Jim Troupis, a former Dane County judge who represented President Donald Trump during Wisconsin’s 2020 recount fight, has asked the Justice Department for $3.2 million from Trump’s new Anti-Weaponization Fund. The legal work he did for the president brought years of investigations, subpoenas, bar complaints, civil litigation, and criminal charges down on him and his family.
Advertisement
Troupis submitted the request in a May 26 letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, copied to President Trump, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. Conservative radio host Vicki McKenna first made the letter public, and legal commentator Margot Cleveland later amplified it.
In the letter, Troupis says the government came after him not for committing a crime, but for representing an unpopular client.
🚨🚨🚨BREAKING: Wisconsin attorney representing Trump seeks $3.2 million for weaponization–something he still faces to this day!! pic.twitter.com/pQlwtDI3mR
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 26, 2026
“In November 2020 I was honored to represent President Trump in the Wisconsin Recount. Sadly, my life (and the lives of my entire family) has been a nightmare since I stepped forward to represent President Trump,” Troupis wrote.
“The total real financial cost now exceeds $1.7 million, the annihilation of my reputation and law practice, thousands of hours in preparation and response to those legal actions, five years of time lost with my children and grandchildren, loss of retirement funds used for defense costs and ongoing legal expenses that will likely cost me our family home and the balance of my retirement funds.”
“I now face spending the rest of my life in prison!”
Advertisement
He listed no fewer than 17 separate legal actions taken against him.
- March 2022: A secret subpoena of his Gmail account, which contained privileged attorney-client communications
- May 2022: A multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit tied to January 6 and the DOJ investigation
- September 2022: While on a Disney Cruise, his son was separated from the family and his phone and computers were confiscated and copied
- November 2022: Jack Smith’s team identified Troupis as a target
- January 2024: A second secret DOJ subpoena of privileged communications
- January 2021 through December 2024: Multiple bar complaints filed and kept pending
- June/December 2024: A criminal complaint based on DOJ allegations brought by a former Hillary Clinton attorney and Perkins Coie partner, Josh Kaul, now Wisconsin’s attorney general, with a gag order attached
- December 2024: TSA pulled his Global Entry/precheck status
Troupis noted that three Wisconsin Supreme Court justices found his legal team’s arguments compelling, and that the Wisconsin attorney general and more than a dozen Biden-era attorneys never once claimed that the alternate-elector strategy was improper. They argued it didn’t work.
Troupis currently faces felony forgery charges in Wisconsin over the alternate elector effort. He has denied wrongdoing. A Dane County judge rejected his motion to dismiss, writing that Troupis had not shown the First Amendment protects forgery.
Advertisement
Read More: After IRS Leak Scandal, Trump DOJ Slams the Door on Trump Tax Audits
DOJ Turns Tables on DC Bar With Suit Over ‘Weaponized’ Disbarment Effort
The $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund resulted from a settlement in Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns.
The government contractor who leaked those returns was later sentenced to five years in prison.
Acting Attorney General Blanche said the fund would create a “lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress,” with no partisan requirements on applicants.
In the letter, Troupis says the stakes go beyond his own situation.
“It is not an overstatement to say the entire legal system is at risk if compensation is not paid.”
“Attorneys will simply refuse to represent conservatives or other disfavored people if the cost is what I (and others) have sustained.”
Secret subpoenas, seized devices, bar complaints, and a criminal prosecution say otherwise.
Democrats wasted no time trying to shut it down. Wisconsin Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein announced the “No Taxpayer Dollars for Insurrectionists Act,” which would impose a 100 percent state income tax on any money received through the fund.
Advertisement
“Put simply — if you’re from Wisconsin and you stormed the Capitol, you will not receive money from the slush fund,” Hesselbein said.
Troupis didn’t storm the Capitol. He filed legal briefs.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) is preparing federal legislation to tax fund payouts at 100 percent and return the money to the Treasury.
Troupis is asking $3.2 million for what the government’s pressure campaign cost him, and says that number will grow as the state prosecution continues.
Editor’s Note: Unelected federal judges are hijacking President Trump’s agenda and insulting the will of the people.
Help us expose out-of-control judges dead set on halting President Trump’s mandate for change. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.