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The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, establishes a compensation fund essentially for the January 6 rioters who attacked the capital. This was not a settlement over the IRS contractor’s leak of tax information of 400,000 taxpayers, including President Trump.

The judge assigned the case never ruled that the case could move forward because Trump was suing an agency of our government over which he had accountability. In essence he was suing himself. In her order dismissing the suit, Judge Williams noted that because Trump was dropping the suit, there is no settlement of record.

The agency Trump was suing, U.S. Department of Treasury/IRS, never filed any documents as to whether an actual case existed. IRS attorneys explained the statute of limitations had expired and the Justice Department had previously taken the position that the IRS cannot be sued for the actions of a contractor, citing a previous case.

It appears this is not a settlement of a legal case. Rather, Attorney General Blanche created an agreement between Trump and the Department of Justice. The agreement says Trump and his older sons who brought and dropped the suit will receive a formal apology from the United States but will receive no damages of any kind.

This agreement was not signed by the attorney general but by Stanley Woodward Jr., a defense attorney for people in Trump’s orbit accused of committing crimes.

An amendment to the agreement, signed by Blanche himself, asserts the United States is barred forever from IRS audits of Trump’s taxes and prosecution of any crimes Trump, his family, his businesses or his associates might have committed relating to IRS issues or concerns.

It appears that our tax dollars are assigned to rewarding those convicted of staging an insurrection against our government by the attorney general in direct violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits the United States from paying any claims incurred in aid of an insurrection or rebellion.

This is a blatant breach of our Constitution by the very people who took an oath to defend and honor our Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.

This is not a settlement, nor is it an agreement by the people of the United States. It is a sweetheart deal for a privileged few in high places.

Hanson, of Elkhorn, is a member of the Walworth County Democratic Party.