Tonight in Your Rights: 'Star Chamber'
Inside the $1.776 billion machine doling out taxpayer cash to Trump's cronies. Also: Todd Blanche helps Trump avoid audits, and the Treasury's lawyer calls it quits.
The five-member board that will be doling out $1.776 billion in taxpayer money to Donald Trump supporters claiming to be victims of “Lawfare” and “Weaponization” doesn’t need to publicly disclose any criteria behind their decision.
Every member will be appointed by Trump’s former criminal defense attorney turned Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, though congressional leaders may “consult” on one of them. Trump can remove any member at will and without cause, and Blanche will replace them.
Only three of them constitute a quorum empowered to make decisions that are unappealable, unreviewable, and inscrutable by the public. The names of Trump’s allies, corporate entities, and Jan. 6 rioters positioned to receive millions in taxpayer dollars do not ever need to be disclosed. The agreement allows only Blanche to view the “confidential written report” with their identities and the amounts of money they have been awarded.
As one former federal prosecutor puts it, welcome to the Trump Justice Department’s “Star Chamber,” a “roach motel” where “money comes in” and “nothing comes out.”
“This is the antithesis of due process under law,” attorney Mitchell Epner said in a video interview. “This is Donald Trump creating a $1.776 billion slush fund to be doled out by his five handpicked private counselors in order to reward the people who tried to execute the January 6th coup. It is a dark day.”
A feature of the English monarchy between the 15th and 17th century, the Star Chamber was the secret court that followed no procedures, and there was no way of learning about its operations, only its results.
“We, the taxpaying members of the public, will pay $1.776 billion dollars to Donald Trump’s five handpicked people who will do with it whatever they want, and nobody will ever have any right to know that something happened, let alone what happened,” Epner added.
Think that’s an exaggeration? Read the 9-page agreement in full, showing how the fund “may” make its procedures public and how its awardees would be listed in a “confidential written report” to Blanche.
On Tuesday, Blanche signed a single-page addendum to the agreement stating that the United States is “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED” from “examinations” of Trump and “related or affiliated individuals,” effectively relieving Trump, his family members and his thicket of corporate entities of audits.
POLITICO first reported the development, which can be read in full here.
There’s another tax-related provision that’s received less attention in the initial agreement.
“The corpus of the anti-weaponization funds funding does not represent the current value of any current claim by the plaintiffs, but rather is based on the projected valuation of future claimants’ claims,” the clause reads. “Accordingly, the corpus of the Anti-Weaponization Fund’s funding is not taxable income to plaintiffs who receive no economic benefit from this settlement agreement.”
Epner notes that the provision flies in the face of a doctrine of U.S. tax law dating back more than a century.
“For anybody else on the planet, that would be considered income,” Epner told All Rise News. “As income, it would be taxed at the top rate, and he would owe roughly 33 percent of that. So call it $600 million in taxes.”
Small wonder that the U.S. Treasury’s general counsel Brian Morrissey reportedly resigned shortly after the announcement of the fund. Epner believes that’s no coincidence.
“It is an act of somebody who was willing to go the first 19 steps along our descent into fascism, but not the 20th,” he added.
Look out for the full video conversation with Mitchell Epner on the All Rise News playlist of Legal AF.
Trump picks off two more of his enemies in the GOP
On Tuesday, two Republican politicians loathed by Trump were defeated in primary elections.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) faced Trump’s wrath for becoming the House GOP’s public face advocating for the release of the Epstein files. Massie also vocally opposed Trump’s tax bill and the U.S. war in Iran.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger refused to help Trump subvert the 2020 election or buckle to his threat of criminal prosecution if he didn’t “find 11,780 votes,” the precise margin required to overturn Joe Biden’s electoral victory in the Peach State.
Great job on reporting on this Adam, starting with your broadcast with Allison and now, this fine piece. I am passing the word along.
Of all the godawful, cynical, crazy illegal schemes that the current Trump administration has come up with these last 16 months, this one may take the cake. I don’t know how Acting (Bad Actor) AG Lange can come to work each day, much less look his children in the eye. He is destroying their and our futures. I hope the state and DC bar associations pick up their glacial pace and disbar these disgraceful excuses for a an attorney.