Rep. Jamie Raskin, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Dave Min fittingly introduced the “Ban Presidential Plunder Of Taxpayer Funds Act” on April 15.
The act is designed to prevent the MAGA grift of suing the government, then settling for millions of taxpayer dollars.
During Trump’s second term, he has tried to pocket billions – with a “b” – of taxpayer money from the federal government. There is his $230 million claim against his puppet Department of Justice over the Russia investigation and his stolen classified documents case. Also, Felonious Trump sued the IRS for $10 billion in compensation for the leak of his tax returns to The New York Times for a story he called “totally fake” and “made up.”
It’s not just Trump’s pockets getting lined with the money the rest of us cough up to the feds. The Democrats’ announcement also cited the recent taxpayer-funded $1.2 million bonanza “settlement” with Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. As Karoli Kuns explained, Flynn was forced to resign during Trump’s first term, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, received a pardon from Trump, sued the government, had his case tossed out, then revived it in Trump’s second term – and voila! Trump’s lackeys at the DOJ handed over our dough.
“Trump himself has admitted that ‘it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself,’ the Democrats noted in their announcement about the bill.
It’s far worse than “strange.”
The bill provides several guardrails against a president, vice president, their spouses, children or entities they own or control from collecting damages payments from the government a president or VP leads.
It also imposes civil and criminal penalties against presidents or vice presidents who violate the law.
The bill could pass if Democrats take back control of Congress. Since it will likely snow in hell before Republicans develop real spines and moral compasses, this is yet another reason to make sure to show up in droves to vote them out in November.
Otherwise, a pardoned, hush-moneyed Ghislaine Maxwell may well be the next recipient of your hard-earned dough.
