A judge had a blistering response Monday for President Donald Trump's Department of Justice "slush fund," which a former Florida lawmaker described as a troubling pattern, CNN reported.
Former Democratic Florida Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell responded to the ruling from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in the Southern District of Florida, who had noted that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had signed a settlement document on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants — highlighting that only the Trump administration's interests were represented. CNN anchor Kasie Hunt referred to it as "one of many examples of where the president hastried to use our system tobenefit himself in ways thatthen the legal system has had toscramble to catch up to."
Mucarsel-Powell called out why the pattern was so problematic.
"I think the point here — it's notjust about the IRS. It's notjust about this one case. It'sthe pattern that we've seenhere, and it's that theexecutive branch, the president,is trying to use the power ofhis office to actually negotiatedeals to benefit himself," Mucarsel-Powell said.
"Andone of the things that the judgesays in this case, which I thinkis very important to keep inmind, is that the court has tobe bound by the Constitution," she added. "Congress is bound by the Constitution, the same as theexecutive [branch]. You can't have apresident abuse the power of hisoffice to try to benefit thatoffice for himself. Thejudge says that as well. So Todd Blanche is going to be facing senators who are going to be questioning whether he's working for the American people or whether he's working for one person in the executive branch, President Donald Trump. That's not theway that these agencies shouldfunction. They should beindependent, working for the American people, not for thepresident."