Todd Blanche Says We Support Trump's Slush Fund
Yesterday, in an interview with CNN’s Paula Reid, the acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, was asked about whether the slush fund we’ve been discussing the last few days, the $1.776B “settlement” from Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, would be used to reward Trump’s allies and supporters, including violent Jan. 6 offenders. “Whether the commissioners will give that person money – that claimant – it’s up to them,” Blanche said, “But that’s one of the factors they have to consider.” He added that Trump “does not stand for assaulting law enforcement.”
Of course, Trump pardoned January 6 defendants who did just that, including the well-documented assault on Officer Michael Fanone. Fanone has filed a lawsuit to stop the giveaways. Overall, Trump pardoned more than 1,200 participants in the insurrection. That group includes a man who assaulted Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick and pled guilty to assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon. It also includes a man who hit a police officer with a metal baton and a man who attacked police with a fire extinguisher, a wooden plank, and a pole. Some were convicted by juries. Some pled guilty. These are Trump’s people, the people he now wants to reward with taxpayers’ money.
But Blanche wasn’t done playing fast and loose with the truth with the obviously false claim that Trump “does not stand for assaulting law enforcement,” given the record. He had more. He is, after all, auditioning for the nomination to be the permanent AG, not just the acting. Blanche told reporters the outrage at the fund is “fake” because no one has applied for or received money yet. “There’s nothing to be outraged about,” he emphasized.
Commissioners haven’t been chosen yet. The commission isn’t technically open for business. But CNN reported on Tuesday that former Trump administration official Michael Caputo had already filed a claim to the controversial $1.776 billion. Caputo isn’t alone. Blanche appeared to be wrong again.
Here’s part of the full exchange:
CNN: Wouldn’t the average taxpayer respond, “Why do my tax dollars now need to go to people who are upset about their involvement in investigations?”
Blanche: What American would say that is terrible? I do think the American people want their taxpayer dollars spent on things like that.
CNN: Would you be okay with people who were convicted of hurting police, getting taxpayer money?
Blanche: Just to be clear, people that hurt police get money all the time.
What do we make of Blanche channeling what we think? He says we don’t have issues with the slush fund. He says, “To the contrary, I think they do want their tax dollars spent on things like that.”
But do we? Do we really? I certainly don’t. And I’ve spent the last week explaining why.
The slush fund itself is bad enough, a way for Trump to pay off his faithful at taxpayer expense, perhaps even encouraging them to engage in future acts. Then there’s the question of Trump’s personal liability, which the settlement addenda we discussed last night cancels out. Reid asked Blanche about that, referencing a new New York Times report that Trump could owe as much as $100 million as a result of audits. “So are you saying,” Reid asked Blanche, “this is not an effort to help him avoid financial liability?”
Blanche had a ready answer: “That’s the definition of completely made up fake news, and then it becomes real news because they repeat it.” Of course, that’s not a denial, that’s a convoluted sideways attack.
I wrote this about Trump’s slush fund just last night: “The optics of this are so bad that it’s hard to believe Trump would expose himself to their consequences unless he really needed this deal. The protection it offers must be essential in some way we are as yet unaware of.” Now, we’re aware, given the New York Times report. And it fits. I continued last night: “The Supreme Court has already given Trump immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, but paying taxes, personal business transactions, and a whole host of other activities fall outside of the scope of that protection.”
Trump’s personal lawyer, who cosplays as the acting AG, didn’t have much to deflect the New York Times report with, other than calling it fake news.
Members of Congress don’t support Trump on this. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said he is “not a big fan” of the fund and Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who just lost his primary bid for reelection, is only one of the Republicans calling Trump’s plan an inappropriate “slush fund.”
But Blanche says Americans support Trump on this, no matter what members of his own party think. Do we? I’d like to hear your take on that claim from the acting Attorney General. Leave your thoughts in the chat.
We’re in this together,
Joyce