California Gov. Gavin Newsom is reportedly escalating his latest clash with President Donald Trump by pledging to pursue a 100% tax on any payments Californians receive from the administration’s newly created “anti-weaponization” fund, a controversial program already fueling sharp partisan battles nationwide.
Newsom made the remarks Wednesday while criticizing the Department of Justice initiative, which was established earlier this month after Trump agreed to drop a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service tied to the leaking of his tax returns during his first term in office.
“Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we wanna tax 100% of those proceeds,” Newsom said. “And that’s an action the state of California can take. It’s an action we look forward to taking.”
In a social media post accompanying video of his comments, the Democratic governor described the fund as a “slush fund,” further intensifying the already bitter rhetoric surrounding the unprecedented program.
The DOJ-created fund reportedly totals $1.776 billion and is intended to compensate individuals who can convince a Justice Department commission that they were victims of government “weaponization.” The arrangement emerged after Trump sued his own administration in January for $10 billion over the disclosure of his tax information during his presidency.
Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who currently oversee the Trump Organization, also filed related lawsuits tied to the leak controversy.
The leaked records became the basis for a widely discussed 2020 report from The New York Times stating that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017.
Critics of the DOJ fund have argued that the criteria for receiving payouts could potentially include people involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. That issue has become even more politically explosive since Trump, after returning to office in January 2025, pardoned nearly all Jan. 6 defendants.
Newsom’s proposal to impose a full state tax on the payments appears designed not only to block Californians from benefiting financially from the fund, but also to send a broader political message as tensions between blue-state governors and the Trump administration continue escalating.
The California governor’s comments also place him alongside Democratic lawmakers in other heavily blue states who are pursuing similar responses. Legislators in both New York and New Jersey have reportedly already begun drafting their own legislation that would tax payouts from the fund at a 100% rate.
The fight reflects a growing divide over how the federal government should address claims of political targeting and selective enforcement, particularly after years of investigations, prosecutions and partisan accusations that have left trust in major institutions deeply fractured.
Supporters of Trump have argued that many Americans were unfairly targeted by politically motivated investigations and government actions, while critics see the fund as an extraordinary and potentially dangerous use of federal resources tied to political grievances.
At the same time, the increasingly aggressive retaliation from Democratic-led states underscores how disputes once confined to Washington are now spreading into broader battles between state governments and the federal administration. As both sides harden their positions, political conflicts that began with investigations and court fights are increasingly being fought through taxation, executive actions and competing efforts to punish ideological opponents.
The latest dispute also highlights how deeply the country remains divided years after the turbulence surrounding Trump’s first term, Jan. 6 and the legal battles that followed — conflicts that continue shaping policy decisions well into his second presidency.
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