The U.S. added 172,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate stayed at 4.3%; Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner has mounting controversies.
The Senate passed the $69.5 billion reconciliation package to fund immigration enforcement Friday after an anti-weaponization fund and White House ballroom funding threatened its passage. The Senate passed […]
Trump expected to nominate Todd Blanche as permanent attorney general; Senate holds "vote-a-rama."
Thursday brings a consequential day for the Republican agenda, as lawmakers on Capitol Hill gather for a marathon voting session that could bring GOP priorities into conflict with those of President Donald Trump. Judging by a pre-vote statement from one senator scorned by Trump, the president faces an uphill battle. One of the most discussed votes involves the long-hindered effort to pass an immigration and border control budget reconciliation bill, which has been a thorn in the side of Republicans for several months. While it finally appeared likely to pass in the run-up to the Memorial Day recess, the sudden announcement that Trump would create a “slush fund” to pay convicted J6 criminals stalled the bill, with outraged Republicans saying they would not advance it unless the fund was killed. While the fund has since hit a number of major setbacks, it has not technically been ended once and for all. Now, many lawmakers are pushing for an amendment to the reconciliation that would pass it only on the condition that the slush fund is fully banned. When asked by CNN correspondent Manu Raju about the matter, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) shared his thoughts in no uncertain terms. “Even the AG has said that [the fund] is done, so I don’t know why we don’t just codify it so that we don’t have the Democrats raising the speculation that it could come back at some point,” said Tillis, referring to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s recent assertion that the fund was ended, a claim that Trump quickly contradicted. On Wednesday, it was also announced that the president would seek Blanche’s confirmation to the position permanently, an appointment that has drawn skepticism from across the political spectrum over concerns that the role will be weaponized by Blanche, who is Trump’s former personal attorney. “The key to Todd or anybody getting through the judiciary committee would be being pretty tight on January the 6th. They better not have said for one minute that the people who beat up police officers were righteous people. You come even close to saying that you don’t even have a [chance] of getting my vote,” said Tillis. The Senator has frequently bumped heads with Trump, recently declaring that the president’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence doesn’t have a “prayer” of getting confirmed. Tillis has also called for his fellow Republicans to speak out against the White House, prompting Trump to call him a “nitpicker.” When it was pointed out that Trump and Blanche had made opposing statements about the fund, Tillis wasn’t having it. “The right hand and the left hand need to figure out what the h—— they’re doing,” he declared. “If it’s dead then we should be able to codify that and be done with it.”
Former national security adviser John Bolton is expected to agree to a plea deal over mishandling classified documents, in a major win for Donald Trump’s retribution campaign.Bolton is expected to plead guilty to one count of illegal retention of sensitive national security documents and has agreed to pay a more than $2 million fine, according to sources that spoke with CNN Thursday.A conviction could put the 77-year-old in the clink: One count of illegal retention carries a sentence between zero and 60 months in prison.Bolton’s loss is a major coup for Trump, who has leveraged the power of his second term to enact a widespread retribution campaign against his so-called political enemies.Bolton was one of the president’s closest advisers during his first term—until September 2019, when Trump fired him over internal clashes related to foreign policy. He has since become one of Trump’s most vocal critics from his last administration, railing against the president’s takes on NATO, Iran, and Russia.Trump began advocating for Bolton’s arrest around the time that the former adviser published his 2020 memoir, The Room Where It Happened, about his time in the Trump White House. The book was very critical of the president, but Trump took it a step further, claiming that the text was actually illegal as Bolton had included classified information. Trump’s DOJ opened criminal and civil investigations into Bolton at the time, though the cases were closed mere months into the Biden administration.Prosecutors in the new case have accused Bolton of sharing “more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities” via his personal email with his wife and daughter, CNN reported late last year. Yet the transmission of information is not part of the charges Bolton is expected to plead guilty to.Bolton’s hearing is scheduled for June 26.This story has been updated.
A visual roundup of a Supreme Court term marked by politically charged disputes, including tests of presidential power, LGBTQ rights and U.S. election laws.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a major, coordinated federal and state crackdown on massive fraud schemes across Ohio. AAG Blanche detailed a 32-count indictment involving state employees, a scheme to defraud Medicare, Medicaid, the COVID-19 relief program PPP, and emphasized the administration’s relentless pursuit of law and order to protect American taxpayers. Acting AG […] The post Federal Fraud Taskforce and Dept of Justice Announce First 14 Indictments in Major Fraud Action in Ohio, Many More to Follow appeared first on The Last Refuge.
House passes measure that would rein in Trump on Iran; Trump says Iran talks are ongoing despite recent attack.
Zach Lahn defeated Rep. Randy Feenstra in the Iowa Republican gubernatorial primary, marking President Trump's first major primary loss of the 2026 midterm election cycle.