为何特朗普的“反武器化”基金如此丑闻缠身


2026-05-20T17:08:23.383Z / 美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)

  • 这是一个由特朗普实际掌控的政府,正为他提供豁免权。
  • 悄悄新增的条款让特朗普及其家人免受过往税务调查和审计的追责。
  • 该基金的架构赋予特朗普广泛控制权,同时可能 rewarding 包括1月6日骚乱参与者在内的盟友。

本文由AI生成摘要,并经CNN编辑审核。

唐纳德·特朗普总统是“奥威尔式窗口”的典型受益者。也就是说,他所做的诸多极端、打破政治惯例的行为,随着时间推移,会让原本堪称丑闻的事件显得愈发平淡无奇、不值一提。

特朗普从联邦政府挪用数十亿美元设立“反武器化”基金一事,正是如此。这位总统曾试图让自己掌控的联邦政府向他个人支付100亿美元,但最终妥协为17.76亿美元,用于赔偿那些声称遭上一届政府不公平 targeting 的人(说白了就是特朗普的盟友)。

协议明确表示,这笔资金不会直接流向特朗普或其家人个人。因此,此事看起来或许并不算什么大不了的事——政府向来都会向蒙受不公的当事方支付赔偿。

但这绝非小事一桩,且存在诸多严重问题,原因有以下几点。

周二悄悄披露的新细节进一步印证了这一点。

美国政府未经任何宣传或公告,悄然在和解协议中加入了几项对特朗普及其身边之人极为有利的严苛条款。

条款规定,政府“永久禁止并排除”就截至本周和解协议签署日之前的税务问题,对特朗普、其家人或其企业提起诉讼。

若这些条款得以维持,特朗普、其家人及其企业将实质上免于受到与美国国税局待处理事项相关的“索赔”或“审查”,包括此前已提交的纳税申报单相关问题。

这些条款是周二在周一司法部原新闻稿的超链接中悄悄补充的。

司法部发言人娜塔莉·巴尔达萨雷为和解协议条款的补充内容辩护称,这是为了妥善解决特朗普关于其纳税申报单遭非法泄露的投诉——这也是他最初向美国国税局提起100亿美元诉讼的缘由。(2024年,一名美国国税局承包商因承认泄露特朗普及其他人的纳税申报单而获刑五年。)

她指出,和解协议签署后,特朗普仍可能因未来的税务问题被追责。

但这绝非常规操作。这是一个由特朗普实际掌控的政府,正为他提供豁免权。

而历史表明,他确实非常需要这种豁免权。

2018年,《纽约时报》在一项极为详尽的调查中披露,特朗普在20世纪90年代参与了“可疑的税务筹划,包括 outright fraud(公然欺诈)行为”。2023年,一名法官裁定特朗普及其儿子们存在欺诈行为。2024年,特朗普因篡改商业记录的34项刑事罪名被判有罪。

《纽约时报》周二还报道称,这些条款还将让特朗普免于面临一项可能导致其损失1亿美元的专项审计。

(特朗普在2016年总统竞选期间承诺会公开自己的纳税申报单,这也是自1980年以来每位 major-party candidate(主要政党候选人)的惯例。但后来他违背了这一承诺,声称自己的纳税申报单正在接受审计。)

但即便在周二新增条款之前,和解协议披露的细节就已对特朗普极为有利。

首先,尽管和解协议称特朗普及其儿子们“不会从本和解协议中获得任何经济利益”,但这并不意味着他毫无收获,恰恰相反。

协议中提到,特朗普将“收到美国政府的正式道歉”。同样,这也绝非普通和解协议会有的内容。在这场和解中,总统实质上同时站在了协议的双方,而他正让其中一方出具官方道歉,进一步强化了自己的受害者论调。

但更重要的是,特朗普可以利用这笔基金来偿还众多为他做尽各种事——有时甚至是违法之事——的盟友。

这一点在2021年1月6日为特朗普武装起事的人群身上体现得最为明显。副总统JD·万斯周二拒绝排除向众多已获赦免的1月6日骚乱参与者提供经济赔偿的可能性,暗示他们中的一些人或许也遭到了“不公平对待”。

当天保护美国国会大厦的执法人员周三提起诉讼,要求阻止该基金的实施,理由之一是该基金可能被用于资助准军事组织。

该基金还可能惠及那些拒绝向调查人员提供可能对特朗普不利信息的人。

例如,前特朗普竞选主席保罗·马纳福特曾与调查人员达成合作协议,随后却莫名其妙地向他们撒谎,导致自己面临额外数年的监禁。曾多次表态会为忠于自己的人提供赦免的特朗普,后来赦免了他。

如今,为特朗普违法行事甚至还能获得现金赔偿。

即便这笔现金从未进入特朗普的个人账户,这也会在政治上增强他的实力。想想看,这会向其他盟友传递怎样的信号:他会如何保护和奖赏自己人。

再说说特朗普对该基金的掌控程度。

和解协议条款规定,该基金将由五名成员管理,成员由司法部长任命——其中一名需与国会领袖协商后任命。代理司法部长托德·布兰奇是特朗普的前辩护律师,他有权单方面任命五名成员中的四名。

更有甚者,特朗普可以“无理由”随时罢免任何一名成员。

这意味着这些管理人员将听命于特朗普,而特朗普在很多方面已将布兰奇领导的司法部打造成了自己政治运作的工具。

关于受资助人员的相关报告也将被列为“机密”,这实际上为政府规避了公众监督。和解协议还规定,基金成员所做的索赔、报价或其他决定“不得上诉、仲裁或接受司法审查”。

这种集中在特朗普手中的巨大控制权,听起来与“政治献金池”(slush fund)颇为相似。

这让人联想到他的“和平委员会”,该委员会实质上让特朗普完全掌控了由各国为讨好他而捐赠的数十亿美元资金。

(和平委员会的章程赋予特朗普否决其通过的决议的权力,并可单方面通过“决议或其他指令……以落实和平委员会的使命”。它还规定特朗普是解释章程任何内容的“最终权威”。)

这一举措与“反武器化”基金一样,都涉及特朗普利用其官方政府职权,迫使他人将数十亿美元资金的控制权交给他,从而在政治上增强自己的实力。

而就该基金而言,特朗普从自己掌控的政府手中获得的和解协议,还以自身及家人的豁免权形式,为他带来了极为重要的个人利益。

这笔钱或许没有100亿美元直接进账,但它无疑是十足的丑闻。

Why Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund is so scandalous

2026-05-20T17:08:23.383Z / CNN

  • This is a government that Trump controls effectively giving him immunity.
  • New terms quietly added grant Trump and his family immunity from past tax investigations and audits.
  • The fund’s structure gives Trump extensive control while potentially rewarding allies, including January 6 rioters.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

President Donald Trump is a studied beneficiary of the Overton window. That is, the many extreme and norm-busting things he does, over time, make things that would once be scandalous appear more mundane and unremarkable.

Such is the case with Trump’s wrangling of billions of dollars from the federal government for an “anti-weaponization” fund. The president tried to get the federal government he controls to pay him $10 billion, but he’s ultimately settling for $1.776 billion for people (read: Trump’s allies) who claim they were unfairly targeted by the previous administration.

The agreement explicitly says none of the money will go to Trump or his family personally. So, it might not seem like an especially big deal. The government pays parties it has wronged all the time.

But it is a big deal — and highly problematic, for a number of reasons.

New details quietly released Tuesday reinforce why.

The government, without any fanfare or even announcement, quietly added some very serious terms to the settlement that are remarkably favorable to Trump and those around him.

They say the government is “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED” from bringing claims against Trump, his family or his businesses for past tax issues, up to the date of the settlement this week.

If the terms are allowed to stand, Trump, his family and his businesses would effectively be immune from “claims” or “examinations” related to matters pending before the IRS, including in previously filed tax returns.

The terms were quietly added Tuesday in a hyperlink to Monday’s original Justice Department press release.

DOJ spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre defended the addition to the settlement’s terms by suggesting it was appropriate to settle Trump’s complaint about the unauthorized leaking of his tax returns — the subject of his initial $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. (An IRS contractor in 2024 pleaded guilty to leaking Trump’s and others’ tax returns and was sentenced to five years in prison.)

She noted Trump could still be pursued for future tax issues, after the settlement date.

But this is anything but business-as-usual. This is a government that Trump controls effectively giving him immunity.

And it’s a type of immunity that history shows he could really use.

The New York Times in 2018 described Trump in an extremely thorough investigation as having participated in “dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud.” A judge in 2023 found Trump and his sons liable for fraud. Trump in 2024 was convicted on 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records.

And the Times reported Tuesday that the terms would also spare Trump from a specific audit in which an adverse ruling could have cost him $100 million.

(Trump as a presidential candidate in 2016 promised to release his tax returns, as every major-party candidate since 1980 had done. But then he reneged on that promise, citing being under audit.)

But even before the new terms were added on Tuesday, the details released about the settlement were a huge boon to Trump.

For one, while the settlement says he and his sons will “receive no economic benefit from this Settlement Agreement,” that doesn’t mean he gets nothing of value. Far from it.

For one, it says Trump will “receive a formal apology from the United States.” Again, this isn’t a normal settlement. This is one in which the president essentially sits at the top of both sides of the agreement, and he’s getting one of those sides to register an official apology that furthers his claims of victimization.

But the more significant aspect is that Trump can use the fund to pay off scores of allies who did all manner of things — including sometimes illegal — on his behalf.

That’s most notably the case with those who, in many cases, literally rose up in arms for Trump on January 6, 2021. Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday declined to rule out financial payments to the many already pardoned January 6 rioters who assaulted police, suggesting some of them might too have been “mistreated.”

Law enforcement officers who protected the US Capitol that day sued the Trump administration on Wednesday to block the implementation of the fund, arguing, in part, that it could be used to finance paramilitary organizations.

The fund could also benefit people who declined to provide investigators information that might have hurt Trump.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, for example, once cut a deal to cooperate with those investigators and then inexplicably lied to them, exposing himself to years more in prison. Trump, who’s repeatedly floated pardons for those who toe his line, later pardoned him.

Now breaking the law in ways that benefit Trump could come with a cash payout, too.

That empowers Trump politically, even if the cash never enters his personal bank account. Just think of the message it sends to other allies about how he will protect and reward them.

And then there’s the level of control Trump has over the fund.

The terms of the settlement say it’s to be run by five members who are appointed by the attorney general — including one in consultation with congressional leaders. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is Trump’s former defense lawyer, he gets to unilaterally appoint four out of five members.

What’s more, Trump can remove any member “without cause” at any point.

That means these people will be answerable to Trump, who has in many ways made Blanche’s DOJ an arm of his own political operation.

The reports about who’s being compensated are also set to be “confidential,” effectively giving the administration cover from public scrutiny. And the settlement allows “no appeal, arbitration, or judicial review of claims, offers, or other determinations made” by the fund’s members.

It’s an immense amount of control, centralized under Trump, that sounds quite a bit like a slush fund.

It’s reminiscent of his Board of Peace, which basically gives Trump full effective control over billions of dollars contributed by countries seeking to curry favor with him.

(The Board of Peace’s charter gives Trump the authority to veto resolutions it passes and to unilaterally adopt “resolutions or other directives … to implement the Board of Peace’s mission.” It also makes him the “final authority” when it comes to interpreting anything in the charter.)

That effort, like the “anti-weaponization” fund, involved Trump using his official governmental authority to compel people to give him control over a pot of billions of dollars that empowers him politically.

And in the case of the fund, the settlement Trump got from the government he runs also gives him a hugely significant personal benefit, in the form of immunity for himself and his family.

It might not be $10 billion in his pocket. But it’s certainly the stuff of scandal.

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