The Department of Justice has expanded its settlement agreement with President Trump over his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS by effectively ending all of the tax agency’s investigations into the president, his family and his companies.
On Monday, DOJ announced that as part of the settlement of the Trump suit, it is creating a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund designed to reimburse people who claim they were abused by the justice system, notably including Trump supporters under President Joe Biden. On Tuesday, the department quietly added a one-page addendum to the agreement that bars the United States from pursuing any and all pending investigations, including tax audits, into Trump, his relatives and his businesses.
Unlike the settlement agreement, which was signed by the head of the IRS, an associate attorney general and Trump’s lawyers, the addendum was signed solely by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s personal lawyer.
Blanche defends the deal: Appearing before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday, Blanche defended the settlement and the Justice Department’s new anti-weaponization fund. Democratic Sen. Jack Reed accused Blanche of acting as “the president’s consigliere” rather than the nation’s chief law enforcement officer and questioned the legality of the settlement.
“This all seems to be an obvious abuse of power by the Department of Justice, by the president,” Reed said. “He negotiated essentially with himself. You’re his appointee, the IRS are his appointees, he’s the plaintiff. And the American people, I don’t think, are surprised that suddenly all this money is going to his friends or people in his orbit.”
Blanche was asked by Democratic Sen. Chris Coons if people who stormed the Capitol on January 6 and were subsequently prosecuted — including members of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys who assaulted police officers — would be eligible for payments from the anti-weaponization fund.
“Anybody can apply,” Blanche said. “The commissioners will set rules, I’m sure. That’s not for me to set, that’s for the commissioners. And whether an individual, an Oath Keeper, as you just mentioned, applies for compensation, anybody in this country can apply.”
IRS thought it could win: Convinced they could prevail in court, IRS lawyers reportedly sent a 25-page memo on the case to the Justice Department outlining the flaws in Trump’s case and encouraging DOJ officials to dismiss the case.
“The existence of the internal memo, which has not been previously reported, shows that the Trump administration disregarded readily available defenses to a lawsuit filed by the president against an agency he controls,” says Andrew Duehren of The New York Times. “While the Justice Department has said that Mr. Trump will not receive money from the new fund, critics have slammed the arrangement as a corrupt attempt at paying Mr. Trump’s political supporters, including, potentially, those who were convicted and later pardoned for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”
Republicans also raise concerns: Concerns about possible corruption are bubbling up all over Washington, and not just from Democrats or government watchdogs. On Monday, the general counsel at the Treasury Department resigned, though he provided no explanation for the move. Some Republican lawmakers, however, explicitly named their concerns.
“I’ve got more questions than I’ve heard answers for,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski said after the hearing with Blanche. “I don’t know enough about it to feel comfortable.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he is “not a big fan” of the payment fund. “I think that there are, and will continue to be, a lot of questions around that, that the administration is going to have to answer,” he said at a news conference.
Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s staunchest supporters, said lawmakers need more information about the fund. “Conceptually, I understand what he’s trying to do, but I don’t know,” Graham said. “I think we need to ask more questions.”
In the House, Republican Rep. Don Bacon said an outside authority may need to get involved. “We have the claimant negotiating with the defense, and the claimant also happens to be the boss of the defense,” he said. “It appears like conflict of interest and a partial process. The White House should bring in an independent arbitrator to protect itself from accusations.”