r/moderatepolitics 18h ago

News Article Trump reconsidering $1.8 billion fund, AP source says, as Justice Department temporarily pauses it

https://apnews.com/article/trump-justice-fund-jan6-capitol-riot-39b193211349b42e6218c5a1007785c9
187 Upvotes

48 comments sorted by

183

u/nickman7896 The Remnant 17h ago

It doesn't change the settlement itself where he basically gave a civil pardon to himself and his family. Seems like this part is less talked about but just as if not more outrageous.

110

u/ChipperHippo Classical Liberal 17h ago

Not just a pardon, but a de facto exemption from having to follow US tax law.

33

u/Xanto97 Elephant and the Rider 14h ago

To be clear, they do need to pay taxes in the future. Supposedly.

They just can’t be audited for past years

-9

u/[deleted] 15h ago

[deleted]

6

u/Yankee9204 14h ago

I don’t really disagree, but then they did he have this clause added?

1

u/[deleted] 14h ago

[deleted]

5

u/Se7en_speed 7h ago

I would argue this "settlement" is a criminal act of embezzlement to avoid paying taxes owed.

18

u/The_GOATest1 16h ago

I’d have to imagine that gets challenged and struck down. It such an insane stance

u/ryegye24 5h ago

It didn't work when Epstein tried the same thing with his secret sweetheart deal with the DOJ from his 2006 charges (an agreement he made with US Attorney Alexandar Acosta, who Trump made Secretary of Labor in his first term, what a coincidence!)

https://apnews.com/article/9054a8384520479aa3c36454b00cdf06

30

u/NativeMasshole Maximum Malarkey 17h ago

The only reason this is news is because the rest of the party didn't just rubber stamp it, as per usual. Probably almost entirely because gas prices are high going into midterms.

16

u/Se7en_speed 16h ago

It's de facto giving him a check from the US treasury. By exempting himself from having to pay the proper amount of tax.

It's absolutely corrupt but it doesn't have a flashy number attached to it, although I wouldn't be surprised if that number was close to the 1.8 billion.

u/Solarwinds-123 57m ago

What makes you think he isn't going to have to pay taxes?

u/Se7en_speed 23m ago

He was under audit for many of his past years taxes. The reason these audits haven't been resolved is that the IRS is saying he owes more in taxes, and he is disputing that through legal representatives.

But barring the IRS from continuing those audits means that he won't be required to pay the right amount in taxes. What he would pay is whatever he felt like paying those years, not what was actually owed. 

6

u/jabberwockxeno 16h ago

Is there anybody who has standing to challenge that part of it?

62

u/ChipperHippo Classical Liberal 17h ago edited 17h ago

I don't think changing or removing the agreement at this point changes any of the pertinent material facts to this point. It doesn't change that the court is demanding answers on whether or not the Trump administration attempted to defraud the courts.

This has to be completely in response to internal machinations in the Senate that are only loosely being reported on (namely: the 20-25 Republicans who were yelling at Blanche last week and the reported dozen or so threatening to stall legislation).

Of everything that has happened so far with 47's term, this is the one that I think is most likely to kick off impeachment hearings next year. It's not just patently but also importantly simply corrupt to a level that I don't believe we've seen in any other presidency in the history of this country.

42

u/limpbizkit6 16h ago

simply corrupt to a level that I don’t believe we’ve seen in any other presidency in this history of this country

It’s ok we can drop the caveats. It’s manifestly corrupt to a degree that is unparalleled in America history, full stop.

35

u/blindexhibitionist 16h ago

It’s not 1.8billion. It’s 1.776billion. Why does this matter? Because it’s all performative bullshit that has zero bit of actual care or thought behind it.

8

u/jason_sation 7h ago

A yougov poll says only 32% of maga voters support this fund. It’s another losing issue for Republican voters, and this is an off ramp for the Trump admin. link to article about poll

25

u/ilikedomos 18h ago

Report is coming out that the Trump administration has agreed to temporarily halt a controversial $1.776 billion compensation "Anti-Weaponization Fund," following a federal court order. Trump may potentially just drop the entire fund too based on what people seem to be saying.

From the announcement of the fund, there has been backlash by both sides of the aisle regarding the fund leading to Senate has paused passing funding for Trump's immigration enforcement. Republicans, seem to either want a limitation on the fund, like who can be a recipient, or to scrap it altogether.

According to the reporting there seems to be some uncertainty regarding whether the Trump Administration and the DOJ is actually dropping the fund, or if they're just putting a pause on it until say the funding is voted on.

The decision to pause seems to have been made after US District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a ruling with a hearing scheduled for June 12 on whether to extend the order or not.

  • Do we think the Trump Administration will actually drop the fund issue or will they actually provide a full framework of how oversight for the fund will be managed?

  • Do we think this is more of a situation where Trump is just creating the media news knowing full well that it was going to be hindered by the courts?

  • Another interesting point is, will the agreement for the IRS no longer being able to audit Trumps, his family and other associates prior returns still hold?

In some ways reminds me of the Biden Student Loan situation where it was well known the likelihood of such an action was never going to succeed, but it provided at least the guise of "we tried guys but the courts stopped us!"

24

u/Goodolddays95 17h ago
  1. I think they’ll just drop it, but I’ve seen crazier things happen. If they provide a framework, I think it’ll be a bunch of jumbled mess
  2. I think it’s just media circus
  3. I truly can’t see a world in which this happens. Technically, the IRS is able to audit anyone. By saying that you’re exempt from auditing by holding the president status is really retroactively going against the institution framework of the IRS doing their work against all Americans. However, do I think they’re gonna recognize this? Who knows.

13

u/CloudApprehensive322 15h ago

My gut says that Trump brings back the fund the second the reconciliation bill funding Border Patrol and ICE passes the Senate. Trump doesn't care about the optics at all - his entire attention span is on his big birthday party/250th anniversary celebration, the ballroom, and the monuments with his name being illegally constructed.

The man has not shown an iota of concern towards the things voters actually care about - inflation, housing costs, health insurance, housing, AI destroying jobs, or a host of issues that cause the average voter to worry about on a daily basis.

13

u/Frosty_Ad7840 17h ago edited 15h ago

Then you realize all those rich fuckers that got their covid business loans forgiven, some of them in congress as well

10

u/catonsteroids 15h ago

Pepperidge Farm remembers the PPP “loans” (more like “gift”). Congress just shrugged and wrote it off.

8

u/Frosty_Ad7840 15h ago

Which is why I think its hilarious people didnt want student loan forgiveness, meanwhile they throw a fit about that but shrug off the the ppp loans being forgiven

2

u/ghostofwalsh 15h ago

will the agreement for the IRS no longer being able to audit Trumps

I am actually curious what the details of this agreement are. I thought it was just an agreement to close audits of past returns

22

u/Careful_Farmer_2879 17h ago

It’s being quietly blocked by Senate Republicans. This and some other major stuff. It will not be overt or flashy.

They know Trump is a lame duck and are looking past him. He’s going to keep doing crazy shit, but the days of total unquestioned power are over.

When he can’t win, Trump saves face.

37

u/CantCreateUsernames 17h ago edited 17h ago

the days of total unquestioned power are over.

This seems premature to claim, at least until the midterm results. Trump is very much still a demi-god allowed to exist above the bounds of the US Constitution to the majority of GOP voters, and whatever comes out of his mouth has massive sway on what conservatives choose to believe or not. GOP candidates still often need his blessing to help get elected. There have always been random occasions when there is actually enough internal pushback that makes him change tactics, but it has not reached the point when Trump is a crazy old man yelling at clouds that GOP politicians can ignore. Trump continued to have massive sway after he was out of office the first time (even after Jan 6), and he will continue to have sway until the day he dies or disappears from public life.

2

u/Careful_Farmer_2879 16h ago

He was a demigod. Now they quietly block things behind the scenes until he goes away.

The midterms matter, but he’s done in two years no matter what. No one is going to “bend the rules” for another run.

8

u/ilikedomos 16h ago

I think when we look at recent primaries, it’s hard to ignore the sway he still has in the Republican primary system right now. As the primaries clear out there may be more vocal opposition, but at this point I don’t think it’s far fetched to say that he still has a fairly strong grip on the party.

I do think it’ll be interesting to see what happens once the midterms are over how much of a grip he’s able to retain on the party.

11

u/oath2order Maximum Malarkey 17h ago

Hopefully this is the start of dumping him. Loyalty means nothing (Cassidy, Cornyn).

-1

u/whyneedaname77 16h ago

I wonder if they said you can have the ballroom or the fund that they will fight for. He choose the ballroom.

3

u/Appropriate_Start843 12h ago

Translation: Were using a new mechanism

u/Turbulent-Raise4830 5h ago

trump realizeing he cant easily give the money to himself, he doesnt trust his family so of course he wants the pardon AND the money

-6

u/Aggressive_Desk_9179 18h ago

Honestly good move by him to be able to go back on something and not always double down. This was a very unpopular move for both parties.

33

u/Moonshot_00 17h ago

Trump is graded on such a different curve from every other politician that we call it a “good move” for him to back away from his own self-engineered, blatant corruption.

41

u/KaffiKlandestine 18h ago

he will find a different way to get the funds just like with his ballroom

28

u/ilikedomos 17h ago

Amid the backlash, a person familiar with the matter, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the president’s thinking, said Monday that Trump was reconsidering whether to move forward with the fund.

To be fair, this isn't him backtracking yet. The reporting implies that he's considering it and there hasn't been a final decision yet made on what they're actually going to try to do with the fund.

I'm fairly certain if they want to, they could appeal the Judge's orders and let it go up the chain if they want.

So maybe we'll just have to wait until June 12 to see what the DOJ decides to do based on what Trump decides.

-2

u/Aggressive_Desk_9179 17h ago

Thanks for the clarification. So its just more white noise for now,.

14

u/Tao1764 16h ago

Not saying you're entirely wrong, but calling this a "good move" is a pretty depressing sign of how deep beneath the ground the bar for the current administration is at this point

14

u/Rufio69696969 15h ago

Ah yes, let’s give him credit for slightly walking back some of his unprecedented corruption

3

u/Reddit_Loves_Misinfo 6h ago edited 2h ago

The courts are the ones putting a stop to it. Why would you say Trump made a good move backing down when he did the exact opposite of backing down until someone else forced his hand?

-16

u/sfgf27 17h ago edited 13h ago

Trump needs to drop this.

J6ers that think they were treated unfairly can continue to seek civil court settlements (Ashley Babbitt’s family got $5 million & a class action suit is pending by several J6ers claiming excessive force/emotional distress)- similar to how scores of George Floyd rioters & protesters received $80-100 million in payouts so far from cities like Denver & NYC.

22

u/CloudApprehensive322 15h ago

Those payouts by the Trump administration were also blatantly corrupt. You don't get to ignore multiple warnings from capital police who are actively protecting leaders of congress while breaking into locked facilities and expect nothing to happen. The other J6ers were convicted in court by juries under mountains of evidence.

-3

u/sfgf27 12h ago

I agree with you. My point was that J6ers can sue for damages for any perceived injustices just like George Floyd rioters did. This is America after all, the lawsuit capital of the world. They should not be given any of our tax $s by Trump.

15

u/kranelegs 14h ago

Calling those similar situations is absolutely ridiculous. BLM protesters were not pardoned of their crimes, their crimes did not come close to seditious conspiracy, which some J6rs did for the first time since the world trade bomber (not the planes but a decade earlier than that). Also those awarded were part of a subset of protests that had been subjected to police escalation and/or unlawful arrests which did not result in charges for a majority of them. Also it was $13 million in NYC meant to pay off a class action suit instead of facing potentially far larger compensation.

-10

u/sfgf27 12h ago

Hate to break it to you but half of America (including a good chunk of independents like me and 15% of dems) view J6 as a riot and not an insurrection.

And you’re probably right that it’s ridiculous to compare J6 to the George Floyd riots which caused billions of $s in damage including federal buildings damaged and a police station burned down. Not to mention the 2 dozen people killed.

For the record I loathe the J6 knuckleheads for the riot and disagreed with the blanket pardons for J6ers.

13

u/Terratoast 11h ago

Hate to break it to you but half of America (including a good chunk of independents like me and 15% of dems) view J6 as a riot and not an insurrection.

What people *believe* has no bearing on the facts. The J6 individuals attacked the capitol because they believed the lies told by Trump and wanted to prevent the votes from being certified.

The George Floyd protests happened because people were upset that the police murdered someone. Accountability is important and more-so for people in a position of power like a police officer.

15

u/kranelegs 12h ago edited 12h ago

You care about property damage that included a Boogaloo boi who helped destroy the 3rd precinct station, which I have lived in the district. not to mention other provocateurs.

Thinking you are independent given the swing in the Overton window this second admin is confounding but I digress. I disagree with your assessment but will respect your viewpoint.

Edit: I respect the civility of this discussion, thank you. (Also edited grammar)

0

u/sfgf27 12h ago edited 12h ago

Fair point there were some right leaning bad actors during the GF riots. Respect your opinions as well.

u/ThatPeskyPangolin 3h ago

The view doesn't really matter. It was done in conjunction with the False Elector Plot as an attempted auto coup per their own words in their own documentation. Their perception is based on an incomplete understanding of events.