation crash investigation unless foreign intelligence, terrorism, or clandestine operations were suspected, as the NTSB has authority over all U.S. civil aviation accidents.

The FBI reportedly requested the CIA’s analytical help to investigate if terrorists brought down the plane. The CIA concluded that the many eyewitnesses who reported seeing a missile hit the plane actually observed burning fuel from the already-damaged aircraft ascending after the initial explosion. More than 200 witnesses reported seeing a streak of light ascending into the sky toward the plane before the explosion.

After a four-year investigation, the NTSB determined the plane crashed due to an explosion caused by a flammable fuel-air mixture in the center wing tank, likely ignited by a short circuit. While the NTSB’s report identified the center wing fuel tank as the origin, precise ignition source was never definitively identified.

The Clinton White House was involved in the federal response, Chief of Staff Leon Panetta was assigned to act as liaison between the White House and the various federal agencies involved.

In 2014, the NTSB denied a petition seeking to reopen the investigation.

Soros-Funded Prosecutor Offers Illegal Immigrants Sweetheart Deals 

You have to hand it to George Soros: He found the soft underbelly of American jurisprudence. His funding of prosecutors across the country has caused considerable harm to innocent people. Our Corruption Chronicles blog looks at one such case.

Federal authorities are finally investigating a soft-on-crime county prosecutor—backed by leftwing billionaire George Soros—for offering violent illegal immigrant criminals preferential treatment to help them avoid deportation. His name is Steve Descano, the Democratic prosecutor of Fairfax County, Virginia’s largest, and one of dozens of “social justice” district attorneys that received tens of millions of dollars in the past decade from Soros, who has bankrolled and helped place like-minded progressives in the nation’s biggest jurisdictions. Not surprisingly, crime has exploded in many of those municipalities because rogue, Soros-funded attorneys supposedly elected to uphold public safety and oversee the prosecution of crimes instead have agendas—mainly racial justice—that are fueling a massive crime wave, according to a senate report. “Soros prosecutors have overseen massive crime waves in their communities,” the report confirms, adding that the lawyers with campaigns sponsored by Soros have failed their constituents.

Thanks to the Hungarian philanthropist’s enormous financial support and his well-funded progressive infrastructure groups the district attorneys oversee prosecutions in half of the nation’s 50 most populous municipalities, according to an in-depth analysis conducted by the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF), a Virginia nonprofit dedicated to supporting and defending the law enforcement profession. This spans from Seattle, Washington to Orlando Florida, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, California. Soros, who has also invested huge sums to advance a radical globalist agenda in every corner of the world under the cloak of supporting democratically elected governments, strengthening the rule of law, and promoting fairness in political, legal, and economic systems has also helped place handpicked leftist prosecutors in dozens of states ranging from wealthy suburbs surrounding the nation’s capital to rural farming communities in the Midwest.

Among the rogue prosecutors is Fairfax County’s Descano, who received over $625,000 in campaign fundingfrom Soros’ Justice and Public Safety Political Action Committee (PAC) and was first elected in 2019 then reelected four years later. As soon as he won Descano released a list of crimes his office would no longer prosecute, including cases involving assault and battery, prostitution, shoplifting, resisting arrest, reckless driving, possession of certain drugs and a multitude of other offenses. His outrageous policies have been detrimental, with homicides jumping 40% in his first year as Fairfax County attorney, forcible sex offenses rising nearly 26% and kidnappings increasing 8.5%.

Descano also protects illegal immigrant criminals with sanctuary policies that compromise public safety. This includes a recent tragedy in which an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone with a lengthy criminal record stabbed a woman to death at a bus stop. The illegal alien, Abdul Jalloh, was granted unsupervised release following a probation violation instead of being arrested despite a criminal history that includes more than 30 arrests for charges of rape, malicious wounding, assault, drug possession, identity theft, trespassing, and larceny.

This month the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Descano’s destructive sanctuary policies are under investigation. The agency has launched an official probe into his plea bargaining, charging decisions and sentencing policies, which reportedly discriminate against U.S. citizens by offering preferential treatment only to illegal alien criminal defendants. “This investigation will uncover whether this prosecutor is putting the community at risk in offering sweetheart deals to illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who heads the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. In a notice to Descano last week Assistant AG Dhillon writes that the agency’s investigation will determine whether the Office of the Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney (OFCA) that he heads has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Safe Streets Act, both of which prohibit recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating based upon race, color, or national origin. “Our investigation is based on information that on or about December 15, 2020, OFCA adopted the Commonwealth’s Attorney Plea Bargaining, Charging Decisions, and Sentencing Policy,” the notice reads. “That policy states in relevant part “ACAs [ Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorneys] shall consider immigration consequences where possible” and that “prosecutors shall consider … the collateral immigration consequences of the specific crime(s) the defendant is charged with[.]”

Until next week,

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