Prosecutor on LEGALITY of Trump WITHHOLDING aid to blue states

We've got some explosive, albeit. damning, new reporting from the New York. Times where Donald Trump was apparently. cancelling grants to states that didn't. vote for him. Glenn, I have to ask, first and foremost, from your vantage as. a former federal prosecutor, are there. any legal implications of Donald Trump. basically playing favorites with our tax. dollars and only um only heaping. advantage onto the states that actually. cast ballots for him? You know, Brian, you would like to think that there might. be criminal laws against um the. executive branch of the United States.

government taking taxpayer money and. deciding to give it solely to states, to. jurisdictions, to people that voted for. him. But I I fear that there may not be. any criminal prohibitions against, you. know, spending money in a way that the. executive branch decides to prioritize. that money. So stick with me here for a. minute. You know, the Supreme Court has.

expanded presidential power, the the. president of the executive really beyond. all rationality. I would say beyond all. common sense and beyond all. constitutional sense. But, you know, even if there were a a crime here that. could be prosecuted, it could be bubbled. up to the Supreme Court. I I have to. question what the Supreme Court would do. if they had to confront the question, how much power does a president have to. take, for example, the spending.

priorities and allocations of a prior. administration and change his mind and. reallocate that money in other ways. I. suspect I know how six Supreme Court. justices would rule, but you know, rarely am I at a loss for words. And yet. when I read this story, it feels so. searingly unamerican. It feels quite. frankly impeachable because impeachment.

is not really a um a legal or criminal. justice endeavor. Impeachment is purely. a political endeavor. And you know, if a. majority of the members of Congress. decide that, you know, it constitutes. some kind of a crime or misdemeanor to. do this, they could certainly draft and. vote on articles of impeachment. Um, but. to be honest, I I'm not so sure there is. a crime that you could attach to what we. are learning from the New New York Times. reporting because what we're learning is.

that apparently Donald Trump took about. $7.5. billion that had been allocated to the. states, certain states for, among other. things, clean energy projects. And he. said, "No, those states didn't vote for. me." In fact, the reporting is that the. the executive branch officials were. saying they voted for Kla Harris. So why. should they receive taxpayer money to. fund these clean energy projects? And. importantly, in the New York Times.

reporting, they say that in in court. filings, sort of buried in what was. probably a pile of hundred documents, executive branch officials actually. admitted that the reason they, you know, rerouted this this money, these funds. was based quote purely and solely on. politics. It was taken from. jurisdictions that voted for Kla Harris. and rerouted to jurisdictions that voted. for Donald Trump. And you know, when you.

think about. how a president could take taxpayer. money and say, you know, this. jurisdiction, this state, these people. didn't vote for me. So, I will continue. to require them to give me their tax. dollars. I will take them from them and. then I will give it to those. jurisdictions that voted for me. That. Brian to my way of thinking is just so. horrifically unamerican that you know.

it's something that I I I it's something. that I say we just cannot allow to. stand. The reality is in this day and. age I I don't know that we have the. tools. I don't I don't know that we are. left with the legal tools to actually. attack this. >> I think it's worth noting for those. Republicans in a state like California, for example, which has become a major. punching bag for Trump and the right. You know, there are more Republicans who.

voted for Trump in California than a. raft of other states combined. like mo. most of the the the Midwest, for. example, doesn't even have as many. Republicans even in their majorities. where they vote in uh Republicans than. California does in a minority. And so I. hope that these voters in California, for example, in New York, for example, where these populations are large, but. certainly not the majority, recognize. that exactly who Trump is, that even. though they cast their ballot for him, that because they live in a state where.

more Democratic voters are present than. Republican voters, Donald Trump feels it. appropriate to punish them. And so I. hope that they take that as a lesson the. next go around when it's time to vote in. Republicans that this guy is not. somebody who will look out for even the. Republicans in great numbers who live in. blue states because his own personal. vendettas are more important than any of. the individual voters that live in these. states and who continue to cast ballots. for him. And so I I hope that's a lesson. as we have midterms uh approaching here.

for these voters to recognize that all. you're doing by giving Donald Trump. power is giving him the ability to screw. you over because he's never going to. heap any benefit onto any state that. doesn't help him electorally. This is. not about what Donald Trump can do for. Americans regardless of where they live. It's about what Americans specifically. can do for him. And that's always going. to be his mentality. >> Yeah. And Brian, believe it or not, I. think I may have found a a very small.

point of light, a little bit of a silver. lining in this story because when I read. the New York Times reporting about $7.5. billion in clean energy projects being, you know, rerouted, I thought back. several months to the cases that I was. following pretty closely in court here. in Washington DC being presided over by. Judge Royce Lambert. I always pay. attention to cases uh in which Lambert. is presiding in part because I know him. so well. I spent six months in a. courtroom with him when he presided over.

a RICO trial that uh that I prosecuted. some years ago. And I I went back and I. pulled some of that old reporting. This. is from, for example, February of this. year because I recalled that there was a. lot of litigation, four, five, six cases. over these clean energy projects, these. big budget projects. And here is some of. the reporting that I was reminded of. Um, a federal judge hands Trump a fifth. loss in his efforts to halt offshore.

wind projects. The court ruled that. construction can start on a wind farm. off the coast of what? New York State. after the Trump administration had. ordered work to stop in December. So the. little bit of silver lining here is even. though it looks like the the Trump. administration was trying to sort of. cancel and reroute all of these clean. energy projects, it looks like some. months ago there were at least five. court cases involving five separate.

clean energy projects that probably are. part of the $7.5 billion bucket that. we're discussing that um that the court. prohibited the Trump administration from. doing what it tried to do. So, they may. have been caught trying to reroute all. the money, but you know, little point of. light, Brian, I don't know that they. were entirely successful in doing that. >> I think it's also worth noting the. hypocrisy here of Donald Trump um trying. to screw over blue states when it's.

those blue states that primarily fund. the projects that he is exclusively. granting to red states. like these blue. states are largely donor states and it's. places like Los Angeles and New York. City and Chicago, Illinois that heap. most of the federal revenues into uh. into uh the bucket that ultimately helps. out these states in the south for. example that overwhelmingly vote for. Republicans but are largely welfare. states. the recipient states and you.

know I to engage in these culture wars. and to engage in these economic wars. against uh blue states that are funding. that are quite literally paying for uh. um the states that vote for Donald Trump. and the states where Donald Trump wants. to give them all this money uh is a. point that I think we shouldn't overlook. here. >> Not only should we not overlook it, you. know, at at what point does America. reach its breaking point? I mean, when. you read reporting like this, you didn't. vote for me. I'm going to take your damn.

tax dollars and I'm going to give it to. the people who did. You know, I don't. think that is sustainable as a way of. governing in the United States. People. will only put up with that for so long. I'm not suggesting, you know, what they. should or shouldn't do. I have seen. people come out and say, you know what, I'm done paying my federal taxes. because, for example, I am not going to. fund a lawless, unconstitutional war in. Iraq, which is only driving up the price. of everything that I have to purchase.

In any event, I don't recommend that. because the IRS will come and get you. However, I I do think the American. people will reach a breaking point. And. boy, it sure looks like the Trump. administration is testing just how far. they can go before they hit that. breaking point. >> Well, frankly, you know, you don't even. have to look at at the extent to which. Trump is wasting federal tax dollars, whether it's blue states or red states, because so much of our money continues. to go overseas. For example, we've spent.

what $130 billion, I think, conservatively, on this war in the. Middle East that Donald Trump swore up. and down he would avoid. And so the. reality is that Republican voters also. have issues affording healthcare, affording groceries, affording rent, affording housing, affording utility. bills and electricity bills. And they've. been told the same story that we're. going to vote for an America first. president who will stop this practice of. sending, you know, uh boatloads of money. overseas so that we can bomb schools and.

hospitals and whatever, you know, he. gets his eyes set on. Um, and yet that's. exactly what we're doing right now. And. so even these Republican voters were. were um fed. And so even these. Republican voters were um enduring a. bait and switch at the hands of this. president. And and to your exact point, there will come a point where these. people also see how our federal tax. dollars are being wasted at the hands of. an administration that swore that it. would save that money for Americans. And. yet Americans right now are sicker than.

they've been before, are hungrier than. they've been before, and are poorer than. they've been before. at the hands of a. president who swore up and down that he. would focus on America first. >> And Brian, you know, it looks like we're. going to have a summer of war, probably. even a fall of war. And as we continue. to be unable to f fill our gas tanks and. buy groceries and afford healthcare, um. I I think we read stories like this and. I I have to believe this is going to. drive people to the polls hopefully in.

record numbers. We also know Trump is. going to try to interfere in any number. of ways. I do think it's on us to. overcome that interference and make sure. that, you know, if the Dems take control. of the House, when the Dems take control. of the House after the midterms, you. know, it feels to me, I'm not a. political expert, you are, but it feels. to me like attempting to legislate for. the next two years is going to be. pointless in that nothing's going to get. passed through the Oval Office. So, it's. time to get the investigations on into.

these kind of things that are being. reported today. So that, you know, one, we can expose them. Two, we can begin to. hold these folk accountable politically. And more importantly, that may set the. stage, congressional investigations for. the next two years may very well set the. stage for the criminal accountability. that hopefully will commence in January. 2029. But I think, you know, all of this. does not bode well for the longevity. longevity of the Republican party. >> I think that's such a good point to not.

squander this time. If Democrats are. able to take control in Congress, engage. in these factf finding missions, create. the foundation, the legal basis for for. a future DOJ, a Democratic DOJ, a DOJ. that has some adherence to the. Constitution and the rule of law to pick. up where Congress is letting off. you. know, they did that in large part in the. January 6 uh subcommittee. They were. able to engage in these factf finding. missions that would then inform DOJ. prosecutions. And of course, you and I. have spoken at length about the extent. to which those prosecutions move too.

slowly and didn't go far and fast. enough. But it doesn't negate the point. that these congressional investigations. can serve as an effective basis uh to. find the facts that could eventually. lend itself to a broader prosecution at. the hands of people who actually can use. prosecutorial power to hold criminals. and corrupt individuals to account. But. I want to point on on one last thing. here and that is this story is really. emblematic of the depravity I think that. that so many people are seeing with this. administration. you know, when I sent.

this story to you, uh, as we were. deciding what we were going to do our. legal breakdown episode, um, on today, uh, you know, you expressed the same. degree of of, you know, disgust and. despair that I think so many other. people did. I've gotten this story in. particular sent to me by by a number of. of friends and family members, and it. was just the same degree of despair. And. I think that that's on purpose. I think. the administration isn't blind to what. it's doing by engaging in this kind of.

stuff and even letting this kind of. stuff come out into the zeitgeist. because because it it the consequence of. that is that people see this and they. feel a sense of despair and I I I. contend that it's an engineered despair. and it helps them because then people. feel helpless. They feel like they are. just a a tiny cog in a broader machine. that is just completely dominating them. and that the corruption is so rampant. and so strong that there's nothing we. could possibly do about it. But I'm I'm. grateful that you brought up the point. of of what the silver lining of all of.

this can look like because if people are. able to to trudge ahead even despite, you know, the the miles of that we. have to walk through that on the other. side of this thing, this serves as the. basis for exactly the kind of behavior. that needs to be investigated when we. have Democratic majorities in the House. and the Senate. And so I would just, you. know, remind people that even when they. see something that is so disgusting, so. abhorent, so egregious, and so corrupt, that you shouldn't let this turn you.

off, that you should use it as. inspiration to keep going because this. is exactly the kind of thing that we. have to make sure never happens again. But that only happens so long as people. continue to stay engaged and involved. and make sure that they use this not to. turn every tune everything out, but to. inspire them to stay as engaged as. possible so that it never happens again. You know, Brian, it's such a good point. I will admit that I am feeling fascism. fatigue right now. But the one thing. that I think motivates me and keeps my. head in the game and keeps me energized.

more than anything else is that I know. Trump and company, right? His criminal. [snorts]. associates in the executive branch want. me, want you, want us defeated, depressed, despondent, desperate, and. ultimately they want us to disengage. That's why they're doing what they're. doing. And I will not give them that. satisfaction. I will fight if only to. spite those I will never.

give up. You will never give up. I don't. think we will ever give up. So we need. to let it energize and motivate us, not. cause us to feel defeated, feel. despondent, and to disengage because. then they win. They're getting exactly. what they want. I will not give them. that satisfaction. >> Perfect place to leave off. For those. who are watching right now, if you'd. like to continue to amplify our voices, tune in to hear what we have to say, and. uh and and make sure that this message. goes out as far and wide as possible,

the best way to do that, easiest way to. do that, and is completely free, is to. subscribe to both of our channels. Those. links are right here on the screen and. also in the post description of this. video. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen. >> and I'm Glenn Kersner. >> You're watching the Legal Breakdown.