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Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, told Democratic leaders Thursday he plans to force a vote on legislation blocking the creation of President Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund and a related deal to bar investigation of his and his family’s past tax activities.
Raskin will need to get 218 signatures on a discharge petition to advance the bill — a procedure that allows a bill to circumvent the chamber’s GOP leadership and leapfrog straight to the floor without passing through committee.
The title of the bill takes a shot at acting Attorney General Todd Blanche with a lengthy title: The No Corrupt Agreements Requiring Taxpayer Expenditures Benefitting Lawbreakers and Assorted Non-Prosecution Covenants, Handouts, and Emoluments Act — or the NO CARTE BLANCHE Act.
The legislation combines two efforts from Raskin. One would block the $1.776 billion fund created by the Justice Department after Trump dropped his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. The fund was expected to award former defendants involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and other Trump allies who claim to have been wronged by the government. While Blanche told lawmakers they are “not moving forward” with the fund, he refused to put that in writing or rescind the memo creating it.
After creating the fund, Blanche also signed a memo limiting the government from pursuing claims against Trump, his family or his businesses, saying it “releases, waives, acquits” its pending action and is “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing claims against the president.
“Although Todd Blanche initially said the $1.8 billion slush fund would not move forward, his own Justice Department emphatically refuses to commit that promise to writing, despite repeated requests from Congress and the courts. Blanche has also categorically refused to rescind the sweeping ‘Super Pardon’ that purports to place the President, his family, and their business empire beyond the reach of the law for all time,” Raskin said in a statement.
“And even now, January 6 rioters and their allies are openly forecasting that, with or without an ‘anti-weaponization fund,’ the administration will still funnel them millions of taxpayer dollars through backdoor settlements paid from the Judgment Fund. They are determined to compensate Trump’s private street-fighting militia and create 1,600 MAGA Millionaires with our money.”
Since Blanche said the Justice Department would not be moving forward with the fund, Trump allies have begun to explore other options, including by filing claims that would allow them to tap into the Judgement Fund, the pot of money the department uses to pay out settlements it agrees to or for damages if its loses in court.
Raskin’s bill would also place limitations on how those funds can be used and would specifically block Jan. 6 defendants and the president from tapping into the Judgement Fund.
In order to advance the discharge petition, Raskin would need to get signatures from at least six Republicans to hit the 218 required.
A number of GOP members have also been working to block the fund, including through legislation spearheaded by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), who has also said he would use a discharge petition to force a vote on his bill. His bill, however, has no Republican co-sponsors.
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