Trump announces brazen $1.7 billion 'settlement' through his new Ministry of Grift
So, the president sues himself, settles the suit with himself, and we pay for it--all done through the so-called Department of Justice. Time for a name change.
"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.”
— Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee
By J.C. Bruce
In George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, the Ministry of Truth tells lies, the Ministry of Peace conducts war, and the Ministry of Love engages in torture.
President Donald Trump today proved that reality is stranger than fiction with a monumental and transparently self-serving grift that would make even Orwell blush.
He sued himself, settled the lawsuit with himself, and has now awarded himself $1.7 billion dollars straight from the U.S. Treasury that all of us as taxpayers have paid into.
He’s doing it through his Department of Justice—which he runs through his personal stooge, Todd Blanche—and which henceforth should be known as the Ministry of Grift.
He’s looting the Treasury in broad daylight and tries to justify it through the pack of lies he continuously yammers about. You know: the court-authorized search by the FBI of Mar-a-Lago was illegal, the investigation into Russian influence in his first election—which was amply demonstrated—was a witch hunt, the rioters he pardoned who tried to overthrow the government on Jan. 6, 2021, were innocent tourists.
All Orwell-speak.
There will be lawsuits, of course, and attempts to block this travesty.
A Miami federal judge earlier threw a monkey wrench into the scheme Trump and Blanche concocted by challenging Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. Why? Because that pesky Constitution doesn’t allow presidents to sue themselves. Meaning when you run the government, you can’t sue your own government.
Caught with his Depends down, Trump and his loyal minion Blanche quickly worked out a deal, asked the court earlier today to drop the lawsuit, and announced the settlement, all while most of us were barely squeezing in time for lunch.
Trump’s lawyers suggested in their court filing that the deal should not be reviewable by the judge—Kathleen Williams of Miami.
Cute. And we’ll see what the judge has to say about that.
But Democrats in Congress certainly aren’t buying it. A coalition of 93 House Democrats has filed a motion to block the deal.
In essence, Trump sued because he claims he and his business interests were damaged by the improper release of his tax returns to the news media by a subcontractor working for the IRS.
There’s no question that release was illegal, but $10 billion? And exactly—other than the public finally got to see how he dodged taxes for years—was he actually harmed by the government?
In any event, Judge Williams had set a deadline of May 20 for Trump and his Justice Department to explain how a guy overseeing a government department can sue that same department without it being self-dealing. More technically, under the Constitution, courts exist to settle disputes. There has to be a disagreement.
But there was never any disagreement here and Judge Williams caught them cold. At that point, their only way out of the legal sinkhole they dug for themselves was to “settle.”
Some settlement.
The money, the DOJ announced today, would go to an “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” the absurd notion being that when prosecutors go after people they suspect of criminal activity, it’s not justice, it’s “weaponization.”
I can just imagine Al ”Scarface” Capone or John Gotti whining about how unfairly they were treated by a “weaponized” federal government that had the audacity to pick on mobsters.
That was the old mob. This is the new. The Orwell Gang.
I do wonder: If this fund somehow manages to clear all the legal hurdles, will James Comey and Letitia James and John Bolton—all victims of the DOJ’s efforts to persecute Trump’s political enemies—be eligible for reimbursement?
Related:
Justice Department announces a $1.7 billion ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ to compensate Trump allies
Trump may ‘settle’ lawsuit against himself by creating a slush fund worth $1.7 billion
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J.C. Bruce
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It so utterly despicable, and deplorable... there are just not enough words to describe the depths to which our country has fallen...
He will bankrupt the US Treasury. He has nearly three years to do it.