President Trump's $600 million sweetheart settlement with his own Justice Department is a stew of political corruption — the abuse of public office for illegitimate private gain. A great federal judge I often appeared before aptly stressed that official corruption gives 'comfort to the cynic and weakens the faith of the believer.' There is a certain symbiosis between corruption and violence: There was in the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021, and there is right now. It should come as no surprise that, within the last month, three apparently crazy people have opened fire in Trump's vicinity.
What Trump has done far outstrips anything in history. Never has a president sued himself and won. Trump and his family bring a meritless lawsuit for $10 billion against the government for unauthorized disclosure of his tax returns. Trump drops the case because the lawsuit is about to be dismissed. Then, in a purported 'settlement' Trump has his captive Justice Department create a $1.776 billion 'revenge fund' over which he has complete control to dole out taxpayers' money without any meaningful oversight. Trump's number profanes the events of 1776. The fund will distribute to people needing revenge, potentially including convicted criminals like the Proud Boys and pardoned Jan. 6 rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election.
Then, in an addendum to the deal, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — who is salivating to drop 'acting' from his job description — gratuitously executed a general release that bars the Justice Department from 'prosecuting or pursuing' audits of Trump or 'related or affiliated individuals' which arise out of 'any matters currently pending or that could be pending' before the IRS 'or other agencies or departments.' The Justice Department later said, 'This is only with respect to existing audits, not future,' but that's not what the language says.
It is the scam of scams. This agreement is not a settlement of Trump's case against the IRS. A settlement is the resolution of a pending dispute. Trump withdrew his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS for damages after a contractor leaked his and others' tax information, after the judge assigned to the case indicated that the case could not move forward since Trump cannot sue himself. In her order dismissing the Trump lawsuit, Judge Kathleen Williams noted that because Trump's dropping of the suit 'does not reference any settlement or include a stipulation of settlement, there is no settlement of record.'
Williams was not the only critic of the giveaway. 'There is a glaring conflict of interest with Trump being on both sides of the claim,' said Ed Whelan, the conservative legal commentator and former Justice Department lawyer who once clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. A leaked IRS memo argued that the agency should fight Trump's lawsuit. It noted that the statute of limitations had expired, and that the Justice Department has previously posited that people cannot sue the IRS for the actions of a contractor. Trump was under IRS investigation for multi-year double-dipping of tax breaks. In this bogus settlement, Blanche has ensured that investigation must cease, declaring such investigations a 'weaponization' of the law.
The purported settlement agreement is a sham. And, even if it's a settlement, it is a settlement too far. True, it says piously that Trump and his older sons, who also brought (and dropped) the lawsuit, 'will receive a formal apology from the U.S. but will not receive any monetary payment or damages of any kind.' But that's not all. As Forbes uncovered, the tax immunity Blanche extended to the Trumps could save them more than $600 million on the estimated $1.4 billion they made in 2025 from crypto and licensing ventures, and on the $100 million hanging over him from a previous tax bill.
When Blanche testified before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, facing senators for the first time since taking over, he refused even to rule out paying money to January 6 insurrectionists who actually attacked police officers. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) observed that 'an individual … after being pardoned by the president went on to molest two children. That person actually tried to buy the silence of these children by saying that he would pay them some of the funds that he was hoping to get from your slush fund. … I find that obscene.'
Trump and Blanche are working both sides of the street, and it's all about money and power. The Sermon on the Mount includes the admonition that 'no one can serve two masters.' But don't expect the courts to do anything about this shady deal any too soon. Although some future Justice Department could renounce the release on grounds of fraud if it wished to go after the Trumps for back taxes, there is that pesky legal doctrine known as standing. That means there must be a case or controversy for the court to act. Here, the only persons aggrieved appear to be the American people, and they would not have legal standing to raise the issue. Meanwhile, Trump's approval rating has dwindled to 39 percent — the lowest of his second term. For more on the political fallout, see GOP senators revolt as Blanche's DOJ stumbles over Trump's $1.8B slush fund and RNC Chair Gruters defends Trump's slipping approval as endorsed candidates win primaries.
