MS NOW's Alex Witt was stunned on Sunday after a former Florida state attorney flagged President Donald Trump's latest insider-dealing scheme.
Trump's Department of Justice has been working to establish what it's calling an "anti-weaponization" fund to pay claims from people who say they were wrongfully prosecuted by the federal government. Last week, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the DOJ was not moving forward with the fund, but Trump directly contradicted that statement on Sunday by telling NBC News's Kristen Welker that he believes people who were prosecuted for rioting on Jan. 6, 2021 should be paid.
Dave Aronberg, a former Florida state attorney, told Witt that the entire fund "reeks of insider dealing" because it was established as part of a settlement Trump agreed to in a lawsuit against the IRS, an executive agency he oversees.
"As a matter of law, you cannot sue yourself and then choose not to fight it, and then write yourself a multibillion-dollar check out of the taxpayers' kitty while giving your own businesses immunity from the tax laws," he said, referring to a provision in the settlement that gives the Trump family absolute immunity from future tax cases.
Aronberg also noted that the deal seems to violate multiple aspects of the U.S. Constitution.
"It violates Article One because it steals Congress's spending power away from it. It violates Article Three because federal courts aren't supposed to rubber-stamp collusive sham lawsuits and settlements. So, if the judiciary doesn't throw this whole thing out, then the rule of law in this country just becomes a dead letter," Aronberg said.
His comments seemed to leave Witt stunned.
"Yikes!" she said.
