Trump was beaten, again.

Trump Administration Live Updates: $1.8 Billion Fund Is ‘Not Moving Forward,’ Blanche Says.

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said on Tuesday that he was withdrawing a proposal to create a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people claiming to be victims of unfair prosecution, amid a revolt among Republicans who saw it as an ethical and political disaster.

“We’re not moving forward with the fund, period,” Mr. Blanche told members of the House Appropriations Committee. He repeated himself to make clear that he meant the fund proposal would be permanently withdrawn.

His statement could break an impasse with Senate Republicans, who had demanded the fund be scrapped as a precondition for passing a major immigration enforcement bill. Opponents had described the proposal as a slush fund for allies of President Trump.

But Mr. Blanche said he would leave in place an order he signed last month that would, in effect, block the I.R.S. from investigating Mr. Trump, his family and his businesses for existing tax violations.

“Nothing has changed with that,” said Mr. Blanche, who added that the tax order would not shield Mr. Trump and his associates from future investigations.

Outraged Democrats accused Mr. Blanche, the president’s former defense lawyer, of cutting a sweetheart deal that would let the president and his family avoid a potential $100 million penalty.

“So the blanket immunity is, is not something that you’re going to move back on?” asked Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut who accused Mr. Blanche of prioritizing the president’s financial interests over the public good.

While Mr. Blanche has now taken the fund off the table, much political damage had already been done. Along with the unusually favorable tax deal, it provides Democrats with a potentially potent line of attack in the midterm elections — that Republicans support a deal that could shield a billionaire from financial penalty.

The testimony came a day after the department committed to abiding by a federal judge’s order pausing the fund’s implementation until at least June 12, a decision some administration officials privately said could provide an off-ramp to unwind the plan.

Mr. Blanche, appearing last month before the Senate Appropriations Committee, had offered few details about how it would be implemented, and declined to guarantee that the money would not be doled out to those who ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Mr. Trump had discussed backing off the plan to establish the fund, bankrolled by taxpayers, which was announced last month immediately after he agreed to settle a $10 billion lawsuit he had filed against the I.R.S. over the leak of his tax returns.

Mr. Blanche has said he did not directly participate in the secretive negotiations that led to the settlement.

He had privately expressed concerns about a deal. But he determined that the plan, created by a subordinate and Mr. Trump’s private lawyers, including Boris Epshteyn, passed legal muster and assented, according to officials briefed on the talks.

Critics have accused the acting attorney general, Mr. Trump’s former lead defense lawyer, of sacrificing his department’s independence to serve a president he still views as a client.

In a wide-ranging podcast interview with the Fox News host Sean Hannity released on Tuesday, a relaxed Mr. Blanche systematically attacked all the prosecutors who had overseen cases against the president, offering an unapologetic defense of his pursuit of Mr. Trump’s campaign of retribution.

Mr. Blanche, ditching his standard suit for a polo shirt, assailed the former special counsels Robert S. Mueller III and Jack Smith, who had handled federal investigations into Mr. Trump. Mr. Blanche also attacked state and local prosecutors, including Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, and Letitia James, the New York attorney general, who had pursued cases against Mr. Trump.

Mr. Blanche openly talked about the so-called grand conspiracy investigation that seeks to tie many of those inquiries together in a single purported plot to deprive Mr. Trump of his rights, breaking sharply with a Justice Department policy that bars the public discussion of ongoing inquiries, particularly those involving grand juries.

“There is a grand conspiracy investigation, correct?” Mr. Hannity asked, in an interview recorded over the Memorial Day weekend.

“Yes, absolutely,” Mr. Blanche responded. “One hundred percent.”

Mr. Blanche then revealed information about two grand juries, which typically sit in secret, hearing evidence in the case. He agreed with Mr. Hannity that one had been empaneled in Florida and the second in another state.

Mr. Blanche even disclosed some targets of the grand conspiracy case by name: James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director; John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director; and James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence.

“Let’s talk about individuals,” Mr. Hannity said. “Comey? Brennan? Clapper?”

“Yeah,” Mr. Blanche said.

Nonetheless, Mr. Blanche and other senior officials have tried to blunt Mr. Trump’s attempt to monetize his grievances by obtaining government compensation for the leak of his tax returns.

The fund proposal allowed the president to drop his suit while creating a mechanism to provide payments to supporters who claimed they were also targeted unfairly.

“What we did was entirely legal and appropriate,” Mr. Blanche told Mr. Hannity. “And again, the Trump family gets nothing.”

But that proposal prompted a revolt among Senate Republicans, some of whom berated Mr. Blanche during a contentious meeting at the Capitol last month.

On Monday, the department had signaled that it was re-evaluating the situation, but stopped short of pulling the plug, saying in a statement that it would abide by the ruling in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia temporarily suspending payouts. (New York Times)

But that initially did little to ease the concerns of Republican senators, who have reacted with revulsion to a plan they view as an ethical minefield and a potential political liability in midterm elections already made treacherous by Mr. Trump’s declining popularity.

Democrats pledged to attach amendments to legislation that would defund the effort, adding to demands by Republicans for the Trump administration to kill the plan outright. (New York Times)

The Ignorant picks the uninformed to run U.S. Intelligence.

He’s young (38), he’s ignorant, and he’s Trump’s.

Marco Rubio seems to have lied to Congress yesterday.

Yesterday was Election Day in many states.

New Jersey CD 7.

Thomas Kean Jr. is a Republican Congressman missing in action for nine months.

Trump endorsed Kean for re-election. Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, will be his opponent.

Iowa.

Democrats see an opportunity in deep-red Iowa, where Republican Senator Joni Ernst is vacating her seat.

Iowans Pick Josh Turek to Face Ashley Hinson in Key Senate Race.

Turek was born with spina bifida and has used a wheelchair since childhood. As an athlete, he played for the U.S. men’s wheelchair basketball team in multiple Paralympics, winning bronze in 2012 and gold medals in 2016 and 2020. He has served in the Iowa House of Representatives from District 20 since 2023.

The results in California will come over the next few days. Stay tuned.

60 Minutes has been a living monument to American journalism.

How the Trump takeover of CBS and 60 Miinutes occurred.

Trump sued CBS/Paramount over a “60 Minutes” interview. His lawsuit and his administration’s power over the Paramount–Skydance merger put enormous pressure on Paramount.

David Ellison, son of billionaire Trump supporter, Larry Ellison, owned a small production company called Skydance.

Step 1: Skydance/Ellison bought National Amusements, the holding company of the Redstone family, for about $2.4 billion.

Step 2: Skydance then merged with Paramount Global in a broader deal, creating Paramount Skydance. Reuters described this as ending the Redstone family’s long control of Paramount.

Plain English: Shari Redstone had the keys to CBS/Paramount. Ellison bought the company that held those keys, then merged Skydance into Paramount.

David Ellison became chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance, the parent company that now controls CBS.

The deal got approved after Paramount settled with Trump and Skydance made CBS-related concessions. Suddenly, CBS became part of Trump-controlled journalism.

The "murdering" of 60 Minutes, as Scott Pelley called it, therefore belongs as much to Trump as it does to Bari Weiss, CBS editor-in-chief, and Nick Bilton, the new 60 Minutes executive producer.

We are losing 60 Minutes, a sacred news show. The New York Times reports - The program’s viewership was up 9 percent this past season from a year prior, and the show is routinely among the nation’s highest-rated weekly broadcasts, according to Nielsen.

High numbers, cross-generational audience - these have been the hallmark of 60 Minutes for decades. 60 Minutes first aired on September 24, 1968, on CBS. It will turn 58 on September 24, 2026.

The effect of a murdered 60 Minutes on our Democracy and our Journalism is chilling. When a president can sue a news organization, while his administration holds power over a merger that its corporate parent desperately needs, the message to the press is unmistakable: unfavorable coverage may carry financial and regulatory consequences.

Whether or not anyone admits to a quid pro quo, the pressure itself can distort editorial judgment, encourage self-censorship, and weaken the independence of institutions like 60 Minutes, which has spent more than half a century holding powerful people accountable.

In a democracy, journalism is supposed to scrutinize government — not bargain with it for permission to survive.

CBS News fires ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Scott Pelley after clash with new producer

Pelley’s exit deepens the turmoil at “60 Minutes,” where employees have clashed with CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss over the show’s editorial direction.

CBS News has fired veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley a day after he confronted the show’s new executive producer at a heated staff meeting.

CBS News has fired veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley a day after he confronted the show’s new executive producer at a heated staff meeting.

“Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you,” “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton said in a letter addressed to Pelley, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News.

“I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc. to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately,” Bilton added.

In a separate note to “60 Minutes” staffers, Bilton confirmed that the network had “parted ways” with Pelley.

“I know how much Scott meant to many of you, and I don’t say this lightly,” Bilton wrote. “I made repeated attempts to have direct conversations with him over the weekend, and this afternoon I tried to find common ground. That was not the path Scott chose.”

Pelley’s exit deepens the turmoil at “60 Minutes,” the leading newsmagazine on American television. In recent months, “60 Minutes” employees have clashed with CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss over the show’s editorial direction under its new corporate owner, Paramount Skydance, the media company run by technology scion David Ellison.

The tension reached a fever pitch Monday during a “60 Minutes” staff meeting designed to introduce employees to Bilton, a technology journalist tapped by Weiss to be executive producer of the program. Pelley laced into Bilton, according to an audio recording obtained by NBC News and a source who was in the room.

Bilton, a documentary filmmaker and a former tech columnist at The New York Times, told the gathered staffers that Weiss “loves this institution,” according to the recording. Pelley interrupted Bilton and pushed back, accusing Weiss of “murdering” the venerable newsmagazine, which debuted in September 1968.

“She does not love this place,” Pelley told Bilton, according to the recording. “She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.” (NBC News).