1. United States
2. Mo.
3. Letter

I am writing as your constituent to urge you to take action against the Department of Justice's newly announced $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund." Whatever one thinks of the underlying grievances, the structure of this deal is indefensible. A sitting president negotiated a settlement with agencies he controls, using taxpayer money, to resolve a lawsuit he personally filed. That is not justice. it is self-dealing. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who served as Trump's personal criminal defense attorney before joining DOJ, signed the agreement. The conflict of interest could not be more glaring. This money comes from the DOJ's judgment fund,  a perpetual appropriation meant to settle legitimate legal claims against the government, not to create a slush fund distributed at the president's discretion with virtually no constraints on who qualifies. Congress controls the purse. You have both the authority and the obligation to act. I urge you to: 1) Demand a full accounting of how this fund will be administered and who will receive payments 2) Support legislation to restrict use of the judgment fund for self-dealing settlements 3) Call for an independent investigation into the conflict of interest at the heart of this deal The American people deserve to know their tax dollars are not being handed out as political rewards. I will be watching how you respond to this.