Dem
47
GOP
53
We look forward to the day when we have a functioning and non-corrupt government and we don't have yet another item about the grift from a guy whose biggest priority is profiting from the presidency and ripping off American taxpayers. That day is not today.
Specifically, we have an update on the $1.8 billion slush fund and all-purpose immunity deal Donald Trump directed the IRS and his lawyer, and possible permanent attorney general, Todd Blanche, to set up.
A couple of former federal prosecutors who were fired by Trump for doing their jobs sued to stop the slush fund on the grounds that it was discriminatory and would only be used to reward Trump's allies. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from setting up the fund. She agreed that Trump's recent statements to the press cast doubt on whether the fund was truly canceled. She said that the DoJ needed to submit a declaration signed by both Scott Bessent, the head of the Treasury Department, and Blanche within a week in order to get the injunction lifted.
Interestingly, the judge took the unusual step of reading from a brief criticizing the fund submitted by two Senators, Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA). "A scheme deliberately designed to recast insurrectionists—including those who perpetrated violence against law enforcement officers—as victims and legitimate prosecutions as persecution does not merely rewrite history," the judge read from the bench. "It creates incentives for similar conduct in the future, with the explicit encouragement of the officials responsible for administering justice."
It seems the judge was right to be concerned about whether the fund would resurface in some other form. Reports have surfaced about a "debanking probe" conducted by the DoJ, targeting certain banks they claim improperly closed accounts of Jan. 6 rioters. Apparently, administration officials want to use any fines collected from that probe to compensate the insurrectionists. One gets the distinct impression that this slush fund will become a game of whack-a-mole—there's no telling where and in what form it will pop up next.
The judge's order only affects the slush fund, not Trump's IRS immunity deal. The court noted that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami is scrutinizing all aspects of the deal as part of an investigation into whether the lawsuit that was the impetus for the fund, and the broad grant of immunity to Trump, his family and his businesses was "premised on deception" and a fraud on the court. That process is ongoing. (L)