Vice President JD Vance pledged to crack down on the misuse of government funds Monday, the same day the Justice Department committed more than a billion dollars to President Donald Trump’s allies – a move critics decried as naked corruption.
In continuing his anti-fraud crusade at a rally in Missouri, Vance condemned billions of dollars in alleged Medicaid fraud, claiming, “When people steal billions of dollars from the Medicare program, that is theft from you, and it’s also theft from the people who use the Medicare program to pay their bills.”
Last week, the White House announced that Vance’s task force had withheld $1.4 billion in federal funding after “a sweeping crackdown on fraud operations in California, Minnesota, & other states.”
However, the vice president’s remarks Monday came hours after the Justice Department announced it would commit $1.7 billion in taxpayer dollars to an “anti-weaponization fund” to pay out allies of Trump who were investigated under Democratic administrations.
Critics denounced the “slush fund” as “outright theft” from taxpayers.
“This is outright theft,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy wrote on X. “Trump is stealing $1.7 BILLION of your money to set up a totally unprecedented, first-in-American-history political slush fund that he can use to dole out cash to win loyalty and favors for him and his family.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote, “Trump didn’t just pardon his followers who stormed the U.S. Capitol. He’s now set them up for payments through a slush fund he created to reward his allies—out of your tax dollars.”
The Independent has asked the White House for comment.
The recently announced $1.776 billion fund emerged from Trump’s attempts to dismiss a $10 billion lawsuit he, his sons and his business filed against the IRS over his leaked tax returns.
The fund would pay out to individuals who were allegedly wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration, including those charged in connection with the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump PAC, responded to Vance’s remarks in Missouri with: “Just today his boss robbed taxpayers for a $1.7 billion slush fund so he can pay off his political allies and friends.”
“What is it when the President protects fraudsters?” California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Press Office wrote in response to Vance’s anti-fraud remarks.
“While American families drown under the Republican cost-of-living crisis, the President of the United States is stealing $1.7 BILLION in taxpayer funding to create an unprecedented slush fund for his political allies,” Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver wrote.
Dozens of other Democratic lawmakers condemned the $1.7 billion anti-weaponization fund, accusing Trump of misusing taxpayer dollars for his allies. Approximately 93 members of the House of Representatives filed a motion urging a federal judge to dismiss the settlement.
The Justice Department announced the fund Monday, saying the Trumps would drop the IRS lawsuit, as well as the president’s other claims of damages related to the 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago and the 2016 Russian election interference probe, in exchange for its creation.
Trump has long claimed the Biden administration weaponized its Justice Department by pursuing prosecutions against him as well as the January 6 rioters, who Trump later pardoned, conservative religious groups, and his other allies.
Since returning to office last year, Trump has directed the Justice Department to find ways to prosecute his political enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. He’s gone as far as to fire federal prosecutors who failed to secure an indictment against his enemies and replace them with loyalists.
He has also called for investigations into the Biden family and Democratic fundraisers, platformed claims of criminal behavior from former President Barack Obama and more.
