This story appeared in The Logoffa daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news rule your life. Register here.
Welcome to The Logoff: Last week, we wrote about President Donald Trump’s plan to create a almost $2 billion slush fund spending taxpayers’ money. Today, he made it happen.
What’s the latest? On Monday, the Department of Justice he announced $1.776 billion “Anti-Weapons Fund” as part of a settlement with Trump, who previously sued the IRS for $10 billion over leaking tax returns.
The fund is intended to compensate “victims of law and order,” a group that could include people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
According to the DOJ, “The fund will consist of five members appointed by” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is also Trump’s former personal attorney. Trump will be able to fire any member of the five at will.
What did the government accept again? The DOJ said in a press release that, along with ending his IRS suit, Trump would step down two administrative claims to demand $230 million from the government over the 2016 investigation into his presidential campaign and the subsequent FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago estate.
What else Trump gets from the agreement is not clear, but there is more – the DOJ website insists that the new “Fund” is “only part of the settlement agreement.”
What is the context? Trump and his allies have already benefited greatly from his second term, but the corruption of his administration is reaching new heights. Another example from this week: his very busy interest in stock trading.
what is the main picture? As Tad DeHaven wrote for Vox earlier this yearTrump has long pushed to “create voluntary money pools and increase regulatory benchmarks that can be used to reward, punish, and mandate, all the while trying to circumvent legal and constitutional restrictions.”
This fund is an example of that impulse: a large fund of taxpayers’ money that he can do with partners as he sees fit, managed by an (acting) attorney general loyal to him personally.
And so, it’s time to leave…
One of the goals of this journal is to respect your time and brain space when it feels like there is too much information to keep track of. Hopefully we’re succeeding at that – but if you still feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day, you can turn to my colleague Bryan Walsh, who wrote about how to mine free time you may not even know you had. (As usual, it is gift link.)
Have a great evening, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!
