KAITLAN COLLINS: Now, the longer the war goes on, the higher we’ve seen gas prices keep climbing, and a resumption of fighting could potentially drive energy prices even higher than they are tonight.

And during the 2024 campaign, as you heard us talk about last week, the President promised that he would get gas to under $2 a gallon with his policies.

But as we come on the air tonight, there is movement on a Trump campaign promise to tell you about. It’s just not about gas prices. It’s this one.

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TRUMP: In 2016, I declared I am your voice.

And now I say to you, again tonight, I am your warrior.

(CHEERING)

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TRUMP: I am your justice.

(CHEERING)

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TRUMP: And I took a lot of heat for this one, but I only mean it in the proper way. For those who have been wronged and betrayed, of which there are many people out there that have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.

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COLLINS: Well, that retribution has apparently arrived, and ethics attorneys are saying tonight it’s quite astonishing.

The Justice Department has confirmed it is going to create a $1.776 billion fund to pay people who claim they were unfairly targeted by the Biden administration. That number, 1776 is intentional, and the move is unprecedented, giving the President’s administration funds to pay his own supporters with taxpayer money from a government agency that he controls.

Even though this fund emerged as part of a deal in exchange for the President and his sons dropping their lawsuit against the IRS, something that was also unprecedented, the president professed ignorance earlier today.

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TRUMP: Well, it’s been very well received, I have to tell you. I know very little about it. I wasn’t involved in — in the whole creation of it, and — and the negotiation. But this is reimbursing people that were horribly treated, horribly treated. It’s anti-weaponization. They’ve been weaponized. They’ve been, in some cases, imprisoned wrongly. They paid legal fees that they didn’t have. They’ve gone bankrupt. Their lives have been destroyed.

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COLLINS: You heard the president there, saying that he knows very little about this deal. But we know a lot because, you can actually read through the settlement yourself because it’s posted online. What we know from reading through it is that the president is going to have the power to fire anyone.

His acting attorney general, who, of course, is Todd Blanche, who was the president’s former personal attorney before he got into government when the president won the election. He will be the person who picks the people that are on the board that is going to hand out that 1.8- nearly-billion dollars.

Under the terms of the agreement, again, that you yourself can read, five people selected by the attorney general will oversee the compensation fund. One of them will be selected in consultation with congressional leadership.

The Justice Department says this money is going to come from an account that is used for settling lawsuits. And, as you heard from the President earlier, it was notable that he didn’t answer when he was asked if the money would go to people that he has pardoned, including, of course, virtually everyone who was convicted on January 6th, including those who were convicted of attacking police officers on that day.

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REPORTER: Do you believe that people who committed violence against Capitol Hill police officers on January 6th should be eligible for compensation from this DOJ fund? And are you or your family members going to be seeking-

TRUMP: Yes.

REPORTER: -compensation from that fund?

TRUMP: It will all be dependent on a committee. A committee is being set up of very talented people, very highly respected people. I think it’s a committee of five.

And again, I didn’t do this deal. It was told to me yesterday. They said they’re doing something. I do believe there has to be compensation for people that were destroyed. You have families absolutely destroyed.

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COLLINS: Again, the committee that the president is talking about there, that’s going to be making these decisions, will be picked by the attorney general.

The New York Times also says tonight that, as far as to that question, there, the second part of that, in terms of the president receiving compensation, or his family. They say, the Justice Department says the president, his sons, and his family business will get an apology, but they will not be paid out of this fund. I should note, the announcement of the $1.8 billion fund that the president’s team will be able to dole out, as they see fit, comes the same day that we heard from the vice president, JD Vance, who was on the road in Missouri today, with a message on the need to be better stewards of taxpayer money.