Donald Trump says $1.7bn compensation fund would be administered by ‘committee of very talented people’
Donald Trump said he “wasn’t involved in” the creation of a so-called anti-weaponization fund, but said it had been “well received”.
In response to a follow-up question asking how the fund would be administered and whether the president himself and his family would seek compensation through the fund, Trump said “it’ll all be dependent on a committee” of “very talented people”.
Key events
The state department has announced new sanctions on Cuban government agencies and officials. The sanctions target agencies including the Interior Ministry and National Police, as well as 11 government officials, including the chief of staff of the Cuban army and the ministers of justice.
“These sanctions advance the Trump administration’s comprehensive campaign to address the pressing national security threats posed by Cuba’s communist regime and to hold accountable both the regime and those who provide it material support,” secretary of state Marco Rubio said in a statement.
Here’s more on the growing tension between the United States and its neighbor:
The Senate has confirmed former New Mexico congressman Steve Pearce to lead the Bureau of Land Management. Donald Trump had selected Pearce, who has supported leasing public lands, at a moment when his administration is opening more public lands to mining, drilling and logging industries.
During his confirmation hearing, Pearce sought to assuage the concerns of Democrats and environmental groups. “The security and economic health of the country, especially the western states, rests squarely with the BLM,” he said. “We can and must balance the different uses of public land. Local economies and future generations depend on us doing our job right.”
Here’s more on Pearce, who Trump nominated to lead the Bureau of Land Management in November:
Nancy Pelosi has endorsed San Francisco supervisor Connie Chan in the race to fill the seat Pelosi will vacate at the end of her term.
“Connie understands San Francisco – our values, our diversity, our communities, and our responsibility to lead with both compassion and strength. She’s a mom who knows her power and knows her why. I am confident Connie is ready to bring clarity and purpose to the work ahead – for the children,” Pelosi said in a new video for the Chan campaign. “At a time when fundamental freedoms and democratic values are under assault, we need a leader in Congress who is prepared to fight — forcefully and effectively – for the people of San Francisco and for the future of our country.”
Here’s my colleague Lauren Gambino with more on Chan:
Lawmakers and national organizations are beginning to share statements denouncing the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego.
“I’m heartbroken by the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, and my prayers are with the families of the three precious lives lost today,” said California senator Adam Schiff. “Today’s shooting is a horrific attack on Southern California’s Muslim community. Every American should be able to practice their faith without fear of violence. And we must never be silent in the face of hate.”
“California sends our deepest condolences to the families and communities impacted by today’s shooting,” California governor Gavin Newsom and first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom said in a statement. “Worshippers anywhere should not have to fear for their lives. Hate has no place in California, and we will not tolerate acts of terror or intimidation against communities of faith.”
“I’m thankful for the swift and courageous actions of law enforcement and first responders who responded to the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego today. They ran toward the gunfire and toward the danger and ultimately saved lives,” said California congresswoman Sara Jacobs.
“No one should have to fear the daily gun violence that plagues our communities, and it is especially terrible to fear being targeted based on race or religion,” former congresswoman Gabby Giffords said in a statement. “My heart goes out to the Muslim community in San Diego and across the country, and to the families of the three people who should have made it home today. There is no world where armed, violent hate should be tolerated.”
“To God we belong, and to God we return,” the Council on American–Islamic Relations wrote in a social media post. “No one should ever fear for their safety while attending prayers or studying at an elementary school.”
“We must do everything we can to keep people safe at houses of worship and keep children safe in our schools,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a social media post. “There is no place in our country for this type of violence at mosques, synagogues, churches, or anywhere else.”
“My prayers are with the victims, their families and the Clairemont community,” House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a social media post. “We must crush Islamophobia and the hatred that is fueling it.”
Trump said he postponed striking Iran for two to three days at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates “because they think that they are getting very close to making a deal”.
Answering a second reporter’s question about Iran at his health affordability event, the president challenged the idea that Iran would benefit from more time to negotiate a deal to its favor. “We’ve taken a country that was going to have a nuclear weapon, and we’ve virtually destroyed its military,” Trump said.
He also lamented the economic fallout of the war, but said it was worth the cost. “We don’t want to go through this. We had the greatest economy ever,” Trump said. “But this is the most important thing we can do. We can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
Donald Trump echoed his earlier concerns about mail-in ballots, responding to a reporter’s question about his Truth Social post calling for an investigation into Maryland’s use of mail-in blalots.
“I’ve looked at Maryland for a long time, and I know Maryland pretty well, and I was told that it’s automatically a Democrat state. And I don’t believe that because I think I did really well there and I don’t believe it,” he said. “I’ve asked the, law enforcement to look at it very, very strenuously.”
Donald Trump says $1.7bn compensation fund would be administered by ‘committee of very talented people’
Donald Trump said he “wasn’t involved in” the creation of a so-called anti-weaponization fund, but said it had been “well received”.
In response to a follow-up question asking how the fund would be administered and whether the president himself and his family would seek compensation through the fund, Trump said “it’ll all be dependent on a committee” of “very talented people”.
Asked by a reporter about the shooting in San Diego, Trump said: “They’re giving a briefing and it’s a terrible situation.”
He added, “we’re going to be going back and looking at it very strongly.”
Donald Trump was joined onstage during his healthcare affordability announcement by government health officials and private healthcare sector business owners.
Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, CMS administrator Mehmet Oz and HHS chief counselor Chris Klomp were in attendance, alongside Cost Plus Drugs founder Mark Cuban, Amazon Pharmacy vice-president Tanvi Patel and GoodRx president Aaron Crittenden.
At his healthcare affordability event, Donald Trump announced that his website TrumpRx.gov will now include a catalog of generic drugs.
Trump touted the move as “increasing the number of drugs available on TrumpRx by nearly seven times, adding over 600 affordable generics to the website”. He called it “the hottest thing in medicine” saying the website helped the United States go “from the most expensive to the least expensive” in healthcare costs.
After TrumpRx.gov launched in February, listing only 43 medications, healthcare experts pointed to other websites that better aggregated affordable drug deals.
Donald Trump has begun his address on healthcare affordability, calling today “a very beautiful day with a lot of positive things happening”.
According to CNN and NewsNation, which cite a White House official, Trump was briefed on the shooting in San Diego before beginning his address.
Police have “neutralized” an active shooter at the Islamic Center of San Diego, confirmed five dead and are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
We’ll continue to update our story on the shooting as more information becomes available:
A top state department official helped secure a visa for a former Polish politician on the run from prosecution.
According to Reuters, which cites three people familiar with the matter, deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau instructed senior department staff to approve a visa for former Polish justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro.
Ziobro faces 26 charges in Poland tied to his role designing changes to the country’s judicial system, which the European Union says undermined the rule of law while the rightwing Law and Justice party was in power.
Before the US granted his visa, Ziobro had been living in Hungary, where the far-right former prime minister Viktor Orbán granted him asylum. However, in April, Orbán lost his bid for re-election, and the incoming Hungarian president had promised to extradite Ziobro to Poland.
Lucy Campbell
Donald Trump has said he would “hold off” an attack on Iran scheduled for Tuesday at the request of Gulf leaders.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said “serious negotiations” were now under way with Iran and that Gulf states believed “a deal will be made”.
“This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN!” he claimed.
But, he added, Washington was ready for a “full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.”
Here’s the full post:
I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow, in that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond. This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN! Based on my respect for the above mentioned Leaders, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, The Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Daniel Caine, and The United States Military, that we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow, but have further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.
Donald Trump said he is requesting the attorney general and Justice Department investigate mail-in voting in Maryland.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump alleged that Maryland had “sent out 500,000 Illegal Mail In Ballots” and blamed “the Corrupt Governor of the State, Wes Moore”, a Democrat, who “allowed this to happen in order to make sure that Democrats win”.
The president has long been critical of mail-in voting, although using the system to vote by mail himself. Here’s my colleague Sam Levine, writing in March:
Trump repeated a series of falsehoods about voting before signing the order in the Oval Office on Tuesday, claiming that cheating with mail-in voting was “legendary”. Repeated studies and investigations have shown there is no widespread voter fraud, including fraud through mail-in voting. The president himself voted by mail earlier this month.
The motion on behalf of 93 members of the US House of Representatives in Trump v. IRS, a $10bn lawsuit pending before the US district court, was filed by Platkin LLP, a law firm founded by former New Jersey attorney general Matthew J Platkin and Democracy Defenders Fund, a non-partisan watchdog organization, in the southern district of Florida on Monday.
The filing seeks to prevent Trump’s corrupt attempt to “settle” the lawsuit in exchange for the creation of a $1.7bn slush fund.
Carl Tobias, a law professor who specializes in federal courts at the University of Richmond said his concern is that Trump’s withdrawal of the suit is an effort to remove the case from the legal system and from Judge Williams’ oversight.
“Typically, if there’s going to be some type of settlement, the court has to approve that,” said Tobias. “By dropping the suit, Trump’s lawyers could remove the case from the legal system and prevent her from ruling against them on the case’s merits.”
Donald Trump is expected to announce an expansion to TrumpRx, his discounted-drug website, the Associated Press reports, citing the White House.
We’ll bring you more information when Trump begins his address, currently scheduled for 4:30pm ET, shortly.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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Donald Trump has moved to dismiss a $10bn lawsuit against the Interal Revenue Service and his administration has created a $1.776bn “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate his allies for supposed persecution by the government. In a justice department press release announcing the move, acting attorney general Todd Blanche said, completely unironically: “The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again.”
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Democrats have harshly criticized the settlement, saying it amounts to the creation of a “slush fund” for the president’s allies. Ninety-three congressional Democrats – including House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries – filed an amicus brief with the court on Monday saying that such a claim “raises the specter of corruption unparalleled in American history”.
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Also this morning, Donald Trump was back to posting about Thomas Massie, the Kentucky congressmen who has long been fighting the president’s ire and has his Republican primary on Teusday. Trump wrote: “The worst Congressman in the long and storied history of the Republican Party, is Thomas Massie. He is an obstructionist and a fool.”
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Meanwhile Defense secretary Pete Hegseth spoke at a campaign rally for Ed Gallrein who is competing against Massie in Kentucky, while the Pentagon confirmed that Hegseth’s “participation has been thoroughly vetted and cleared by lawyers, including the Department of War Office of General Counsel.”
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An effort to reshape South Carolina’s congressional districts got its first full airing Monday in the state House. Lawmakers launched a lengthy discussion over the consequences of acceding to Trump’s calls for a US House map that could yield a clean sweep for Republicans. South Carolina is the latest state were redistricting is is being discussed – debates have already played out in Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana.