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Trump's Slush Fund Standoff

55:08 recording · EN · 4 speakers

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Brief overview

Blanche's confirmation stalls over Trump's $1.8 billion slush fund, as Democrats frame November as a corruption referendum.

  1. Written guarantee is the whole fightCornyn and Tillis only want in writing what Blanche already testified, that the weaponization fund is dead.
  2. Beshear will not hand Trump a seatHe demands McConnell prove capacity, but says a special election Kentucky Democrats have not won since 1992 could add a Trump-loyal vote.
  3. Costs and war drive the midterm caseShapiro and Raskin both tie gas prices, tariffs, Medicaid cuts and the Iran war to Trump's own policies before November.
Executive Summary AI
  • Brian Tyler Cohen opens on Todd Blanche's attorney general confirmation vote being postponed, after which Trump posted on Truth Social attacking John Cornyn and Tom Tillis and offering to withdraw Blanche's name until both are out of office.0:17
  • Cornyn and Tillis are withholding votes until they get in writing that Trump's $1.8 billion slush fund for January 6th insurrectionists is dead and that Trump and his family will not get immunity from IRS audits, which Cohen argues Blanche refuses because he never intended to kill the fund.1:06
  • Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says Mitch McConnell has not shown up for work in six weeks, that only a death, resignation or Senate expulsion creates a vacancy he could act on, and that he must stay tactical since no Democrat has won a Kentucky Senate seat since 1992.7:06
  • Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro points to ten tax cuts and the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit returning about $850 to 940,000 residents, set against gas at $4.19 a gallon in Harrisburg and 510,000 Pennsylvanians kicked off Medicaid.28:51
  • Congressman Jamie Raskin says DOJ dropped the FIFA bribery prosecutions after convictions were already upheld, alongside a fabricated FIFA Peace Prize for Trump and a Trump Tower suite estimated at as much as $600,000.42:15
Key Quote
“Donald Trump and this White House have zero credibility.”
— Brian Tyler Cohen3:19
Key Quote
“His job requires capacity, and he needs to prove that he has it.”
— Andy Beshear8:07
Key Quote
“I mean, it's just more petulance from Donald Trump.”
— Josh Shapiro34:24