Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, considered a potential contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, blasted the news that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — President Trump’s former personal attorney — had agreed to a settlement deal establishing a fund to pay those who were allegedly victimized by DOJ “weaponization” under the Biden administration.
The nearly $1.8 billion fund, which will be administered by a Trump-selected board, drew Shapiro’s condemnation as an act of graft that would take taxpayer money and redistribute it to Trump supporters and donors.
“Think about the unmatched corruption of this president,” Shapiro told a crowd after Blanche announced the fund as part of a settlement in Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.
“They have built a government whose entire goal seems to be to help enrich his friends, his donors and his own family,” Shapiro said, “and then shield them all from paying the price for their illegal conduct.”
[NOTE: Part of the DOJ settlement also forbids the IRS from examining potential tax avoidance by Trump, his businesses, or his family that may already be in the works, saying such investigations are “forever banned.”]
Shapiro: Somehow, he can’t find the money to pay for healthcare, but he can steal from you to pay off the criminals who stormed the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/plUrTLm73x
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 20, 2026
Addressing the Blanche settlement, Shapiro said of Trump: “Just yesterday we learned that he would continue whitewashing history by using your money to pay those that broke the law and betrayed our country from a new illegal billion-dollar fund that he fleeced from the American taxpayer.”
In a moment when Trump’s approval ratings are near record lows, driven largely by affordability issues and an unpopular, expensive war in Iran, Shapiro put the two situations side by side and cast Trump as a thief.
He said: “Somehow, he can’t find the money to pay for healthcare, but he can steal from you to pay off the criminals who stormed the Capitol. Shameful.”
Shapiro asserted that Trump’s corruption “started on day one,” citing Trump’s mass pardoning of January 6 offenders.
[NOTE: The new “weaponization” fund could end up compensating many of the convicts Trump has pardoned, including January 6 rioters, and also Republican lawmakers whose phone records were examined by Special Counsel Jack Smith during his investigations into Trump’s alleged attempt to invalidate the 2020 election results. Trump himself could potentially also be compensated by the fund, as he has claimed repeatedly that he was the chief victim of DOJ weaponization.]