A court in Florida holds the key to stopping Trump’s slush fund in its tracks

Public outrage is building against President Donald Trump’s so-called settlement for his lawsuit against the IRS that created a $1.8 billion slush fund for individuals who were supposedly targeted by the Biden administration for political reasons.

Equally egregious is the Justice Department’s agreement to provide Trump, his family and his businesses civil and criminal immunity for all IRS matters “currently pending or that could be pending.” This could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars to Trump and his family. 

Immunity on criminal tax matters is particularly important to Trump. Under the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity, there is no conceivable way Trump can argue that his failure to pay taxes was an “official act” — the essential condition of presidential immunity. Additionally, some of Trump’s tax issues relate to years long before he ever became president. 

Lawmakers from both parties are discussing a legislative fix to this illegal usurpation of Congress’s power of the purse. And last week, two former Capitol police officers filed a federal lawsuit against Trump, asking the court to declare the fund unlawful. 

What everyone is overlooking is that the federal court in the Southern District of Florida has one straightforward and clear path to nullify Trump’s overreaching scheme. 

Absent the lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS, there would be no justification whatsoever for this settlement. However, that lawsuit a total........

© The Hill