DOJ to Courts: Don’t You Dare Touch the Already-Dead Slush Fund
INSIDE: Bill Pulte ... Kash Patel ... Ryan D. Nelson
The Week Ahead
A big week ahead for the “anti-weaponization” slush fund that President Trump and his Justice Department insist is dead.
In similar filings on Friday in two of the cases challenging the “anti-weaponization” slush fund, the Trump DOJ finally put in writing what acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had refused to do: commit that the slush fund is now dead.
But in the same breath it was assuring federal judges there’s nothing to see here, it took an aggressive stance against court involvement in the matter that only further muddied the waters: “This is a rare case that is simultaneously moot and premature,” DOJ said in the filing.
The DOJ staked out its position ahead of court hearings this week in the two cases, one in D.C., the other in the Eastern District of Virginia, arguing that: (i) the slush fund does not now and has not ever existed so there is nothing to litigate; and (ii) the plaintiffs lacks standing to sue; and (iii) in any event, their claims are not ripe.
A third case in D.C. challenging the fund is lagging behind the other two; but the original Trump lawsuit against the IRS which produced the “settlement agreement” that created the slush fund has effectively been reopened by the judge overseeing it to hear claims that the lawsuit was a fraud upon the court. Trump has a deadline of this coming Friday to answer those claims.
Stay tuned.
The Purges: DNI Edition
President Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that he wants acting DNI Bill Pulte to get started on firing Obama and Biden holdovers in the intelligence community.
Trump framed the scheme to make Pulte the acting DNI as a way to get the purges rolling without the permanent DNI having to take the heat for it:
“Frankly, it might be good for him to shake it up before people come,” Trump told the WSJ. “Because, if he [Pulte] reduced the size, in conjunction with me…and in conjunction with possibly the person coming in…he can do a lot of the hard work and we wouldn’t have to saddle somebody that goes in.”
The Purges: FBI Edition
FBI Director Kash Patel has fired as many as five analysts in its Richmond office who were involved in a rescinded 2023 internal intelligence memo about “radical traditionalist Catholic ideology” that the political right seized on as anti-Catholic.
A investigation under the Biden administration found no anti-Catholic bias, but then-Director Chris Wray apologized repeatedly for it not meeting bureau standards.
In a victory lap on X shortly after the firings, Patel wrote: “This FBI will never infringe on religious freedom.”
Trump DOJ Watch
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy of Rhode Island referred Justice Department lawyers for disciplinary proceedings over their conduct in a closely watched case involving the administration’s anti-trans subpoenas to hospitals.
After President Trump criticized California’s slow counting of ballots in last week’s primary election and said it was under investigation, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angles confirmed multiples probe are active: “Without commenting on any specific investigation, my office has multiple election fraud investigations underway in coordination with @FBILosAngeles. We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent.”
Blanche deputy Aakash Singh, who had a major role in the vindictive prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, keeps popping up, most recently in a NYT account of the origins of the “grand conspiracy” against Trump investigation that threatens to sweep in former CIA Director John Brennan and other Trump political foes.
Only the Best People
Ryan D. Nelson, a Trump-appointed judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, faces misdemeanor charges of battery and malicious injury to property after an April 2 parking-lot confrontation that was captured on video. He has pleaded not guilty.
MAGA Nullification?
At least nine county prosecutors in red areas of Virginia are openly declaring that they won’t enforce Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s new assault weapons ban, Greg Sargent reports.
RIP 60 Minutes
Fired 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley had intimated that Bari Weiss had interfered in one of his stories so late in the process that that week’s entire episode of the storied news magazine barely made it on air. But it wasn’t until an interview last week with the NYT that Pelley divulged what happened.
The story in question was a segment Pelley did in February on the Minnesota protests against Operation Metro Surge. By his account, Pelley bent over backwards to, as he put it, “identify that the protesters themselves were being very aggressive and that they were half of these confrontations,” including instructing producers “to to find images in which we see the protesters acting aggressively.”
That wasn’t enough for Weiss, Pelley says:
We get the piece approved by everyone. And about four hours after our deadline, Bari Weiss sends an email to my boss, Tanya Simon. Two of the things in the email include, can we make the protesters look more violent? Now, I’m paraphrasing. I don’t have the quote, but that’s what was communicated to me. And the other thing, Renee Good’s car. You need to describe her as driving toward the officer.
Pelley ignored Weiss’ notes and the segment ran without any changes. CBS did not deny Pelley’s account of Weiss’ notes, except to say they “had no political motivation.”
Quote of the Day
From oral arguments Friday before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, on Trump’s vanity ballroom:
Judge Patricia A. Millett: “If the government decides, very quickly, to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty — the people whose ancestors that was the first thing they saw coming to this country, but the government moved too fast — nothing can be done?”
DOJ attorney Yaakov Roth: “I think that’s right, yes.”
For Your Radar: LDS Edition
On Friday, the Pentagon announced a sweeping new policy that reduces the number of religious faiths it recognizes from 211 to 31 — 22 of which are Christian.
The biggest source of backlash to the move came from the conspicuous failure not to explicitly designate The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as “Christian” on the new list it distributed (LDS is tucked in there after a long list of “Christian” denominations):
Utah Republican Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis spent the weekend pushing back publicly and privately, but it was Lee — who has so ostentatiously hitched his wagon to MAGA — who had the most to lose, and it showed in his feverish posting blitz on X. Just after midnight, Lee posted that he’d spoken with President Trump about the issue: “I won’t speak for him, but I’m thrilled about where this is heading.”
Sign of the Times: Higher Ed Edition
Inside Higher Ed: “The Auburn University Board of Trustees on Friday gave itself complete control over course offerings, curriculum, degree requirements and academic credentials while eliminating shared governance at the Alabama land-grant university.”
Having a Normal One
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Re: the "slush fund" court cases and DOJ pushback — "[...] iii. in any event, their claims are not ripe."
Like rotten fruit, the slush fund is overripe and ready to be litigated in the name of The People.
What a way to start the week. Just can't trust Mondays.