A Bogus “Settlement” Ripping Taxpayers Off to the Tune of Almost Two Billion Dollars!

          In May 2026, Todd Blanche, the Acting Attorney General of the United States, announced that a lawsuit brought by the President against the Internal Revenue Service had been settled.  In the underlying case, the President, as the plaintiff, was essentially sitting right across from himself as the defendant, since he was the head of the executive branch.  The lawsuit itself was dropped before any judge had an opportunity to opine on the merit or lack of merit of the case.  The context of the settlement was highly unusual.  Effectively, the President simply asked himself what he wanted to settle the case for and the President agreed.  The terms of the “settlement” itself were even more unusual.  It provided for the remarkable sum of $1,776,000,000 to be set aside for the payment of unspecified claims that as-yet unidentified claimants might bring asserting that they had been injured by some form of governmental enforcement action.  No source of the funds was identified, and no standards for the making of payments were provided for.  One thing was clear, however.  Any funds that ended up being paid would come out of the taxpayer’s pocket.  

          It immediately appeared that the putative fund would be available to claimants who had been part of the mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in order to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to a new president.  They would be eligible notwithstanding that they had been convicted after trial, or after pleading guilty to various forms of riotous or insurrectionist activity.  It would essentially constitute an unsupervised slush fund, enabling the President and his allies to reward those who had broken the law on his behalf.

          This so-called “settlement” is manifestly an outrageous abuse of power, and it has provoked a firestorm of outrage from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.   Mr. Blanche characterized it as an “anti-weaponization” fund.  Democrats, however,  immediately saw it simply as a way for Mr. Trump to reward his partisans.  Many Republicans have also spoken out.  Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, put it succinctly: the fund, he said, was a “Payoff Pot for Punks”.

          The outrageousness of this action was exacerbated when it was further announced that as part of the settlement the IRS would forever be barred from proceeding against Mr. Trump or his family members for any unpaid taxes or penalties that might be levied as a result of any audits or claims by the IRS.

Recommended action:

          Contact your representatives in Congress to tell them that this corrupt abuse of power cannot be allowed to stand.  Then follow the story as it continues to unfold in the media.  Make sure that Congress stays on the case until the so-called settlement has been vacated and any allocated funds have been returned to their rightful place.