All posts tagged "Slush Funds"

President Donald Trump's push to create a $1.8 billion fund that could compensate Capitol rioters has become deeply unpopular among lawmakers, with many showing signs that they plan to reject it altogether, a reporter told MS NOW on Thursday.

Scott MacFarlane, chief Washington correspondent and anchor at MeidasTouch, told MS NOW anchor Chris Jansing that several Jan. 6, 2021 defendants were seeking millions of dollars from the new fund — something that has infuriated both Democrats and Republicans.

"A whole bunch of them are publicly pronouncing it," MacFarlane said. "And that is the last thing this very fragile slush fund needs, is people who are accused of seditious conspiracy, are being part of the January 6th attack, publicly saying they want their money. They want our taxpayer money. I can tell you, Chris, Attorney General Todd Blanche was just at the U.S. Senate trying to sell this idea on behalf of the White House. It did not go well."...

The Senate will go on recess without voting on a reconciliation bill tied to the Department of Justice's $1.8 billion weaponization fund, according to reports on Thursday.

PunchBowl News reporters Jake Sherman and Andrew Desiderio reported that Sen. John Thune (R-ND) told senators that the bill would be left unfinished while the lawmakers returned home for the Memorial Day holiday.

"House is expected to follow suit soon," Sherman wrote in a post on X....

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig was stunned by the Trump administration's decision to create a $1.8 billion fund that could be used to compensate right-wing rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, and what that could mean for two police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol that day and have now filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

The former federal prosecutor told CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Wednesday the lawsuit filed by Officer Harry Dunn of the U.S. Capitol Police and Officer Daniel Hodges of Washington’s Metropolitan Police was aiming to halt the Trump administration from creating a $1.8 billion slush fund, and whether their case will have legal standing.

"On the one hand, every word that the officers write in this complaint is true," Honig said. "They start off by saying, this is one of the most egregious acts of corruption in presidential history. I think the big legal obstacle, though, is going to be what we call standing, meaning the plaintiff in this case, the officers have to show that they will suffer some concrete injury and that that injury will be caused by the defendant's actions here. The establishment of the funds."...

A former Republican political operative ripped the new level of corruption that Trump has reached with a "MAGA Congress" backing him all the way.

"There are no examples of corruption that are even in the same galaxy as this," Steve Schmidt said in an episode of his podcast. "It is truly, truly incredible, mind-boggling, and yet it rolls on, and it will continue to do so until there's a Democratic Congress that makes it stop."

Schmidt spoke about how Trump created a $1.8 billion "slush fund" with a lawsuit settlement against the IRS, noting that Trump's former personal attorney, Todd Blanche, signed the agreement creating the fund and saying it will "reward" Jan. 6 rioters....

A Republican fired off a strong criticism of President Donald Trump's $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded anti-weaponization fund, saying he and other lawmakers have plans to fight back against it.

In an interview with MeidasTouch chief Washington correspondent Scott MacFarlane on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) said legislative action would be underway after Trump's Department of Justice this week announced the fund, which was created by part of a settlement of Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.

"Bad news. We’re gonna kill try to kill it," Fitzpatrick said....

WASHINGTON — US authorities fined cosmetics and drugs giant Johnson & Johnson $70 million on Friday for bribing doctors in Europe and paying kickbacks for contracts under a UN relief program in Iraq.