# Trump’s Slush Fund Is Even Worse Than You Thought Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts-512420/trump-s-slush-fund-is-even-worse-than-you-thought Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts-512420/trump-s-slush-fund-is-even-worse-than-you-thought.md Podcast: [Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts](https://stenobird.com/podcast/amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts-512420) Published: 2026-05-23T07:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts/episodes/6a10c6794c45d20ee2b63177 Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/695ea2381c1db1c5bdf7c59b/e/6a10c6794c45d20ee2b63177/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts-512420/episodes/trump-s-slush-fund-is-even-worse-than-you-thought Duration seconds: 4316 ## Resource Donald Trump's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" settlement fund has stunned legal experts—not just because it's corrupt, but because of how skillfully and transparently it is designed to protect the Trump Family and reward loyalists. On this week's Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick brings together two of the sharpest observers of Trump-era lawlessness to map exactly what this is and why it matters. J.P. Cooney, a career federal prosecutor and former top deputy in Jack Smith's special counsel's office, explains how President Trump sued his own IRS as a private party, settled the case through attorneys who have also been his personal lawyers, and then secured an addendum—signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche—immunizing Trump and his family from any IRS audit or tax-enforcement proceeding. Cooney calls it "practiced, skillful corruption".  As Investigative journalist Andrea Bernstein, host of The Law According to Trump , author of American Oligarchs , and a veteran of five Trump trials, points out, this settlement enshrines Trumpian language— such as "unlawful raid at Mar-a-Lago" and "Russia collusion hoax"—in official U.S. government documents. Bernstein says it’s vital to be clear about  who stands to receive payouts: people convicted of seditious conspiracy, assaulting Capitol police officers, and other crimes they admitted to in open court.  Cooney and Bernstein agree this fund doesn't just reward insurrection—it incentivizes future violence, chills legitimate dissent, and systematically erases the historical record of Jan. 6.  Later, Slate executive editor Susan Matthews joins to preview the new season of Slow Burn, Becoming Justice Gorsuch —and explain why the most anonymous justice on the court is so pivotal to understanding the power and the po… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts-512420/episodes/trump-s-slush-fund-is-even-worse-than-you-thought/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/amicus-with-dahlia-lithwick-law-justice-and-the-courts-512420/trump-s-slush-fund-is-even-worse-than-you-thought.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.