Thursday on CNN’s “The Source,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) claimed President Donald Trump “cannot take any money in a settlement with the federal government while he’s president.”
Host Kaitlan Collins said, “As we’re watching what’s playing out in the Senate right now, if there’s not enough Republican support there to stop the president from from potentially moving forward with this fund at a later date that could compensate his political allies. What do you think happens next?”
Raskin said, “Well, we’ve got strong bipartisan majorities, both in the Senate and the House to reject this highway robbery from the federal taxpayers. People do not want to see a $1.8 billion slush fund for Donald Trump’s private militia. And it was good to hear Thom Tillis, hanging tough like that. And so we hope whatever comes out of the Senate will include language that we can quickly adopt in the House to preclude it. I have introduced legislation both to shut down this particular fund, which still exists. It’s only been put on hold because of the federal district court in Florida, which has said, no way. Come on back and explain why this is not a fraud on the court and a fraud on the country. We need to, shut it down from Congress, which appropriates money. And we should make very clear not a dollar can go in this direction.”
He added, “And I introduced a bill today to say that the president should not be able to use any fund. You know, they think it’s just about this one checking account they’ve set up. It’s about any fund. The president should not be able to use a dollar of federal tax money to settle a lawsuit that he brings against himself, because this is basically Trump versus Trump. And what do you know in Trump versus Trump? Trump wins and takes home a lot of money. And so we’re saying that the president cannot take any money in a settlement with the federal government while he’s president. And in terms of all of the other stuff that they’re trying to deal themselves, this massive immunity for the president and his family and his businesses, that’s got to go through a court. It can’t just be the Department of Justice who says, you guys get a get out of jail free card for the rest of your life?”
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