Joe Rogan thinks Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund plot is “crazy.”
The president has said he is prepared to drop a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury, in exchange for a $1.8 billion Department of Justice fund.
He says the fund will be used to repay people who have been unfairly targeted by previous administrations, including some Jan. 6ers.
The agreement could also prevent the IRS from reviewing any of his family’s previous tax returns, with a quiet addendum that ends any current tax investigations or audits into his own books.
Trump bought the lawsuit after his own tax returns were leaked to the New York Times in 2018.
“That is so crazy,” Rogan said, in conversation with guest Tom Segura on The Joe Rogan Experience on Monday. “Imagine like somebody accused you of murder, yeah, and turns out you weren’t guilty of that murder and then you sue them and you go, ‘You can never prosecute me for murder again.’ And then you just go straight Uday Hussein.”
Hussein was an Iraqi politician and the son of Saddam, who had a reputation for sadism and cruelty, and died in a gory siege under fire from U.S. forces in 2003.
A one-page document signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and released last week says that the U.S. is “forever barred and precluded” from “examinations or similar or related reviews” of the Trump Organization, Trump, or his two sons, Donald Jr. and Eric.
The order also includes a block on “any matters that were raised or could have been raised” in Trump’s suit, as well as “any matters currently pending or that could be pending.”
“This is crazy,” Rogan repeated after learning this during the show.
PBS reports that there has already been shock and concern among tax experts about the breadth of the new directive’s provisions.
Former IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said there was no reason the president should not be treated like every individual in the country.
“This is an unprecedented remedy,” he said. “People expect the same tax rules and enforcement framework to apply to everybody.”
The fund itself has come under bipartisan fire, too, including from top Republicans in Congress.
“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong—Take your pick,” GOP Senator Mitch McConnell said.
The world’s most popular podcaster once aligned with Trump and endorsed him in 2024, but has cut him adrift since the war in Iran began.
Since then, he has been cautious and, in some cases, a harsh critic of the president’s actions.
Trump, in turn, is seemingly aware of Rogan’s influence over young men’s votes, and has tried to suck up to him by signing a bill that the UFC commentator wanted on psychedelic treatments for mental health issues.
