This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, May 31st, 2017.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Two reports on Civil Asset Forfeiture from the Department of Justice and Treasury

undercut the claims of people like Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump, and

Loretta Lynch that civil asset forfeiture is a great tool.

Darpana Sheath of the Institute for Justice explains how the new data makes the case for reform.

Jeff Sessions, our U.S. Attorney General, has made really no bones about the fact that he is a fan of civil asset forfeiture.

His predecessor Loretta Lynch also was a fan of civil asset forfeiture, called it a wonderful

tool.

And even Donald Trump in a meeting not too long ago

he had with, I believe, sheriffs, somebody

was talking about legislation that would have reformed civil asset forfeiture in Texas.

And Donald Trump famously said, what's his name?

Let's destroy his career, something to that effect.

And also if you read the conversation more closely, it seemed that he was unclear on exactly

what the law is on it and seemed to imply that he thought that without civil asset forfeiture

you would have to give illegal drugs back to criminals.

That was sort of the subtext that was kind of not totally clear, but it seemed like that's

what he thought was the case.

Now we know a little more about the effectiveness of programs at the federal level that

govern these forfeitures.

So what do we know from the Twin reports from the Department of Justice and from the Treasury Department.

...