Reed Slams Trump’s Corrupt, Self-Dealing, So-called $1.776 Billion Settlement

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the Trump Administration announced that President Trump is "settling" a lawsuit and attempting to grant himself control of a $1.776 billion non-transparent slush fund, paid for by U.S. taxpayers, that he could use to pay cronies, entities he controls, or others that he alone could effectively deem were unfairly targeted by the U.S. Department of Justice.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed called the move "flat out corruption of the judicial system" and denounced it as among the "biggest frauds ever perpetuated by President Trump." Senator Reed said President Trump's unprecedented attempt to plunder the U.S. Treasury in this manner is "a complete miscarriage of justice" and a shocking violation of the most fundamental American principle: equal treatment under the law.

Senator Reed stated:

"This corrosive, kleptocratic, and corrupt maneuver is outrageous. It should be reversed because it does not stand up to legal scrutiny or common sense. And it is really dangerous when you start providing financial rewards to those who attacked American democracy and offer them the capacity and incentive to do so again. I urge the courts to overturn this so-called settlement and it's past time Republicans speak up against this type of financial self-dealing."

Between 2018 and 2020 a former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Charles Edward Littlejohn, who was not an official IRS employee, stole and leaked tax information to news outlets about thousands of the country's wealthiest people, including Donald J. Trump. Littlejohn was fined and sentenced to five years in prison for his actions, the maximum sentence.

Soon after, individuals who were caught up in the case sued the federal government and settled without being granted billion dollar slush funds at taxpayer expense. Rather, they were granted an explicit apology, an acknowledgement of failure by the IRS, and a commitment that the federal government was taking necessary steps to ensure it didn't happen again, including "substantial investments" to address the weaknesses in the IRS data security identified in Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) audits.

Today, the Wall Street Journal noted that Trump's so-called settlement does not hold up to legal scrutiny: "Legal observers said the settlement is vulnerable to a challenge in part because there is no obvious connection between Trump's IRS claims and the people who stand to receive fund payouts. Other compensation funds exist, like the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, but they were formed with congressional approval.

"This is not an authentic settlement of the IRS case," said Peter Keisler, who served as acting attorney general in the George W. Bush administration."

President Trump has sued many other institutions before, seeking outrageous damages that are totally disproportionate to the harm that may have occurred. For example, one month ago a Federal judge dismissed Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch for publishing a sexually suggestive and fawning letter that Trump wrote to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50^th birthday. It is only when Trump is able to straddle both sides of a court case - effectively acting as plaintiff and being in charge of the defendant's side too - that he can rig the system to prevail in these frivolous and meritless lawsuits.

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