During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin moved to subpoena acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, IRS CEO Frank Bisignano and Treasury General Counsel Brian Morrissey to question them about the creation of Donald Trump’s nearly $2 billion slush fund.
Republicans just barely blocked it. The vote was 18-17, Scott MacFarlane reported, and “Republicans had to buy time & scramble to get more Republicans into the room” to get there.
While he was at it, Raskin and Rep. Richard Neal, Ways and Means Committee ranking member, also wrote to Bessent, Blanche and Bisignano notifying them that both Democrats will seek all documents and communications related to the slush fund. “Never in American history has a President pursued corruption this brazenly or on such a colossal scale,” the letter said.
The two Congressmen noted that Bessent will appear before the Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, May 27. They want the documents by then as well as answers to a number of questions, including, “Why are there no provisions in the Settlement Agreement that expressly prohibit or bar Members of the Commission, elected leaders, or their businesses, or Trump affiliated businesses, from filing and receiving monetary awards from the Fund?”
With the price of gas skyrocketing along with the costs of other necessities, a $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded gift to Trump to dole out to his cronies or maybe his businesses – after repeatedly declaring he doesn’t care about Americans’ finances – is hardly a good look for the GOP in the upcoming midterms.
But will enough of them really have the spine to oppose this latest bit of Trump corruption?
We’ll see.
