No.Nonsense.

Trump is playing his second game of Three Card Monty this week. See if you can remember which one is the red queen.

Earlier this week, it was announced that a $1.776 billion slush fund was created to compensate victims of lawfare. Google defines lawfare as “the strategic use of legal proceedings and institutions to intimidate, hinder, or delegitimize an opponent”. Since Trump began his political career in 2015, we’ve heard this term bandied about. It’s used a lot by the Trump people to describe the criminal and civil proceedings brought against him by people like Fani Willis and Letitia James. They frame those proceedings as not being based in fact but in a targeted campaign to tank his re-election. I’m not going to debate the merits of those proceedings here as it’s not the point of this particular discussion.

This particular case is from the leaking of Trump’s tax returns in the run up to the election in 2020. Trump was fighting an uphill battle in his reelection campaign due to the COVID pandemic and its subsequent impact on the economy. It was a few weeks to the election when the New York Times printed a bombshell report based on tax returns turned over to them by a contractor for the IRS.

This was a huge controversy because Trump had, to this point, refused to release his tax returns. It was further devastating to learn that in the prior tax year, this billionaire had paid only $750 in federal income tax.

He lost the election.

Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization, in the usual pattern for him of using the court system to get his revenge, filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and the Department of Treasury.

The contractor who leaked the documents was criminally charged and subsequently convicted. He received a sentence of five years in federal prison and a $5000 fine. That should have been the end of the discussion.

This week, however, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who took the helm of the DOJ after Pam Bondi was fired, settled the lawsuit for $1.776 billion- the money that became the slush fund.

I’m going to pause here for a minute to say this practice of setting up slush funds started in the Obama administration. I had a friend say she was tired of people redirecting to say, “well so-n-so did the same thing”. I agree and I’m not doing that here. I do want to explain how the practice has worked,though. Obama’s administration would do something like sue a car manufacturer who was violating emissions standards. To avoid a protracted legal battle, the company would settle. That money would then be funneled to a slush fund to pay for additional research and development of electric vehicles.

That’s how it’s supposed to work.

That’s not what has been done in this instance.

When I heard the announcement of the new fund, I didn’t think much about it until I heard an explanation of the conflicts of interest existing from, of all people, Megyn Kelly. Though a supporter of Trump, she has been critical of the war in Iran. She is further concerned with the implications of this action. She is not just a media personality but an attorney as well, so I trust her explanation of the problems here.

When Trump was re-elected, he once again became the head of the executive branch of our government. The Department of Justice, the US Treasury, and the IRS all fall under his purview. When he took office, this lawsuit should have been dismissed as he was, at that point, suing himself. It’s the same principle that applies to prevent King Charles from filing a legal action in the United Kingdom because all legal actions are “the crown versus”. The same applies here. Though there is not a direct constitutional restriction, there is a clear conflict of interest.

Todd Blanche, who directed the settlement, was one of Trump’s personal attorneys prior to joining the DOJ.

Though it appears that they did the noble thing in “donating” the money to help others, at any time, the Trump family can file for remuneration and reclaim every dollar of that settlement for their personal coffers.

And let’s not forget as part of the deal that they have blanket immunity now.

The Department of Justice, controlled by Trump loyalists, determine to whom the money is paid, setting up for settlements to go only to those who have supported his agenda. Two capital police officers have filed their own suit to prevent any funds from paying out to anyone present at the Capital riot on January 6th.

Every part of this settlement, this fund, and the actions of the administration officials have, at the least, the perception of a clear conflict of interest and, at most out-n-out corruption. Anyone who supports what was done here is either uninformed of its implications or just doesn’t care that the administration has abused its power.

The only course of action now is for Congress to stop any further proceedings with this fund, the courts to reject the settlement, and the voters to hold everyone involved accountable. If we allow such abuse to continue in this administration, we open the door for every subsequent president to engage in similar abuses. Todd Blanche prostrated himself at the feet of King Don for his own ambitions and he needs to be held accountable as well.

I said in my last column that all of us need to pay more attention. If we don’t, this president will continue to practice his sleight of hand and we will be the ones paying the price.