{"id":4027,"date":"2026-07-28T08:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T08:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4027"},"modified":"2026-07-28T08:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T08:07:13","slug":"the-ultimate-smoking-gun-trump-officials-just-copped-to-a-7-5b-shakedown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4027","title":{"rendered":"The ultimate smoking gun: Trump officials just copped to a $7.5B shakedown"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Whether by intention, error or force of law, the Trump administration has owned up that Donald Trump sees himself president of MAGA, not of the nation. <\/p>\n

Read more Parents face severe sticker shock as Trump\u2019s policies hit back-to-school<\/a><\/p>\n

A New York Times report this week disclosed a month-old court filing in which federal officials acknowledged that they cut $7.5 billion in clean energy programs selectively among states \u201cbased solely\u201d on whether those stated had voted for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n

In court answers about a lawsuit challenging the stated reasons of cuts based on \u201cwaste and fraud,\u201d the government copped to the real reason \u2013 partisan politics. Indeed, the administration funded grants for states that had backed Trump in 2024, even though the Energy Department had recommended they be cancelled.<\/p>\n

It may not be a specifically impeachable offence, but it certainly shows that Donald Trump is abusing his office, his oath \u2013 and weirdly even punishing the Trump voters in the states taking the cuts.<\/p>\n

Trump certainly has been acting in a variety of ways as if he wants to target states that voted against him, but this court filing seemed a public acknowledgement that should get some serious attention. <\/p>\n

As The Times concluded, \u201cThe admission showed how Trump has weaponized the provision of federal education, energy, health, housing and infrastructure aid in his second term. Far from rooting out the sort of misspending that Trump sees as rife in Washington, the White House has instead sought to leverage the budget as a tool to assist its allies \u2014 or as a cudgel to hurt the president\u2019s foes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump certainly has no hesitation about collecting taxes from blue states or demanding voting rolls or demanding special treatment, just in spending the money disproportionately raised from those states. <\/p>\n

President for Some, Not All<\/strong><\/p>\n

The White House and Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget , have remained silent about the government\u2019s court arguments in a suit brought by the affected states. At the time of the cuts, Vought posted that \u201cNearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left\u2019s climate agenda is being cancelled.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now, a government lawyer told the court that none of the cancellations were \u201cbased on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction or performance-based factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Nationwide backlash as Trump loyalists vote to gut historic protections<\/a><\/p>\n

Apart from all else, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright repeated the waste argument in sworn congressional testimony, telling House members in June, \u201cNo decisions (about the cuts) were made on politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Someone might tell Jim Jordan, chair of the Judiciary Committee, who referred former special prosecutor Jack Smith to the Justice Department for investigation of perjury for not answering a question that Jordan had never asked. <\/p>\n

Vought is seeking to finalize rules that would make political appointees the final arbiters of how the government would award more than $1 trillion in annual grants. He wants the power to block or revoke money if states do not conform to administration priorities. The White House has also sought to layer additional restrictions on grant recipients, limiting their political activities, memberships along with vague requirements that they cannot use the money for certain purposes, including those deemed \u201canti-American,\u201d reported The Times. <\/p>\n

Rather than combatting waste, it appears Trump and his cronies are trying to take control of the United States government, using the power of the American people for their own ends, argues historian Heather Cox Richardson in Substack. <\/p>\n

Sen. Patty Murray. D-WA., and Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, said that politically minded grant cuts amounted to an \u201coutright un-American\u201d weaponization of government.<\/p>\n

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker pointed out that the cancelled grants included $583 million intended for Illinois \u201cthat would have gone toward lowering energy costs, strengthening grid reliability, and creating energy jobs.\u201d He demanded the funds be restored. \u201cDespite what he might think, Donald Trump is not the president of MAGA,\u201d Pritzker said in a statement, but \u201cthe president of all America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terry H. Schwadron retired as a senior editor at The New York Times, Deputy Managing Editor at The Los Angeles Times and leadership jobs at The Providence (RI) Journal-Bulletin. He was part of a Pulitzer Gold Medal team in Los Angeles, and his team part of several Pulitzers in New York. <\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Arkansas whites-only community sues UK media giant for defamation<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s an unprecedented admission of partisan weaponization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nThe ultimate smoking gun: Trump officials just copped to a $7.5B shakedown - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4027\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The ultimate smoking gun: Trump officials just copped to a $7.5B shakedown - Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s an unprecedented admission of partisan weaponization.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4027\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-28T08:07:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4027#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4027\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\"},\"headline\":\"The ultimate smoking gun: Trump officials just copped to a $7.5B shakedown\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-28T08:07:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4027\"},\"wordCount\":737,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4027#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/cbe59d02c56bbd5a00b8a2f0fdd1fcc7.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4027#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4027\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4027\",\"name\":\"The ultimate smoking gun: Trump officials just copped to a $7.5B shakedown - 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