Monday on MS NOW’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) made the claim that President Donald Trump was attempting to fund a “private militia” with the $1.8 billion the so-called anti-weaponization fund.
Maddow asked, “Is there anything else like this in U.S. history?”
Raskin said, “Nothing like it. It’s thoroughly illegal and unconstitutional. Of course, Congress never voted to set up a $1.776 billion political slush fund for the president, and we never would pass such a thing. So it’s a complete violation of Congressional appropriations powers. Moreover, even if Congress wanted to do such a thing, which we never would, it would be unconstitutional, because the 14th Amendment says that money cannot be spent out of the federal fisc for the purposes of repaying people for insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”
He continued, “That is what this is about, it’s about funding or pre-funding Donald Trump’s private militia.”
He added, “And so now they want to convert this fund that has always been used honestly in Democratic and Republican administrations for the settlement of lawsuits or just the payment of verdicts to create this Anti-Weaponization Fund, which is the most Orwellian title you can imagine. It’s all about weaponizing the tax dollars of the American people to support Donald Trump’s private militia. If these people had real, viable causes of action against anybody, they would go to federal court.”
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