CNN’s Jake Tapper Stunned by ‘Sinister and Awful’ Revelation About Trump’s $1.8B Slush Fund

CNN anchor Jake Tapper was stunned by a “sinister and awful” revelation related to the $1.776 billion fund set up to get President Donald Trump to drop his IRS lawsuit.

The Trump Justice Department announced the creation of a so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund” on Monday as part of the settlement in Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leaking of his tax returns by a former official.

The move is widely seen as an unaccountable “slush fund” that could be used to funnel cash to the president’s allies.

On Monday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, Tapper asked MeidasTouch chief Washington correspondent Scott MacFarlane about the fund.

MacFarlane revealed that one pardoned Jan. 6 rioter, Andrew Paul Johnson, seemed to be expecting a fund like this to be created, and reportedly tried to leverage it against an 11-year-old victim:

JAKE TAPPER: Scott I can’t be overstated. This is unprecedented. Tell us more about who has discretion over who is going to get any of this money in this so- called anti weaponization fund.

SCOTT MACFARLANE: Here’s what we know Jake. We know that it’s going to be appointees of the Trump administration won by Congress who will be overseen by Todd Blanche. We know this is our money. This is taxpayer money from soup to nuts top to bottom and we will not know, Jake, who gets the money how much they get. This is not a transparent process. This is all happening behind closed doors in a process that does not have transparency. We also know this is a political albatross for Republicans.

If I handed you, Jake, copies of every supportive triumphant statement from Republicans backing this fund today you would be holding no papers in your hand. This is like a rotten egg salad sandwich politically for Republicans so far. Maybe that changes, maybe in the days ahead.

TAPPER: I want to read Clause D from the Justice Department’s announcement of the fund. It says, “Once the funds are deposited into the designated account, the United States has no liability whatsoever for the protection or safeguarding of those funds, regardless of bank failure, fraudulent transfers or any other fraud or misuse of the funds.” This is — I mean the way I read that is this is preemptively somebody — if somebody uses this money from taxpayers to commit a crime no legal retribution for the Justice Department.

MACFARLANE: Two more things we know, Jake. First of all a number of dozens of people pardoned by Trump so far who could be eligible are convicted fraudsters. They tend to make misuses of money. But also there’s one January 6th case in particular post pardon a man from Florida was arrested again in recent months convicted of molestation. According to the police report we reviewed, Jake, that defendant tried to silence the victim by promising him future Trump reparations money that he was expecting from a fund just like this. Some of the January 6th defendants, Jake, knew something like this was coming.

TAPPER: That’s so sinister and awful. As you have reported, the idea of this fund specifically for January 6th defendants is not new.

Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.

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