Welcome to the beat. There is mounting outrage and pushback tonight over this big scandal. Donald Trump's attempted money grab. He wants your tax dollars. This has only come out because of this New York Times bombshell report that the basically the White House is through Donald Trump, seeing if he can get away with this, seeing if he can pocket over 200 million taxpayer dollars by

taking it from the DOJ. If that sounds like something odd that you've never heard about before

in American history, that's because it's never happened. And I have more on that historical

comparison tonight. But first, here is the pushback. Congressional Democrats launching an

investigation into this, quote, shakedown of taxpayer dollars as a constitutional violation. And lawmakers in both parties

are reacting to a scandal that is clearly rocking the Trump White House, even some

mega-Republicans basically trying to duck this rather than face what is an obvious grift.

How comfortable are you with the president, apparently seeking $230 million from the Department of Justice?

I don't know the details about that.

That seems outrageous. The president is asking his own justice department to give the president money.

Unless it's something that's done in the normal course of business,

and I don't believe that it is,

that at the very least, it's horrible timing,

given that we're in a shutdown.

I didn't talk with him about that.

I know that he believes he's owed that reimbursement.

It seems a bit odd to me.

Asking his Justice Department to find a settlement

that will enrich the president. I've got a lot of optics concerns, and I just don't know if there's

precedent for it. There is no precedent for it. You could probably tell who the Republicans were

in that medley, but he didn't have any there defending this outright. No president has tried

anything this brazen. Trying to seize over $200 billion in taxpayer money is obviously unethical.

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