Vice President JD Vance welcomed Hunter Biden applying for President Donald Trump‘s administration $1.8 billion fund to compensate victims of what has become known as lawfare.
“If Hunter Biden wants to apply for this particular fund, he is welcome to,” Vance told reporters Tuesday during a press briefing at the White House. “It’s going to go through a normal process where we vet everything.”
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Vance and the Trump administration have come under scrutiny after announcing the $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” of government fund on Monday as part of a settlement for Trump dropping his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
In response, Vance underscored how Republicans and Democrats are eligible for the fund. Such eligibility extends to former President Joe Biden‘s son, Hunter, who in 2024 was convicted on three felony charges related to his purchase of a gun while illegally using drugs. Hunter Biden was pardoned by his father before the latter left office.
“As you know, the president of the United States has pardoned a number of Democrats who he felt were actually subject to this lawfare,” he said.
Vance also defended the use of taxpayers’ money to pay for the fund, which has prompted criticism from Democrats.
“Why should taxpayers fund this? “Whenever the United States government incurs legal expenses, it pays out those legal expenses,” the vice president said. “When it’s settling a lawsuit, it pays out money to settle that lawsuit. And the question is, is $1 of this money going to the Trump administration? No. Is $1 of this money going to Donald Trump personally? No. Is $1 of this money going to Donald Trump’s family? No.”
“The people that would get the money are people, some of whom have been prosecuted completely disproportionate to any crime they’ve ever committed,” he added. “I think that what we’re going to see, hopefully, is the entire country, led by this Department of Justice, turning the page on the lawfare.”
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Vance continued to encourage Democrats not to “prosecute people because they said the wrong thing, or because they had the wrong political candidate, or because they have the wrong viewpoint.”
“Part of turning the page on that is to actually ensure the real victims of that lawfare receive some compensation,” he said. “That’s what this fund is going to be targeted at, and again, there’s going to be a process to ensure that that money is only given to people who have actually — I hate to say — earned it, but the people who actually were really mistreated by the previous administration and Department of Justice.”
When pressed on the prospect of Jan. 6 rioters who were charged or convicted with assaulting police officers making claims, Vance reiterated that “in this country,” people are “innocent until proven guilty.
“We do have people who are accused of attacking law enforcement officers,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that we’re going to completely ignore some of the claims that they’re going to make. We’re going to evaluate these things on a case by case basis, and if we think that somebody, whatever they were accused of, if we think that somebody was unfairly prosecuted and deserves just compensation, then that’s what this fund is going to exist to provide.”
VANCE: LAWFARE VICTIMS DESERVE COMPENSATION 🚨
— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) May 19, 2026
VP Vance says the fund is for Americans “really mistreated by the previous administration,” adding even Hunter Biden “is welcome to apply” if his claims are legitimate. pic.twitter.com/eNG6xMseJv
