A lot of you heard about it in May and figured the January 6 families were finally being taken care of. They weren’t.
Nobody we serve has been paid a single dollar out of that fund. On August 2 the Justice Department rescinded it in writing, and as of today there is no plan to pay anyone. Below is everything that happened, in order, with the source for each piece so you can check it yourself.
What the Justice Department said it would put into the fund when it was announced on May 18, 2026.
What was ever paid out. No commission was appointed, no money was moved, and no claim was ever processed.
From the day it was announced to the day it was rescinded. It was blocked in federal court for most of that time.
I’m Sarah McAbee, and I run Stand In The Gap. We’ve stood with the January 6 families since 2023.
When the fund was announced in May, the news went everywhere. People called us to say congratulations. A lot of our donors quietly stopped giving, and I don’t blame them for it. If you heard that the government had set aside almost two billion dollars for these families, you would think the problem was solved too. I hoped so myself.
It wasn’t solved. The fund never paid anyone, and now it doesn’t exist. Since May our giving has come in about a quarter lower every month, while the families are still fighting to clear their records, get back to work, and pay off what this cost them.
I didn’t want anyone to have to take my word for it, so here is the whole thing laid out, start to finish.
– Sarah McAbee, Co-Founder & CEO
The official name was the Anti-Weaponization Fund. People started calling it the 1776 Fund because of the dollar figure – about $1.776 billion.
It did not come from a bill in Congress. It came out of a lawsuit. In January 2026, President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and the Trump Organization sued the IRS and the Treasury Department for at least $10 billion over the leak of the President’s tax returns by a former IRS contractor, Charles Littlejohn, who had already pleaded guilty and been sentenced to five years in prison.
On May 18, 2026, that lawsuit was dropped and the Justice Department announced a settlement. The plaintiffs got a written apology and no money of their own. In its place, the settlement set up a fund for “others who, like Plaintiffs, state that they incurred harm from similar Lawfare and Weaponization.” Under the plan:
There was never an application, never a claim form, and never a list of who qualified. It was announced, it was challenged in court almost immediately, and it was shut down before any of those pieces existed.
The dates and quotes below come from court filings, public statements, and the news reports listed at the bottom of this page, along with what we’ve written on our own Substack as it happened.
President Trump grants clemency to the people charged in connection with January 6 – pardons for most, and 14 commutations in the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers cases. The pardons end the prison sentences. They do not give anyone back a job, a house, a business, or the money they paid in fines and restitution.
Asked in a Newsmax interview about a compensation fund for the people he pardoned, the President says, “There’s a lot of talk about that.” Nothing is created.
The President, his two sons and the Trump Organization sue the IRS and Treasury in federal court in Miami, Trump v. IRS, No. 1:26-cv-20609-KMW (S.D. Fla.), asking for at least $10 billion over the Littlejohn tax-return leak. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams.
Source: our Substack, “The Fund Was Already Dead” (July 14)
The President’s lawyers file a notice dismissing the IRS lawsuit with prejudice. The same day, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announces the settlement and signs the order creating the Anti-Weaponization Fund at about $1.776 billion, run by a five-member commission, with Treasury to fund it within 60 days.
The news spreads fast. One pardoned defendant tells CBS News that “all J6ers will apply.” A lawyer who represented January 6 defendants is more careful: “Do I think any of this is real? I’ll believe it when I see it.” This is about when our own donors start hearing that the families are being taken care of.
Source: CBS News, May 19
Two officers who were at the Capitol on January 6, Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges, sue to stop the fund. Other lawsuits follow, along with criticism from both parties in Congress.
Source: JURIST
In a separate lawsuit in Virginia, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema (Eastern District of Virginia) issues a temporary order blocking the government from setting up or running the fund while the challenge goes forward. From this point on, the fund cannot pay anyone.
Sources: Spokesman-Review; our Substack
Thirty-five retired federal judges ask Judge Williams in Miami to reopen the IRS case, saying the settlement “raises profound questions about the parties’ candor toward the Court.” Judge Williams orders the President’s lawyers to respond.
Source: our Substack, July 14
Acting Attorney General Blanche tells Congress, “We are not moving forward with the fund, period.” That is the first time the Justice Department says publicly that the fund is off. It had not paid anyone.
Source: our Substack, July 14
Judge Brinkema turns her temporary order into a preliminary injunction – the fund stays blocked for as long as the case goes on. She says the Justice Department’s public statements are not enough and gives the Attorney General and the Treasury Secretary one week to swear that the fund will not go forward. “There’s a huge gap in the record if you don’t have the answer to that question,” she says.
Source: Spokesman-Review, June 12
The same day, Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Rep. Brittany Pettersen send the administration a letter demanding answers about possible payouts.
Source: Office of Sen. Bennet
Still not satisfied, Judge Brinkema orders the Justice Department to file a sworn declaration under penalty of perjury that the fund is dead, and raises the possibility of depositions.
Source: our Substack, “The Courts Are Still Blocking Justice” (June 25)
Judge Kathleen Williams issues a 56-page order in the IRS case. She finds the lawsuit was brought in bad faith: “The Court expressly finds that Plaintiffs acted in bad faith.” She writes that it “was not brought to vindicate rights; it was brought to manipulate the judicial process.” She sanctions the lawyers, refers one of the President’s private attorneys to the Florida Bar, bars another from practicing in that court for a year, sends her order to the bar authorities over Blanche and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, and rules that neither side can rely on the May 18 settlement going forward.
Sources: NBC, July 13; Bloomberg Law; our Substack
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis on the fund: “It was a bad idea to begin with. I think I referred to it as stupid on stilts. Now it even looks like judges agree with me.” Blanche’s confirmation hearing to be the permanent Attorney General starts that week, and the fund is one of the main sticking points.
Source: WFAE / CNN, July 15
At a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, the President is asked if he agrees the fund is dead. “Well, it is dead, but, you know, I wish it weren’t, to be honest with you.” He adds, “I’d like to see them compensated for the pain.” Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis say they will not move Blanche’s nomination forward until the fund is terminated in writing.
Source: our Substack, “Dead, But I Wish It Weren’t” (Aug. 3)
Late on a Sunday night, Blanche signs a one-page order rescinding “the Attorney General’s May 18, 2026 Order establishing the Anti-Weaponization Fund.” The Justice Department says, “This order establishes, beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund.” It states for the record that no commission members were ever appointed, no money was ever transferred, no claims process was ever set up, and no claims were ever paid.
Sources: NPR / CT Public, Aug. 3; Daily Signal; our Substack
Cornyn and Tillis: “We are pleased that the Department of Justice has issued a formal order terminating the anti-weaponization fund.” The next day the Senate Judiciary Committee votes 12–10 to advance Blanche’s nomination.
Source: NPR / CT Public
With no fund to apply to, former defendants start going to court one case at a time. Twelve of them file suit in Washington, D.C. (Andrews v. United States), each seeking at least $1 million for malicious prosecution. Bloomberg counts at least a dozen of these compensation suits. None has been resolved.
The Senate confirms Todd Blanche as Attorney General, 50–49.
Source: Axios, Aug. 8
A pardoned January 6 defendant from Arizona asks the Justice Department to give back the restitution she paid. The answer is no. Even the money people already paid in is not coming back on its own.
Source: our Substack, “They Pardoned Her. The Money? DOJ Says Not So Fast.” (Aug. 18), reporting on CNN
There is no fund. There is no application. Nobody we serve has received anything from it, and there is no plan in place to pay anyone. The families who were counting on it are where they were before May – except that a lot of the people who used to help them stopped, because they thought it was handled.
“Well, it is dead, but, you know, I wish it weren’t, to be honest with you.”President Trump, Camp David, July 31, 2026
The $1.776 billion was never moved into the fund. It stayed where it was.
That is the hardest part to explain to people. There was no pot of money that got spent, lost or handed to the wrong people. The fund was announced, it was blocked by a federal judge before a single dollar was transferred, and then it was cancelled. On paper it existed for 76 days. In practice it never existed at all.
What did happen is that the headline did real damage. For most people, “$1.776 billion for the January 6 families” was the last thing they heard. The court orders and the rescission didn’t make nearly as much noise. So the families lost the fund they were promised, and then they lost a lot of the people who had been standing behind them.
We never waited on the fund, and we didn’t stop when it fell apart. Through our Stand for Justice initiative, we’re going after what the families are actually owed, one case at a time, through the courts and the claims process the law already provides.
The pardons ended the cases, but the court records are still public, and employers and landlords still find them. We pay attorneys to file motions to seal those records so people can pass a background check and work again.
Many defendants paid fines and restitution before they were pardoned. The Justice Department isn’t handing that money back on request, so we’re asking the courts to order it returned.
We started Project Repair because the 1776 Fund was dead. It helps families file the federal claims the law allows for the harm done to them – the route that exists whether a fund does or not.
Tyler Tew flew commercial airplanes for fourteen years. The TSA pulled his license before he was ever charged, and he lost his career, his business and his houses. Troy Faulkner turned himself in, served his time and paid every dollar of his restitution, and spent this summer living in his van with his two dogs. Their stories are on our Substack, and they are why we have an emergency fund that doesn’t depend on Washington.
Stand In The Gap Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity. We are not a party to any of the lawsuits described on this page and did not receive or apply for anything from the fund. This page reflects the public record as of October 27, 2026, and we’ll update it if anything changes.
If you stepped back because you thought the families were taken care of, I understand. If you can come back, even $35 a month makes a real difference.
STAND WITH US AGAINGifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. EIN 93-1417599.