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MaddowBlog-Acting AG Blanche backs away from 'slush fund,' but preserves Trump's IRS audit shield
Team Trump abandoned a scheme that would have helped the president’s allies, but left intact a parallel scheme that helps the president directly.
All things considered, it seems oddly on-brand:
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-06-03T12:58:39.631Z
Todd Blanche and Team Trump are abandoning one corrupt scheme that would’ve helped the president’s allies, while leaving intact a parallel corrupt scheme that helps the president directly.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/todd-blanche-compensation-fund-irs-tax-audits
But then there’s the other reward the president received after withdrawing his IRS civil suit. MS NOW reported:
But this surviving part of the deal is still extraordinarily important. Indeed, from Trump’s perspective, it’s arguably more important....
In other words, Team Trump abandoned a scheme that would have helped the president’s allies, but left intact a parallel scheme that helps the president directly.
Blanche emphasized during his congressional testimony, “It’s not a forward-looking document. It’s nothing that gives any sort of immunity in the future to the president or his family or his organizations.”
That was true, though it downplayed the significance of the acting attorney general’s gift to his former client: The IRS has effectively wiped the slate clean for Trump, his family and his business, dropping all pending audits of previous tax returns, in a move that appears entirely unprecedented. As The New York Times reported, “These protections could be immensely valuable to Mr. Trump and his family, who have faced repeated audits from the Internal Revenue Service. Just one investigation by the I.R.S. stemmed in part from how Mr. Trump claimed losses on his Chicago tower could have cost him more than $100 million.”
The “slush fund” appears to be dead; the broader scandal, however, remains very much alive.
Though he said the “anti-weaponization” fund is not moving forward, Blanche affirmed that the rest of the Trump-IRS settlement remains intact, including the addendum, which grants Trump, his family and his businesses immunity from all existing IRS tax audits.
In recent weeks, the “slush fund” controversy eclipsed the IRS audit shield, which was understandable given the severity of the corruption surrounding the fund, its creation and its future.
But this surviving part of the deal is still extraordinarily important. Indeed, from Trump’s perspective, it’s arguably more important....
In other words, Team Trump abandoned a scheme that would have helped the president’s allies, but left intact a parallel scheme that helps the president directly.
Blanche emphasized during his congressional testimony, “It’s not a forward-looking document. It’s nothing that gives any sort of immunity in the future to the president or his family or his organizations.”
That was true, though it downplayed the significance of the acting attorney general’s gift to his former client: The IRS has effectively wiped the slate clean for Trump, his family and his business, dropping all pending audits of previous tax returns, in a move that appears entirely unprecedented. As The New York Times reported, “These protections could be immensely valuable to Mr. Trump and his family, who have faced repeated audits from the Internal Revenue Service. Just one investigation by the I.R.S. stemmed in part from how Mr. Trump claimed losses on his Chicago tower could have cost him more than $100 million.”
The “slush fund” appears to be dead; the broader scandal, however, remains very much alive.
The immunity deal is also only alive so long as trump is in office. There is no consideration for this "agreement" and the next administration will be free to ignore this "deal."