Fatima Hussein, Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer, reporting for AP News:

The Trump administration announced Monday the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate allies of the Republican president who believe they have been unjustly investigated and prosecuted, an arrangement that Democrats and government watchdogs derided as “corrupt” and unconstitutional.

The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” of $1.776 billion is part of a settlement that resolves President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.

$1.776. Get it? Because “independence” and “freedom” and “America.” I’m surprised it wasn’t called “American Freedom Fund.” Or perhaps “Patriots and Loyalists Settlement Opportunity Fund To Reimburse Unfair Malicious Prosecution.”

The official announcement on the DOJ’s site contains this beauty of obvious impartiality:

Per the settlement, plaintiffs will receive a formal apology but no monetary payment or damages of any kind. They have agreed, in exchange for the creation of this fund, to drop their pending lawsuit with prejudice, and also withdraw two administrative claims including for damages resulting from the unlawful raid of Mar-a-Lago and the Russia-collusion hoax.

Both “unlawful raid” and “Russia-collusion hoax” are Trump-MAGA talking points. They have no place in a press release from a supposedly independent agency.

The settlement comes just two days before a May 20 deadline set by the presiding judge:

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams questioned whether an actual disagreement exists, writing that a case can only stand if there is “adverseness” between the parties.

“Typically, adverseness is found in a situation where one party is asserting its right and the other party is resisting,” Williams wrote. “Consequently, if there is no adverseness, there is no case or controversy.”

The Constitution’s “case or controversy” clause says federal courts may only hear actual “controversies.”

The judge ordered both parties to explain “whether a case and controversy exists” by May 20.

I’m sure that’s purely coincidence.

This is a typically Trump pattern: bring a meritless lawsuit for an absurd amount of money, then drop or offer to settle as a “gesture of goodwill” or whatever, before the courts have a chance to rule on a case he would have little chance of winning.

The initial lawsuit was for $10 billion, an amount so farcical it defies credulity. No doubt Trump will forever brag about the $8.224 billion he saved the American taxpayers.