The New York Times highlighted a telling detail about President Donald Trump's intent for his $1.776 billion political slush fund.
The newspaper's editorial board published a scathing opinion column Wednesday blasting the Justice Department's establishment of the fund as part of a settlement of the president's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, which the editors warned would be used to "reward loyalists willing to defy the law and commit violence on behalf of the president."
"The fund manages to combine three of Mr. Trump’s most alarming behaviors," the board wrote. "One, it is an obvious form of corruption, coming from a president who has used his office to enrich himself, his family and his allies. Two, the fund continues his pattern of using the Justice Department as an enforcer to punish his perceived opponents and protect his friends and allies. Three, the fund is his latest attempt to rewrite history about the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress."
"It is worth pausing to put the fund into the larger context of Mr. Trump’s political project: He is destroying pillars of American democracy to empower himself," the op-ed added.
Trump's government has already paid out $1.25 million to Michael Flynn despite his guilty plea to lying to FBI agents and nearly $5 million the family of slain Jan. 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt, and the Times editorial board flagged a detail that suggested how the president intended to use the taxpayer money.
"The fund’s timeline is the giveaway of how Mr. Trump plans to use it," the board wrote. "The Justice Department said the fund would stop processing claims on Dec. 15, 2028, weeks before the president is to leave office, ensuring the money is distributed while he still holds the power to fire anyone who objects. The window is precisely the window of Mr. Trump’s authority."
The Trump administration has already fired federal agents who investigated Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, and the board wrote that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signaled the fund would be used to turn law enforcement into a weapon against the president's enemies, while the fund would be used to encourage lawlessness on the president's behalf.
"It sends the message that he will use his power not only to shield people who break the law from accountability but also to shower benefits on them," the board wrote. "Just as punishment is a deterrent, rewards are an incentive."
"Americans should be cleareyed about what the president is doing," the op-ed concluded. "He is taking their money and showering it on criminals."