Donald Trump has expressed his belief that a record third impeachment against him might result if the Democrats take back control of the House of Representatives in the November mid-term elections.
That’s a fair concern, and not just because the Democrats are obsessed with trying to bring down the Republican president. Trump invites investigations into his conduct by regularly abusing the power of this office.
Typically outrageous has been the deal he struck last month with the U.S. Justice Department to settle a lawsuit he filed over the leaking of his tax returns by an IRS contractor between 2018 and 2020.
The lawsuit was arguably meritless, since at the time of the leak, the IRS was under the purview of the Trump administration. It’s also probable that Trump was involved in both sides of the settlement negotiations, since the U.S. Justice Department has shown little independence from the White House, as symbolized by the large banner of the president’s face that hangs at the front of the law enforcement agency’s Washington headquarters.
When a plaintiff is allowed to negotiate with himself, there’s no telling how fishy the bargaining can get.
If the settlement holds, Trump has finagled two troubling concessions. In one, not only the president but also his family members — possibly even in-laws — would be exempt from being pursued by the IRS for any past cheating on their federal income taxes. In the other, a taxpayer-funded $1.8 billion fund would be created, from which compensation could be paid to those claiming to be past victims of an overly political or zealous government.
This so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund” would be nothing but a slush fund, from which Trump during his last two years in office could indirectly reward his supporters, including those who broke the law. Already, some of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, whom Trump unjustifiably pardoned soon after returning to office, say they plan to file for the money with a board whose members Trump would control.
The possibilities are so repugnant that even Republicans in Congress, who have generally been a pushover for the president, are raising objections. One federal court has put creation of the fund on hold, and another is looking into the allegation that the Justice Department colluded with the president to settle a lawsuit with dubious odds of success in a manner that was highly desirable to Trump.
Will Congress conduct its own probe into how this settlement was reached? Probably not unless the Democrats regain control of at least one chamber.
