Trump Admin to Abandon “Slush Fund” Amid Backlash

0:00On any journey using Uber, it helps to know you're getting into the right car. Pin verification adds an extra step to make sure your ride is your ride. Before the trip begins, your app gives you a unique pin. Just tell it to your driver and they'll enter it in their app before the ride can start. Hey, what's your pin? Mm-hmm. 2538. That way, you know you're in the right car taking the right trip and your driver knows you're the right passenger. Make sure your ride is your ride with pin verification from Uber. One more way Uber is putting safety at every turn. Learn more on the Uber app. That once was a magic.

0:33Sorry. At Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, we don't do fairy tales. We do real, like real adventures to Mars or real journeys into the future to see how imagination can really take us to strange new worlds and real trips into the past where we meet heroes and legends way ahead of their time. Real rockets, real astronauts, real adventure. All at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Discover something real. Welcome to The Beat. I'm Melissa Murray in for Ari Melber. And we start tonight with a major loss for Donald Trump. MSNOW can report tonight that the Trump administration plans to abandon its highly controversial$1.8 billion slush fund.

1:17This news comes from a senior White House official. Axios was the first to report this story, citing two senior administration officials. One of them told Axios, quote, it's dead for now. In a tweet, the Trump DOJ attributed the about face to a recent court ruling temporarily blocking the fund. The tweet explains that although the department, quote, disagrees strongly with the court decision that under no circumstances may the DOJ proceed with the fund, the department will abide by the court's ruling. We should emphasize that the tweet was a bit misleading. The court ruling, which was issued last Friday, temporarily blocked the fund while a case challenging it played out in the court.

2:04It was not a decision on the fund's merits. MSNOW can also report tonight that Speaker Mike Johnson's meeting with Trump today played a key role in the decision to abandon the fund. A source told MSNOW that Johnson helped convince Trump to drop the fund in order to create a path forward for ICE and Border Patrol funding legislation in the Senate. Earlier today, Politico reported that this abrupt shift was in the offing. Its reporting noted that the Republicans' agenda was in limbo as their immigration enforcement bill remained stalled because of concerns with the fund. Politico reported, quote, Senate Republicans delayed passage of the immigration package last month as a critical mass of their members were prepared to support Senate Democrats' amendments to narrow or nix the Justice Department's fund.

3:01Well, that pressure on Trump seemingly worked. The slush fund criticism was a rare instance of bipartisan backlash. Even Trump's former vice president called the fund offensive. Take a look. Let's get rid of this fund. I mean, it's deeply offensive to me that you could have a fund that could even possibly compensate people who assaulted police officers or vandalized the Capitol on January 6th. And I think that's broadly held by most Republicans and most Americans. Most Americans is right. Democrats were preparing to fight back. Senate Democrats had three bills in the works, which would divert the money to other programs, as well as a standalone bill to block the fund and prevent payouts.

3:52One senator even raised the prospect of impeachment. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer today said he will still force a vote to block the fund. Quote, if Trump and Republicans are truly abandoning this corrupt scheme, they should have zero problem banning it in law. This week, Senate Democrats will push legislation to ban this slush fund and ensure no president can ever do this again. Trump's word is nowhere near enough. Joining me now to discuss all of this is Maya Wiley, former SDNY civil prosecutor and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. As well with us is Molly Jong-Fast, contributing writer with The New York Times, MSNOW political analyst and host of the Fast Politics podcast.

4:41Maya, let's start with you. What is your reaction to the news that the administration, which was so hot to trot over this fund, is now abandoning it? Well, my reaction is there's nothing normal about anything that just happened here. And we really need to understand what a federal judge said about this settlement that was one that potentially was hidden from the court. Because remember, it's the slush fund. It's the fact that it was$1.8 trillion for potentially convicted felons that Donald Trump pardoned with taxpayer dollars. But it's also our Department of Justice. And the reason I'm pointing to that Florida court, that judge saying, I'm going to reopen this under Rule 11.

5:30And as you and I know, Rule 11 is y 'all did some things I think you were not allowed to do. And I can look at this because I have 35 former judges that told me I should because it looks like y 'all may have colluded to do something that essentially is going to protect Donald Trump as if he can be above the law. So when you push all this together, it's bad for everyone, but it's so not normal and we should be upset about it. I think that's a great point. None of this was above board in a lot of ways, like the initial lawsuit where the president was on both sides of the V, the motion to dismiss it with prejudice, and then not telling the court that there was a settlement in the offing.

6:15And then once it was dismissed with prejudice, the settlement comes to light. And it is this$1.8 billion slash fund. But Molly, what do you make of the politics around this? So, you know, the judge has done a legal thing, reopened this under Rule 60, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which the court is entitled to do. But a lot of this seemed to be about political pressure as well. So can you say more about that? What's going on here? Well, so when I was reading the reporting about it this weekend and I saw Boris Epstein was mentioned as the architect of this whole thing, I thought, oh, it's dead.

6:47I thought the fact that they're putting it to one person shows already that people are trying to distance themselves from it. And, you know, it's so important. We've been doing covering Trump world for such a long time. You can almost read who is leaking to who and what they're trying to get away from. And you could just see they were trying to distance themselves from this almost immediately. And there's a reason for that, which was last week we saw this YOLO caucus, the You Only Live Once caucus. And these are the Wall Street Journal had an article about this. And I saw it. Yeah. The YOLO caucus.

7:21And in it are the two senators who lost their seat, lost their primaries because of Trump. Korn and Cassidy. Korn and Cassidy. And then in that also is Tillis and Collins and Kyrgyzki. And so the idea is these people all got sent home last week because they've got nothing left to lose. Right. And Thund could saw that he had lost the caucus. And that was like this Mike Johnson move. So here's what I would say. I think that it's really clearly very unpopular. And again, I think it would be a mistake to think that these people are doing this because they've been like, this is too much morally. This is wrong.

7:54I think they've seen the polling on this and they see that it's not popular and it's not a hill they want to die on. What I do think is really smart of Democrats is to try to ban it, because the idea of taking this administration at their word is almost always a mistake. So I want to talk with you about that, Maya. The DOJ says that they were going to abide by this ruling. It was a temporary ruling. Ostensibly, because the fund has been abandoned, that would suggest that the legal matter is now moot, or does it? Is this something that can be resurrected like some kind of zombie fund that keeps coming back?

8:29Sure, of course. That's the point why it is so important to understand how not normal this is and why it's important that, to Molly's point, Democrats are continuing to push the issue and trying to force Republicans to take a position, including whether or not they'll, you know, actually agree that this should never be done by any president anywhere, anytime. I think the other thing that's important to note is the other side of this is that Donald Trump has negotiated with himself to essentially never have to face any investigation or potential penalty from the Internal Revenue Service or his family.

9:08That is my point about how big this problem is. And then we could also add in what they're trying to do with ICE funding here, which is we're going to tell you we won't solve this problem, which is Donald Trump's double dealing and his attempts to buy a private army. And at the same time, we aren't going to protect you from people who are going to violate your rights. So, Molly, this is all like what Maya has said is, I think, really important. And the Democrats have a really great opportunity here on messaging. If you are advising them, what is the message about this fund going into the midterms?

9:46Do you let this drop or do you keep flogging it until November. Waste, fraud and abuse. Right. Wasting taxpayer dollars, committing fraud any which way and abusing the system. Donald Trump and his kids are going to not be audited. The private army. I mean, like I've been saying this forever. This is how you fund a private army for your next insurrection. For sure. And it's also just it's not the American people don't like it. And I think you don't have a precedent for somebody who runs for office, right, says, I'm going to make things cheaper and keep America out of foreign wars, immediately gets America in numerous foreign wars and makes, and by virtue of that, makes gas more and more expensive.

10:30And look, today he had, you know, the Iranian negotiation, he's maybe out for now. Like, he can't be out because, you know, we are going to see gas is just going to get more and more expensive. And this is a real problem for him. So if I were Democrats, I would be waste, fraud and abuse for sure, because that's what we're seeing. And then also he said he was going to make things cheaper. Look at the gas. So on the in advance of the midterm, at least some Democrats are saying the I word out loud. So let's take a listen to Ed Markey, who had this to say about the future prospects for this president.

11:07It's an impeachable offense. What Richard Nixon was impeached for that he did in private, Donald Trump is now doing in public on steroids. This is a complete impeachable offense that was the very thing that our founding fathers were concerned about. It is corruption. It is the high crime and misdemeanor that, in fact, the Constitution anticipated. and we are not going to allow them to escape. What do you think, Maya? Is this an impeachable offense, especially if the fund is abandoned? Well, you know, again, I think it goes back to everything that's happening by this president that simply flaunts the law, ignores Congress, ignores separation of powers.

11:53But the real point here goes back to what are voters going to do and what do they have the opportunity to decide? because cost of living overall is going up. Their healthcare and subsidies have been cut. It's harder to see a doctor when they're sick. None of their problems are getting solved, but a lot of problems are being created for them. And we're watching literally a trillion dollars going to ICE to violate people's rights. 1.8 billion they were trying to get into the hands of Trump loyalists, but what are the American people getting? And that's their question and they've got an opportunity to answer it.

12:30All right. Maya Wiley, Molly Jungfast, thank you for getting us started. When we get back on the other side of this break, we will talk to the lead counsel in the slush fund case. That's right after we take this 90 second break.

12:50Joining me now is Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward and lead counsel who brought the case against the Trump Slush Fund. Skye, what is your reaction to today's news that the Trump administration is planning to abandon this anti-weaponization fund? Well, first of all, let me just say this is one of the reasons that we go to court is because the administration needs to have to answer for what it is doing. And you have a federal judge in the case that we are litigating, say on Friday, you can't do anything with this fund until the courts have their say. We have another federal judge potentially reopening the initial matter to say, you know, was Trump trying to commit fraud on the court?

13:32And all of that combined with the public pushback, I think, is why you're seeing these reports. Now, as a lawyer who has a responsibility to all the clients that have brought this case who are being harmed by the fund, we have a lot of questions for the government. And we've reached out to the Department of Justice to ask them if the reporting is accurate, to ask them, you know, we will not abandon our case, of course, until we know that the fund will not exist, will not recur, and that our clients' harms can be remedied. So we will continue to pursue that. But this would be, you know, this is a routine thing for this administration.

14:07When they receive pushback, when they get jammed up in the courts, they will often walk away and abandon some of their agenda. And I think that's what we potentially will see here. Well, can we talk about that, whether this is for now or for good? As you know, as a lawyer, to get into federal court, you have to have a live case or controversy. The fact that this has been abandoned raises the question of whether the lawsuit is going forward. What would you need to see from the Department of Justice to be assured that this suit is no longer a live case or controversy, that this fund is dead in the water and this administration is not planning to bring it back or any of the ancillary agreements in the settlement going forward?

14:50What would you have to see? Right. Certainly more than a tweet and some comments to the news media or some leaked comments to the news media. I mean, it is going to be important to see that this fund, they made an official announcement. The Department of Justice made an official announcement announcing this fund, announcing how it was going to operate, outlining all the many myriad ways that we believe, of course, the fund is unlawful. But all of that was an official government communication. We have seen nothing like that here yet, although these reports are certainly encouraging. So nothing has changed with us yet in the status quo.

15:22We have written the Department of Justice and asked them to come forward with what their plans are. So I take from that, you are still prepared to continue litigating this case that this slush fund is unlawful, impermissible, and should be shut down by the courts. Absolutely. And to be candid, I mean, the reason the administration isn't paying things out of the slush fund right now is because of the court order that we secured on Friday. So we are going to have to see much more definitive proof of what this administration is doing. Again, we've asked the DOJ. Hopefully they'll be forthcoming with what their plans are.

15:59But we are absolutely prepared to continue to bring our case, to continue to litigate our case. We are looking forward to seeing the government's response in our case, which is due later this week. So there's a lot more coming forward unless, of course, they truly, truly abandon the fund. And we can have assurance that it won't recur. All right, Skye Perryman, we will watch this space. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. Later in the show, the FCC's only Democratic member is condemning Trump's attempts at, quote, censorship. She will be with us live. Also ahead, see the red X's there? Those are featured performers who have bailed on Trump's partisan 250 anniversary concerts as his job approval plummets.

16:52That was Bust a Move by Young MC, one of the many artists you will not be hearing at the 250th anniversary celebration. Yikes. Plus, new corruption allegations engulf Trump's plan for a UFC event on the White House lawn. That's up next. Out on the road, it's nice to have a partner who can help you make the most of your journey. a partner like the Love's Rewards app. With Love's Rewards along for the ride, you earn points on food, fuel, drinks, and more every time you scan. Then you can spend those points at Love's just like cash. So every stop is even more rewarding. Download the app today and watch the points roll in mile after mile.

17:37Love's Rewards. Save and earn at every turn. Terms apply. See website for details. I like things my way. My coffee, my schedule, and my treatment. So I talked to my doctor about self-injecting with the Vivgard Hytrulo Pre-Filled Syringe, which contains F-Gartigamide Alpha and Hyaluronidase QVFC. It's injected under your skin subcutaneously. It means I can inject in my space on my time. It's my treatment, my way. Visit VivgardMyWay.com. That's V-Y-V-G-A-R-T MyWay.com. and talk to your doctor about Vivgard Hattrulo. Brought to you by Argenix. That once was a magic. Sorry. At Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, we don't do fairy tales.

18:22We do real, like real adventures to Mars or real journeys into the future to see how imagination can really take us to strange new worlds. And real trips into the past where we meet heroes and legends way ahead of their time. Real rockets, real astronauts, real adventure. all at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Discover something real.

18:50We're back with mounting questions about Donald Trump's Wall Street trades, publicly boosting companies after their stocks were privately added to his stock portfolio. The latest revelation centers on UFC and a controversial UFC freedom fight that the president is apparently planning to host on the White House lawn. According to financial disclosures that are publicly available from the Office of Government Ethics and that were released in May, shares in TKO Holdings, the UFC's parent company, were added to Trump's portfolio back in March. Just a few weeks later, the president began promoting the UFC White House event and praising the UFC.

19:34It's the hardest ticket. I have never been asked for people like everybody wants. I'm going to make more enemies. And it's about 4 ,000 seats. It's all free. It's all free. It's really a contribution from UFC to 250. It was a great thing for UFC. Everything's beautiful. Everything's like money, money, money. And they're building a great arena. it. It has also been reported that between$1 million and$5 million worth of Dell stock was added to Trump's stock portfolio in February. Trump publicly praised the company shortly after, encouraging his supporters to purchase Dell computers. Last week, after an announcement that the company, Dell, had secured a$9.7 billion Pentagon contract, Dell stock surged.

20:23The president had this to say. I also want to thank Michael and Susan Dell. Dell, go out and buy a Dell computer. They make a great product. They're not looking for any publicity. I give them publicity. They say, well, thank you very much. And Dell, we want to get to shares are higher after the Pentagon announced a$9.7 billion deal with the company to supply software to the military. According to reports, in March, between$2 million and$7 million in Apple stock were purchased for Trump's portfolio. On the same day that one of those purchases occurred, Trump praised Apple. Take a listen. Apple, a great company,$2.5 billion to manufacture 100 % of the glass for iPhones and Apple Watches right here in Kentucky.

21:16He threw plants all over the United States. Think of that. Who the hell else could have done this? Nobody else. I say it kiddingly, but I'm actually not kidding. Nobody else could. He's done a good job, Tim Cook. Trump's portfolio also invested in a small medical supply company called Thermo Fisher. Purchased$50 ,000 worth of stock on the same day that the president toured the company's facility. It's a great honor being here. It's a great company. I've done it for a long time. Dan, you have done a fantastic job. Thank you. It's an incredible company. Congratulations. Great company. Seems like a pattern emerging.

22:03Private stock purchases followed by very public statements boosting those same companies. The Trump Organization says in a statement, quote, neither President Trump, his family, nor the Trump Organization has any role in selecting, directing, approving, influencing, or soliciting specific investments. They receive no advance notice of trades. Joining me now to discuss is David Kay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and Trump biographer. He's now a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology. David, what's your take on these stock trades? Well, they're completely atrocious, but unfortunately, the founders and the framers of our Constitution didn't think that we would have a president like Donald Trump.

22:51So the emoluments clauses as written only apply to foreign governments and state and local governments, certainly not to stock trading. And the assertion by both the Trump family and the White House that there's nothing going on here is nonsense. All you have to do is have advanced knowledge of where Donald's going to speak and whether it's going to be positive or negative, and trades can be made that will turn out to be very profitable. So the Trump Organization is saying that the president has nothing to do with these trades. But we know that for years, the president and his family have not operated with a blind trust.

23:33That is what some presidents have done in the past with their holdings. What's your response to the organization's disclaiming that there's anything to see here? Well, Donald believes that there's nothing wrong with this. I mean, the almost 40 years I've known and covered him, it's always been clear that he does not believe rules apply to him because he's special. And so he said before his first term that he could run his companies and run the White House and there'd be no conflicts of interest. Clearly, there are massive conflicts of interest, particularly where the Pentagon, under some pressure apparently from the White House based on reporting, gave loan guarantees and loans to companies that Don Jr.

24:18invested in. But to Donald, there's just nothing wrong with this. And unfortunately, we're not seeing any oversight by Congress because the leaders of the Republican Party on Capitol Hill simply will not hold Trump to account. Well, you've anticipated my next question. This is not just a problem for Donald Trump. There has also been reporting about members of Congress who have made some questionable trades in advance of shifting world events. some. If the Democrats are able to take back power, at least in some portions of the Congress, could they begin investigating this? Or is there even a pathway forward to truly transformative legislation that would put an end to this?

25:01Well, there will certainly be investigations if the Democrats get control of either the House or the Senate. There is such a rich environment to investigate that they're going to have to make choices about what they can pursue and what they won't pursue. When and if we get past Trump's dictatorship, we need to do some serious work about the presidency because we can no longer assume that honorable men or women will hold that office. And yet that was the core of the framers' belief. They did provide for impeachment because there's always a personal venality, but what's going on with Trump goes way beyond this.

25:40And we need to take a deep look at fundamentally reforming certain parts of the Constitution, including the emoluments clauses, and providing a cause of action. You'll recall when there were lawsuits brought by individuals and state attorneys general, the federal courts on the emoluments issue basically washed their hands of it. We could have a statute that says if, for example, 10 state attorneys general join in a case, they automatically have standing against and action of a president. So before we end this segment, I want to just talk about one more thing. The ProPublica is reporting that the White House intervened to get a company that was affiliated with Donald Trump Jr.

26:22You just talked about this. I'm a$620 million. Oh, I'm sorry. I wanted to talk about that$620 million government contract that was secured for a company in which Donald Trump Jr. had associations. The Trumps deny any wrongdoing with that. What do you make of that story. And while we're talking about congressional reform, how far should it reach? Is it just elected officials or should we also be thinking about how to limit those who are close to the president but not necessarily public servants? Well, I think we need to have a very robust debate about investments by elected members of Congress, key staff members, justices of the United States Supreme Court, and other officials.

27:03I think we should look to the model of Jimmy Carter, who took his little two-bit peanut warehouse business of no consequence to anything and put it in his trust, and then it was sold so that there'd be no question that he was taking any actions. And I'm reminded here of a neighbor of mine, Melissa, who I asked about why he didn't use his position as head of a nonprofit insurance company to convert it and make himself, I estimated, $40 or$50 million, a scam I had exposed back at the Los Angeles Times in the 1980s. And he looked at me and said, because it would be wrong. That's something that never will occur to Donald Trump and the people around him, that it would be wrong.