Ben Cline mum on $1.7B Trump slush fund, as other MAGAs speak out

Ben Cline, back in 2023, was against settlement slush funds, to the point that he was an out-of-the-box co-sponsor of a bill called the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act.

That bit of legislation was aimed at blocking the Justice Department from allowing defendants to enter into quid-pro-quo agreements that entail donations to left-wing entities.

It was 2023, after all.

The Biden Years.

One of the bill’s co-authors, Lance Gooden, a Republican congressman from Texas, said “directing legal settlements to third-party groups is nothing short of legal extortion to fund the Biden administration’s partisan agenda.”

“Congress can no longer allow the executive branch to circumvent our constitutional power of the purse to fund their activist pet projects and must pass my legislation to end this corrupt practice,” Gooden said.

Now that the Trump regime has directed the same DOJ to create a slush fund for Donald Trump to use to fund his activist pet projects, in the guise of settling a lawsuit filed by Trump against the IRS that Trump has already dropped, wonder what ol’ Ben Cline thinks of slush funds now?

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ICYMI

• Trump wants to take $1.7 billion of our money to reward his Jan. 6 army

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We don’t know; Cline hasn’t gone on the record one way or the other on the matter of the proposed $1.7 billion slush fund, which is to come from our tax dollars.

Weird, that Cline isn’t joining the rush of MAGA Republicans who are promising to nip this Trump slush fund project in the bud.

He must think he’s going to cruise to re-election, and it won’t matter what people think of him siding with Trump on the slush fund.

I mean, that’s on us, for allowing the Sixth District to be represented by a guy who votes with Trump literally 100 percent of the time.

Which, you know, can be rectified.

Making the news today is one of Cline’s MAGA colleagues in the U.S. House, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, who vowed in an interview to do what he can do to “kill” the slush fund.

“We’re considering legislative options. We’re going to write a letter to the AG to start, but we’re considering a legislative option. We’re trying to unpack exactly, you know, what the legal machinations are. But, can’t do that,” Fitzpatrick said.

The legislative option would seem to be a simple one – the executive branch can’t spend money without direct authorization from Congress.

That’s Constitutional Law 101.

“That’s what we just talked about here. So, we have to figure out what’s the source of the funding, right? Is it an appropriation from last year? Is it two years ago?” said Fitzpatrick, who is engaged to Fox News political correspondent Jacqui Heinrich.

The fiancée caught flak from Trump over Fitzpatrick’s push on the slush fund during a press gaggle on Wednesday.

“Her husband votes against me all the time. Can you imagine?” Trump said while taking questions from the fawning White House press. “I don’t know what’s with him. You better ask him what’s with him. Her husband, she’s married to a certain congressman, and he votes again, he likes voting against Trump. You know what happens with that, doesn’t work out well. I don’t know why he does, but.”

What did that accomplish for Trump, exactly?

Fitzpatrick is already the party nominee in his re-election bid; in other words, can’t primary him this year.

He’s running to the middle because his district is being targeted by Dems.

It’s almost like Trump wants the Ds to landslide his party in the midterms, the way he’s acting.

Anyway, Fitzpatrick isn’t backing down, whether it’s out of sincerity, or political calculus.

“Where did the money come from? And what limitations were put around that money? Are there constitutional questions? Are they statutory questions? You know, what falls within Article I authority? This is all the things we’re trying to unpack now,” Fitzpatrick said.

Also standing up to the Trumper: Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

This one is out of left field, to be square about it.

Thune isn’t up for re-election, and if he was, he’s from South Dakota; he ain’t losing to a Democrat in South Dakota.

No, Thune is just, and this is a novel concept for a MAGA U.S. senator, doing the right thing on the slush fund issue.

“Yeah, not a big fan,” he told a group of reporters on Tuesday. “I’m not sure exactly how they intend to use it. But my understanding is that it was just announced. But yeah, I don’t see a purpose for it.”