Trump’s Taxpayer-Funded Revenge Plan

About this episode

<p>The Trump administration announced the creation of a $1.8 billion fund to compensate those who claim they were targeted by the Biden Justice Department and Democrats.</p> <p>Andrew Duehren, who covers tax policy, explains how the fund came about and who might get the money. </p> <p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/andrew-duehren" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Andrew Duehren</strong></a>, who writes about tax policy for The New York Times from Washington.</p> <p>Background reading: </p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/us/politics/trump-irs-lawsuit.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Justice Department announced the $1.8 billion fund</a> on Monday.</li> <li>Mr. Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/us/politics/trump-anti-weaponization-fund.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">explained</a>.</li> </ul> <p>Photo: Eric Lee for The New York Times</p> <p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>nytimes.com/thedaily</strong></a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. </p> <p><p>Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.</p></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>