When Trump Sued Himself: The $1.776 billion Slush Fund

The Libertarian

The Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin

History, News, Politics

4.7 • 994 Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Richard Epstein analyzes the Trump administration’s controversial $1.776 billion settlement fund, arguing that it represents a profound breach of constitutional norms, public trust, and basic principles of good government. From standing doctrine and congressional power to taxation, impeachment, and the limits of executive authority, Epstein explains why he believes the scheme is legally dubious, politically explosive, and one of the most troubling examples of presidential overreach in modern American history.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to The Libertarian. I'm Charles C.W. Cook, and I am here with the Libertarian himself,
0:15.6	Richard Epstein. Richard, welcome to your own show. It's always be nice to be welcomed by you,
0:20.7	Trow. Thank you. Well, it's nice to be welcomed by you, Trow.
0:21.3	Thank you.
0:21.9	Well, it's nice to welcome you.
0:23.1	This is a production of the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.
0:30.0	All right.
0:30.7	So, Richard, since we last spoke, the Trump administration has announced what has been, I think, accurately described
0:41.0	pretty widely as a slush fund. It's technically a settlement to the tune of $1.776 billion.
0:51.7	And this is supposed to be handed out to people who have allegedly been the
0:58.7	victims of bad treatment by the government. It came about because President Trump sued
1:05.9	his own government for the leak of his tax returns during his first administration.
1:15.4	He wanted $10 billion, and then he settled with himself, in effect, for 1.776.
1:22.5	And now they want to use this slush fund to give money out to other people who they claim have been hard done by.
1:32.9	So this is a really great idea and a perfect use of the federal government, right?
1:39.2	This is basically showing government that it's civic virtue best.
1:43.0	It's one of the most unbelievable
1:44.6	experience I've ever looked at in my entire life as a taxation matter, as a standing matter,
1:51.3	as a matter of political decorum as a matter of partisanship. Mr. Trump has managed to outdo himself
1:57.6	in this particular situation. And as everybody has noted, all the opposition comes from all sides of the political spectrum.
2:05.0	I've yet to see any independent contractor on any side of the political spectrum have a kind
2:11.3	word to say about this spectrum, about this settlement.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 21 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.