— A beloved ‘90s actress as she accepted a major award for her body of work. No Groundhog Day here.
Your Tax Dollars
Wait, Is Trump’s New “Slush Fund” Actually Stealing?
What’s going on: President Donald Trump has settled his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, and ethics watchdogs are pulling the fire alarm. Back in 2020, The New York Times published Trump’s tax returns, which the paper obtained through an anonymous source. Earlier this year, Trump decided to sue the IRS over the breach. Guess who’s also in charge of the IRS? Trump. If you see a potential conflict of interest, so did the judge, who signaled that she was considering throwing out the case altogether. Instead, the president settled with... well, basically, himself. And he threw in a few perks, like the “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which sets aside $1.776 billion (get it?) in taxpayer dollars to compensate people who say they’ve been wronged by the federal government.
So, who’s getting paid?: Anyone who can argue the government was “weaponized” against them, which could include Jan. 6 insurrectionists and people convicted of harassing abortion clinics. A five-member commission will review claims and dole out money. US Attorney General Todd Blanche pointed out that the fund is “unusual, but not unprecedented.” Watchdogs beg to differ, with one expert calling it “one of the single most corrupt acts in American history.” The settlement also dictates that the IRS cannot audit the president, his family, or his businesses on past returns. In other words, Trump got a pretty sweet deal from a suit that analysts say he probably would have lost had it gone to court.
