Grifting with Puppets

Trump strikes a deal that the IRS cannot audit him

The $1.8 billion slush fund that the Justice Department is awarding to Donald Trump's criminal allies is so blatantly corrupt that even Republicans can't defend it. Some Republicans are so upset that they're actually speaking out publicly against it.

Referring to acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, and the fact that J6 terrorists are eligible for the so-called "anti-weaponization fund," Mitch McConnell said, “So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong – take your pick.”

Senate Republicans derailed a massive immigration enforcement bill and left town until early today, despite Donald Trump ordering them to pass the $7o billion bill before June 1. How disgusting do you have to be to sicken sycophantic MAGAt Republicans?

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said, “It makes everything way harder than it should be.” He added that he’s"not a big fan" of the slush fund.

Senators Bill Cassidy and John Cornyn have become freer to oppose Trump since Cassidy lost his primary challenge after Trump endorsed his opponent, and chose to endorse a corrupt lunatic over Cornyn, which has also angered many of their Senate colleagues.

To calm Republican senators down, the DOJ sent them a memo telling them that they, too, will be eligible to receive payment from the corrupt slush fund, writing, "Americans whose online speech has been censored at the behest of the government, parents silenced at school boards, senators whose records were secretly subpoenaed, churchgoers targeted by the FBI, and so on."

Of course, if Republican lawmakers do receive money from this $1.8 million slush fund drawn straight from taxpayers, their names will be redacted in quarterly reports. So this corrupt slush fund has become even more corrupt. And we all know how this Justice Department loves to redact the names of billionaires and Republicans.

And in case you're not disgusted enough about this $1.8 billion corrupt slush fund, on Tuesday, the DOJ quietly disclosed an addendum to the terms of the deal, which bars the IRS from pursuing tax audits or claims against Trump, his sons Eric and Don Jr., and the Trump Organization.

Even if the entire weaponization of the Justice Department by Biden was true, why should that exempt Trump and the nepo babies from tax audits?

The one-page document, signed by Blanche, said that the government would be “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing” pending tax claims against Trump, his family members, and businesses.

When Blanche was testifying during hearings on Tuesday, Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, pointed out that Blanche had gone from serving as Trump’s personal defense lawyer to picking a handful of people to oversee a fund handing out more than a billion dollars, presumably to the president’s allies.

“I’m the acting attorney general, OK?” Mr. Blanche said angrily. “The fact that I used to be President Trump’s lawyer is just a fact. But I am the acting attorney general, so don’t say the president’s former personal lawyer will do something. The acting attorney general will do something,” he said, jabbing the witness table for emphasis.

“Mr. Attorney General, you are acting today like the president’s personal attorney, and that’s the whole problem,” Mr. Van Hollen replied.

It’s a huge problem, and it is ridiculous that Blanche is trying to argue that he's doing this as the acting Attorney General and not as Donald Trump's personal attorney. The fact is, he is still Donald Trump's personal attorney.

DOJ officials had defended the creation of the fund by pointing out that Trump and his family members would not be paid by it, though losing a government audit could have cost him over $100 million.

IRS procedures call for the mandatory audit of the president’s tax returns annually, but they refused to reply to questions from the media about this or whether Donald Trump will still be audited for the rest of his presidency as required by their policy.

This corrupt addendum is confusing because the wording says the IRS is “FOREVER BARRED” from auditing or pursuing tax claims against Trump, but also includes the word “pending” in reference to audits. We do not know if there is currently one or more IRS audits of Trump's taxes.

This entire corrupt slush fund agreement came about because Donald Trump dropped his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS for a contractor leaking his 2016 and 2017 tax returns. They were tax returns that he had already promised to release, though that turned out to be a lie. Those tax returns also showed that Donald Trump paid less than $1000 in taxes for both of those years.

The person who leaked Trump's returns also leaked the returns of thousands of other high-income earners, though there's no word whether or not they're free from audits, too, or recipients of a slush fund.

Now, Donald Trump doesn't have to pay taxes, while we get to pay for his illegal war, ballrooms, and his white nationalist terrorists.

I think this requires another march on Washington.

Lincoln: I finished the three-part Lincoln documentary on Netflix last night. Lincoln was our greatest president, and he saved the Union and signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Donald Trump is our worst president, who is trying to destroy the union. He restored Confederate names to US military bases and argues in favor of Confederate statues. He is probably trying to find a way to undo the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln evolved during his time in office as his positions on slavery changed. Donald Trump has devolved since 2016.

What am I eating

It's another cauliflower-crust pizza, and this one turned out better than the last one. That's some Penzy spice specifically made for frozen pizza that I put on top of it. I had a salad with it, and my beverage was tea. This morning, my glucose was 125.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

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