Longtime Trump ally Michael Caputo files first known claim for ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

Trump administrationLongtime Trump ally Michael Caputo files first known claim for ‘anti-weaponization’ fundCaputo, a spokesperson at the Department of Health and Human Services during Trump’s first term, filed the claim a day after the Justice Department set up the $1.8 billion fund.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Michael Caputo says his family "lost everything" due to a federal probe.Mark Wilson / Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 19, 2026, 10:44 PM EDTBy Garrett Haake and Raquel Coronell UribePolitical operative and longtime Trump ally Michael Caputo on Tuesday filed the first known claim for the Justice Department’s new “anti-weaponization” fund, seeking $2.7 million for restitution.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Caputo, who served as a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services during President Donald Trump’s first term, says he was the target of “Crossfire Hurricane” — an FBI investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.Caputo posted a letter on X addressed to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche saying “the machinery of government was clearly politically weaponized against my family from July 2016 to December 2025.”“They found nothing; we lost everything,” he added.Caputo confirmed the document’s authenticity to NBC News.Caputo said in his public letter that in 2021 he was the target of another investigation in connection to his One America News documentary about former President Joe Biden and Ukraine.An intelligence assessment declassified in 2021 seemed to reference Caputo’s documentary, titled “The Ukraine Hoax: Impeachment, Biden Cash, and Mass Murder with guest host Michael Caputo,” which he made after he had left HHS.A 2017 assessment found that Russia had attempted to influence the 2016 election. A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee repor...