The Treasury’s most senior lawyer has dramatically quit, just hours after the Trump administration unveiled a vast $1.776 billion fund to enrich Jan. 6 rioters and other MAGA loyalists.
Brian Morrissey, the department’s general counsel, stepped down a mere seven months after his Senate confirmation, three sources aware of his decision told the New York Times.
His abrupt departure came on the same day that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
Morrissey, who also served in Trump’s first administration, is a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a George H. W. Bush appointee.
The vast payout pot, set up by the Justice Department, was created to settle Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leaking of his tax returns during his first term in the White House.
Trump dropped his original lawsuit on Monday after a judge cast doubt on the basic legality of a sitting president filing suit against a department he himself runs.
The Treasury, which now has to deposit the eye-watering sum into an account controlled by a five-member commission hand-picked by Blanche, declined to explain Morrissey’s exit.
A spokesman told the Times: “Mr. Morrissey has served the United States Treasury with both honor and integrity. We wish him all the best in his next endeavors.”
The fund is designed to compensate people who claim they were wrongly targeted by the Biden administration’s Justice Department. The pool could include the roughly 1,600 people charged over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol
Criticism has been widespread and visceral. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon branded the deal the “most brazen theft and abuse of taxpayer dollars by any president in American history.”
Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, 63, called it “pure fraud and highway robbery,” while nearly 100 House Democrats filed an amicus brief seeking to block the settlement. The Beast also reported Monday that recipients of the payouts—and the sums they pocket—will be kept hidden from the public.
Morrissey used his resignation letter to thank Trump, 79, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, 63, for the chance to serve, two sources who reviewed the note told the paper.
Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, will appoint every member of the commission and retain the power to remove any of them without cause.
Trump himself denied any role in setting up the deal during a White House healthcare cost event Monday, insisting the arrangement had been “very well received.”
Morrissey, a former Sidley Austin partner who once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thomas, has not spoken publicly about his exit.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Treasury Department, the White House, the Justice Department, and Brian Morrissey for comment.
