Deadline: White House 5/19/26 | 🅼🆂🅽🅱️🅲 Breaking News Today May 19, 2026

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]Hi there everyone. It's four o'clock in New York. So, who was on Capitol Hill today?

[00:00:06]Was it the acting attorney general, the United States of America? Or as one Democratic lawmaker put it today, was it Donald Trump's consigary? Todd Blanch came under withering questioning from Democrats over the wholesale replacement of the Department of Justice's 150 plus year old mission of upholding the rule of law in this country and around the world with instead doing the bidding of an aspiring autocrat named Donald J.

[00:00:34]Trump. A key focus today that $ 1.8 billion settlement funded by our money, taxpayer dollars. Our taxpayer dollars will now be used to compensate people who claim to have been wronged by the Justice Department, the so-called victims of weaponization. Here's Senator Van Holland on that.

[00:00:58]>> This is an outrageous, unprecedented slush fund that you set up. Simple question. Will elig will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund? Well, as it makes plain, anybody >> is just let me know if they're eligible for the fund >> as as as was made plain yesterday, anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they were victim position.

[00:01:23]>> Mr. Attorney General, let me ask you this. Are there going to be rules that say that if you've assaulted a Capitol Hill police officer or committed a violent crime, you will not be eligible?

[00:01:34]Why not make that a rule?

[00:01:35]>> I expect that. Well, because I'm not one of the commissioners setting up the rules, I expect four of the five members, aren't you, Mr. Attorney General?

[00:01:42]>> Pardon me?

[00:01:42]>> You're appointing four of the five members.

[00:01:44]>> I am appointing five set up. There's also an individual who after being pardoned by the president uh went on to molest two children and that person actually tried to buy the silence of these children by saying that he would pay them some of the funds that he was hoping to get from your slush fund. Can you commit to making the rule so that that person is not eligible for a payout under this fund?

[00:02:14]>> Well, you're obviously lying in your question because there's no way that this person committed to that. But this the slush fund as you call it, which is not didn't exist, but I can commit.

[00:02:23]>> Mr. Attorney General, >> don't ever do that again. I am reporting what he said. He said on the expectation that he hoped to get some of the funds from a payout. He's he's been >> You said the slush fund, Senator, and that didn't exist when he said that.

[00:02:40]>> This is the fund that the president and all of you have been telegraphing all along that you're going to use to help the president's friends.

[00:02:48]>> Can you point to Mr. Whatgraph?

[00:02:51]>> I have a last question for you.

[00:02:54]>> Do you know that it is a criminal offense to lie to Congress?

[00:03:00]>> I am very well aware of that.

[00:03:02]>> I'm glad to hear that. Couple headlines there. Blanch acknowledging it is a slush fund and we'll use his quotes if he'd like us to, but also um suggesting that the child molester who was convicted for the crime of telling the child he molested that there was money coming to him in restitution um didn't even know, couldn't have even known about the slush fund.

[00:03:28]The person that Senator Van Holland was asking Todd Blanch about is named Andrew Paul Johnson. He's right now as we come on the air right now. His status is this. He's serving a sentence of life in prison for molesting minors. NPR reports this about him. Police reported that that man, Johnson, 45, tried to keep the children quiet by telling them he would share the millions of dollars in restitution money he expected to receive from the Trump administration in connection with his January 6 case." End quote.

[00:04:03]At one point, as part of his bungling defense of the slush fund, Todd Blanch suggested that anybody, any Republican, any Democrat in this country could apply for money if they quote believe they were victims. Watch that.

[00:04:22]>> It is true that this is unusual. That is true. Um but it is not unprecedented and it was done to address something that um had never happened again either. So there is an unprecedented nature of what we did yesterday in response to to years and years of weaponization. Just to correct a few things, Senator um it's not limited to um to Republicans. It's not limited to >> that was >> it's not limited it's not limited to to the Biden weaponization. It's not limited to um in any way, scope, or form to January 6 or to um Jack Smith.

[00:04:59]There's no limitation on the on the claims.

[00:05:04]>> Okay. So, with that stipulated, this former director of the FBI, Jim Comey, eligible, his team argued that he was the victim of a vindictive and selective prosecution.

[00:05:19]What about New York's Attorney General Tish James? What about the Southern Poverty Law Center or ACT Blue or the six members of Congress who were investigated for simply saying out loud and on camera that the men and women of the United States military swore an oath not to follow any illegal orders?

[00:05:37]They have good claims. Are your handpicked five commissioners going to grant their claims?

[00:05:43]No doubt.

[00:05:45]So, in a world where Todd Blanch picks, as he said, he corrected uh the questioner, it wasn't just four members, it's all five of the commissioners who make the decisions, we can safely rule that out. This is also the same Todd Blanch who claims that there's evidence that Bill Barr couldn't find or Brad Raffensburgger or any of the other Trump allies who looked really hard that the 2020 election was indeed rigged. This is the same Todd Blanch who served as Donald Trump's defense attorney. The same Todd Blanch who now cannot definitively say if violent felons who assaulted cops will receive money from the quote slush fund.

[00:06:26]Here's what happened when Todd Blanch was pressed again about ensuring that money from taxpayers does not go to the most violent insurrectionists.

[00:06:38]Will you agree to encourage those commissioners to set a guideline that compensation will not go to individuals who are convicted of assaulting police officers?

[00:06:49]>> I expect >> I just a yes would answer my question or no.

[00:06:52]>> The yes will not answer that question. I You're asking whether I will encourage I don't think that's a fair word. I don't think it's the attorney general's job to encourage commissioners to do or not do anything.

[00:07:02]Bar, forbid, ban, rule out, could change the word.

[00:07:10]Hours after that testimony wrapped up on Capitol Hill, news broke that the Department of Justice expanded its settlement with Donald Trump. A onepage document signed by, you guessed it, that guy, Todd Blanch, and posted on the Justice Department website bars the IRS from ever pursuing an audit of Donald Trump or his family or his family businesses.

[00:07:35]407 will be eagerly awaiting the release of Donald Trump's taxes now that we know he can never ever ever be audited. That was his excuse back in 16 for not releasing them. Politico and the New York Times were the first to report the news about the document. The Justice Department did not provide comment on the document to either news organization. The acting head of the Justice Department up on Capitol Hill facing withering questions about Donald Trump's attempt to turn the office of the presidency into a personal piggy bank funded by the American taxpayer is where we begin today with some of our favorite most favorite reporters and friends. Justice and Intelligence reporter Kendallian is here. Also joining us, former Department of Justice pardon attorney Liz Oyer is here. She was fired by Trump's Department of Justice after refusing to reinstate actor Mel Gibson's gun rights. And with me at the table, back at the table for the hour. Our friend Andrew Weiss is here. We're so glad you're here.

[00:08:33]>> I'm so glad to be here.

[00:08:34]>> I'm so excited to talk about the book.

[00:08:36]The new book is called Liars Kingdom. Um it's so important. It's so good. It's so timely. Um, it's about how to stop Trump's deceit and save America. We deal with lying. We deal with gaslighting.

[00:08:47]Um, we'll pull that thread all hour and then we'll dive into the book.

[00:08:50]>> Great.

[00:08:50]>> A little bit later on. Um, I I want to ask you about Todd Blanch's performance today. The the you know, and there were actually a lot of guys um like a three- ring circus, right? Vance was in one ring, Blanch on the other. The problem with performing for an audience of one, which is what they're all um trained to do, motivated to do, is that the answers sound ridiculous, >> right? I mean, that is the reason he could not say we are not going to give money to violent felons. If you remember before the inauguration, you had the vice president and Pam Bondi suggesting, "Well, don't worry. We're going to do a triage of the January 6th defendants to suggest that the violent ones would not get a pardon." Well, they got ahead of their skis because everyone got a pardon. And so, here you see Todd Blanch not being able to even say that that minimally decent thing. But I think I'd like to step back one step to this. The entire thing is built on, in my view, a lie. I mean, the entire predicate for this is that there needs to be a fund because of the weaponization of the Biden Justice Department in going after people who attacked the capital on January 6. We saw it with our own eyes.

[00:10:12]Those people, there was no weaponization. Those people got due process. They either pleaded guilty or they were found guilty by a jury or they were awaiting trial. That is not weaponization. That >> Mitch McConnell actually justifies not impeaching, not convicting Donald Trump in his impeachment trial by saying he should be adjudicated by the justice system.

[00:10:34]>> Exactly. So this is all predicated on something that they're just pretending, oh, of course, all those people were victimized. I I would remind people we saw with our own eyes the crime and even with all of that abundant evidence, these people were given due process, the rule of law and there was an adjudication. What is happening now is these people are being told if you commit crimes for Donald Trump, not only will you get a pardon, but you will you now have the prospect of cashing in on your crimes. What is the deterrent effect now going forward when you created this paid army with criminal like impunity? because there will not only be no criminal repercussions, there's a reward for what they're doing.

[00:11:29]It is this is gobsmacking and the person who is announcing this and defending it is the head of what is our justice department.

[00:11:40]>> I I mean, let me ask you about that, Kendallian. I mean, there's there's there's the pardons that happen on day one. There's the fund happening with Donald Trump almost um 17 points more unpopular than he was at the time.

[00:11:55]Rushing um to the cameras are Todd Blanch and JD Vance thrusting the most unpopular moments and hours of Trump's presidency. I mean the reason JD Vance is the vice president is because January 6 involved the mission of quote hang Mike Pence. All of this is politically detrimental to Donald Trump. But what Andrew just alluded to is this is taking the people who carried out acts of violence that included the threat of quote hanging Mike Pence on January 6 on behalf of Donald Trump who told them to quote fight like hell, you won't have a country. Um what if anything is the concern or the awareness that by pardoning them plus paying them, they're sending dangerous messages?

[00:12:39]Well, I can tell you, Nicole, there is a widespread outrage among the people that I talked to inside and outside the Justice Department and the FBI, uh, the people that are still trying to do good work there. I've never seen them so angry as over this thing. And I just would like to expand on Andrew's point that, and that's the to me, this is the central point that it's built on a lie.

[00:13:00]Uh, because we can't just let that slide. Can't Todd Blanch, you know, uses this phrase weaponization over and over again as if it's a a fact. But in fact, it's a lie. And it's not just about January 6. It's also a lie as applied to the Russia investigation, which is very much in play here. Donald Trump has been talking about people uh maligned and and uh overprosecuted during that investigation that Andrew was a part of.

[00:13:24]And also the Jack Smith prosecutions. Uh even now the Russia investigation as you you all know was investigated by the inspector general and by a special counsel John Durham who went over all the territory and found no wrongdoing, no evidence of political bias or improper predication. Now, the Jack Smith investigation has not had that kind of scrutiny, but the Trump uh administration has had all the records from that investigation for a year and a half, and they've yet to produce any evidence that Jack Smith or anyone else was motivated by politics or or that particularly this phrase Biden weaponization, that Joe Biden had anything to do with that or anybody that he appointed politically were pushing somehow something improper. Th those cases were made by career prosecutors and FBI agents who were following the facts in the law. You could debate whether it was a good idea, whether they should have taken a pass, whether it in fact, you know, made helped Donald Trump politically. And you could also debate whether some of the January 6 cases were overprosecuted. Like there, I know there's a lot of people inside the FBI who thought, look, we shouldn't go after the people who committed misdemeanor. We should just concentrate on felonies.

[00:14:29]Merrick Carly made a decision to prosecute everyone who went in that building. And in fact, you know, the the man that you mentioned, the child molester who's now serving life in prison, he was convicted of a misdemeanor, trespass. So, what that tells you is some of those people who just got misdemeanor convictions were still awful, horrible people. Uh, and now they've all been pardoned. And I think of in particular Daniel Rodriguez who stuck a taser into the neck of Michael Fenone uh and was very meek and consiliatory in his interview with the FBI. But then after the sentencing he got 12 years in prison, screamed in the courtroom, Trump won uh which told a lot of people that all of his uh um remorse was just was just an act. And he was set free by that pardon. Is he now eligible for compensation for this fund? That would be an absolute outrage. Nicole, >> Michael Fenone will actually join us um uh today in a little bit. Um Liz, I want to get you on this idea of the signal it sends um to people who would carry out acts of violence, acts of political violence, um which is um a horrible, horrible reality in our country. Donald Trump himself has been um targeted. I mean the the political violence is on the minds of everyone I'm sure every one of us anyone in the arena talking about politics. Um what is the signal sent to people about this moment in terms of political violence if the people who carried out acts of violence against cops were pardoned and will now be paid?

[00:16:07]Well, Nicole, it obviously sends a very dangerous message to people who are thinking about committing violence in the name of Donald Trump or any other type of crime that will benefit Donald Trump that not only does he have their back, they can expect to be considered for a pardons, but they also may be compensated for their trouble. I have to say, as troubling as that is, I don't even find that to be the most troubling aspect of this. The most troubling part from my perspective is how this settlement came to be. This is essentially a collusive conspiracy between Donald Trump and Todd Blanch to take money from taxpayers to take tax dollars and distribute them to people who have no legal entitlement to that money. That suggests to me that we have crossed another Rubicon here. That we are seeing a new level of corruption where the president and the attorney general feel free to distribute our tax dollars to their friends and their allies and their supporters. And that is just wrong on such a fundamental level to someone who has been a career civil servant. The idea that this attorney general who has a fiduciary duty to safeguard our tax dollars and to defend them against frivolous lawsuits would settle this lawsuit with Donald Trump that was determined by a team of independent experts to have no merit whatsoever. It's it's really just absolutely chilling and shocking and truly quite upsetting and it's something that I think rises to the level that all Americans really need to be paying attention to.

[00:17:38]>> Liz, what is this document that says Trump can never be audited? I mean, just as someone who's covered um his use of the threat of being under audit as the predicate or the excuse for never releasing his taxes, a norm that was busted so long ago. I don't know how many people even remember it, but they're all logged in my brain. Um what is the the significance of DOJ entering into an agreement to never audit Trump or his businesses or his kids? Well, Nicole, the fact that this second piece of the settlement agreement didn't come to light yesterday when the settlement was announced and was not part of the court filing that was made by the Justice Department and Trump's lawyers is incredibly disingenuous and troubling in and of itself. The document that that you showed, it's called a release of claims. And it's actually broader than a tax audit audit. It not only gets Trump out from under potentially very costly audits, but it appears to forfeit any claims that the United States might have against Donald Trump. not just Donald Trump the man, but also his family members, his companies, trusts in his name, really related to any type of liability. It gives up the rights of the United States to sue Donald Trump. That means that in the future when Donald Trump is no longer in office, if a subsequent administration wants to investigate him for misappropriating taxpayer funds or failing to pay taxes or really any type of misconduct whatsoever, he will have this defense that he is barred or that the United States is barred under this settlement agreement from prosecuting him or suing him. and taxpayers essentially have been betrayed at the highest levels of government by Todd Blanch who signed away our rights to sue Donald Trump in the future and members of his inner circle and his businesses. It's really quite staggering in its scope and I have never seen something like this before in a settlement agreement. Certainly not the settlement agreement of the lawsuit that is essentially frivolous.

[00:19:29]>> It's extraordinary. Um, right, no one's going anywhere. Much more ahead for us.

[00:19:32]From taxpayer funded payouts to insurrectionists to millions of dollars of stock trades being made by a sitting president, an alarming number of trades.

[00:19:41]We'll talk about how Democrats can fight back against all of this blatant, flagrant, increasing level and pace of corruption backed by a Republican party who seems to be looking the other way.

[00:19:53]Maryland's Governor Wesmore will join us coming up. Plus, Donald Trump sinks to another new low in his standing with the American people, with the American voter, and also with a sizable portion of the Republican voters that he clearly does not care about anymore. We'll look at that as voters head to the polls today in Kentucky, where Donald Trump's retribution campaign has zeroed in on the Republican congressman who led the successful effort to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. We'll get to all those stories and much more when Deadline White House continues after a quick break. Don't go anywhere.

[00:20:26]Will you commit that none of President Trump's family will receive a direct payout from this fund?

[00:20:33]>> Yes.

[00:20:34]>> And will you commit that none of this money will go to President Trump's campaign donors? I >> I am not committing to anything beyond the settlement agreement itself. When you say campaign donors, that they are not excluded from seeking compensation.

[00:20:50]So the opposite of they're not excluded is they are included which means that that the um oligarchs stand to benefit from this if they view themselves as victims of weaponization.

[00:21:01]The Wall Street Journal reported this Treasury lawyer quits as government settles Trump IRS suit. Quote, "The Treasury Department's top lawyer resigned Monday as the government announced a controversial settlement with Trump according to people familiar with his departure. Brian Morrisy joined the Trump administration last year as the president's pick to be the Treasury Department's general counsel after previously sering serving at the agency and at the Justice Department during Trump's first term. A former clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, Morrisy didn't respond to requests for comment late Monday.

[00:21:32]>> So, he had been on the job for seven months. So the way that Donald Trump um can get to where he is, it's like there can be evil in the world, but the way that you empower it is by complicity and the sort of what you've seen and we've shown here just a small segment from Todd Blanch. And so there's a reason the general counsel was adhering to his oath of office. Um, in the filing in uh, Florida in the federal court, former IRS officials, including former IRS commissioner, um, Justice Department tax officials pointed out that people who are similarly situated to Donald Trump, who also had a this contractor leak information, the Justice Department is fighting their claims and saying that they are legally without merit and factually without merit. And if you are now the general counsel, you have to say to yourself, wait a second, we have to treat everyone the same. That is what the rule of law is. It doesn't matter whether you clerked for Ruth Bader Ginsburg or Clarence Thomas.

[00:22:36]>> Um, and that is why you see somebody saying no, we are now just creating a slush fund. This is a pretense, a pretextual settlement. um because it is only applying to Donald Trump and benefiting sort of his favored people when people who have exactly the same claim are being denied. I >> I mean the problem Kendallian is to your point it's a lie, right? So even I mean I like that Todd Blanch because I know that we had some concerns about calling it a slush fund and I'm happy to put it in Todd Blanch's quotes. The slush fund is a slush fund. Todd Blanch testified to that today. It is not a compensation fund. you know, the victims are not victims, they're criminals. And I and I wonder sort of how far down the rabbit hole we are that the line and I I think it's a fascinating thing where is the line, right? So like lots of horrible things have happened um just in the last 15 months, but for this one general counsel at the IRS, his line was the slush fund.

[00:23:35]>> Yes. And I think it was also interesting to hear John Thun, the Senate majority leader today, uh express some trepidation about this. He said he wasn't a fan and and it's going to have to go through the appropriations process. And Susan Collins of course was concerned. She's often concerned about things. She expressed >> she's always concerned. I feel her.

[00:23:55]>> She But you know, she's up for a very contentious re-election in Maine right now. And she was didn't seem to be a fan of this either. So I think even for loyal Republicans, this is a tough pill to swallow. almost $2 billion in taxpayer money at a time when Americans are suffering from higher gas prices and all sorts of things and and Trump's poll numbers on the economy are tanking. You know, it's not it's not the stuff that we care most about because we care most about what you just said, the fact that it's based on a lie. The fact that millions of Americans falsely believe that the Justice Department under Joe Biden or even under the first Trump administration was weaponized and improperly aimed and targeted at Donald Trump. Lots of people believe that.

[00:24:36]That's what troubles me so much. It's like, how do we get out of that uh because, you know, there are other networks that are repeating this ad infinitum and most Republicans in Congress now just take it as a given that they can just say the Biden Justice Department was weaponized without any evidence that that actually happened.

[00:24:53]>> I mean, Liz, if it was weaponized, it was also weaponized against Hunter Biden. I mean, it's ludicrous. the Biden Justice Department prosecuted the president's son and yes, he pardoned him, but like the the idea that the department was on some axis that favored one party or the other is insane. And I I I I want to I want to deal with two things that Ken just said. One, there will be no parades thrown by this anchor on this network for Thun and Collins.

[00:25:16]The idea that they're concerned is is tragic. Um this is a travesty. Their voters are suffering and struggling economically. the rule of law going away in this country will have happened on Thoon and Collins watch. They are shoveling dirt in the grave of the rule of law and they're concerned about the money um is is part of why we're here.

[00:25:34]What do you make of all the people who absolutely know better and are enabling this?

[00:25:39]>> There are so many people, Nicole, I think that each individual within the Justice Department has their own breaking point. Members of Congress really have no excuse here. This is plainly illegal in my view what is happening here. The president and Todd Blanch are trying to circumvent Congress's exclusive power to appropriate money to illegally create a fund that they have total discretion over. That is Congress's job to decide how we spend taxpayer dollars. Congress has not weighed in on this. They have an obligation to step up and take action to try to shut this down. I am hopeful but not holding my breath that we will see some action from Congress because really this is circumventing Congress's power to appropriate funds. And the thing about it that I really think is so indefensible is that it is entirely secretive how this money is being distributed and who is getting it. The terms of the settlement agreement don't even require disclosure of the names of the people who are getting paid to the public which is absolutely unconscionable. and our members of Congress really, if if not now, when need to stand up and protect taxpayer dollars at this time of extreme stress on our country.

[00:26:48]>> Lzoyer and Kendallian, thank you so much for starting us off on all this today.

[00:26:52]Andrew sticks around a little bit longer. We've got Governor Wes Moore joining us coming up. We're going to sneak in a quick break. Don't go anywhere today.