This New York Times piece is worth your time. Here’s what is happening, as simply as I can put it.
Back in January, Trump sued the IRS, an agency he controls, demanding $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns a number of years ago.
IRS lawyers did their jobs. They wrote a memo laying out the defenses that could beat the suit, including the fact that Trump filed too late. His own lawyer was in court when the leaker pleaded guilty in October 2023, more than two years before Trump sued.
The Justice Department never showed up to court. Never argued back. Never used the defenses sitting on their desk.
The judge got suspicious and ordered both sides to explain whether they were actually opposing each other or just colluding. The day before that brief was due, Trump dropped the suit.
Same day, his Justice Department announced a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded “anti-weaponization fund.”
Trump gets a formal apology. The IRS agrees to drop any audits of him and his family, even though a 2024 Times report found a loss in an ongoing audit could cost him over $100 million.
The acting Attorney General, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, picks the five commissioners who decide who gets paid. Trump can fire any of them. Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are not ruled out.
This is the most corrupt thing I’ve ever seen from an American president.
Where in the hell are my Republican colleagues?
https://t.co/La0nlLuz1r
legalized bribery. Susan Collins is a classic pay-to-play politician who takes cash for delivering tax dollars to an oligarch who swindles the Maine citizens who pay the taxes.
Elon Musk’s DOGE “blatantly used” race, gender and other protected characteristics to execute the largest mass termination of federal grants in the history of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal judge ruled on Thursday. https://t.co/hwzwfkkLBS
Read My Fresh Hell post all about my long, hot day va-vooming around the set of The Devil Wear Prada 2 with Meryl Streep, Kara Swisher, Jon Batiste, Jenna Bush Hager, and Karl-Anthony Towns.
https://t.co/owOAvvq6hH
And how do these claims promote nonviolence? (NYT)Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, blamed Democrats and some members of the news media for the country’s worsening problem of political violence.
Clearly, the only person who doesn’t ask Trump for permission to speak is Melania. She doesn’t give a sheet. Read all about it on Fresh Hell.
https://t.co/KUbIrUF6KH
The House of Windsor doesn’t seem to see the iceberg looming from sunny Montecito. Just how desperate do the senior royals want Harry and Meghan to get? The answer is my newest Fresh Hell post.
https://t.co/sym1mJqLrE