In Front of Our Noses: A Corrupt Slush Fund
An astonishing "settlement."
“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”-George Orwell.
For previous entries, click here.
Trump’s new “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is the latest example of the ability of this administration to treat the federal government and taxpayer dollars as a personal plaything. It is a massive and utterly corrupt action that is happening right out in the open. And the degree to which enough people will care remains to be seen. But for a candidate who claimed to care about his voters, this is just another example of how everything is all about him. Let’s just say this slush fund is not going to bring inflation down, nor will it end the Iran War. But it will likely reward those who engaged in insurrection in Trump’s name.
Here are the basics from the NYT: Justice Dept. Sets Up $1.8 Billion Fund That Could Funnel Money to Trump Allies.
The fund was announced shortly after Mr. Trump withdrew his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service demanding at least $10 billion in damages for the unauthorized disclosure of his tax information.
In addition to withdrawing his suit against the I.R.S., Mr. Trump will also drop separate administrative claims. Those include his demand that the government pay him $230 million for investigations into his 2016 campaign’s potential ties to Russia and into his handling of classified documents after he left office.
[…]
Mr. Trump’s decision to drop his suit against the I.R.S. appeared to be intended to strip Judge Kathleen M. Williams, who had been overseeing the I.R.S. case in the Southern District of Florida, of her appointed role in approving a formal settlement agreement. By dismissing the case in its entirety, Mr. Trump was able to reach an agreement with his own appointees without risking the rebuke of an impartial and independent arbiter. Judge Williams, tacitly acknowledging her hands were tied, accepted the president’s dismissal of the suit and formally closed the case by the end of the day.
[…]
Money for the fund will come from a special, unlimited account available to the Justice Department for settling lawsuits. That pool of money gives the department the authority to make monetary settlements without needing approval from Congress. A group of five people, selected by Mr. Blanche, will oversee the operations of the fund, though Mr. Trump can fire its members at will. It will stop processing claims on Dec. 15, 2028, weeks before Mr. Trump leaves office.
Moreover, all this will be done without any transparency or legal review. Instead, the five appointees, all of whom serve at Trump’s pleasure, can do what they want, how they want. As Tad DeHaven and Molly Nixon explain in a piece from the Cato Institute: Trump’s Anti-Weaponization Fund Is a (Another) Slush Fund.
The fund determines its own procedures for submitting, receiving, processing, granting, or denying claims. It may make those procedures public “in whole or in part,” at its discretion. It’s required to provide confidential reports to the Attorney General identifying claimants who receive relief and the nature of that relief. But the agreement does not establish anything like normal public reporting, independent review, or transparent standards.
The settlement also says there shall be “no appeal, arbitration, or judicial review” of claims, offers, or other determinations made by the fund. A denied claimant may still seek relief elsewhere if otherwise allowed by law. But the AWF’s decisions are insulated from review.
And Trump gets to decide where any leftover money goes:
Then there’s the matter of leftover money. The fund stops processing claims by December 1, 2028. Any remaining balance after December 15, 2028, must be transferred before January 1, 2029, to the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Interior, or another “appropriate” federal government account designated by the president.
That provision is hard to square with the claim that the fund is merely compensating victims of unlawful government conduct. If the money is truly tied to the projected value of future claims, unspent funds shouldn’t be diverted by the president to another government account. The timing only reinforces this concern as the redirection would occur in the final weeks of Trump’s second term.
So the settlement creates a nearly $1.8 billion fund, gives executive-branch appointees broad control over eligibility and procedures, allows opacity, blocks review of fund determinations, and lets leftover taxpayer money be redirected to another account chosen by the president.
That is not how neutral legal redress should be structured, but it is how one would design a political slush fund.
In addition, the settlement bars the federal government from prosecuting Trump or his two eldest sons for any tax case in the past, which is not only a preemptive pardon of sorts for any past financial crimes linked to taxes, but it likely saves Trump at least $100 million in IRS fines.
Not only is all of this grotesquely corrupt as a general matter, and clearly provides a gateway for any number of corrupt practices, such as using the fund to bribe, say, election officials and other political actors, it is clearly going to be used to further reward people who did violence in his name on January 6, 2021. As CNN reports: ‘This is long overdue’: Jan. 6 rioters and election deniers celebrate Trump’s $1.8 billion compensation fund.
Such a fund could be used to pay off rioters and insurrectionists who attempt to disrupt the midterms.
Ultimately, given the opacity of the process, what stops this group from giving anyone any amount of money for any reason as long as they file a “claim”?
All of this is truly staggering, but it is also the kind of thing that is hard to get people to understand, and worse, it all appears technically legal despite the obvious self-dealing of it all.
The US is a country that views reparations for descendants of its chattel slaves as a third rail — but elects a Putin-puppet who wants reparations-for-terrorists.
But who actually has standing to sue the right’s crooked Epstein Class slush fund? Capitol police? Congressional Democrats? Bleak outlook.
Some prominent J6 survivors (inc. Michael Fanone) have supposedly thus far declined to file civil suits. Potentially, they could still go after beneficiaries of Trump’s terrorist trust fund. D.C. dropped its civil suit against J6 organizers last year, saying the plaintiffs didn’t have enough assets to mine. If that changes, I’d hope D.C. would revive its claims.
How this (latest) outrage is handled is going to tell us exactly how weak or strong the left is.
Where are the players who are willing to start throwing legal challenges at this in-broad-daylight grift and theft? Are there enough financial resources and legal talent out there that can be marshalled to tie this thing up in court for a few years?
@DK: Congress in general, and the House in particular, can argue that this is a misappropriation of the money that is normally set aside to settle legitimate tort claims against the government. Further, section 4 of the 14th amendment can be invoked: “…neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States….”
Yes, the drafters had the Confederates in mind, but words have meaning, so let Roberts and his ilk parse their way through that one. I think the misappropriation argument is stronger, and it is heartening to see bipartisan nausea being expressed over this blatant corruption.
A couple of good cartoons at Digby’s place.
Legal delay seems the best we can hope for with our corrupt SCOTUS.
Like somebody said, the scandal isn’t the illegal things they do, the scandal is what’s legal.
The whole thing is completely outrageous. Sen. Tillis called it “stupid on stilts,” which is fitting.
If this manages to go forward, I want Democratic Leadership to put every Republican on notice that there WILL be a similar fund set up for ALLLLL of the people that the Trump administration has been persecuting/prosecuting.
So, find a reason to sue the govt. Drop the suit and “settle” with the Justice Department people you appointed (who think they work for you and not the people of the US). Rinse and repeat? It’s legal so why not. Why would any lame duck POTUS pass on this?
Steve
I wonder whether congress can stop this insanity, and whether it will.
What’s left is to run out the clock with legal challenges.
BTW, do compensation funds set up, properly, by the government usually come with expiration dates? I can see a case for it and against it. Overall, the fund should operate until all reasonable compensation is paid up or the money runs out.
Naturally in this case the expiration date is when El Taco would lose control over it anyway.
@Charley in Cleveland:
We won’t get honesty from Chief Justice John Crow and his judiciary’s konservative klown kar. Person means person not corporation, but our rightwing hack justicies still allowed corporate dark money into US elections. They rewrote the constitution to invent a right for every president named Trump to crime, for rightwing Christians to be exempt from the commerce clause etc.
If it gets to them and they strike it down, this won’t be because the Federalist Society suddenly starts caring more about the law than about its welfare queen billionaire donors. It’ll be because the Republican Party has decided the risks of co-signing Pedo Trump’s corrupt incompetence vastly outweigh any benefits Republicans can try to sell.
Like deliberately delaying the tariff ruling through 2025 to help Trump, before eventually ruling against him in 2026 to help the Republican Party.
Chief Justice Crow and his Klan are spineless. They will do what they’re told is best for the GOP at any particular moment. Why they suffer less democratic credibility than any US court in two centuries.
I think there is a good chance that this is explicitly to put money in the hands of the pardoned J6 freaks and try to get them to screw with either the elections or seating a new congress.
But maybe I’m just being optimistic in hoping we hit a breaking point sooner than later. I grow weary of the daily onslaught of corruption and authoritarianism.
It light of the actions of our corrupt SCOTUS members, the inaction of our cowardly Congress members, and the miserable grifting and undertakings of our back door king, it seems words crafted from a keyboard into the world wide web won’t remove the orange stain from our government, shared history, and collective souls. As we draw near to our nation’s 250th birthday, what would Henry, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Hancock, Madison, and Washington advise that we do now?
A little mocking guerilla theater is always good, if not just for the fun of it.
John Adams quote projected on DOJ building in protest of $1.8B fund
Also right over Trump’s criminal mugshot.