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Trump administration won’t pursue $1.8B “Anti-Weaponization Fund," Acting AG says

The proposed $1.8 billion fund designed to compensate allies of President Donald Trump who claimed they were prosecuted for political reasons is officially dead, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers on Tuesday.
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Trump administration won’t pursue $1.8B “Anti-Weaponization Fund," Acting AG says​

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers that the Trump administration will not move forward with the "Anti-Weaponization Fund." Blanche’s comments came during a House committee hearing in which he sought to reassure fellow Republicans that the fund was scrapped. The $1.8 billion fund was designed to compensate Trump allies who claimed they were prosecuted for political reasons. The proposed $1.8 billion fund designed to compensate allies of President Donald Trump who claimed they were prosecuted for political reasons is officially dead, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers on Tuesday. "We are not moving forward with the fund, period," Blanche said during a House committee meeting as he sought to reassure Republicans that the Justice Department would not continue pursuing its "Anti-Weaponization Fund." Blanche’s comments came a day after the Department of Justice released a statement that said the agency would follow a federal judge’s recent order that halted the creation of the fund and blocked any payouts from it. His statement to Congress went further than the one from the agency he leads. In Monday’s post, the Justice Department only stated that it would abide by the ruling. It did not indicate if the agency would appeal the decision or pursue other routes to still build the fund. House Republicans had pushed Blanche to confirm that the fund was off the table during a hearing about funding the nation’s immigration agencies. The fund was created as part of a settlement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. The plan faced immediate pushback on both sides of the aisle, especially after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche indicated that people tied to the January 6, 2021, riot in the U.S. Capitol would be able to seek compensation. Two of the officers who defended the Capitol on that day sued to prevent the government from making payments to Trump supporters accused of participating in the attacks.
 
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Pentagon bars journalists from its press office, saying it has become a 'classified space'

The Defense Department has declared its press office a classified space, barring journalists from entry.
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Pentagon bars journalists from its press office, saying it has become a ‘classified space’​

In another of a series of moves restricting media access at the Pentagon, the Defense Department has declared that its press office is now a classified space inaccessible to journalists.

On X, acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez confirmed the move, saying there was “nothing controversial” about it and that it came because speechwriters, who use classified material, were now occupying the space.

“The Pentagon Press Office has been redesignated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility due to speechwriters from the Office of the Secretary of War sharing the facility,” Valdez wrote.

“These speechwriters routinely handle classified material … as a result, journalists will no longer be permitted to enter the office space. There’s nothing controversial about that.”

The latest move, first reported by The Washington Post, took place against a backdrop of escalating tensions between the U.S. media and the second Trump administration, which has played out both in the public arena and at times in the courts.

For many years, Pentagon reporters had credentials granting them wide movement in the building as they sought to interact with press officials there. But last October, most news outlets turned in access badges and walked out of the Pentagon rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work,

The New York Times sued the Defense Department on May 18 for the second time in five months, arguing that a requirement that journalists be escorted while on Pentagon grounds violates the First Amendment and is “an unconstitutional attempt by the Pentagon to prevent independent reporting on military affairs.”

The paper said it had filed the additional lawsuit after first suing the Pentagon in December over new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, to challenge an interim policy “that the Pentagon hastily put into place after a federal judge ruled in The Times’s favor in its original lawsuit.” The new policy included the requirement that journalists be accompanied by escorts at all times while in the Pentagon.

The policy was implemented in March following a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman that had struck down earlier restrictions. The following month, the judge ruled that the interim policy violated his March order. But the escort policy remained in place when an appeals court stayed part of Friedman’s ruling while the government appeals. The appeals process is ongoing.
 

Pentagon hires convicted Jan. 6 rioter for counterterrorism post​

The Trump administration has hired a convicted Jan. 6, 2021, rioter to work in the Pentagon’s office that oversees sensitive special operations and irregular warfare matters.
Elias Irizarry, who was 19 when he participated in the attack at the U.S. Capitol, was appointed to a position within the Defense Department’s Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The Pentagon confirmed Irizarry’s appointment, telling The Hill in a statement that he is a “qualified, patriotic young professional and we are proud to have him as a political appointee at the Department of War.” “Unlike Mr. Irizarry, the Washington Post does not care about national security given its track record of low-tier reporters publishing and soliciting classified information that could hurt our nation on a daily basis,” the acting press secretary Joel Valdez said in a statement. Irizarry works in the office’s irregular warfare and counterterrorism section, The Post reported. The office performs oversight of the employment of special operations forces in counterterrorism, counterproliferation, special reconnaissance and similar activities, along with oversight of special access programs under U.S. Special Operations Command (SoCom). Irizarry drove from South Carolina to Washington, D.C., to attend President Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally, according to court documents. On Jan. 6, 2021, Irizarry was a freshman at The Citadel, a military college in South Carolina, and served in the Civil Air Patrol. The FBI identified him through security footage as he entered the Capitol through a broken window. He pleaded guilty to entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and was sentenced to 14 days in prison. After being arrested, prosecutors alleged that Irizarry did not show remorse but was determined to figure out who “backstabbed” him by “turning him in” to authorities, according to court records. But during his sentencing in 2023, Irizarry disavowed his involvement in the Jan. 6 riot. “I am ashamed because I will always be a part of this disgrace,” Irizarry said, according to The Post. “January 6th represented something truly horrible; it was the largest attack on our democracy since the Civil War.” Irizarry was suspended from The Citadel after his guilty plea, but was readmitted and graduated from the institution. He ran for a South Carolina state House seat in 2024, losing in the Republican Party primary by more than 44 points to state Rep. Randy Ligon (R).
 
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The Other 98%

Thousands of Albanians have flooded the streets for two days straight to stop Jared Kushner from bulldozing a protected wildlife sanctuary into a playground for billionaires. This is what it looks...
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Thousands of Albanians have flooded the streets for two days straight to stop Jared Kushner from bulldozing a protected wildlife sanctuary into a playground for billionaires.
This is what it looks like when an entire country decides its land is not for sale.
While the Trump administration guts environmental protections here at home, his son-in-law is doing the same thing abroad, just with bulldozers and barbed wire.
The project, tied to Kushner's firm Affinity Partners, is a $4 billion luxury resort planned for the protected Vjosa-Narta coastal landscape in southern Albania.
This is one of the most ecologically important coastal wetlands on the entire Adriatic. Home to flamingos, Mediterranean monk seals, loggerhead turtles, and more than 200 bird species. It sits at the mouth of the Vjosa, one of Europe's last truly wild rivers, which only became a protected national park in 2023.
The plan calls for roughly 10,000 hotel rooms and villas.
In early May, excavators began tearing up pine forests and dunes. Barbed-wire fences went up, cutting locals off from beaches they'd used for generations. Then a video went viral showing private security guards dragging a peaceful protester along a cliff.
That was the spark.
Thousands poured into the capital, Tirana, for two consecutive days, carrying signs reading "Hands off Vjosa-Narta," chanting "Albania belongs to Albanians," and demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama. The pressure was enormous enough to shake the government itself.
Why Rama? Because Kushner submitted his plans just weeks after Albania's parliament conveniently rewrote the law to allow construction permits inside protected areas, but only for resorts rated five stars or higher.
Albania's anti-corruption prosecutors have now opened a formal probe into exactly how that protected status got quietly altered.
Here's the engine behind it all.
Affinity Partners isn't really American money. It's funded largely by Gulf state capital, with billions reported from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, with the Trump family name as the connective tissue.
This is the same Kushner who landed a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund right after leaving the White House.
And it's not even his first Balkan controversy. In 2025, Affinity abandoned a project in Serbia after anti-corruption authorities started investigating.
Flamingos don't have lobbyists. Wild coastlines don't write campaign checks. But Kushner has a very famous father-in-law, and a foreign government bet that was reason enough to sell off its own natural heritage.
The Albanian people are betting otherwise. Loudly, and by the thousands
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Senate Republicans drop Trump ballroom funding from immigration bill​

Senate Republicans have formally removed funding for President Donald Trump’s ballroom security as part of their sprawling immigration funding package, according to revised legislative text released Wednesday. The decision to drop the ballroom funding, which had sparked significant debate among lawmakers, is not a complete surprise. Senate GOP leaders had already acknowledged that the language would have derailed the entire immigration package, both politically and procedurally, after the chamber’s official rule-keeper determined that it violated the highly specific budgetary rules of the legislation. If the language remained in, Democrats would have been able to filibuster the bill — preventing the White House from receiving $70 billion for ICE and border patrol. There were also political concerns from some GOP senators, who were worried that funding the ballroom as Americans wrestle with cost-of-living issues ahead of the midterms would portray them as out-of-touch. The Senate GOP’s initial text included nearly $1 billion for “security adjustments and upgrades” to the White House ballroom project, as well as other pots of security money after the assassination attempt against Trump this spring. Administration officials had sought to clarify that only about $200 million would go toward the East Wing project, with the rest going toward other security efforts.
 
abcnews.com

'Maybe we'll never take it down': Trump compares White House UFC arena to Eiffel Tower, says it could be permanent

The "UFC Freedom Fights 250" will take place on June 14.
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'Maybe we'll never take it down': Trump compares White House UFC arena to Eiffel Tower, says it could be permanent​

The "UFC Freedom Fights 250" will take place on June 14.

President Donald Trump is floating the possibility of keeping the UFC arena on the White House South Lawn -- built for a series of fights on his birthday and Flag Day -- permanently.

In a video posted to his official TikTok account Tuesday evening, Trump sat in the Oval Office and said that the Eiffel Tower in Paris was supposed to be a temporary structure, but that France kept it up -- suggesting that the UFC arena is "quite attractive to a lot of people" so "maybe we'll never ever take it down."

"People don't know that in Paris, France, the Eiffel Tower, 1889 it was built. It was supposed to be taken down immediately after the world's fair, and then they said: 'leave it up a little bit longer, and then they said, 'let's leave it up longer and longer and longer,'" Trump said in the video.

"Well, they never took it down, and you know we're building something in front of the White House that's quite attractive to a lot of people. Really, it's going to have the big UFC fight on June 14, and I'm looking at it and maybe we'll never ever take it down," Trump added.

The Eiffel Tower was constructed for the 1889 World Exhibition, and was only meant to stay up for 20 years -- until 1909, according to the Eiffel Tower's website. Yet the tower's architect Gustave Eiffel fought to keep the tower intact, according to the website.

The "UFC Freedom Fights 250" will take place on June 14 and feature a lightweight title matchup between undisputed champion Ilia Topuria and interim title holder Justin Gaethje alongside four other fights.

The arena is visible from the White House North Lawn, cresting over the historic West Wing and Executive Residence.

The White House South Lawn, where the arena is located, is a place often utilized by presidents.

Trump and past presidents depart and arrive on Marine One from the lawn ahead of any travel to Joint Base Andrews -- an opportunity for members of the media to shout questions to the president as he moves from the White House to his helicopter. These arrivals and departures have been closed to the press since the week of May 20, when construction on the arena began.

Other events, including the White House Easter Egg Roll and the annual Congressional Picnic, which was just held in May, are traditionally hosted on the South Lawn, too.
 
nightstreak said:
Did this doofus just rip off Skyscraperpage's diagrams?

View attachment 741474

Somebody might want to ping the artist to go get their bag of cash at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
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Someone might also want to point out the inconsistency in heights, as the Willis and One WTC tower height is without the antenna spire, while the Empire State Building is with. Or the fact that the measurements on the left don't actually correspond with the stated lengths of anything on that list.

That's aside from the absurdity of comparing heights vs. lengths in completely unrelated infrastructure, like it's some kind of penis-measuring contest. Seriously, let's put Trump Tower up against the LaGuardia Runway 4-22 while we're at it.

I feel bad for the person (likely a WH Intern) who had to take this to a printer and say with a straight face, "yes, the president wants this printed".

Trumpisanidiot.jpg
 
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The Other 98%

Under Trump's new Medicaid rules, a cancer patient in the middle of chemotherapy will have to prove she's too sick to work just to keep the coverage paying for her treatment. The administration...
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Under Trump's new Medicaid rules, a cancer patient in the middle of chemotherapy will have to prove she's too sick to work just to keep the coverage paying for her treatment.
The administration quietly rolled this out on June 1: a new CMS rule tightening Medicaid work requirements set to hit 43 states next January.
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill, low-income adults aged 19 to 64 will have to log 80 hours a month of work, school, volunteering, or a job program to keep their coverage. There's supposed to be an exemption for the medically frail: cancer patients, people with severe mental illness, addiction, debilitating physical disability.
Here's the twist CMS just slipped in, one that experts say isn't actually in the law Congress passed: having the condition isn't enough. The condition must significantly impair your ability to comply with the work requirement.
If you're sick and pushing through it, you're not sick enough. Miss a paperwork deadline and you can show up to chemo or cancer surgery and find out you no longer have coverage.
By 2028, states can accept self-attestation only once per enrollment period. After that you'll need documentation, signed by a physician who isn't trained for it, processed through state systems that mostly don't exist yet.
The Congressional Budget Office projects 5.3 million people will lose Medicaid and become uninsured in 2034 because of the work requirement. Most adult Medicaid enrollees are already working. The ones who aren't are usually disabled, caregiving, in school, or in treatment.
CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz says the goal is to be "forgiving but not foolish."
This is the design. Gut the program, then bury what's left in red tape so even the people who qualify can't reach it.
Click to expand...

(Wonder if Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones is taking notes?)
 
Monarch Butterfly said:
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The Other 98%

Under Trump's new Medicaid rules, a cancer patient in the middle of chemotherapy will have to prove she's too sick to work just to keep the coverage paying for her treatment. The administration...
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(Wonder if Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones is taking notes?)
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" forgiving but not foolish "is just the code phrase hiding the meaness of this class of GOP . Blaming the defenceless is normal for this administration.
 
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