‘Corruption unparalleled’: House Democrats slam deal as ‘slush fund’ that would give taxpayer dollars to Trump’s allies
Democrats have harshly criticized the settlement, saying it amounts to the creation of a “slush fund” for the president’s allies. Ninety-three congressional Democrats – including House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries – filed an amicus brief with the court on Monday saying that such a claim “raises the specter of corruption unparalleled in American history”.
In the brief, the lawmakers accuse the justice department of having “colluded” with Donald Trump and asking the judge to dismiss the case herself, arguing that the president is effectively “self-dealing” because he has a role on both sides of the litigation.
“Never in the history of the United States has a sitting president sought a monetary settlement from the government he leads – let alone sought many billions of dollars in taxpayer funds,” their lawyers wrote.
“Should this lawsuit achieve Plaintiffs’ desired ends, it would result in the improper and unconstitutional transfer of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of the President, his family, and his allies.”
“Congress has not authorized any fund, much less one involving billions of taxpayer dollars, for these purposes,” they added.
In a press release, representative Jamie Raskin, the House judiciary committee’s ranking member, said:
No president can concoct a fake case for $10 billion in damages against the government so he can be plaintiff and defendant and then ‘settle’ his bogus case against himself as a judge.
Key events
Vice-President JD Vance is in Kansas City, Missouri this afternoon, speaking at the Milbank Manufacturing Company.
“It’s great to be here in Kansas City,” Vance said. “We love our American workers.”
Vance praised some of the elected officials in attendance and thanked Missouri’s Republican leaders for redrawing the state’s congressional map.
States in the country, including Missouri, have rushed to redraw congressional maps to delete or shrink Democratic districts and decrease the power of Black votes in electing candidates.
Senator Thom Tillis told his colleagues that he will not vote for the budget reconciliation bill if it’s considered this week, threatening the passage of the bill, Axios reported on Monday.
Tillis said he could support the bill if his concerns about its timing and any mentions of funding of Trump’s ballroom are heard.
Other Republican senators have also raised concerns about the $72bn package, especially the $1bn for the Secret Service and funding for the ballroom. Funding for the Secret Service was taken out of the bill after a ruling from the Senate parliamentarian on Saturday.
Tillis believes that being in Washington DC to vote could hamper the winning chances of the Republican senator John Cornyn in the Texas primary next week.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth is speaking at a campaign rally for Ed Gallrein who is competing against Thomas Massie for Kentucky’s fourth congressional district, in a primary election on Tuesday.
“There’s few folks busier than him,” said Gallrein while introducing him. “And you’re having the secretary of war, to little old Kentucky, to see you today.”
The Pentagon has been pushing back on allegations that Hegseth is using taxpayer money to make the visit and support Gallrein.
“Secretary Hegseth is attending this event in his personal capacity,” chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement. “No taxpayer dollars will be used to facilitate his visit. His participation has been thoroughly vetted and cleared by lawyers, including the Department of War Office of General Counsel, and does not violate the Hatch Act or any other applicable federal statute.”
“I have to say for the lawyers that I am here in a private capacity,” said Hegseth at the start of his speech. “As a fellow citizen, a fellow American and a fellow combat veteran, I am here to support Navy Seals and Gallrein.”
Reacting to the DoJ settlement and the creation of the so-called anti-weaponization fund, Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection, issued this statement:
This case is a clear example of why Justice Department lawyers take an oath to serve the Constitution, not the White House. This department’s leadership is intent on abusing its power to curry favor with the President and execute his retribution campaign. The ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ fits a pattern of corruption that is eroding DOJ’s integrity and Americans’ faith in the rule of law.
‘Corruption unparalleled’: House Democrats slam deal as ‘slush fund’ that would give taxpayer dollars to Trump’s allies
Democrats have harshly criticized the settlement, saying it amounts to the creation of a “slush fund” for the president’s allies. Ninety-three congressional Democrats – including House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries – filed an amicus brief with the court on Monday saying that such a claim “raises the specter of corruption unparalleled in American history”.
In the brief, the lawmakers accuse the justice department of having “colluded” with Donald Trump and asking the judge to dismiss the case herself, arguing that the president is effectively “self-dealing” because he has a role on both sides of the litigation.
“Never in the history of the United States has a sitting president sought a monetary settlement from the government he leads – let alone sought many billions of dollars in taxpayer funds,” their lawyers wrote.
“Should this lawsuit achieve Plaintiffs’ desired ends, it would result in the improper and unconstitutional transfer of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of the President, his family, and his allies.”
“Congress has not authorized any fund, much less one involving billions of taxpayer dollars, for these purposes,” they added.
In a press release, representative Jamie Raskin, the House judiciary committee’s ranking member, said:
No president can concoct a fake case for $10 billion in damages against the government so he can be plaintiff and defendant and then ‘settle’ his bogus case against himself as a judge.
As we’ve been reporting, Donald Trump has moved to dismiss a $10bn lawsuit against the Interal Revenue Service and his administration has created a $1.776bn “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate his allies for supposed persecution by the government.
In a justice department press release announcing the move, acting attorney general Todd Blanche said, completely unironically:
The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again. As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.
Per my colleagues’ report, the fund will be overseen by five commissioners – four of whom would be appointed by the attorney general and removable by Trump – who would oversee the body’s work. A fifth commissioner will be appointed “in consultation” with congressional leadership. The fund also has the power to issue “formal apologies” and will send a quarterly report to the US attorney general outlining who has been paid from the fund.
“Once the funds are deposited into the Designated Account, the United States has no liability whatsoever for the protection or safeguarding of those funds, regardless of bank failure, fraudulent transfers, or any other fraud or misuse of the funds,” according to a memo from Blanche.
There did not appear to be any restrictions on who can seek compensation from the fund. Any money left in the fund at the end of Trump’s term would be returned to the federal government.
As part of the settlement, Trump will also drop claims for monetary damages against the government for a raid on Mar-a-Lago and the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Also this morning, Donald Trump is back to posting about Thomas Massie, the Kentucky congressmen who has long been fighting the president’s ire.
“The worst Congressman in the long and storied history of the Republican Party, is Thomas Massie,” Trump wrote earlier. “He is an obstructionist and a fool. Vote him out of office tomorrow, Tuesday.”
Trump also posted about Massie, one of the handful of senior Republicans who has dared to defy him and has not yet been defeated in the primaries, over an eight-hour period yesterday.
Massie has voted against the Trump’s signature tax and spending cuts bill, helped to force the justice department to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, and insisted on congressional oversight over the military actions in Venezuela and Iran.
Trump administration establishes $1.7bn fund to compensate prosecuted allies after dismissing IRS lawsuit
An anti-weaponization fund has been created as a result of a settlement agreement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Services, a Department of Justice statement seen by the Guardian US on Monday morning revealed.
The settlement directs the attorney general to issue an order to establish the funding within 60 days of the effective date.
The US Department of Treasury should be provided with all the necessary forms and documentations to direct the payment of $1.7bn to the anti-weaponization fund account, said the statement. Trump claims allies were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration.
Democratic reactions to the news about Trump moving to withdraw his lawsuit against the IRS are coming in. Ron Wyden, a top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said Trump deserved no credit for dropping the lawsuit, regardless of his reasons.
“Even by his standards the move he’s trying to get away with now is a stunning act of corruption,” said Wyden in a statement. “What Trump wants is a $1.7bn slush fund for right-wing political violence and subversion, and if he follows through, it will be the most brazen theft and abuse of taxpayer dollars by any president in American history.”
Joseph Gedeon
Donald Trump’s approval rating sinks to lowest point of second term
Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to its lowest point of his second term, amid mounting frustration over the cost of living and the US-Israel war on Iran.
As November’s US midterm elections loom, most American voters believe Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran was the wrong choice, according to polling released on Monday.
The US president’s approval rating has declined to 37%, according to the New York Times/Siena poll: the lowest level since his return to office in January 2025.
Presidential approval ratings have historically provided a strong sense of how the party of the White House incumbentis likely to fare in upcoming elections.
As the war on Iran drags on, and Trump debates his next steps, nearly two-thirds of voters said entering the conflict had been the wrong call. Fewer than one in four Americans said the war had been worth the costs.
Those economic costs have materialized across the world since the US and Israel first attacked Iran in late February. Last week, Trump said: “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” when asked if the economic hardship inflicted on Americans was motivating him to seek a peace deal.
Sam Levine
Trump’s move to withdraw the lawsuit against the IRS came just two days ahead of a 20 May deadline in which the judge overseeing the case asked the parties for briefing on whether a legitimate controversy existed – a requirement for any lawsuit – because Trump controls the IRS.
“Upon the filing of this notice, no judicial analysis is appropriate,” Trump’s lawyers said in a brief filing on Monday requesting dismissal of the suit.
The suit sought damages after Charles Littlejohn, an IRS contractor, leaked Trump’s tax returns to ProPublica and the New York Times.
The justice department did not return a request for comment.
Trump moves to withdraw $10bn lawsuit against IRS amid fund deal
President Trump moved to dismiss his $10bn lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, the AP reported Monday.
The move to withdraw comes after reports that the Trump administration planned to create a fund to compensate its allies. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Florida.
On Saturday, Guardian US reported that Trump could agree to drop his lawsuit in exchange for the launch of a $1.7bn fund to compensate people Trump believes were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration. About 1,500 January 6 rioters would be part of the group eligible for the fund.
The treasury department’s Judgment Fund, a collection of taxpayer funds to settle court judgments, could reportedly be the vehicle for the fund.
Trump and President Xi Jinping of China reached a consensus on multiple issues, including that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, the Strait of Hormuz should be reopened with no country charging tolls, the denuclearization of North Korea and that the US and China should “build a constructive relationship of strategic stability,” according to a fact sheet released by the White House Sunday.
China approved the purchase of 200 US-made Boeing aircraft for its airlines, and agreed to purchase at least $17bn worth of US agricultural products per year in 2026, 2027 and 2028 – this was additional to the soybean purchase China committed to earlier, according to the White House.
China and the US will establish trade and investment councils and discuss tariff reductions on specific products, said China’s Ministry of Commerce on Saturday, without stating more details, according to Xinhua News, China’s official state news.
Eyes on Kentucky as Massie and Gallrein race to the primary
It’s election day in Kentucky’s fourth congressional district tomorrow and the race for the Republican representative is between the incumbent Thomas Massie – a consistent thorn in Trump’s side – and Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein.
Massie is hosting a pulled pork and chicken dinner for his supporters at Veteran’s Memorial Park tonight to talk about what he hopes to achieve in congress, while defense secretary Pete Hegseth is expected on the ground in Kentucky at 1pm to support Gallrein. Hegseth and Gallrein will appear together at an event organized by America First Works, a conservative grassroots advocacy organization.
Representatives Lauren Boebart and Warren Davidson stood by Massie during a campaign event Sunday, as Trump continued to lambast him on Truth Social.
“Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, a Weak and Pathetic RINO from the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Trump. “Must be thrown out of office, ASAP!”
The chances appear higher for Trump and Gallrein. On Saturday, Bill Cassidy, the Republican senator from Louisiana who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment over the January insurrection, was voted out of his primary election.
Taiwan would “welcome” an opportunity for its leader to speak to US president Donald Trump after he raised the possibility, a senior Taiwanese diplomat said on Monday.
Trump told reporters on Friday that he had to speak to the man “running Taiwan” – an apparent reference to president Lai Ching-te – about arms sales.
A conversation between Lai and Trump would be a major break in US diplomatic policy and risk a rupture with China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory.
Trump made the remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One on the way back to Washington after a summit in Beijing where Chinese president Xi Jinping had pushed him not to support Taiwan.
“I’m going to make a determination. I’m going to see,” Trump said in response to a question about whether he would go ahead with arms sales to Taiwan.
“I have to speak to the person that right now is – you know who he is – that’s running Taiwan.”
Dozens of state anti-vaccine bills backed by Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) supporters have failed after public health groups won over Republican state lawmakers, marking a series of defeats for the backers of health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
The failures show a limit to the political power of the MAHA coalition groups that had set out this year to pass laws against mandatory vaccinations in at least 10 states, hoping to capitalize on a rise in anti-vaccine sentiment and their role in helping elect president Donald Trump.
Pro-vaccine groups and medical associations including American Families for Vaccines, the American Academy of Pediatrics and others lobbied in statehouses against bills seeking to end policies like school vaccine mandates, according to Reuters interviews with seven organizations.
Vaccine advocates used polling data and personal appeals to convince lawmakers in Republican-controlled states such as West Virginia, Louisiana and Florida that their constituents support vaccination and that the MAHA-backed bills posed a threat to public health.
Trump may have to wait for rate cuts until the Iran war is over, he tells Fortune
President Donald Trump conceded in an interview with Fortune magazine published on Monday that he may have to wait until the war with Iran was over for more interest rate cuts.
“You can’t really look at the figures until the war is over,” he said.
Trump said Iran was “dying to sign” a ceasefire deal with the US. “But they make a deal, and then they send you a paper that has no relationship to the deal you made.” he told Fortune.
The president also said he “should have asked for more” of a stake in Intel on behalf of the US government.
The Trump administration last year took a 10% stake in Intel and announced an investment of about $10 billion in the chipmaker for building or expanding factories in the U.S.
Eight months after the deal, the government’s Intel position has grown to be worth more than $50 billion.
Redistricting debate shifts to South Carolina as Republicans seek clean sweep of House seats
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
An effort to reshape South Carolina’s congressional districts will get its first full airing Monday in the state House.
Lawmakers will launch a lengthy – and potentially testy discussion – over whether to accede to president Donald Trump’s calls for a US House map that could yield a clean sweep for Republicans, AP reports.
Debates already have played out in Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana as Republicans push to leverage a recent Supreme Court ruling that weakened Voting Rights Act protections for minority districts.
The ruling has opened the way for Republicans to redraw districts with large black populations that have elected Democrats. In South Carolina, that means targeting a seat long held by representative Jim Clyburn, the only Democrat among the state’s seven representatives in the House.
Clyburn has said he has no intention of retiring, even if his district gets changed. He told reporters last week in Washington that he has addresses in Columbia, Charleston and Santee, adding:
I live in three districts. I’ll decide which one to run in.
“It ain’t about Jim Clyburn’s district,” he added. “This isn’t about voting. This is about turning the clock back to Jim Crow 2.0.”
Early voting is scheduled to begin on 26 May for South Carolina’s statewide primaries on 9 June. In addition to redrawing congressional districts, legislation pending in the state House would move the House primaries to August. If it clears the House, the legislation then must go to the Senate.
In other developments:
-
A US Senate official on Saturday removed security funding that could be used for Donald Trump’s planned $400m White House ballroom from a massive spending package, Democratic lawmakers said, imperilling Republican efforts to devote taxpayer money to the contentious project.
-
The Republican senator Bill Cassidy lost his primary on Saturday, as voters in Louisiana opted instead to advance two challengers to a runoff election after an extraordinary intervention by Trump to oust the incumbent.
-
With two days to go before the next big test of Trump’s iron grip over his party, the president went head-to-head on Sunday with his nemesis, Thomas Massie the Kentucky congressman who is in a fight for his political life in Tuesday’s Republican primary.
-
Workers renovating one of Washington DC’s most historically symbolic sites in a project ordered by Trump may be risking their safety as they race to finish on time for the US’s 250th anniversary celebrations, a union monitoring the site has warned.
-
The FBI director, Kash Patel, is facing new scrutiny following reports that he participated in a snorkelling excursion around the USS Arizona during a trip to Hawaii last summer.
Leave a Reply