Prosecutor SHREDS Trump over blatant SCAM

You're watching the Legal Breakdown. Glenn, we have a really explosive story. that I think is just the absolute height. of corruption. And that is that Donald. Trump is now seeking to apparently. settle with the IRS over his lawsuit. against the IRS, which was for $10. billion. So, can you talk about the. legality of a president of the United. States suing his own agency and then. settling for some, you know, not yet. disclosed amount of money, not yet. disclosed sum of money, uh also under. his own purview. >> You know, Brian, given that Donald Trump.

is forever boasting about being. all-powerful as the chief executive. under Article 2, I can do anything. I. can fire career civil servants without. cause. I can do anything to any agency. I can tear it down. I can destroy it. I. can rebuild it in my image. I would. argue that it is flat-out unlawful for. him to say, "Well, you know what? I'm. suing one of those agencies over which I.

have absolute control, and I'm going to. go ahead and tell them to settle and. just give me the $10 billion. I'm demanding." I mean, if that is not. grift, if that is not outright theft of. our tax dollars, I don't know what is. But, let's talk about the actual. procedural posture of this absurd $10. billion. lawsuit. So, there was a contractor, not. even a federal government employee, that.

becomes important in a minute. There was. a contractor who leaked a bunch of tax. returns of like extremely wealthy. Americans. I think more than a thousand. tax returns. And that contractor is now. in jail, serving a five-year sentence. for leaking that information. And so, a. number of these rich folk brought suit. against the federal government because. their tax information was unlawfully. leaked to the public. And I think there.

is one I think billionaire, a hedge fund. guy named Ken Griffin, who actually. brought suit, and then he settled with. the federal government. And you know. what the settlement involved? An apology. from the IRS. That was it. No money. changed hands. Here's the problem, Brian. There has to. be what's called a case or controversy. Two litigants have to have opposing. positions. There has to actually be a.

controversy among them, and it doesn't. look like there is one here because. Donald Trump controls the IRS. So, it's. a bit of a fiction when we hear. reporting that, well, Donald Trump's DOJ. is negotiating with Donald Trump's IRS. to see if they should pay him a bunch of. money. Donald Trump controls both sides. of this matter. What does that mean? There is no case or controversy. And.

Article 3 of the Constitution requires. for a federal suit to actually be. susceptible to being litigated in. federal court by an Article 3 judge, there must, by the constitutional. mandate, be a case or a controversy. And. here there is none. So, here is the. interesting posture that this lawsuit. that Donald Trump filed is in right now. There's a federal judge in Florida named. Kathleen Williams. Everybody's going to.

want to know who appointed her. She's an. Obama appointee. And she is questioning. the litigants, Donald Trump and his. Department of Justice, as to whether. this is a {quote} legitimate lawsuit. because it doesn't smell right. And you. know what Judge Williams did? She. appointed six well-regarded lawyers, a. group of six lawyers, to actually brief. up the issue to provide sort of an. amicus friend of the court brief to help.

inform the judge as to whether this is a. legitimate lawsuit in the first. instance, and she has required, I think, DOJ to respond on May 20th, so about a. week or so from now. And that's why I. have a feeling we're seeing all of this. reporting about there being a rush to. settle because what happens if the judge. dismisses the lawsuit because there is. no case or controversy, so it's not. susceptible to being litigated in the.

federal courts. Well, that would seem to. weaken even more Donald Trump's position. that he should be given billions of. dollars, you know, that he would approve. going from the uh the IRS. Um so, this. is like it's just grift, and it's grift, and it's grift. That's what Donald Trump. does. And, you know, we're going to see. how this plays out in the coming days, but in case people are not yet furious. enough, one of the settlement terms that the. reporting indicates Donald Trump is. seeking.

is for the IRS, as part of the. settlement, to close any audits against. Donald Trump, against his businesses, or. against his family members. Because, you. know, why shouldn't you abuse your. presidential power in as many ways as. you can. >> Glenn, I'm I'm hearing all of your. obviously well-reasoned arguments, but. at the same time, we all know that Trump. often times is very successful at. grifting the American people and it.

abusing his position of power to enrich. himself even further. We've watched him. do it. And so, what level of of concern. do you have that, notwithstanding the. fact that this is blatantly illegal, notwithstanding the fact that it's. overtly corrupt, that he will. nonetheless still be successful at. accomplishing his goal because he has so. many people in positions of power who. are able to just you know, look the. other way because really at the end of. the day their allegiance is not to the. Constitution or the American people,

it's to the god king, it's to Trump. himself. Brian? >> 100% he's going to get away with it in. the short term. Why is he going to get. away with it in the short term? Because. basically the cops are now criminals. The people heading up the FBI and the. DOJ who are responsible for enforcing. our nation's laws including against a. corrupt president and his corrupt. administration, his corrupt cabinet. officials, they are the criminals. They.

are doing Donald Trump's bidding. So, he's going to get away with it at least. in the short term. The only hope we. have, Brian, is that some accountability. will eventually come to Donald Trump. And there really are two principal forms. of accountability. One, I'm hoping is. just around the corner if the Dems take. control of the house in the midterms. What we're going to have is the first. kind of accountability. That is. congressional investigations. and oversight and hearings. Just.

remember what the January 6th House. Select Committee investigation. of all things January 6th related and. public hearings produced among other. things, it got the Department of Justice. up off its ass investigating the crimes. of Donald Trump. So, you know, I will. not sort of just dismiss the importance. of congressional oversight and. investigations because they can produce. some really dramatic results and those.

results can act as a springboard for the. Department of Justice to move forward. with criminal investigations. And of. course the second uh kind of. accountability that come, but probably. not until the rule of law comes back. into the light of day, hopefully on. January 20th of 2029, um is criminal. investigations. And if the evidence. supports it, criminal prosecutions. Those things will come as long as we can.

vote law-abiding people back into power. in both the Congress and in the White. House. And but in the interim, Brian, Trump is going to get away with it 100%. because he holds all the levers of power. and he is willing to pull them all in. his direction. >> What are we looking at in the event that. eventually a Democratic Attorney General. takes over, a Democrat, you know, takes. power in the White House, in terms of. the actual crime,

um and kind of as as an addendum to. that, what is the statute of limitations. for it? >> Typically, the federal statute of. limitations is 5 years. However, the. good news is if there is a conspiracy, let's just hypothetically say there's an. ongoing conspiracy between Donald Trump. and Todd Blanche and perhaps other. executive officials to completely. disregard the law, to disregard the. constitutional requirement that there be.

a legitimate case to be handled in. federal court, a case or controversy. If. they are in a criminal conspiracy to. enrich Donald Trump, you know, then a. conspiracy basically extends the statute. of limitations. The statute of. limitations doesn't even start to run. The clock doesn't start ticking, the. 5-year clock, until the very last. conspiratorial act has been completed. We are nowhere near that.

clock starting based on the way this. looks. So, the statute of limitations will will far. outlast Donald Trump's current term in. office. So, that's one of the very few. points of light. There is at least the. legal possibility of accountability. moving forward. >> Okay. And now, I mean, you know, in. terms of the actual crime itself, obviously this this is so overtly. corrupt. It's blatant self-dealing. But, but what is the statute on which uh.

prosecutors would target Trump? >> You know, there are probably a half a. dozen different federal statutes and. without reviewing them all, I I probably. wouldn't want to um render an opinion on. that. Other than you're you're in a He's. he It feels like he's in a conspiracy to. commit theft of government property, government money, because he just. doesn't seem to have a legitimate right. to just raid the US Treasury of billions. and billions of dollars or just demand. that the IRS stand down and not conduct.

any audits. And there are some audits. that are required by law. I believe the. law requires annual audits of both the. president and the vice president, perhaps others. I'm not sure. You know, this it is a it's a gross abuse of. power, abuse of office, and it may be a. conspiracy against rights, you know, in. any number of ways. But, I would want to. hunker down with a big ugly blue book of. federal crimes, the United States. Criminal Code, and try to figure out. exactly what crimes he may have. committed. But, you know, that's what.

criminal investigations are for. If. there's enough evidence to open a. criminal investigation, and you know, there are so many possible. investigations. There are war crimes. unfolding every day. Every boat that's. blown out of international waters. because there are suspected drug dealers. on those boats, that's murder. That is. not defensible under any uh set of laws, domestic, international, the law of war, or the law of of armed conflict. So, I. mean, it's it's really going to be a bit. of a a buffet of crimes when we.

actually, you know, have an operational. rule of law again once Todd Blanche is. gone, once Donald Trump has left the. presidency. >> And and like you said, I mean, it can. start as soon as the new Congress uh. takes uh gets seated in, you know, the. aftermath of the 2026 midterms. So, if. if that doesn't underscore the. importance of getting out there and. making sure that we win majorities in. Congress, I don't know what will. And I. should also note that, you know, we're. we're tackling this from a legal. perspective, but from a political.

perspective, too, it's almost even worse. for Trump because this is somebody who. came into office on this pretense that. he was going to focus on America First. This guy talked about housing and rent. and groceries. He talked about the price. of an egg. That's how focused he was on. being on being a populist. And yet now. he's coming to office, gutted. healthcare, sent the cost of everything. surging because of his trade war, gutted. food assistance, uh you know, sent gas. to its highest point almost that we've. ever seen, and because he decided to.

engage in a war that he swore up and. down would never happen in the Middle. East. And now on top of all of that, even as Americans' financial situations. continue to deteriorate, um we have. Donald Trump going and and giving. himself $10 billion payments from the US. Treasury on top of the fact that he's. focusing on himself as it relates to. building this ballroom that nobody asked. for, repaving the Rose Garden, which. nobody asked for, retrofitting a Qatari. jet to the tune of a billion dollars. that, of course, he and he alone gets to.

benefit from. He hosts these crypto. dinners where he's doubled his net worth. since since becoming president. So, he. is so focused on enriching himself, surrounding himself with with wealth and. opulence. And and and this is just one. more example of exactly that. If the. tables were turned and you had a. Democratic president presiding over such. a dismal economic state and yet at the. same time writing himself checks from. the US Treasury, it would be a. catastrophe on Fox News. It would It.

would garner round-the-clock media. coverage. But of course, because that. double standard exists in the media. where whenever a Republican does. something they that they accused a. Democrat of doing, it comes and goes. like a fart in the hurricane. But you. know what? Americans are not stupid. They can see that Donald Trump is not. only not delivering on all of the things. that he promised he would deliver on, but on top of all of that, the extent to. which he is just using the presidency as. as a way to enrich himself beyond. recognition really just is you know the.

the final nail in the coffin here. And. no matter how many times he beats his. chest as this populist champion, as this. you know populist white knight, people. aren't stupid and they can see exactly. what's happening to them at the hands of. this administration. >> And Brian, that's why accountability. must come for Trump if we want to keep. our republic. You know, we failed on the. accountability front in '74 when Gerald. Ford pardoned Richard Nixon instead of. seeking accountability for his crimes.

And we blew the accountability mission. again in 2021 when Merrick Garland, you. know, refused to get off the dime and. hold Trump accountable for his crimes at. least in a timely manner. I really do. feel like, and this sounds pessimistic, maybe even fatalistic, if we blow the. accountability mission again next time. we have an opportunity, I don't think we get to keep our. republic. And that is what makes the. upcoming midterms so critical. I hate to. always say everything is always riding. on the next election, but that doesn't.

mean it it isn't riding on the next. election because if we can get. legitimate congressional investigations, that's an important form of. accountability and it can shed light. It. can kind of open to to public view all. of this corruption that Donald Trump is. engaged in. Not that we don't already. see it with our own eyes, but I think. investigations and getting testimony. from folks inside like whistleblowers. who are seeing it go on. would be really important to help move.

public sentiment. >> Yeah, I mean sunlight is the best. disinfectant, so let's get some in. there. With that said for those who are. watching, if you want to stay on top of. this story and all other legal news, the. best way to do that is to subscribe to. both of our channels. I'm going to put. those links right here on the screen and. also in the post description. If you're. not yet subscribed and you'd like to. support our work, which is and always. will be 100% free. Again, the best way. to do that is just to hit the subscribe. button. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen. >> And I'm Glenn Kirschner. >> You're watching the Legal Breakdown.