Former Trump administration official Michael Caputo on Tuesday filed the first known claim under the Justice Department’s new $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” claiming he was the target of “political weaponization.”
Caputo’s request for $2.7 million in restitution and reimbursement came a day after the DOJ established the fund to compensate individuals who claim they were politically targeted by the federal government. The fund was created as part of the settlement agreement in President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department — drawing legal questions and ire from lawmakers in both parties.
“I was the target of the illegal Crossfire Hurricane investigation and our family suffered greatly during that dark era of political weaponization,” Caputo wrote in a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, referencing the FBI’s 2016 investigation into possible collusion between the Russian government and individuals associated with Trump’s first presidential campaign.
Caputo worked on Trump’s campaign messaging and strategy in New York during the president’s first campaign cycle. Though he left shortly after then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski departed, Caputo remained in Trump’s circle, eventually becoming assistant secretary for public affairs within the Department of Health and Human Services during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Though not initially a primary target of the FBI’s probe, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s eventual report listed an instance of Caputo’s covert coordination with Russia. Mueller’s investigation determined that Caputo brokered a meeting between Trump confidant Roger Stone and a Russian operative to exchange potentially damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
Caputo lived in Russia in the 1990s while working for the U.S. government and repeatedly denied having contact with Russians during his time working on Trump’s campaign.
In the letter, first obtained by CNN, the longtime political operative says he remained under investigation until late 2025.
“They found nothing; we lost everything,” he wrote.
Caputo is the first documented member of the president’s inner circle to seek a payout, but neither the fund itself nor the administrative commission have been set up yet. The DOJ has not clarified who can qualify for compensation, but lawmakers have already expressed concerns about how — and to whom — the pool of money could be distributed.
“I need to know who would qualify. I need to know the definition of weaponization. I need to know who’s been weaponized against,” Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told reporters Tuesday.
Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse, who is spearheading the Democratic coalition of members opposing the fund, called the DOJ’s agreement to establish the fund an “unconstitutional settlement,” in a post on X.
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