Stephen Colbert calls Trumps $1.8 billion fund an all-you-can-fraud buffet

The U.S. Department of Justice awarded Donald Trump a taxpayer-financed $1.8 billion fund that could be used to compensate the president's allies — potentially including pro-Trump insurrectionists prosecuted for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

According to the DoJ, the so-called "Anti-Weaponisation Fund" was set up "in exchange" for the Trump family to drop their $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and the Treasury Department for disclosing their tax returns.

Critics have called out Trump's "slush fund," including late show hosts like The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng and The Late Show's Stephen Colbert, who ripped into it during Tuesday's show.

"Now, you might be saying surely this can't get more corrupt. Shut up, I'm talking, and it can," said Colbert. "Because most egregiously the guidelines announced by the Acting Attorney General stipulate: 'Once the funds are deposited into the designated account, the United States has no liability whatsoever for the protection or safeguarding of those funds, regardless of bank failure, fraudulent transfers, or any other fraud or misuse of the funds.'

"So, it's just an all-you-can-fraud buffet. It's an unprecedented level of grift. Because again, funds of this scale typically are either created by an act of Congress or supervised by a court, and this settlement is just some piece of paper they printed out saying that Trump can do anything he wants with a bunch of your money. Officer, you can't arrest me, for you see, I've already laminated my homemade murder license."

Colbert also noted that the Justice Department posted an addendum to the original settlement, which says that the IRS is "hereby forever barred and precluded from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims, counterclaims, causes of action, appeals, or requests for any relief" of Trump affiliates and related businesses.

"Trump just gave himself a get out of jail free card, and a way better one than Jeffrey Epstein got."

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