r/democrats

Political operative and longtime Trump ally Michael Caputo filed the first known claim for the Justice Department’s new “anti-weaponization” fund Tuesday, seeking $2.7 million in restitution.

Caputo, who was a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services during President Donald Trump’s first term, says he was the target of “Crossfire Hurricane” — an FBI investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

Caputo posted a letter on X addressed to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche saying that “the machinery of government was clearly politically weaponized against my family from July 2016 to December 2025.”

“They found nothing; we lost everything,” he added.

Caputo confirmed the document’s authenticity to NBC News.

Caputo said in his public letter that in 2021 he was the target of another investigation in connection to his One America News documentary about former President Joe Biden and Ukraine.

An intelligence assessment declassified in 2021 seemed to refer to Caputo’s documentary, titled “The Ukraine Hoax: Impeachment, Biden Cash, and Mass Murder with guest host Michael Caputo,” which he made after he had left HHS.

A 2017 assessment found that Russia had tried to influence the 2016 election. A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report, signed off on by then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., validated the findings of that report.

The Justice Department established the nearly $1.8 billion fund Monday after Trump moved to dismiss a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax returns.

Trump said Monday that the fund, which he said he had no involvement in establishing, was meant to reimburse people who were “horribly treated.”

Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that said “anybody can apply” to get money from the fund, saying that hypothetically Hunter Biden could also make a plea for restitution.

Trump declined to answer a question Monday about whether he or his family would seek compensation from the fund, but Vance assured reporters Tuesday that the Trumps would not do so.

Critics have lambasted the fund, characterizing it as a “slush fund” Trump could use to “reward allies, including the nearly 1,600 defendants convicted or charged in connection with the January 6th attack on the Capitol.”

Blanche said at a Senate hearing Tuesday that payouts for the fund will be decided by a five-member commission, four members of which will be chosen by the attorney general and one who will be chosen in consultation with Congress.