Connecticut Targets Trump’s Taxpayer-Funded Slush Fund Payouts
Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff announced Connecticut will seek to impose a 100% tax on payments state residents receive from Trump’s $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund
The Trump regime has refused to rule out using the fund to compensate supporters convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, including those convicted of assaulting police officers
Even some Republicans in Congress have moved to block the slush fund, but Connecticut Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding dismissed the effort as “political theater”
Connecticut will seek to impose a 100% tax on payments state residents receive from President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund expected to compensate supporters convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff announced Thursday.
In a morning press release, Duff said Connecticut would not be a “safe harbor for insurrectionist windfalls.”
“The Trump regime just handed $1.8 billion in taxpayer money to the same people who beat police officers and stormed the United States Capitol,” Duff, D-Norwalk, said. “Connecticut is not going to let a single one of our residents profit from that corruption. If you filed a claim with Trump’s slush fund and collected a check, we are going to explore every legal option available to take every penny of it back.”
The Trump administration announced the so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund” earlier this month after Trump and his family business reached a settlement with Trump’s Justice Department on a lawsuit he filed against his own Internal Revenue Service, seeking to award himself $10 billion in taxpayer money, Politico reported earlier this month.
According to the report, the administration has refused to rule out using the fund to compensate those convicted of crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2001, riot at the U.S. Capitol where Trump supporters attempted to prevent Congress from certifying his 2020 election loss.
One of the Republican president’s first actions after taking office last year was to grant clemency to everyone charged in the 2001 insurrection, including those convicted of violently attacking police officers, NPR reported.
Connecticut joins a growing number of states moving to offset payouts through Trump’s slush fund through 100% taxes on payments through the fund. Officials in New York, New Jersey, and California have proposed similar policies, according to Politico.
Trump’s slush fund has been met with some pushback from federal lawmakers in both parties. Last week, Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-New York, introduced a bipartisan bill to block taxpayer funds from being used to pay slush fund claims.
“Taxpayer dollars will not become a discretionary payout fund,” the Pennsylvania Republican said in a press release. “Transparency is not optional. Accountability is not negotiable.”
Connecticut Republicans, meanwhile, seem less concerned that Trump may use taxpayer funds to pay off those convicted of assaulting police officers.
Connecticut Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding dismissed the issue as “political theater from Connecticut Democrats” in a Thursday interview with CT Insider.
However, Gov. Ned Lamont praised Duff’s proposal as a good idea in a Thursday social media post and suggested that the funding may be used to help the families of fallen police officers.
“[W]e should invest any revenue into the new fund we recently created supporting the families of fallen police officers killed in the line of duty,” Lamont said. “Let’s discuss.”
By Hugh McQuaid
Bob, we’re with you all the way.
Great job, Senate Dems. It is falling to the Constitution State more and more to save the US Constitution.