$1.776 billion is at the center of a new Democratic attack, with Rep. Jamie Raskin calling the proposed Trump-IRS settlement fund an illegal, unconstitutional “political slush fund.”
Raskin said only Congress can appropriate federal money and argued lawmakers never authorized the Justice Department to create a compensation pool for people claiming they were wrongly targeted by the Biden administration.
Nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants could bring claims before a commission with broad settlement authority, and Raskin said paying pardoned rioters would violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s bar on funding insurrection or rebellion.
Trump is expected to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for the fund, according to ABC News, while Raskin said Democrats would seek to block it in Congress and “undoubtedly” sue.
Can a presidential lawsuit legally create a public fund without a congressional vote?
How can a $1.7 billion compensation fund operate transparently without congressional oversight?
What are the legal implications when a president sues the government that they currently lead?