Hey there!

Just wanted to make sure you saw that Public Citizen is suing to block Trump’s
preposterous slush fund.

See the email below for more details.

- Lisa

******

This is big.

Public Citizen just filed a lawsuit challenging the establishment of Donald
Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund for MAGA criminals, crooks, cronies, and others.

If you can, please donate today to support Public Citizen as we continue
standing up to the Trump regime.
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Here’s a recap of how the Trump regime concocted this corrupt, unconstitutional,
and illegal fund out of thin air:

* It started with Trump filing a ridiculous lawsuit against the IRS — well
after his claim expired — over a leak of some of his tax records in 2018,
while he was president.

* Without offering a shred of evidence that he was harmed by the leak, Trump’s
bogus lawsuit nonetheless asked the IRS to “compensate” him $10 billion.

* In America, we have what is known as an adversarial system for court cases —
meaning the two sides are meant to be opposed. But this case was basically
Donald Trump v. Donald Trump, since Trump currently controls the entire
executive branch, including the IRS, the agency he was suing.

* Trump knew his lawsuit was a sham. He outright admitted that he would have to
“work out a settlement with myself.”

* In what amounts to a shakedown of the American people, pure and simple, Trump
“dropped” his meritless lawsuit in exchange for getting a $1.8 billion pot of
taxpayer money that his regime can dole out to assorted MAGA loyalists who
claim the law was “weaponized” against them.

* As Trump officials have openly stated, that could include people convicted of
crimes related to the attempted coup d’etat carried out in Trump’s name on January 6, 2021.

* More than 1,500 people were investigated, tried, and convicted for crimes
they committed on or leading up to January 6. But on the very first day of
his second term, Trump pardoned every one of them.

* And now they — along with many other people associated with Trump who have
been investigated and convicted for assorted crimes — may get still more of a
reward in the form of payouts from an illegitimate slush fund set up in
response to a baseless lawsuit.

* Trump and his family may well be the biggest beneficiaries of all, because
there is nothing in the agreement that prevents them from collecting hundreds
of millions of taxpayer dollars from it. (The “settlement” even contains a
clause by which the federal government is “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from
prosecuting or pursuing” Trump, his children and other family members, and
their numerous businesses over any existing issues related to their tax
returns.)

Forgive our coarseness, but to hell with all of that.

We are suing Trump’s out-of-control Department of Justice and acting Attorney
General Todd Blanche.

Blanche, you may recall, was Trump’s personal lawyer when Trump was convicted on
34 felony counts related to falsifying business records to conceal hush money
payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels. (Giving Trump the dubious distinction
of being the only U.S. president ever convicted of a felony.)

Blanche is now filling the role of attorney general since Trump booted Pam Bondi
from the position in April. Trump’s reported reasons for firing Bondi were that
she didn’t do enough to suppress the public’s interest in the Epstein files and that she didn’t do enough to prosecute Democratic politicians and other people Trump considers his
“enemies.”

Blanche definitely seems to have gotten the message that Trump thinks the
attorney general serves him, not the American people and the rule of law.

Our lawsuit focuses on the fact that Blanche ignored basic laws about how the
government is supposed to work when he created the fund. We are representing
Allison Gill, who was fired from her government job for hosting a popular
podcast — Mueller, She Wrote — that was critical of Trump.

We have filed 40 lawsuits (so far) against the administration since Trump
returned to power. While the justice system can move slowly, in many cases we
have already kept the regime from doing maximum damage.

And we have no intention of giving up the fight as our cases make their way
through the courts and as we file new lawsuits.

Are these lawsuits alone enough to fully defeat Trump and MAGA? Of course not.
But are they a meaningful part of the pushback that is the only chance we have
to collectively save our country? No doubt about it.

What you and Public Citizen are doing together matters. What hundreds of other
organizations, big and small, are doing matters. What millions upon millions of
our fellow Americans are doing matters. We believe that to our core. We take
solace in that. And we draw inspiration from that. We hope you do, too.

If you can, please donate today to support Public Citizen as we continue
standing up to the Trump regime.
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Anything you can chip in — $5 or $25, $50 or $100, $500 or even more — will make
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Or join our popular Monthly Giving program (if you haven’t already) to help make
sure we have the ongoing financial resources to fight Trump day after day after
day. [[link removed]]

If you’ve donated to Public Citizen before, thank you. If a donation is not
right, we understand. Either way, thank you for being part of Public Citizen.

For justice,

- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen


Public Citizen | 1600 20th Street NW | Washington DC 20009 | Unsubscribe
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