Former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori trounced Republicans willing to accept new Attorney General Todd Blanche's claims about a possible "slush fund" being dead.
Republican Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Dr. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) all took issue with President Donald Trump's push to create a $1.8 billion "slush fund" for people who believe they were unfairly targeted by the federal government.
CNN's Boris Sanchez and Brianna Keilar asked the lawyer on Thursday, about Blanche's speech to the Justice Department this week as he officially took over as attorney general. The speech restated that he would not establish the anti-weaponization fund. But Khardori said that Blanche doesn't need to. A fund already exists, and the Trump administration has been using it.
"They have a readily available recourse. Actually, many of these Jan. 6th defendants have submitted claims ... under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the government connected to their the charges against them," Khardori explained.
In those cases, Blanche and the Trump administration "can settle those cases and make payouts on a 1-to-1 basis, rather than out of a fund, and can do so potentially without — well can do so without any judicial oversight and potentially without the public even knowing."
The ex-prosecutor called it "unfortunate" but said the situation was "eminently predictable."
"All I have to say to the Republican senators who fell for the dog-and-pony show around this fund and it being dead and took the, you know, the signature on the piece of paper from Todd Blanche as if it put this to bed. They're being made absolute fools of," said Khardori.
As The Guardian explained about the Federal Tort Claims Act, "The Justice Department has complete and unchecked discretion over whether to settle the claims, giving the Trump administration a powerful vehicle to reward those responsible for violence on January 6."
“If the Treasury Department is not going to enforce the restrictions on the use of the judgment fund, which is to settle impending or imminent lawsuits where there’s some risk of liability, then there’s no limit on what you can use that judgment fund money for, so long as someone files a bogus claim,” said Rupa Bhattacharyya, former director of the DOJ's director in the civil division’s tort branch.
Peter Ticktin, a Florida attorney and friend of Trump's, said he's filed about 400 claims for cash from Jan. 6 attackers who were either found guilty or pleaded guilty for their crimes.
One of those demanding $2.5 million is Andrew Taake, a Houston man who pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer with bear spray and a whip-like weapon. He was sentenced six years in prison until he was pardoned by Trump.
