The Department of Justice has permanently abandoned plans for a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization compensation fund created to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump against the Internal Revenue Service, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified to a House panel on Tuesday.
But Trump, his family members and related business entities remain protected from tax audits and enforcement actions in connection with tax returns filed before last month’s out-of-court settlement of his lawsuit, Blanche told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies.
So he can cheat with impunity. What a splendid system we have here.
Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s criminal defense attorney, personally signed off on the DOJ’s May 19 addendum to the settlement of the lawsuit that gave Trump and his family that protection, a day after the deal was announced.
The addendum also bars the DOJ from prosecuting Trump and the others for cases that would be based on “Lawfare and/or Weaponization,” without defining what those terms mean or what alleged conduct by the targets could entail.
Never you mind what those terms mean. Trump will let you know what they mean when he takes advantage of them.
“We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Blanche told Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the subcommittee. But he later refused to put that promise in writing despite telling Meng that the DOJ would never relaunch the fund.
Therefore there is no need to put the promise in writing.
Critics of the fund said that the DOJ’s statement did not make clear whether the department had dropped any plans for the fund.
Those critics, who include Republican senators, opposed the fund because of the lack of legislative oversight over the fund, and concerns that it would pay people convicted of attacking police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
Well yes, those are concerns. Look at the pretty butterfly.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., fumed at Blanche after he told her he would not rescind the addendum that granted Trump and his relatives protection from regulatory or legal enforcement actions related to their past returns.
“Simply put, you just gave the president’s family a tax immunity to the tune of about $100 million,” DeLauro said, referring to the amount that The New York Times last month estimated could be the tax liability that Trump would have faced under a previously pending IRS audit.
Blanche replied: “Not true.”
DeLauro continued, “Well, yes, you have, my friend,” over his objections.
“You know, look, and I just want to say this: the Save America PAC [political action committee controlled by Trump] paid you nearly $10 million between March of 2024 and December of 2024 to serve as President Trump’s personal defense attorney,” she said.
Well by golly they got their money’s worth!
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