Bless his lil' heart, Acting AG Todd Blanche met with Republican lawmakers Thursday morning to address their concerns about a DOJ settlement that would distribute $1.8 billion to people who claim they were targeted by government overreach. As John Amato notes, this is a crime in broad daylight, and "Blanche claims Trump wasn't part of creating the fund, but that is not plausible or credible." Yeah, we can clearly see what they're doing.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said his caucus wants Blanche to walk them through how the fund would actually operate and what guardrails would be in place. The DOJ declined to comment. The outcome of the meeting could prove pivotal for the GOP's roughly $72 billion budget package, which Republicans are racing to get to Trump's desk before the week is out, Bloomberg reports.
Though the bill is chiefly designed to boost funding for immigration enforcement agencies, an early version also sets aside roughly $1.46 billion for the DOJ. On a separate front, Republicans appear poised to cut a $1 billion Secret Service allocation that the agency had earmarked in part for massive "security upgrades" to the massive ballroom Trump wants to build to replace the White House's destroyed East Wing.
The Cop Killer Slush Fund is a slap in the face to every decent taxpaying American, and to the officers who defended the Capitol on Jan 6th when a mob of Trump supporters tried to overturn a fair election at the direction of the president.
As Newshound Ellen reported, a lawsuit was filed in federal court, brought by Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol Police officer, and Daniel Hodges, who currently serves with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department. The suit charges Trump, Blanche, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent with violating the constitutional ban on using federal money to compensate those who engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States. The officers further contend that the fund itself is unlawful, alleging that the three officials sought to redirect $2 billion in taxpayer money not for the public good, but to benefit Trump's allies and those who carried out violence on his behalf.
The alleged law-and-order party isn't very law-and-order-y, are they? Republicans aren't too happy with the slush fund, and that's not surprising since the midterm elections are right around the corner, while this administration is robbing taxpayers to pay off criminals.
UPDATE: The Senate and House just adjourned with no votes on reconciliation and none happening now until June. This, after this happened:
