Trump's 'slush fund' hits wall as judges hurl fresh fraud claims: WaPo

But President Donald Trump's dismissal of Bondi in April means that obstacle is no longer in the way.

"No one lawyer is above the law," Quince said in a statement.

The coalition behind the complaint — which includes Lawyers Defending American Democracy, the Democracy Defenders Fund, and Lawyers for the Rule of Law — alleges Bondi pressured DOJ attorneys to bend their ethical obligations or face termination.

Much of the filing focuses on Bondi's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, accusing her of misleading the public about a supposed "client list" she claimed was on her desk, then overseeing a document release so poorly managed that unredacted names, birth dates, and photos of victims were exposed.

Attorneys for survivors called one January release "the single most egregious violation of victim privacy in one day in United States history." Virginia Canter, chief counsel at the Democracy Defenders Fund, said, "Lawyers have been disbarred for less."

The complaint further alleges Bondi greenlit prosecutions without probable cause against Trump adversaries — including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose cases a federal judge dismissed in November — and against protesters detained during immigration raids. Bondi's successor, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's former personal lawyer, re-indicted Comey in late April on a separate charge.

The Democracy Defenders Fund says Bondi had "created an environment in which DOJ lawyers were induced to engage in acts they were ethically prohibited from doing, under threat of suspension or termination — or were fired for not doing so."

The Justice Department called the complaint, "a baseless and pathetic media stunt conjured up by inept attorneys desperate for relevance," according to the Miami Herald.

Bondi is scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee Friday over the Epstein investigation — but only in a closed-door session, not the public sworn testimony Democrats sought.

"Bondi must testify under oath, on camera, for the public to see," Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) wrote on X.

Since her firing, Bondi has been recovering from thyroid cancer surgery. Trump has since appointed her to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges and former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn have sued to block the creation of the fund, calling it, “The most brazen act of presidential corruption this century.”

That’s actually underselling it.

The reason why this is so fraudulent and unthinkable speaks to the horror that went down that infamous day. And while the story has been told numerous times, regular reminders of its terror and scope are essential to be sure it doesn’t fade from memory.

Start with the fact that Hodges and Dunn defended the Capitol and the lawmakers inside it (including Republicans who have struggled to minimize its scale) that day. Hodges was the man in the infamous photograph of the violent mob crushing a cop between metal doors.

Let’s remember that the carnage began shortly after noon, when rioters tried to break into the building to stop the counting of the electoral votes that would make Joe Biden president. Hours of hand-to-hand combat ensued as police struggled in vain to hold the insurrectionists back from killing elected officials and their staff.

On the west front of the Capitol, rioters broke down barriers and assaulted officers, spraying them with chemicals and hitting them with pipes, tools, and stolen bike racks. After finally busting through the police line and breaching the Capitol, they smashed windows, stalked the halls, chanted for the execution of Vice President Mike Pence and defiled the offices.

The advancing mob punched officers, speared them with flagpoles, attacked them with tasers and stolen riot shields, and worked to drag them into the crowd with the intent of seriously injuring or killing them. They engaged in an almost medieval style of combat, screaming and smashing and clawing and attempting to crush officers with their sheer weight and volume.

Hodges alleges in his lawsuit that he was “hit from above with a heavy object, kicked in the chest and driven to the ground. A rioter then grabbed Hodges by the face and tried to gouge out his eyes, unsuccessfully. As Hodges and his fellow officers fought to stop the rioters from flooding into the building, he was sandwiched between the metal doors by the enraged attackers.

It took more than three hours following the Capitol breach for Trump and his Department of Defense to (reluctantly) approve and dispatch the D.C. National Guard. It is all without precedent in American history.

Some 140 officers were injured in the January 6 attack, ranging from concussions and chemical burns to broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, crushed spinal discs, and other serious trauma. These rioters were not fooling around. They were intent on revenge and felt their role in American history was to take out anyone who got in their way.

Several officers who responded so heroically that day later died by suicide, including Howard Liebengood and Jeffrey Smith. It is unfathomable that any sentient human being could see what happened and come to any conclusion other than the group of marauders were trespassing criminals hellbent on retribution.

Yet somehow, according to the Department of “Justice,” it was ultimately the Biden Administration that was “weaponized” against these criminals. They were wronged by being prosecuted after committing an act of armed rebellion. And now it’s up to you and me to foot the bill.

It should be noted that Hodges and Dunn feel justified in suing to stop the fund because they’ve had to live with constant death threats and harassment from the brainwashed MAGA hordes.

Their suit notes that any payoff to these rioters “will both compensate and empower the very people making those threats. Militias like the Proud Boys will use money from the Fund to arm and equip themselves…Most chillingly, it will signal to past and potential future perpetrators of violence against Dunn and Hodges that they need not fear prosecution; to the contrary, they should expect to be rewarded.”

The timing of this is naturally hardly coincidental. Signals are being sent with zero subtlety that whatever Trump’s thug militia does on his behalf to stop the midterms, they will be legally protected and nicely compensated.

As part of his ongoing campaign to make sure everyone denies the evidence supplied by their eyes and ears, Trump claims this is all a big overblown misunderstanding, and these people have all been victimized by a gross injustice.

In the era before everyone carried around their own smartphone capable of instant video, this would have been far easier. Unfortunately for Trump, the events of that day have been extensively, exhaustively documented through video, testimony and criminal prosecutions. And no one who has seen the first-hand footage from that day can emerge anything but traumatized.

Trump knows how utterly preposterous and disgusting this nearly $1.8 billion travesty is. But he doesn’t care. His sole concern is retaining complete power for another two years, the means and consequences be damned.

So vile is this fund that even many Republicans in Congress have noticed that its implementation wouldn’t be good for them. Will it force them to retain their spines once the inevitable pushback comes from their lord and master? Uncertain. My guess is they’ll ultimately cave, as that’s what they do.

But this fund is so despicable that, like the Epstein Files, it needs to remain fresh in the public consciousness. Allowing it to be normalized is not an option.

Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.

Weissmann said on a new episode of the "Court of History" podcast on Wednesday that the nominees' refusal to say Biden won the election should be "disqualifying" at least.

"There is no credible evidence," Weissmann said. "There's right-wing conspiracy talk, but there is no credible evidence of any material fraud in the 2020 election. And that to me would have been a perfectly legitimate thing to say."

Trump has routinely claimed that the election was rigged against him, even though his lawyers failed to prove that in more than 60 court cases, and some of whom have been disbarred for their involvement in Trump's efforts to overturn the results.

Weissmann noted that the nominees who refuse to acknowledge that there was no material evidence of fraud in the 2020 general election pose a significant danger to the American judiciary going forward.

"This is so dangerous that you have people who have lifetime appointments, if they are confirmed, who are going to be operating if they're consistent with how they're behaving in their confirmation hearing, as they will be on the bench. That is corrupting one of the few checks and balances that are still functioning in this country right now."