President Donald J. Trump….
A Convicted Criminal….
Works to send taxpayer money to Other convicted criminals…..
Crime pays with Donald….
He’s got a $1.8 Billion ‘slush fund’ at his disposal…..
Two days before Senate lawmakers were scheduled to vote on advancing Todd Blanche’s nomination to serve as attorney general, a million-dollar payout was announced for an anti-abortion activist he has called a victim of government weaponization by the Biden administration.
The settlement given to Paul Vaughn, who was convicted by a Tennessee jury in 2024 of conspiring to prevent access to an abortion clinic, shows how the goal of a $1.8 billion fund announced in May can continue, despite a public retreat by Mr. Blanche. An already existing avenue for disbursing taxpayer money could allow him to assuage skeptical Republicans while fulfilling President Trump’s desire to pay people he believes were wronged by the Justice Department.
Mr. Vaughn will receive a seven-figure settlement from the government, his lawyers said, making him among those aligned with the administration who have received a payout by an alternative means.
Since 1870, the Justice Department has handled claims for civil compensation against the federal government. Such claims can be filed through public lawsuits, or privately through forms sent directly to the department….
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The continuing ability of the department to make such payouts with or without a formal fund structure is one of the sticking points between the Trump administration and Republican senators as they weigh the nomination of Mr. Blanche, currently the acting attorney general.
A single “no” vote by a Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee could stall or sink his nomination.
Senator John Cornyn of Texas has voiced the loudest concerns, signaling his dissatisfaction with the assurances provided by Mr. Blanche and the administration. “They know what they have to do,” he posted on social media on Tuesday…
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In May, the Justice Department announced that it would resolve a lawsuit from Mr. Trump demanding at least $10 billion from the I.R.S. by establishing a fund intended to compensate his supporters, raising the possibility that taxpayer money could be funneled to Jan. 6 rioters. A related provision barred the I.R.S. from pursuing audits of past tax returns of Mr. Trump and his relatives.
Mr. Blanche publicly defended the fund as necessary for “victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.” Democrats called it a brazen slush fund meant to steer huge sums of taxpayer dollars to the president’s supporters.
Despite his public retreat, Mr. Blanche has resisted providing a written guarantee to the courts or Congress that the fund will not come back in some form.
Two weeks ago, Judge Kathleen M. Williams of Federal District Court in the Southern District of Florida, wrote that she was “extremely troubled” by Mr. Blanche’s answers to the Senate about the fund…..