‘Corruption Unparalleled in American History’
Democrats in the House and Senate are sounding the alarm about the $1.776 billion “slush fund” that Trump’s Justice Department is creating for his supporters and political allies in exchange for President Trump, his two eldest sons and the Trump Organization dropping their $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, an agency he oversees as president. It’s a legal challenge that has long had legal experts up in arms about the potential for corruption, as Trump sues his own government, demanding damages over the 2019 leak of his tax information. And that was before today, when Trump’s lawyers purported to dismiss it — news swiftly followed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announcing billions to pay off Trump’s allies.
The move follows reports that the DOJ was negotiating such a settlement. Trump’s lawyers announced he was dropping the suit in a Monday court filing, an attempt to stop a Miami federal judge from reaching a conclusion about how and if the lawsuit could proceed. In an almost comical attempt to dress up the corrupt arrangement in the trappings of a settlement agreement, the DOJ explained that, in exchange for Trump dropping the civil suit that he brought against his own federal agency, the DOJ will create the $1.776 billion slush fund that will settle claims of weaponization, which Trump’s friends have defined extraordinarily expansively. It will be funded through the DOJ’s Judgement Fund, which legal analysts are already blasting as a misuse of the fund.
Blanche argued, without betraying any awareness of the irony, that “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.”
Ninety-three House Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) signed off on an amicus brief filing with the court on Monday in an attempt to “block this unconstitutional taxpayer-funded settlement,” House Judiciary Democrats said in a statement. In the filing they said Trump’s scrutiny-evading supposed dismissal and settlement “raises the specter of corruption unparalleled in American history.”
“Never in the history of the United States has a sitting President sought a monetary settlement from the government he leads — let alone sought many billions of dollars in taxpayer funds,” the filing said. “The President seeks damages from the citizens he purports to represent equal to nearly the entire budget he proposed for the Internal Revenue Service (‘IRS’) itself.
“$10 billion could fully fund almost the entire annual budget for federal child welfare spending or the National Cancer Institute for a year,” it continued. “Or it could be used to purchase childcare for a million young families. Instead of serving these worthy purposes, the President instead asks this Court to allow him to use collusive litigation to force the American people to put that money into his pockets, and the pockets of his family and friends.”
In a statement, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) called Trump’s actions “pure fraud” and “highway robbery”:
No president can concoct a fake case for $10 billion in damages against the government so he can be plaintiff and defendant and then ‘settle’ his bogus case against himself as a judge. This is simply not a genuine case or controversy as required by the Constitution. But Trump’s DOJ is not arguing any of this because it is in on the scam. 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.
Several Senate Democrats also released a flood of statements condemning the corruption.
“Regardless of whether Trump filed this lawsuit with a personal payday or a slush fund in mind, he deserves no credit for dropping it, and even by his standards the move he’s trying to get away with now is a stunning act of corruption,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) called it an “outrageous abuse of power.”
Tillis Won’t Vote for Reconciliation Bill This Week
Retiring-Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) sent an email to his Republican colleagues on Monday, saying he won’t vote for the budget reconciliation bill if it goes up for a vote this week and if it includes funding for Trump’s vanity ballroom, Axios reported. Tillis is not the first Republican senator who has expressed concerns about shoving funding for Trump’s ballroom security in to the reconciliation package, which is meant to address a handful of other Trump priorities that will not pass outside of the reconciliation process due to the filibuster and Democratic opposition.
The Senate Parliamentarian ruled on Saturday that, as currently written, the funding for the Secret Service/ballroom security cannot be included in the bill because it violates the Byrd Rule, which blocks lawmakers from including measures in reconciliation bills that the parliamentarian finds to be outside of the realm of federal spending, or outside the jurisdictions of the panels that are tasked with writing the draft bills.
Tillis is reportedly opposed to the package if it includes Trump’s ask for taxpayers to fund $1 billion in security upgrades tied to his ballroom. There’s also another reason, Per Axios:
Tillis is fuming over the ouster of incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana’s GOP primary — and he’s warning that pushing a bill this week would hurt Sen. John Cornyn in Texas’ GOP primary runoff next week.
Tillis believes Cornyn should be free to campaign in Texas this week instead of being in D.C. for votes.
Hegseth Gets Involved In Massie Primary
In what experts are describing as, at best, a serious breach of decorum, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly planning to campaign for Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) Trump-backed Republican primary challenger in Kentucky tonight, the night before the election.
Hegseth’s team at the Pentagon is describing the event as one designed to award Purple Heart medals to soldiers. Ed Gallrein, the Republican challenging Massie, is a former member of the Navy SEALS. Per the Times:
“Secretary Hegseth is attending this event in his personal capacity,” Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement. “No taxpayer dollars will be used to facilitate his visit. His participation has been thoroughly vetted and cleared by lawyers, including the Department of War Office of General Counsel, and does not violate the Hatch Act or any other applicable federal statute.”
In Case You Missed It
The latest from Josh Kovensky: Minnesota Sets Up Battle With Feds to Prosecute ICE Agents
Catch up on our live coverage of the ongoing Callais fallout, from Kate Riga and Khaya Himmelman: Protests Ripple Across the South as Red States Race to Eliminate Black Seats
Morning Memo: Trump Drops $10B IRS Lawsuit to Avoid Scrutiny of Corrupt Settlement Deal
The latest in Church, Merch and State from Sarah Posner: Trump’s Evangelical Allies Gather in DC for Prayer Marathon, Push to Further Erode Church-State Divide
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Trump Successfully Boots Sen. Bill Cassidy From His Seat
What We Are Reading
Trump Calls for Justice Department Probe Into Maryland Voting
Trump official helped secure US visa for fugitive Polish minister
At least 4 Virginia Democratic House candidates drop out after courts toss new map
1st!
Second!
Since when does a person decide to dismiss his lawsuit and say that the judge has no standing to say one word about it?
Is there someone who can file a suit against that slush fund?