Jeb Bladine: Trump wins complex negotiations with himself
Books will be written about the 2026 Trump Anti-Weaponization Fund Settlement. My 500-word limit makes a full summary impossible, but here’s a thumbnail.
President Donald Trump, his two sons and the Trump Organization claimed the IRS and Treasury failed to protect their confidential tax-return information from being leaked to the media. Reportedly, the IRS failed for three years of Trump’s first term to conduct mandatory annual tax return audits, and then left an unresolved audit issue that could have produced $100 million in Trump taxes and penalties.
The Trumps demanded at least $10 billion (with a “B”) in alleged damages to privacy, reputation and finances.
On the side, Trump was pursuing two Federal Tort Claims Act administrative claims against the U.S. Department of Justice, demanding: (1) $115 million in damages for the classified document search of his Mar-a-Lago estate and subsequent prosecution; (2) $115 million (unconfirmed) in damages for FBI and special counsel investigations into possible 2016 Trump campaign connections with Russian election interference.
Now comes the Anti-Weaponization Fund Settlement, negotiated between the Trumps and the Department of Justice which he controls as president.
Donald and sons agreed to dismiss the IRS lawsuit “with prejudice” (cannot be refiled). Trump agreed to withdraw and not pursue the two administrative claims. The Trumps get a formal apology, no money, and the government will create a $1.776 billion fund to help people claiming to be victims of government “lawfare” or “weaponization.”
“Lawfare:” Use of investigations, lawsuits, prosecutions or regulatory action as a weapon against political opponents. “Weaponization:” Using government power to punish, burden or intimidate someone for political, personal or ideological reasons.
Wide speculation suggests the fund may be used to reimburse those charged with crimes related to the January 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Others suggest that continuation of the fund after Trump leaves office might help entities and people subjected to lawfare and weaponization by his Administration — entities like state and local governments, law firms, media organizations, universities, nonprofits and advocacy groups; people like attorneys and federal officials targeted for doing their jobs, immigrants and work-authorized noncitizens caught in administrative crackdowns, federal employees penalized for disloyalty.
That said, here is what the Trumps actually wanted, and apparently received.
Donald Trump, his family, and related, broadly-defined individuals and business entities are permanently protected against federal government pursuit of civil/criminal complaints emanating from IRS tax audits, the Mar-a-Lago search or the Russian election investigation. It applies to any claims, known or unknown, prior to the settlement date.
The settlement further appears — to be confirmed — to protect the Trumps from federal claims alleging their acts of lawfare or weaponization before the settlement date.
And so it goes.
The so-called Grand Grifter, controlling both sides of the legal fence, gained immunity from pre-settlement investigations and now has a massive slush-fund to help people he believes were targeted unfairly by his political opponents.
This arguably is one gigantic lemon. It remains to be seen if the American public can somehow turn it into lemonade.
Jeb Bladine can be reached at jbladine@newsregister.com or 503-687-1223.
Comments
Otis
Gee, 1.776
Why such a strange number?
Oh, remove the decimal
Joke's on all of us.
Turtle
The joke really is on all of us. The president’s conflation of 1776 with ANYTHING he touches is a tragic mockery of the sacrifices engendered by the declaration. Every word out of his mouth is calculated to aggrandize himself alone. He is an arrogant bully without humility or honor. Even worse is the sycophantic behavior of his minions who fear any semblance of reasonable discourse which could raise his ire. There seems to be no gatekeepers to keep his hubris in check. Our founding fathers must be spinning in their graves.