Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) struck a bipartisan deal in a new bill that they hope will be enough to end the regulatory chaos surrounding college sports in recent years. Cruz and Cantwell announced on Wednesday that they struck a bipartisan agreement to bring a new “Protect College Sports Act” to Congress […]
Southern California city makes what could be a very costly decision to eliminate staffer credited with bringing millions of dollars into the city after spearheading filming for “One Battle After Another” in San Diego.
Will Clark has never exactly been known for subtlety, and the San Francisco Giants legend lived up to his reputation this week while unloading on the team’s suggestive viral outfield celebration during a brutal 22-33 season.
A controversial agreement granting Donald Trump immunity from IRS audits may ultimately prove worthless, according to University of Baltimore School of Law Professor Kim Wehle, who argues in a new column that it may not stand up to legal scrutiny under what are called "creative crimes."As part of a settlement with Trump over a leaked tax return lawsuit, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed off on an addendum granting the president sweeping tax protections. The IRS agreed to drop all pending audits of Trump — potentially saving him an estimated $100 million in liability — and the one-page document declared the U.S. government is "forever barred and precluded" from examining or prosecuting Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization's tax filings.Writing for The Hill, Wehle's core argument is simple: Trump had no legal authority to grant himself this immunity in the first place. "The whole thing is bogus, so any attempt to use it as a valid legal defense is bogus, too," she wrote.Wehle pointed to Supreme Court precedent suggesting future courts may be willing to invalidate the deal. In July 2024, the Court granted Trump criminal immunity for official acts but explicitly stated that former presidents can still be prosecuted for crimes involving unofficial acts — a category that could theoretically include actions taken to minimize personal tax liability.While "Trump is operating as if he is above the law, there is room for future courts to find liability for 'creative crimes' he commits while in the White House," she elaborated.Even during Trump's first term, when he had a "friendly majority" on the Supreme Court, the justices refused to shield his personal accounting firm from turning over tax returns to congressional committees, the law professor wrote, noting that in 2022 the Court refused to block disclosure of Trump's tax returns and financial records to the House Ways and Means Committee.The critical question, according to Wehle, is not whether Trump currently possesses the constitutional authority to grant himself immunity — he doesn't she maintained — but whether future voters will elect an administration willing to challenge the addendum.If that happens, a future DOJ could argue that the agreement is legally void because Trump lacked authority to execute it. "The government would argue that the addendum should be given no weight because Trump had no legal authority to grant himself such immunity in the first place," Wehle explained.Trump's defense team would inevitably seek to invoke the addendum as a legal shield, but that defense would rest on a fundamentally flawed legal foundation. The deal represents Trump attempting to immunize himself unilaterally — an act that legal scholars argue exceeds presidential authority and could be dismantled by future courts or administrations, Wehle suggested.
The money has become a sticking point in talks, with Iran insisting that meaningful negotiations cannot begin without the funds’ release.
As Israel launched a new bombardment of Lebanon on Tuesday, its far-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, suggested that it was trying to derail ongoing peace negotiations between US President Donald Trump and Iran.During a press briefing on Tuesday, the influential politician railed against the possibility of a deal to end the war as it neared the three-month mark and said the whole Israeli Cabinet was in agreement.“I know that Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and all of us members of the Cabinet... as the government of Israel, cannot allow this to happen,” Ben-Gvir said in Hebrew. “This is an agreement that can harm the state of Israel, and we will not allow this to happen.”Ben-Gvir’s remarks came as Trump engaged in what he has suggested was another promising round of ceasefire talks with the Iranians—talks that did not include Israel.Despite its foreign ministry condemning recent US attacks as signs of “bad faith” and “definitive violations” of the ceasefire on Tuesday, Iran has not yet pulled away from the table.Citing Iranian state TV, Reuters reported on Wednesday that Tehran has received an unofficial framework from the US that would restore commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels for a month in exchange for the US withdrawing troops from Iran’s vicinity and lifting its naval blockade. The US has disputed this account.Trump has previously attempted to force Iran to accept major concessions on its nuclear program upfront, but nuclear-related talks appear to have been shifted to future negotiations.While it has not been at the center of the latest round of negotiations, Iran still considers ending Israel’s assault on Lebanon to be an essential part of a durable peace.As it has during previous peace negotiations between Iran and the US, Israel launched another major bombardment against Lebanon on Tuesday, violating the 45-day ceasefire that went into effect last month.Israeli forces conducted more than 120 airstrikes across southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley against what they said were Hezbollah targets, according to The Guardian, as Netanyahu said Israel would “intensify” its military campaign.According to Lebanon’s health ministry, 31 people were killed, and 40 were wounded. In the southern town of Burj al-Shamali, 14 people were killed, including two children and three women, the ministry said.Since Israel’s offensive began in early March, more than 3,200 people have been killed and over 9,700 wounded, according to the ministry. More than 600 people have been killed since the April truce began.Sources also told Reuters that Israel had expanded its occupation of southern Lebanon, past its so-called “security zone.” Israeli forces ordered the residents of dozens of Lebanese villages not to return to their homes in the occupation zone, which Israel is trying to expand to between 5 and 10 kilometers inside Lebanon.In what Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has described as a renewal of its “Gaza model,” Israel had demolished or damaged more than 40,000 homes in southern Lebanon before last month’s truce went into effect, though destruction has continued since then. More than 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced as a result of forced evacuation orders and bombardments by Israel.Hezbollah has responded on Tuesday with drone attacks on Israel, which it had already been launching for weeks in response to what it said were persistent ceasefire violations.Another far-right Israeli Cabinet member, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said Israel should respond to each drone by destroying 10 buildings in Beirut. If there are no buildings left in Beirut, he said, Israel should expand the demolitions to other areas such as Tyre, Sidon, and the Bekaa Valley.Ben-Gvir, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that Israel should “cut off the electricity in Lebanon,” “occupy” the area up to the Zahrani River, and “return to a massive war.”The timing of Israel’s renewed assault on Lebanon has been met with accusations that it is attempting to sabotage ceasefire talks between the US and Iran.Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, a former diplomat with the Israeli Foreign Ministry who has since become a prominent critic of the country, said that by moving deeper into Lebanon, Israel was “moving to bury not only the supposed ceasefire in Lebanon but also talks on Iran” because its policy “is an endless and wide regional war.”Responding to Ben-Gvir’s remarks, he said, “Israel forced the US into war and won’t let us end it.”
"Well, they can go back to their country, get whatever food they want," Mullin said during a cabinet meeting in the White House. "The fact is, we're giving them the calories they want. This isn't Holiday Inn."
Gov. Gavin Newsom is resorting to explicit measures to slam his opponents.
The US denied an Iranian state television report on a draft interim peace deal that said maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz could return to normal within a month of it coming into effect. “This report from Iranian controlled media is not true and the MOU they ‘released’ is a complete fabrication,” the White House said in a social media post on Wednesday. “Nobody should believe what Iranian state media is putting out.” Oil had dropped on the Iranian report, with Brent falling almost 4% to below $96 a barrel. It’s declined more than 7% this week as traders become increasingly more optimistic there will be an agreement. Ethan Bronner, Bloomberg News Israel Bureau Chief, joins Bloomberg Intelligence Radio to discuss the latest. (Source: Bloomberg)