Trump Wants to Use Funds From Banking Settlement to Build the Wall

CNBC reported on the story:

The White House is targeting a windfall from an international banking scandal to help pay for the border wall, according to an administration official.

French bank Societe Generale struck a deal with the U.S government in November to pay $1.3 billion after admitting that it violated U.S. sanctions on Cuba and Iran for years. The administration is hoping to funnel as much as $359 million from that settlement to a special account at the Treasury Department to fund the wall, the official said.

Yet it's unclear whether the White House can use the money for the wall. The Treasury account — known as the asset forfeiture fund — is made up of cash, property and other items seized during civil and criminal investigations. Use of the funds is restricted by federal law, and the account itself is a lightning rod for criticism, with both conservatives and liberals calling it an example of government overreach.

In its 2017 annual report, the fund listed total assets worth $4 billion."Fundamentally, this is a slush fund of money taken from private citizens that law enforcement officials are allowed to use for their own purposes," said Robert McNamara, a senior attorney with the libertarian Institute for Justice.

The Week also had the following to say:

In November, French bank Societe Generale admittedthat it spent years breaking American sanctions with the U.S. and Cuba. It had to pay $1.3 billion back to the U.S., and now Trump is hoping to siphon a chunk of it for his border wall, CNBC reports.

From asking Mexico nicely to cramming funds into the national budget, Trump has tried a slew of crafty solutions to fund his promised border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. His current national emergency declaration is still standing, but the $8 billion Trump is hoping to get from that actually stems from a variety of sources. About $3.6 billion comes from military construction already authorized this year, $2.5 billion comes from seized drug profits, and $1.3 billion is from what Democrats gave Trump in the budget. The remaining $601 million, Trump reportedly hopes, will come from the Treasury Department's "asset forfeiture fund," NBC News noted.

One thing is for sure. Trump does not give up.

He will build the border wall, and this source is a great, resourceful option for funding it if his administration is approved to use the account.