Addendum quietly slipped into widely criticized agreement creating a $1.7bn fund to compensate president’s allies

The justice department quietly added a provision barring the IRS from auditing Donald Trump’s tax returns on Tuesday, amending a widely criticized agreement that creates a secretive and loosely controlled $1.776bn fund to compensate allies of the president.

The addendum, signed by Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, says the government is “forever barred” and “precluded” from examining the tax returns of Trump, his family, company and “related companies”. The agreement applies to anything filed before the agreement was reached. It was posted on the justice department website on Tuesday morning, a day after the department announced creation of the fund.

The inclusion only adds to mounting scrutiny of the wider agreement reached on Tuesday. The arrangement was announced after Trump said he was dropping a $10bn lawsuit against the IRS and other specious claims against the government in exchange for creating the compensation fund. IRS officials recommended fighting Trump’s lawsuit, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, but the agency decided to settle it anyway, raising further questions about improper interference.

  • amateurcrastinator@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    44
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    1 day ago

    Guys guys! Always remember: it could have been much much worse with that unpopular Kamala! Remember that there was absolutely nothing that you could have done to prevent this. Nothing!

    • Grimy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      40
      ·
      1 day ago

      Kamala choosing genocide and the oligarchy over us led directly to this. Stop scapegoating and enabling them.

      I voted for her but I hate the losers that defend her. The whole party basically gave us the finger. Kamala was Trump’s biggest ally, she threw the fight.

      • Lka1988@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        3 hours ago

        Kamala choosing genocide and the oligarchy

        As opposed to Trump deliberately shitcanning everything possible that helps the common person specifically to enrich his buddies? Openly, I might add, with the supreme court in his back pocket.

        Kamala might have been mislead, but Trump is deliberately tearing everything apart.

        • Grimy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          2 hours ago

          Trump being shit does not mean kamala is good. Trump isn’t the bar.

          The point is that kamala being only slightly better than trump is what lead to trump winning. It’s also clear that the dems aimed as low as they could on purpose, because they thought they had an easy win and could worry only about their masters holding the leash and not their voters.

          It would have been a massive win, all they had to do was tell Israel to fuck off and offer their voters literally anything.

          Trump won because the dems chose Israel over us.

          Keep blaming voters and watch as the dems refuse to change since they know their media campaign is working.

          • Lka1988@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            3 hours ago

            I never said Kamala was good. But with our two-party system, it was either Kamala or Trump. I would take a shit-filled diaper over Trump.

            The 2024 election was a shitshow because Biden suddenly dropped out very close to the actual election, leaving Kamala’s team scrambling. There were a ton of people who didn’t even know Biden had dropped out. Search trends showed as much.

            The system here isn’t broken - it’s working as intended, to serve the wealthy and shit on the rest of us.

            • Grimy@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              2 hours ago

              Ya I agree with all that. That’s mostly why it frustrates me to see people detract from the real problem by scapegoating the blame onto voters. The voters reacted badly but I’d rather pressure the ones that created the situation.

            • InputZero@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              2 hours ago

              I’ll say it cause someone is going to, might as well keep this discussion going. So your admitting that you want to see the Palestinian people be exterminated? Kamala chose Israel over US, that’s why Trump won. A vote for Kamala is a vote for genocide.

              Now we have come full circle. Seriously this conversation about Kamala is fruitless. Everyone just let it go. It’s the past and we can’t change it.

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        38
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        1 day ago

        People don’t seem to know what the word defend means anymore. It’s not defending anyone to point out the obvious fact that not voting for Harris was a really stupid thing to have done and is what actually led us here. This routine of “voters aren’t responsible for their choices because I didn’t like the available choices” has grown extremely tiresome. America had a choice and enough people chose extremely poorly, so generations moving forward will pay for it. We have a right to be pissed about that poor choice.

        • Grimy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          arrow-down
          22
          ·
          1 day ago

          It’s the job of political parties to get votes. They choose their platform. They thought they had an easy win and orchestrated the whole shit show.

          Not voting for Harris was stupid, but the fault still lies with the party that chose Israel over you. If you keep enabling, we get the exact same energy next time. They are already trying to push kamala again FFS.

          There’s such a huge overlap between users that push this and actual Zionists on Lemmy. It wasn’t the fuck genocide crowd that’s in the wrong but the party that dived into it instead of something sane like universal healthcare. What a fucking joke.

          • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            22
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            1 day ago

            Two things can be true. It can be the democrats’ fault also. Which it clearly is. Voters have a responsibility to be informed but they aren’t. If anyone is defending anything it’s you and your friends defending that ignorance.

            I’m not surprised in any way that you implied everyone is a zionist who disagrees with you. That tracks completely.

            • Grimy@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              8
              arrow-down
              16
              ·
              1 day ago

              It’s first and foremost the people in charge of the party at fault for losing the election. They are the ones that need to change, not the voters.

              This is why I see it as Israeli talking points. It’s basically saying “Kamala was right, it’s the voters that have to learn to stomach genocide, Israel calling the shots and the kleptocracy in general”.

              The dems are supposed to be the good guys, yet they saw the low low bar that was trump and decided to aim just above it, and missed. We should be vocal about their fuck up, not giving them a pass. You are defending their actions by scapegoating them away.

              • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                10
                arrow-down
                3
                ·
                1 day ago

                not the voters.

                So you’re directly saying ignorance/zealotry is acceptable.

                Kamala was right, it’s the voters that have to learn to stomach genocide, Israel calling the shots and the kleptocracy in general

                Absolutely zero people say or think this, and you making it up here shows you cannot be taken seriously. I do not believe you voted for Kamala. That’s just your way of trying to obtain credibility.

                • Grimy@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  arrow-down
                  11
                  ·
                  1 day ago

                  I’m saying the pro genocide zealotry coming from politicians is the actual problem. Being against genocide is far from ignorance.

                  I understand pragmatism as much as the next guy, and I did take that route, but you will not catch me dead saying the ones that drew the line at genocide are somehow in the wrong.

                  The party has to change and they were wrong to push the genocide. It’s as easy as that, and you are pushing against that change and encouraging their behavior.

                  And ya, people don’t say it outright but that’s exactly what it implies.

                  • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    7
                    arrow-down
                    2
                    ·
                    1 day ago

                    There will never be a world in which I can agree that people sacrificing everyone’s future, while literally making worse the issue they claim to be prioritizing, is acceptable. It’s myopic and idiotic to do that, and saying so implies nothing more than exactly that.

                    I’m inclined to believe that at least half the people spreading this message aren’t that stupid though, but rather bad actors, oftentimes foreign-paid, bad actors.

            • Grimy@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              6
              arrow-down
              9
              ·
              edit-2
              1 day ago

              Ya, it just feels like people would rather punch down than actual try to get the system to change a bit. Feels like pissing in the wind to go after voters, they aren’t the root cause.

              Edit: I’m getting downvoted by zeroconnections alt accounts (fedded and robo)