To the editor:

On May 18, the Department of Justice announced the “settlement” of trump’s sham lawsuit against the IRS that creates a $1.776 billion fund to hand out to basically the Jan. 6th insurrectionists. On May 19, Todd Blanche, trump’s former criminal defense lawyer and now acting Attorney General and supposedly the adversarial party in this lawsuit disclosed an additional portion of the settlement. It includes language that the IRS is “forever barred and precluded from prosecuting, examining or pursuing any claims against Donald Trump, his adult sons, his related trusts, and affiliated businesses.”

This “settlement” is a blatant theft of taxpayer money to give to thugs. Using “1776” is also a deliberate insult to our 250th anniversary. It also shows how afraid Trump is of transparency on his taxes (just like the Epstein files). It also shows his attitude toward women as he does not include his two daughters in this additional portion. But the most frightening thing about this “settlement” is the message to those he would like to see interfere with the election! The message is NOT ONLY WILL I PARDON YOU FOR YOUR CRIMES, I WILL PAY YOU. And where are our congressmen?

All five of them have been silent on the additional portion. Moran, Marshall and Schmidt have made noises about concerns about the fund. Mann and Estes have been silent. But none of them have done anything, just like they haven’t done anything on the tariffs or the Epstein files. They need to act. Congress is supposed to control the purse strings!

Ron Svaty

Ellsworth