WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has begun receiving applications for the nearly $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund created under a settlement with President Donald Trump, even though the five commissioners who will award the money have not yet been appointed. The formal application process cannot officially begin until those commissioners are chosen.

The fund was established as part of a settlement between Trump, two of his sons, the Trump Organization and the government he oversees over the leak of his tax returns. Trump agreed to drop legal claims in exchange for creating the fund.

The commissioner appointments must be made within 30 days of the settlement being signed on Monday, and Justice Department officials said the five commissioners will be chosen in the coming weeks. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will select the commissioners, with congressional input on one of the appointments. The president can fire the commissioners at will. The guidelines for filing claims will be outlined after the commissioners are named.

The five-person group will award money on a case-by-case basis and produce a quarterly report listing recipients, which will be shared with Congress. The fund would have to be distributed by the end of Trump's term in 2028 unless blocked by Congress or the courts. Legal challenges have already begun.

A Justice Department overview sent to GOP Senate offices on Thursday said the pool of possible applicants is substantial. "Literally tens of millions of Americans were subjected to improper and unlawful government targeting, including extensive government censorship and aggressive lawfare," the overview stated. It added that the fund aims to offer accountability for Americans whose online speech was censored at the behest of the government, parents silenced at schoolboards, senators whose records were secretly subpoenaed, and churchgoers targeted by the FBI. "There is no partisan restriction: Democrats can submit claims, too." the overview said.

Both Democrats and Republicans have criticized the fund. "It's just an insane cash grab," said Chris Mattei, an attorney who represents FBI employees fired by the Trump administration and who are separately pursuing lawsuits alleging their dismissals were political.

Mike Howell, head of the Oversight Project, an entity that grew out of the conservative Heritage Foundation, is among those pitching for commissioner roles. In a letter to Blanche on Wednesday, Howell said he was already steeped in the fund's work and would help destroy the "mythology" created by the "radical left" around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot if named commissioner. "These victims are my friends, colleagues, and fellow patriots," Howell wrote.

Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer who pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other charges and later testified for the prosecution in Trump's New York hush money trial, said he plans to apply. "Nobody told me or called me up to say, 'Hey, you should do this,'" Cohen said, adding that he had seen on television that Michael Caputo had publicly requested applications in a letter.