Trump's DOJ establishes a $1.8 billion fund to compensate those allegedly targeted by government weaponization, sparking Democratic outrage.
Republicans promise that $50 billion in new health funding will help rural America. But it's not expected to aid the years-long effort in North Carolina's Martin County to reopen its only hospital.
American outrage continues to grow as President Donald Trump's administration moves forward with its nearly $1.8 billion fund that aims to compensate Americans who feel they've been wronged by the government. Speaking on CNN this week, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said that he thinks taxpayers "do want their tax dollars spent on things like that."Journalist John Harwood issued his own warning, "Does Todd Blanche recognize that this disgraceful chapter in American life is going to end with his disbarment?"National security expert Marcy Wheeler similarly commented that, given the frustration from lawmakers on display Thursday, it's entirely possible that Blanche could be removed from office. She shared law school Professor Steve Vladeck's recent post, which argues that the best way to defeat the fund is through politics. However, she doesn't think it's the only way to stop Blanche. "I think you START impeachment with Blanche," she wrote on BlueSky. "25 GOP Senators spoke up (in private) yesterday. 25+47-Fetterman = 71. Better yet, INCLUDE the dismissal of the Sedition verdicts NOW."Blanche only took over the Justice Department after Pam Bondi was fired, serving as acting attorney general.Vladeck's piece recalled that Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his majority opinion of NFIB v. Sebelius (which dealt with the Affordable Care Act in 2012). Roberts "defended the Court’s endorsement of Congress’s power to adopt the individual mandate by noting that it is 'not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.'"He urged, "One can believe in substantial judicial power without believing that literally every political dispute in our country can and should be resolved by unelected judges."Vladeck, too, turned to impeachment, which hasn't proved successful in the ongoing efforts to hold Trump accountable for crimes. He argued that despite the GOP majority, "impeachment itself is feasible in this House ... because forcing every member of Congress to vote on the record whether this brazen, corrosive, and affirmatively dangerous corruption is impeachable is itself a point worth fighting for (and fighting with our friends over)."
President Donald Trump defended his $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund on Friday, despite Republican uproar. “I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I could have settled my case, including the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal BREAK […]
Late-night comedian Stephen Colbert has ended his 11-year run as host of The Late Show on CBS. His program’s cancellation removes one of President Trump’s most vocal critics from the airwaves and comes after the comedian criticized his own employer for agreeing to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump. The settlement came as CBS parent company Paramount was seeking the Trump administration’s approval for a merger with Skydance, which the Trump administration approved just one week after CBS announced Colbert’s ouster. Trump’s FCC Chair Brendan Carr has openly gloated about the administration’s attacks on critics in the media and the defunding of outlets like PBS and NPR, which no longer receive federal money. Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance is seeking another megamerger with Warner Bros. Discovery, which would further concentrate media control in the hands of the billionaire Ellison family that has a long history of supporting Trump. “We see this over and over again, where the Trump administration is weaponizing its power over mergers to try to get what it wants in the media space,” says David Sirota, editor-in-chief of The Lever and host of the Master Plan podcast.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is desperate to land the job permanently, and according to a new report from Politico, to do so, he has launched his "most audacious move yet" in a bid to cement the Justice Department as President Donald Trump's personal law firm.Blanche, who previously served as Trump's personal attorney, was appointed as an acting replacement at the DOJ following the ouster of Pam Bondi in April. Since then, he has made several high-profile moves, which observers have chalked up to his attempts to curry favor with Trump and land the full-on AG job. "When Todd Blanche announced charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center last month, critics accused him of placating President Donald Trump in an effort to secure the attorney general job permanently," Politico explained on Friday. "Blanche weathered similar criticism about a week later, when the Justice Department indicted longtime Trump foe James Comey a second time, accusing him of threatening the president’s life with an Instagram photo of seashells."Now, Blanche and the DOJ have spearheaded a wildly controversial new settlement for Trump, closing out his suit against the IRS by establishing a $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, to be paid out to individuals who have supposedly been targeted by the government for their political beliefs. Despite that claim, it has been widely interpreted as a means for funneling money to Trump's allies and supporters. The settlement also contains the unprecedented provision that neither Trump nor his family can ever be audited by the IRS ever again.In its Friday report, Politico summed up this settlement as Blanche's most blatant attempt yet at gaining Trump's favor, further citing comments from a lawmaker, who said that the move gave the president a "get-out-jail-free card" for tax fraud"The second measure in particular struck many as Blanche’s most audacious move yet, designed not just to punish the president’s enemies or compensate his supporters, but to provide a personal, lasting benefit to Trump himself," Politico explained.“Trump had his personal lawyer, who he installed atop the Justice Department, give him a get-out-of-jail-free card for past, present and future tax fraud,” Rep. Don Beyer wrote in a post to social media.For now, all of these moves from Blanche appear to be having the intended effect, though there has yet to be any sign that the proper attorney general gig is his."At the White House, Blanche’s actions are winning raves," Politico revealed. "'He’s the guy everyone loves,' said a senior administration official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. Asked if anyone is poised to replace him, the official laughed and said 'no.'”“He gets along with everyone, he pushes, he racks up wins," the source added. "He’s building out a record that people can point to, and building out a record that follows what the president laid out on the campaign trail.”
The main sticking point that ended up tanking the vote was the new "Anti-Weaponization Fund" introduced this week.
Lawmakers left Washington for Memorial Day weekend without passing a budget reconciliation bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, due in large part to GOP backlash against the Trump administration’s newly announced $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. Senate Republicans on Thursday blasted acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the proposal to set…
There is mounting frustration among some Republicans over President Donald Trump’s proposed spending, leading to both his $1 billion ballroom and the nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund hitting unexpected walls within the party. Objections over the latter fund prompted Republican senators to postpone a vote on an immigration bill and leave Capitol Hill for the week, according to two GOP sources. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports for TODAY.