Kerby Anderson

A corrupt government policy that was stopped by the Trump administration looks like it may return under the Biden administration. The Justice Department during the Obama administration allowed prosecutors to make settlement agreements that directed payments to left-wing groups rather than to the government or victims.

The Trump administration stopped such payments when it came into office. Attorney General Jeff Sessions argued in 2017 that “when the federal government settles a case” those funds “should go first to the victims and then to the American people” and should not “bankroll third-party special interest groups or the political friends of whoever is in power.”

Representative Bob Goodlatte sponsored legislation to stop this, but the bill was never passed. Before leaving office, the Trump Justice Department enacted a rule that went into effect in December 2020. That Justice Department rule is currently subject to review because of President Biden’s executive order.

Lest you think that this rule change would be insignificant, consider just one case from 2014 that involved the Bank of America. The Justice Department entered into a $17 billion settlement with the bank in order to resolve claims that it had engaged in various mortgage abuses. At the time, Investor’s Business Daily reported that various activist groups would be collecting millions from the settlement. They described them as “a raft of political payoffs to Obama constituency groups. In effect, the government has ordered the nation’s largest bank to create a massive slush fund for Democrat special interests.”

The Biden administration should not change the Justice Department rule. In fact, Congress needs to act by passing legislation to prevent future slush fund payouts.