California Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed on May 27 to confiscate through a 100 percent tax all payouts to state residents from President Donald Trump’s anti-weaponization settlement fund.

“Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100 percent,” Newsom said during a press conference, calling the settlement a “slush fund.”

“And that’s an action the state of California can take, and it’s an action we look forward to taking.”

Newsom didn’t provide details on which law gives him the authority to take such action.

Trump’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was created to resolve his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns.

“As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement on May 18 announcing the fund.

The creation of the fund has already attracted several lawsuits.

Attorneys from legal advocacy group Democracy Forward are seeking a court order to stop the administration from disbursing any payouts.

Another group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed its own lawsuit in Washington to challenge the fund, claiming it was unconstitutional and violated multiple federal laws.

Two police officers—retired U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges—who were at the U.S. Capitol during the breach of the building on Jan. 6, 2021, also sued to prevent anyone, including those involved in the Capitol breach, from receiving payouts from the fund.

The officers’ lawyer, Brendan Ballou, was a special counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) from 2020 to 2025. For two years, Ballou was assigned to prosecute protestors who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He quit when Trump started pardoning those individuals.

A former Trump administration official and campaign aide, Michael Caputo, said last week he would file the first claim under the DOJ’s fund and is seeking $2.7 million.

“The machinery of government was clearly politically weaponized against my family from July 2016 to December 2025,” Caputo wrote in a post on X. “They found nothing; we lost everything.”

Former Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo (L) and his lawyer Dennis Vacco (R) after testifying before the House Intelligence Committee at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on July 14, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Caputo has described years of torment he and his family underwent through harassment and legal turmoil. They eventually were forced to sell their home in New York and relocate to Florida.

He was a target in the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation that sought to evaluate whether Trump’s 2016 campaign had colluded with the Russian government.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to an after-hours request for comment about Newsom’s statement.