Trump’s latest slush fund

Trump’s latest slush fund

Breaking news. Donald Trump’s Treasury Department agrees to pay Donald Trump $1.7 billion. Recall that Trump sued the IRS for $10 billion when one of its employees released the president’s tax returns without his authorization. Well Trump’s Treasury Department within which the IRS resides has announced that Trump is dropping the suit and settling with the Treasury which is creating a $1.7 billion fund to compensate Trump’s buds who claim they were mistreated by the Biden Administration. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said (presumably with a straight face) that this “Anti-Weaponization Fund” of $1.776 billion is part of a settlement that resolves Trump’s suit over the leak of his tax returns. It will allow for people who believe they were targeted for prosecution for political purposes to apply for payouts, creating what Blanche called “a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.” Blanche went on to say “The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again.”

Sure. This is a slush fund and is outrageous. We all knew that Trump has chutzpah but this is beyond the pale. The House democrats immediately filed a legal brief urging a judge to block what they described as an unprecedented resolution that enriches Trump’s buds with taxpayer dollars with meritless claims of political persecution. “This is one of the single most corrupt acts in American history,” Donald Sherman, the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in a statement. What about the republicans? To date nothing but silence except for Senate majority leader John Thune who said  he was “not a big fan.” “And I’m not sure exactly how they intend to use it, but my understanding is that was just announced. But yeah, I don’t see a purpose for that.” Sort of a milquetoast statement but at least it is slightly critical. What about our congressmen and senators? I bet none of them have the integrity or guts to speak out.

I don’t know of any single act taken by a president that is so in-your-face as this one. Jaime Raskin, one of Trump’s many enemies on Capitol Hill said “This case is nothing but a racket designed to take $1.7 billion of taxpayer dollars out of the Treasury and pour it into a huge slush fund for Trump at DOJ to hand out to his private militia of insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists, including those who brutally beat police officers on January 6, 2021, and sycophant accomplices to his election stealing schemes.” 

At least one prominent government attorney has appeared to resign due to the impropriety of the “settlement.” Brian Morrissey, the Treasury’s general counsel, stepped down from his position just seven months after being confirmed by the Senate. Morrissey did not make a public statement indicating that he resigned as a result of the billion-dollar fund but he quit just hours after the “settlement” was announced. Although the headlines say that he “resigned in disgust” there is no direct confirmation from Morrissey – and in the vast majority of this instances one should not expect one.

Trump’s attorneys even suggested in their court filing seeking to dismiss the democrat’s suit that the resolution would not be reviewable by a judge! Again more chutzpah. The agreement sets up a commission to oversee the slush fund and would have the total authority to dole out the $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds to settle claims brought by anyone who alleges they were harmed by the Biden administration’s “weaponization” of the legal system, including the nearly 1,600 individuals charged in connection with the January 6 riot that Trump has already pardoned. 

In addition to not wanting the “settlement” to be reviewable, the arrangement doles out taxpayer dollars with no oversight. Trump would have the authority to remove members of the commission running the fund without cause, and the commission would be under no obligation to disclose its procedures or decision-making process for awarding the money. The process for awarding money and the identities of the recipients would be kept private. Good grief. 

The arrangement would be an unprecedented use of taxpayer dollars with no oversight. Under the terms of the potential settlement agreement, Trump would even have the authority to remove members of the commission running the fund without cause, and the commission would be under no obligation to disclose its procedures or decision-making process for awarding the $1.7 billion dollars.

The president says that none of the money will be paid to him (ha ha). But people associated with him, specifically his sons, would be entitled to part of the pie. And because of the terms of the “settlement” we will never know how much went to Do Jr and Eric Trump, Can you imagine Trump’s tweets and the collective republican outrage if Biden had created a slush fund for Hunter?

One of Trump’s lawyers said “The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated employee to leak private and confidential information about President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization to the New York Times, ProPublica and other left-wing news outlets, which was then illegally released to millions of people. President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.”

Sure.

What makes this doubly outrageous is that it looked as though Trump was going to lose his suit against the IRS and thus reached the “settlement” instead. No attorney would have agreed to such a settlement given the judge’s ruling. But these are no ordinary attorneys. We had essence Trump’s attorneys on one side versus Trump’s attorneys on the other side.

The judge hearing the case had questioned the justification for the case proceeding. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams questioned whether Trump and the defendants — the Treasury Department and IRS — are “sufficiently adverse” for the case to proceed. “Moreover, although President Trump avers that he is bringing this lawsuit in his personal capacity, he is the sitting president and his named adversaries are entities whose decisions are subject to his direction. Indeed, President Trump’s own remarks about this matter acknowledge the unique dynamic of this litigation,” she wrote.

No kidding. Again, this is outrageous. Even Trump when asked about the ethics of his filing suit against his own government said the lawsuit “sort of looks bad” but said he would donate any money he receives from the claims to charity. He said “It’s interesting because I’m the one that makes a decision, right, and, you know, that decision would have to go across my desk. It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.”

Maybe the first time Donald Trump has been given to understatement.