Yves here. In a too-rare success, popular uproar has stopped a particularly egregious Trump pilfering of the public purse. One can hope that we’ll see more Trump-wing clipping as his popularity and legitimacy implode.
By Brad Reed, staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams
President Donald Trump is reportedly dropping his effort to get Congress to sign off on creating a $1.8 billion slush fund for political allies amid furious public backlash.
A source described as a senior Trump administration official told Axios on Monday that the fund is “dead for now” after two federal judges last week weighed in against it, with one blocking any funds from being dispersed.
One source told Axios that the fund—which was set up to pay out allies who were allegedly unfairly prosecuted during former President Joe Biden’s tenure, including potentially hundreds of rioters who violently stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021—had “become a distraction” that was threatening the president’s broader legislative agenda.
“The president believes government was weaponized against people—it wasn’t just him,” the source claimed. “But this isn’t the time and vehicle for it.”
According to NOTUS politics reporter Reese Gorman, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) “helped convince” Trump to drop the fund for now during a conversation on Monday.
“The fund received significant backlash from Hill Republicans,” reported Gorman, “and a number of House Republicans were looking for ways to stop this fund from happening.”
The decision to drop the fund came as Democratic lawmakers have been lining legislation and amendments to derail it.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on Monday that his caucus wasn’t satisfied just with killing the current Trump slush fund, but wanted to bar him from trying to create another one in the future.
“If Trump and Republicans are truly abandoning this corrupt scheme, they should have zero problem banning it in law,” Schumer wrote in a social media post. “This week, Senate Democrats will push legislation to ban this slush fund and ensure no president can ever do this again. Trump’s word is nowhere near enough.”
Schumer’s comments were echoed by Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who also cast doubt on whether Trump had truly dropped his scheme.
“I don’t trust Trump’s word, and neither do the American people,” wrote Coons. “I’m looking forward to working with my Senate Democratic colleagues to permanently ban this slush fund. If Republicans in Congress are as opposed to this fund as they claim, they should have no problem joining us.”
The press office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential candidate who last week proposed a 100% tax on any California residents who received money from the Trump fund, celebrated its apparent demise.
“Days after Gavin Newsom challenged Trump’s J6 criminal slush fund and proposed a 100% tax on profits, Axios reports Trump pulled the plug,” the press office wrote. “Bullies fold when you hit back!”
Sens. Elisa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) on Monday introduced a new bill called the “Drain the Slush Fund Act,” which would bar taxpayer money from being paid to the “president, his associates, individuals convicted of crimes, or those involved in the January 6, 2021 insurrection.”
In announcing the legislation, Slotkin said the fund was the latest example of Trump using the government “as a piggy bank for himself and his allies.”
“This so-called… anti-weaponization fund is an unprecedented misuse of taxpayer money, and it must be stopped,” said Slotkin. “Our bill does just that. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents are crying out for the president to focus on the economy and lowering their costs.”
In the House of Representatives, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) teamed with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) introducedsimilar legislation aimed at blocking the fund.
“Congress must call out what we know is morally wrong,” Suozzi wrote in a social media post announcing the legislation. “The checks and balances of our democracy and the will of the American public hold us accountable to that standard.”
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, said that the reported decision to drop the fund was good news, but warned against overlooking other toxic policies being pushed by the president and his GOP allies in a new budgetreconciliation package.
“As important as taking out this disgusting policy is,” said Gilbert, “we must not let it be an excuse to green light the massive increases to [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] funding embedded in the reconciliation bill.”
Legal advocacy group Democracy Forward, which has filed lawsuits aimed at blocking the fund’s implementation, said it would continue pressing its case until it was sure that the president’s plan was truly dead.
“Until the administration fully abandons the scheme, it’s beyond dispute that it will not recur, and our clients’ harm is remedied, we will be in court challenging it,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward. “We look forward to the government’s response to the courts and to our filings, and to prevailing on behalf of our clients.”
Huh. $5/gal gas now. A public backlash to a billion dollar private T slush fund from tax dollars. A public who he recently claimed not to care about the financial distress they are experiencing?
Furious public backlash? I’m shocked, shocked…..
“I was going to give you lots of money but they took it off you. They are the enemy” works again.
“I don’t think about American’s financial situation during Iran talks.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3zFgIEEVIA
Only when preaching to the choir.
Those lazy welfare queens need to shut the familyblog up and get their lazy perditious “entitlement mentality” asses back to work. Don’t say it in a joking manner. Say it like the dumb _____ you’re talking to is not only on YOUR clock, but hasn’t done a lick of work for you all day AND owes you money besides. That would seem to describe traitor Collins’ relationship to her electorate quite well.
It is nice to see something working for the masses, however minimally. Congress needs to go one step further and eliminate the reason this was imagined in the first place. I thought it was a requirement for lawsuits to involve a plaintiff and a defendant at odds over an issue.
It’s absolutely insane trump’s DOJ sued trump’s IRS and they settled that suit with this facade and an injunction to prevent future suits against the trump cabal/mafia.
Citizen Trump sued the IRS, he was in control of both sides of the case. The other egregious settlement of the case was that the IRS (already de-fanged as it is) pledged to not investigate his, or his families, tax returns ever again. Where are the Congress Critters’ comments on this?
Because said Critters™ pipe up after the outrage below doesn’t make me like them all that much more anyway. The outrage from below, of the systems’ inherent corruption needs to broaden and deepen.
Exactly. Watching one of the major network news show last night they reported on this with zero mention about Trump getting a forever pass from the IRS if this went through. I mentioned to my better half that that part of the agreement was an even bigger outrage and that’s why the MSM sucks for not even including that atrocity in its reporting.
The IRS amnesty is all that this was ever about — in fact Trump’s entire second term was quite evidently specifically sought in order to make the tax issues go away. Trump is one vast (literally and figuratively) tax scam. He will do literally anything — including setting up his former pal Jeffrey Epstein to be murdered — in order to avoid paying taxes.
At this point the back taxes and penalties must far exceed his net worth. He threw a $1.8 billion dollar bone at his base in the hopes that they’d look the other way when confronted with his crass self-dealing. I’m frankly surprised that a few Republicans found their spines and complained.