Ranking Member Raskin’s Statement on Trump’s $1.7 Billion Taxpayer-Funded Slush Fund for MAGA Loyalists
Washington, D.C. (May 14, 2026)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, issued the following statement on ABC News’ reporting that President Donald Trump is expected to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in exchange for the creation of a $1.7 billion slush fund to issue taxpayer-funded payouts to MAGA allies who claim they were wrongfully targeted by the Biden Administration:
“Donald Trump is orchestrating a $1,700,000,000 fraud on the American taxpayer to line the pockets of his MAGA political allies, another installment in his ongoing effort to turn the federal government into a personal cash machine for his unpopular extremist movement. This is a massive and unprecedented presidential plunder of the American people. Worse still, this is only the beginning—a declaration that the prior payouts were just a down payment, and that he now intends to earmark billions more in taxpayer dollars for his political allies, sycophants and private militia of unemployed insurrectionists.
“We have already seen this corrupt playbook unfold in real time. Trump has demanded a $230 million payout from his own Justice Department on bogus claims about a lawful judicial search warrant. His DOJ handed $1.25 million each to disgraced ally Michael Flynn after he admitted lying to the FBI about contacts with Russian operatives, and to Carter Page after his claims had already been thrown out of court—reversing the government’s own prior positions. It paid $5 million to the family of January 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt while injured officers and their families have still received nothing. And now, as pardoned January 6 defendants line up demanding millions of dollars apiece, Trump is effectively saying ‘yes—and’ to all of them, with a handpicked ‘panel’ poised to rubber-stamp payouts to his political loyalists with taxpayer cash.
“The President has no authority to conjure up billion-dollar compensation schemes or raid the Judgment Fund which exists to settle valid lawsuits. Trump is systematically converting neutral government mechanisms into a presidential slush fund to build his army of political dependents.
“Under the rule of law, people who have a claim against the government must file it and state the facts and most often go to court to prove their case. This is a giant affront to the rule of law and a danger to the American system of justice.
“Congress must act immediately to reassert the power of the purse and stop this brazen looting of taxpayer funds before this ‘pilot program’ for corruption becomes the permanent operating system of our government.”
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