Episode 171 | Trump SLUSH FUND Instantly UNDERMINED by CONSTITUTION!!!

It's Complicated

Renato Mariotti

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2026

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, the Justice Department announced the shocking creation of a $1.776 billion slush fund as part of a controversial settlement of President Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, which would allow Trump to funnel taxpayer money to his allies and supporters. Asha and Renato are joined by Georgetown Law Professor David Super to break down the dubious legal basis for the fund, analyze why the underlying lawsuit was collusive litigation, and discuss how the Constitution could prevent January 6 rioters from receiving payments from the fund. Then, Renato and Asha discuss a much-criticized order by the Supreme Court last week that upended the Alabama primaries. The Court’s order allows the state to use congressional maps that would eliminate a majority-Black district, even though early voting began weeks ago. Listen now! Professor David Super's Balkinization Blog Post https://balkin.blogspot.com/2026/05/is-new-weaponization-compensation-fund.html Asha Substack: https://asharangappa.substack.com/ Subscribe to our podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/its-complicated Follow Asha on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/asharangappa.bsky.social Follow Renato on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/renatomariotti.bsky.social Follow Asha on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asha.rangappa/ Follow Renato on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renato.mariotti/ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@LegalAFMTN?sub_confirmation=1 Become a member of Legal AF YouTube community: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgZJZZbnLFPr5GJdCuIwpA/join Become a member of the Legal AF Substack: https://michaelpopok.substack.com/20off Follow Legal AF on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/legalafmtn.bsky.social Follow Michael Popok on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mspopok.bsky.social Subscribe to the Legal AF podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legal-af-by-meidastouch/id1580828595 Subscribe to the Intersection with Michael Popok podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intersection-with-michael-popok/id1818863274 Subscribe to Unprecedented with Michael Popok and Dina Doll podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unprecedented-by-legal-af/id1867023089 Subscribe to Court of History with Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-court-of-history/id1867022920 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:01.4	So, Asha, is there anything we can do to stop Trump from taking 1.7 billion of our taxpayer dollars? It's complicated.
1:07.0	I'm Renata Marietti. I'm a former federal prosecutor, a practicing lawyer, and a legal analyst.
1:13.6	And I'm Asha Rangappa.
1:14.6	I teach national security law at Yale University.
1:17.6	I'm a former FBI special agent, and I'm the author of the Freedom Academy Substack.
1:22.6	And I'm David Super.
1:23.6	I teach law at Georgetown.
1:24.6	I've been studying the federal budget and budget law for many years.
1:30.6	So our listeners know that when we bring a law professor on to talk about something,
1:38.1	it's like a real dumpster fire.
1:42.1	We want to really unpack in detail.
	...

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