Today in Politics, Bulletin 383. 5/19/26
… Acting AG Todd Blanche faced questioning today from Senate Democrats outraged over the $1.7 billion slush fund he created to pay J6 criminals and Trump’s co-conspirators as well as his handling of the Epstein investigation:
Sen. Jack Reed on Trump’s $10B lawsuit: “How many taxpayers’ returns were leaked by the IRS in the 2020 breach? Blanche: Excuse me? Reed: 405,427. One of them was Trump, correct? Blanche: Trump and his family. Reed: And Trump was president at the time. So it was his IRS that allowed this breach of privacy.”
Reed: “You talked to Ghislaine Maxwell. A few days later, she was transferred from a high security prison to a very comfortable— Blanche: That’s not true. She was not in a high security prison. She was transferred from a low security prison to a low security prison. Reed: I don’t think at the other prison she had her own room. She had access to a private shower. She could have pet therapy.”
Reed: “Why did Trump send you down to talk to her. Blanche: You think Trump called and asked me to go interview a witness in federal prison? Reed: Yes, I do. He needed somebody to talk to her and find out what would she say if she was asked about Jeffrey Epstein, and you were the perfect choice. And you went down there and suddenly - Shazam, she’s out.”
Reed: “The order that you signed states that the govt will pay the settlement if the Secretary of Treasury has certified the payment. Is it a coincidence that the general counsel of the Dept of Treasury resigned yesterday? Blanche: I don’t know.”
Sen. Chris Coons: “Will you commit to making reports fully public so Americans know who is getting taxpayer dollars out of this settlement fund? Blanche: There are privacy laws that may prevent some of the information from being fully public.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen: “Will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund? Blanche: Anybody in this country is eligible to apply. Van Hollen: Are there going to be rules that say that if you’ve assaulted a Capitol Hill police officer or committed a violent crime, you will not be eligible? Blanche: I’m not one of the commissioners. Van Hollen: You’re appointing the members!”
Van Hollen: “You are not going to submit any of this to a judge or independent authority? Blanche: There is no judge! What does that mean - independent authority? Van Hollen: It means not somebody who gets to pick the 5 members who is the president’s former personal attorney.”
Blanche then blows up: “I am the Acting AG! The fact that I used to be Trump’s lawyer is just a fact. But DON’T SAY THE PRESIDENT’S FORMER LAWYER WILL DO SOMETHING—SAY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL WILL DO SOMETHING! Van Hollen: You are acting TODAY like the president’s personal attorney - and that’s the whole problem. You have a banner of his face hanging over DOJ and you and everyone else walks under it.”
Van Hollen: “Will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund? Blanche: Anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they are a victim of weaponization.”
Van Hollen: An individual who was pardoned by Trump went on to molest two children, and he tried to buy their silence by saying he would give them funds from your slush fund. Can you commit to not making that person eligible for a payout? Blanche: You’re obviously lying. Van Hollen: I am reporting what he said.”
… NPR’s Tom Dreisbach: “The J6 defendant Van Hollen is referring to is Andrew Paul Johnson. He promised to share what he called ‘Trump bucks’ with two young children he sexually abused in order to keep them silent. He is now serving a life sentence in prison.”
… Van Hollen then read the widely reported police report from Johnson’s case where he offered to pay the victims out of money he believed Trump was going to give him since he was a pardoned J6 criminal. Blanche claimed he never heard of it.
Van Hollen: “Some Epstein survivors are extremely frustrated that you keep calling for people to come forward with more evidence but have not met with them. Blanche: What you said is false. I have met with them. I have met with many of their lawyers.”
… Many of the Epstein survivors then released a statement:
… Meidas reporter Pablo Manriquez asked Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) if Congress has any say about this slush fund: “Most certainly, it would appear to me that Congress will have some say because there’s an appropriation of funds someplace along the line. We’re not talking a million. We’re talking a billion in this particular case. Even Congress pays attention to that.”
… Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) to Meidas: “To think that somehow taxpayers might have to pay for the attack on our Capitol - to call it beyond the pale is an understatement. It’s the reason why we’ve got to do everything we can to show up and vote to take back our democracy from this kleptocratic admin that’s focused on enriching themselves, their families, and their corrupt friends.”
… Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to Meidas: “The whole idea that your taxpayer dollars are going to do what? Fund the guys that beat up police officers? Fund the guys that rioted to stop the transfer of power? Fund anybody that Trump wants? This is corruption with capital letters and flashing lights and fireworks going off.”
… WSJ: “The Treasury Dept’s top lawyer resigned as the govt announced a controversial settlement with Trump. Brian Morrissey joined the Trump admin last year as the president’s pick to be Treasury Dept’s general counsel, after previously serving at the agency and at DOJ during Trump’s first term. A former clerk for Clarence Thomas, Morrissey didn’t respond to a request for comment.”
… “The govt’s settlement with Trump was signed by Associate AG Stanley Woodward and by Frank Bisignano, the chief executive of the IRS. The Treasury Dept has another important upcoming role in the settlement. It is responsible for approving the use of the govt’s judgment fund, a permanent, uncapped pot of money that is used to settle lawsuits.”
… Apparently even some long-time Trump loyalists can’t stomach attaching their name to this corruption.
… John Thune to Punchbowl on Trump’s new “weaponization fund”: “Not a big fan. And I’m not sure exactly how they intend to use it. I don’t see a purpose for that.”
… In a new order signed by Blanche, DOJ states that the federal govt is now permanently barred from pursuing a wide range of tax-related claims and reviews against Trump, his family members, and affiliated companies.
… The order says the US “RELEASES, WAIVES, ACQUITS, and FOREVER DISCHARGES” Trump and is “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED” from pursuing claims, examinations, reviews, appeals, monetary relief, and other actions against Trump and “related or affiliated individuals,” including family members, trusts, parent and sister companies, and subsidiaries.
… HuffPost: “Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) will make Democrats’ first effort to put Republicans on the record regarding Trump’s new controversial settlement fund. During a committee vote on Republicans’ bill to fund ICE, Gallego will offer an amendment to the legislation to bar the govt from establishing a commission like the ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’.”
… “Republicans will likely vote the amendment down, but it will be an awkward vote that could be construed as supporting the president’s controversial scheme to reward political allies with cash settlements.”
… Blanche claimed today in his testimony that each individual payout will be made public every quarter, despite the fact that Trump’s settlement with the IRS specifically states that they will be kept confidential. Blanche also told Coons that some of the info will be kept confidential due to “privacy rights” but said the names and amounts paid out would be made public. We will see.
… JD Vance filled in for Karoline Leavitt today at the daily WH press briefing:
Q - “You and the president ran on a platform that included no new wars, cutting gas prices, cutting inflation. What do you say to people who go to the polls today and who feel like those promises are unkept? Vance: We've delivered great wins for the American people.”
… Good luck with that message.
Q - “How can you argue to Americans that you're cleaning up corruption, when the president seems to be talking up stocks that he owns, selling them and enriching himself? Vance: Come on, man. The president doesn't sit at the Oval Office on his computer, on his Robinhood account, buying and selling stocks. That's absurd. He's not making the stock trades himself.”
Q - “You previously told me that anyone who assaulted a police officer on J6 should go to prison. So why not rule out giving them taxpayer funded money? Vance: I don't rule things out categorically. Let's say, hypothetically, a person is accused of doing something that they never actually did, that they got a kangaroo court, that they had a judge who mistreated them.”
Q - “You denied that the president said he was not taking Americans’ financial situations into consideration when he's making decisions on the Iran war. He was asked about that again. He stood by it, called it a perfect statement, and said he would make it again. Vance: What you did is you misrepresented the question that I was asked and you misrepresented the answer I gave. What he said was totally taken out of context.”
Q - “The Pentagon halted 4,000 troops to Poland. Why are you rewarding Putin and punishing your best ally in Europe? Vance: There's been no president who's done more to ensure that Ukraine survived the invasion of Russia than Trump. Poland is capable of defending itself. That's encouraging Europe to take more ownership.”
Q - “The price tag for this DOJ fund, $1.8 billion, you have people that can't afford groceries. Gas is high. People are making sacrifices in their personal lives to accommodate for this rise in prices. How can you justify that amount of taxpayer money for that fund when people are struggling? Vance: Thanks to Trump's leadership and the working families tax cut, we put $40 billion into a rural health care fund.”
… Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins, on the rising cost of fertilizer caused by Trump’s Iran war: “The good news is, while other countries around the world are actually facing significant shortage of fertilizer our challenge here in America is the cost.”
… The Trump admin may have found the only person worse at messaging the midterms than Vance.
Our Capitol Hill reporter Pablo Manriquez was a huge hit on Ask the Editor based on the comments from you on Substack and YouTube, so much so that Ben fired himself as host and Pablo got the battlefield promotion to take over for him. You get to hear Ben all the time anyway!
Ben and I are probably pretty similar voices and are both lawyers, so bringing some spicy gossip to the table from Pablo’s conversations with members of Congress and staffers at the Capitol and around town will hopefully make for one of the most interesting and unique shows out there with both of us. If you missed the show, it is here.
If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find that here.
… Trump gave a long presentation to the press at the ballroom construction site, where he made it abundantly clear that he cares more about the ballroom than pretty much anything else on earth:
“There will never be another building like this built. The roof is dead flat with strong steel. It’s drone-proof. It’s meant for our military to stay on it to get a view of Washington.”
“We just did the black fencing all around the WH - that’s all titanium. It’s very powerful - a bulldozer cannot knock it over.”
“The roof is like a shield. The sidewalls are steel - impenetrable steel - and also impenetrable glass. The glass is 4 inches thick. It can stop just about anything. And on the side of the glass we have steel and concrete so what’s holding the glass is equally as powerful.”
“It’s modeled after great classical buildings. Parts of the building are taken from different parts of the world during glamorous times. This is Rome - they like the
