BREAKING: I’m Suing Todd Blanche and the DOJ to stop the $1.8B Slush Fund

In establishing the “anti-weaponization” fund, the government failed to follow the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), so I'm suing to set the fund aside.

As you may have heard, I believe I’m eligible to file a claim against the slush fund for weaponization and lawfare that occurred when the Trump administration investigated my podcast Mueller She Wrote in 2019, then removed me from my job after over a decade of service with the department of veterans affairs.

The establishment of this slush fund constitutes a rule under the administrative procedure act, and when the government creates a rule they have to give notice in the federal register so we the people have an opportunity to comment. The government didn’t do that here, so I’m asking the court to set aside the fund until they follow the law and provide the requisite notice and comment period.

According to the APA, Title 5 U.S. Code § 553(b) and (c), General notice of proposed rule making shall be published in the Federal Register, unless persons subject thereto are named and either personally served or otherwise have actual notice thereof in accordance with law. After notice required by this section, the agency shall give interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rule making through submission of written data, views, or arguments with or without opportunity for oral presentation.

Had the government followed the law, I would have submitted comments raising a number of issues about the proposal to create the fund. First, it is important that the fund be equitable and therefore open to everyone who has suffered from abuse of governmental authority. I have an interest in providing comment on whether the fund is available to those harmed by Trump administration abuses like the ones I experienced.

Second, I have questions about whether the fund will reward constitutionally ineligible claimants - like those barred by payouts from the government because they participated in an insurrection – leaving less money available to pay eligible claims.

Third, why is the fund capped at $1.776B? The government says it’s based on projected valuation of future claims, but offers no evidence to support that.

It’s also important that the fund be legally sound, or else a future administration could deem some payouts unlawful and demand their return. But the fund that Todd Blanche created sits on a legal house of cards.

Like the fact that the fund is going to be run by five commissioners appointed by Blanche without legal authority from Congress, as required by Article II, Section II, Clause 2 of the Constitution. Unless Congress says otherwise, only the President can appoint government officers, and the Senate must confirm them. If the members of the fund are not lawfully appointed, everything the fund does is legally suspect. The notice-and-comment process would have exposed this flaw.

These are just some of the problems with the fund. Identifying and fixing these problems is why agencies are required by law to go through the notice-and-comment process. But the Trump administration circumvented the law because it was inconvenient to its goal: to redirect $1.8B in taxpayer money into the pockets of Trump’s criminal co-conspirators and political allies.

The whole thing is an insult to those of us who faced actual weaponization at the hands of the president and his allies. And I will not stand idly by while the government prevents actual victims of lawfare from having our voices heard on the matter. This is not a legitimate fund; it’s pure theft and cannot go unanswered.

You can read my lawsuit here.

Many have asked how they can help. The Public Citizen Litigation Group is filing this suit pro bono, but you can support them with a tax-deductible donation here.

~AG