The Coming Raid on the US Treasury

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Between the years 2018 and 2020, a contracted employee working at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) unlawfully released the confidential tax returns of 405,427 taxpayers, one of whom was Donald Trump.  At the time of this serious breach of taxpayer confidentiality Donald Trump was President and in charge of the executive branch of federal government.  The US Treasury Department is an important component of the executive branch of the federal government, and the Internal Revenue Service falls under the purview of the Treasury Department.  In other words, Donald Trump was the person ultimately in charge of the IRS and its employees when the illegal data breach occurred.

Justice was ultimately served in this criminal matter when the contracted employee,  Charles Littlejohn, was arrested and pleaded guilty to his crime.  He was sentenced to five years in prison in January of 2024.  He currently remains in prison.  Additionally, the US Treasury Department cancelled millions of dollars in contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton, the firm that had been Littlejohn's actual employer.  All of the corrective action took place while Joe Biden was President.

Littlejohn released the returns of 405,427 individuals to multiple media outlet including The New York Times and Pro Publica.  In Trump's instance the released files showed that Trump paid no federal income tax in several years prior to 2020, and paid only $750 in his first year as President.  Even though most presidential candidates voluntarily release their tax returns during campaigns for the White House, Trump never did, and he took great personal offense that they were made public.

Trump and his two oldest sons filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the US Treasury Department and the IRS in early 2026, at a time when Donald Trump was again serving as President and overseeing  both agencies.  A couple of weeks ago US Federal District Judge Kathleen Williams was questioning the constitutionality of a case where a President is suing agencies that he oversees, and it looked as though she was preparing to throw the case out.

But, Trump's legal team regrouped and went at the matter a different way.  Trump voluntarily drpopped his damage claims with prejudice before the judge could rule against him, and that cleared the way for HIS Justice Department to agree to a settlement with the injured party (Trump and his sons).  The settlement will reportedly include $1.776 billion of public funds being set aside to compensate Trump allies who believe they were politically targeted by the Biden administration.  It is being called an "Anti-Weaponization Fund."  Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund is:  

"A lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress."

What Blanche is referring to as redress, critics of the scheme are calling it a "slush fund' to reward Trump cronies and allies - and a blatant theft of public funds.  Congressman Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee issued a statement saying:

"This case is nothing but a racket designed to take $1.7 billion of taxpayer dollars out of the Treasury and pour it into a huge slush fund for Trump at DOJ to hand out to his private militia of insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists, including those who brutally beat police officers on January 6th, 2021, and sycophant accomplices to his election-stealing schemes."

Donald Trump, himself, speaking his native Gibberish said the fund would be dedicated to "reimbursing people who were horribly treated." 

Trump's lawyers are saying the settlement would not be reviewable by a judge, but 93 members of Congress have filed a brief challenging the payout scheme.  Senator Elizabeth Warren has referred to it as "corruption on steroids,"   Senators Chris Murphy and Chris Van Hollen described the arrangement as a "pure theft of public funds."

How the Trump Slush Fund will operate:

• A five member commission will be appointed by the US Attorney General (who will have been appointed by Trump), with one of the five members being chosen in consultation with congressional leadership.
• Trump will have the authority to fire any commission member "at will."
• The commission is not required to disclose all recipients of the funds, though it will make a quarterly report to the Attorney General.
• The commission will stop processing claims on December 15, 2028 (a month and five days before Trump leaves office), and if any money is left over it will go back to the federal government.    

The agreement that the Justice Department made with Trump to resolve his lawsuit also contains a provision barring the IRS from pursuing tax claims against Trump, his family, or his businesses.  

That's a very sweet deal, if your name is Donald John Trump.  A person that he appoints to be US Attorney General will chose four members of a five-member commission to run the project, and he will talk to congressional leadership regarding the selection of a fifth member.  Trump can fire any on them at any time without stating a reason,  The commission doesn't have to reveal to whom they are giving the money - and, if any is left over (a very unlikely event) it will go back to the Treasury rather than run the risk of being controlled by a President of the other party.   And, the IRS is prohibited against coming after Trump, his family, or his businesses.

Presumably the list of people who have been "horribly treated" by the Biden administration and seeking cash consolation from our government could (and probably will) include members of Trump's own family, possibly even himself, and the rioters and scum who were attacking police officers and smearing feces on the walls of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.  Trump, in fact, admitted on Monday that those who attacked the Capitol in his name would be eligible for payouts.   The courts and Congress will have no say in who receives the money.

The slush fund will come out of a "Judgment Fund" run by the Treasury.  It is an uncapped, permanent appropriation created by Congress that allows the federal government to pay out judgments and legal settlements without needing congressional approval for each transaction.  The money is easy to access if you control the Justice Department - and way too tempting for a professional, life-long grifter to pass up.

(If Trump's lawyers had been that clever at his trial in New York in May of 2024, he might not have been convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree!)

Brian Morrissey, the top lawyer at the Treasury Department, showed some character and resigned immediately after the deal was announced.

It might be worth pointing out - again - that Trump's original complaint about his tax returns being leaked to the press did not occur under the Biden administration - those leaks occurred under the first Trump administration.  The entire payout scheme is rooted in a lack of supervision of and by Trump's own government employees, all of whom were ultimately overseen by Donald John Trump.

This taxpayer objects like hell to Donald Trump's weaponization of the US government in order to steal my tax dollars - and I object like hell to my tax dollars being used to pay criminals for their participation in the Capitol riots and their wanton physical attacks on police officers!

  

Any member of Congress or government official who enables this theft of American tax dollars and stain on American history needs to be held to account.  Lock 'em up!