Trump is setting up a $1.8 billion fund to pay people who say they were unfairly prosecuted, and critics call it a direct raid on taxpayer money to reward his allies.

• Trump dropped a lawsuit against the IRS over leaked tax returns in exchange for a settlement that creates a $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund."
• The Justice Department alone decides who gets paid, with no court or Congress involved, which is how every similar fund in U.S. history was set up.
• Likely recipients include January 6 defendants, Stop the Steal figures like Bannon, Giuliani, Meadows, and Eastman, and other Trump allies who faced charges.
• Many of those already pardoned have reoffended, including violent crimes and child sex crimes, so paying them would reward people with serious criminal records.
• In a separate move, U.S. prosecutors dropped fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, part of a wider pattern of dropping white collar cases under Trump.

Outlook: Democrats expected to win the House and Senate will likely investigate, and legal challenges to the fund are expected to be serious.