What we covered here
• “Anti-weaponization” fund: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers the Justice Department is “not moving forward” with President Donald Trump’s contentious $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. Senate GOP leaders are now pressing for a vote as soon as Wednesday to advance Trump’s $70 billion bill to fund his immigration enforcement priorities, according to GOP sources.
• Capital Hill hearings: Blanche’s comments came in a hearing before a House panel, as multiple Trump administration members spoke before lawmakers today. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke about the Iran war, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin discussed the agency’s budget and training for immigration officers.
• National intelligence chief: Trump named housing official Bill Pulte, who has played a leading role in stoking the president’s retribution campaign, as acting director of national intelligence. Pulte appears to be an unusual choice given his lack of demonstrated experience in the field.
Our live coverage has ended. Get the latest US politics updates here.
Senate GOP prepares to move ahead on immigration enforcement bill after Trump’s DOJ halts weaponization fund
Senate GOP leaders are pressing for a vote as soon as Wednesday to advance President Donald Trump’s $70 billion bill to fund his immigration enforcement priorities after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced he would halt the Justice Department’s “anti-weaponization” fund, according to GOP sources.
GOP leaders could only afford to lose three Republican votes to open debate, and they now believe it is possible to move forward even with that razor-thin margin since many GOP senators were using their votes as leverage until the Justice Department killed the program.
But if the Senate GOP wins the first procedural vote, the bill would be subject to a marathon voting process known as a “vote-a-rama” where senators would have to vote on politically toxic amendments. Democrats are plotting a flurry of votes targeting the $1.8 billion DOJ fund — in addition to other hot-button issues.
DOJ alleges SPLC used donor money to buy materials used for Ku Klux Klan garments
The Justice Department added additional allegations against the Southern Poverty Law Center, including that they used donor money to purchase materials used to create Ku Klux Klan garments.
The superseding indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury in Alabama today, alleges that an SPLC employee knew that donors’ money was being used to purchase the material. It also alleges the organization used donor money to buy fuel and wood for “cross burning events.”
The indictment goes on to allege the organization saw an over 200% growth in both revenue and net assets from 2010 to 2023.
CNN has reached out to the SPLC for comment.
The new allegations come over a month after the organization was indicted in April for allegedly using funds to secretly pay leaders of violent extremist groups to act as confidential informants without telling donors.
The SPLC has asked the judge to toss out earlier charges in the case, calling it a vindictive prosecution. The government has not yet responded to those assertions.
Takeaways from acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s House testimony
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified to lawmakers Tuesday that the Justice Department has abandoned its plans for an “anti-weaponization fund” to compensate people who say they were wrongly prosecuted by the government.
His announcement comes one day after the administrated first signaled a willingness to scrap the fund, which was announced in a settlement between the Internal Revenue Service and President Donald Trump, two of his sons, and the Trump Organization.
Key takeaways from the hearing include:
- The comments reflected an about-face for the department.
- Blanche stood by a second agreement that bars the IRS from bringing claims against Trump, his family or businesses for past tax issues.
- He would not commit to rescinding the settlement agreement with a formal filing.
Despite retreat on "anti-weaponization" fund, legal headaches remain
The Justice Department’s decision to keep intact a controversial provision of a settlement reached between President Donald Trump and the federal government is still at risk of being upended by a federal judge in Florida.
US District Judge Kathleen Williams said last week that she was considering reopening an unprecedented case brought by Trump, two of his children and the Trump Organization against the government that was dropped in recent weeks after the settlement was inked. Under the deal, the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was established and the Internal Revenue Service agreed to not investigate the Trump family or its business for past tax issues.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday that the department was abandoning the fund but would not drop the second IRS provision of the deal.
At the urging of nearly three dozen former federal judges, Williams ordered Trump to respond to the ex-jurists’ accusation that the case itself represented a “fraud” on the court since he was effectively on both sides of the dispute.
“A court is empowered to investigate serious misconduct,” Williams, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote in a four-page order. “If a party files a lawsuit for an improper purpose, ‘the court may impose an appropriate sanction on the responsible party.’”
The judges told Williams earlier in the week that if she reopened the case — and ultimately concluded there was not an actual controversy worthy of being in court — the administration would lose its legal justification for the settlement, which they say would kill it in full.
Blanche says he won't put anything in writing on disbanding "anti-weaponization" fund
During a follow-up question from Democratic Rep. Grace Meng, who originally pressed Blanche on President Donald Trump’s proposed “anti-weaponization” fund, the acting attorney general said he would not submit any filings rescinding the settlement agreement.
“I just want to make sure,” Meng said, “are you going to issue a new memo in writing, rescinding that May 18 memo?”
Blanche, with furrowed brow, replied: “I’m not committing to putting anything in writing.”
“I don’t know what the purpose of putting something in writing. I’m telling you what we’re doing,” he added.
Meng said it would “restore a lot of trust” since Americans on “both sides of the aisle are concerned about it.”
“I’m just concerned because you’re not under oath,” she concluded, “and I want to trust you, and I want to believe you. We all do, but putting it in writing would settle that issue.”
Acting attorney general: Settlement term on Trump tax audits remains
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said though the Justice Department has fully abandoned the proposed “anti-weaponization” fund, a settlement term barring the IRS from investigating the Trump family for past tax issues remains.
Blanche said that “nothing has changed” in a settlement term that bars the Internal Revenue Service from bringing claims against President Donald Trump, his family or businesses for past tax issues.
“It’s nothing that gives any sort of immunity in the future to the president or his family or his organizations,” Blanche said while defending the document, which he called an “attorney general order.”
His testimony is the first time an administrative official has publicly stated the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund effort is over.
“Not moving forward ever?” Democratic Rep. Grace Meng asked Blanche of the contentious fund during a House panel hearing.
“Correct,” Blanche said.
Still, Blanche said the Justice Department would engage in ongoing litigation against the fund in both Virginia and Washington, DC, and said vaguely that the department would be “defending our rights and making sure our rights are protected.”
Some context: The tax term was added to the settlement the Justice Department reached with Trump to resolve his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.
The additional terms were quietly added in a hyperlink to a Justice Department press release last month that contained an agreement to create the nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate people or organizations that have been “weaponized” by past administrations.
Justice Department is not moving forward on the "anti-weaponization" fund, Blanche says
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said that the Justice Department has fully abandoned the proposed “anti-weaponization” fund.
Blanche said that the “reasons for the fund,” alleged weaponization of the justice system, “remain as important as they were before, but we are not moving forward with the fund.”
His testimony is the first time that an administrative official has publicly stated the effort is over after weeks of unrelenting pushback from the president’s own party both in public and in private, with some saying it’s essentially a slush fund to pay out President Donald Trump’s allies.
Rubio says US is considering appointing a chief to lead Ebola response
The Trump administration is considering appointing a point person to coordinate the federal response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday.
“There are a couple people being considered,” Rubio said at a House appropriations hearing to consider funding for the State Department. “I don’t want to use the term ‘Ebola czar,’ but someone with the qualifications to sort of serve full time in the coordination of the interagency.”
This Ebola outbreak has killed at least 48 people and infected over 300 people, according to the World Health Organization. CNN recently gained access to the epicenter of the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo at a hospital struggling to contain the virus.
Rubio also defended the Trump administration’s response to the latest strain of Ebola, saying, “This is not a scramble.” He pointed to daily interagency meetings and a round-the-clock State Department group focused on the outbreak.
As a Florida senator in 2014, Rubio penned an op-ed for CNN in which he called on then-President Barack Obama to tap a senior government official to take charge of the US response to an Ebola outbreak that year.
At the hearing Tuesday, Rubio asserted that the Trump administration’s response to the latest Ebola outbreak has been faster than the Obama administration’s 2014 response.
Republican senator says she sees the need for ICE officer de-escalation training
Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said she sees the need for immigration officers to receive more de-escalation training to face what she described as a “profession” of protesters.
Capito, of West Virginia, noted the stalled immigration funding bill contains money for deescalation trainings.
She said she saw the necessity of such trainings following the recent protests outside a New Jersey detention center “because there’s more methods, there’s more ways, and it’s a profession, I’m sure, on how to antagonize and try to goad our law enforcement into making a mistake or overreacting or whatever.”
Rubio says he's "cautiously optimistic" on a "positive resolution" to Jimmy Lai's case
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday he is “cautiously optimistic that we could potentially find a positive resolution” to the case of jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
Lai, 78, was sentenced to 20 years in prison earlier this year after being convicted of national security and sedition charges in Hong Kong.
Rubio noted that President Donald Trump has raised Lai’s case twice — last year in South Korea and during his recent visit to Beijing.
“We have raised that and it is a priority for us,” Rubio said.
The top US diplomat’s comments are a marked contrast from remarks from Trump, who said after his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that he was not optimistic.
“I said, ‘Well, I would appreciate if you would release him. He’s gotten old and he’s probably not feeling too well. It would be nice.’ I did not feel optimistic. I have to be honest with you about that one,” Trump said of Lai in an interview with Fox News last month.
Mullin says he won't "break" the Constitution
When pressed on the myriad court rulings against the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Markwayne Mullin leaned on a well-worn line from President Donald Trump: The courts are politicized.
“We will never break the Constitution,” Mullin told the Senate Appropriations Committee several times in response to ranking member Chris Murphy’s questioning on whether he would follow court orders.
Mullin added that “if we didn’t think courts were politicized, then I would probably be able to answer that, but we see courts over and over again that use their bench for their political opinion, not just the rule of law.”
“What are you saying?” Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, pressed.
“What I’m saying is we’ll enforce the law and we’re never going to break the Constitution,” Mullin replied.
Murphy then said Mullin was stating he wouldn’t follow court orders, to which Mullin shot back that Murphy was “putting words” in his mouth and again said he would not break the Constitution.
“Listen, if you’re a Republican or Democrat on this committee, you should be really, really freaked out,” Murphy said.
Mullin says ICE training will be expanded to include crowd control
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Immigration and Customs Enforcement is adding crowd control techniques to its training program to “fit today’s needs.”
“The training policy is going to change a little bit, because we’re going to be doing crowd control and fit today’s needs,” Mullin told the Senate Appropriations Committee today.
Mullin’s comments, during his first time testifying in front of the Senate since he took over the agency in March, comes amid tense standoffs between protesters and immigration officers at a New Jersey detention center.
Beginning July 1, Mullin said, ICE officers will revert to a standard 72 days of training. That schedule had been shortened under his predecessor Kristi Noem.
Mullin also said he was still working to equip all ICE officers with body-worn cameras, but the agency is unable to afford more because of the pause in funding immigration agencies.
GOP leaders say Trump is backing off "anti-weaponization" fund as White House remains silent
Congress’ top two Republicans said Tuesday they believed President Donald Trump is backing off his contentious $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund after fierce GOP pushback on Capitol Hill — though there has been no formal announcement from the White House.
“I believe it is off the table for consideration,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, who spoke with Trump a day earlier on the matter, told reporters. Johnson said he informed the president that they did not have the votes for the fund, which is designed to compensate Trump allies “wronged” by the government. The White House hasn’t committed publicly to abandoning the fund entirely.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who has been outspoken against the fund, also said he expected the White House to drop it after a “robust conversation” with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche earlier Tuesday. Both Thune and Johnson said Blanche would speak on the issue during his appearance before a House subcommittee later Tuesday.
“I think his statements are going to be very definitive, very clear, and create the certainty that I hope all of our members and House members need,” Thune said. Asked specifically whether he believed the fund was dead, Thune said: “After speaking with the acting attorney aeneral, that is correct.”
Mullin faces criticism for plan to pull customs officers from airports in tense exchange
The budget hearing for the Department of Homeland Security started off Tuesday with a tense exchange between Sen. Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the panel, and Secretary Markwayne Mullin, after Murphy accused the department of “breaking the law at scale and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars.”
Murphy homed in on a proposal from Mullin to pull out customs officers from international airports in Democratic-led cities, arguing that the plan would “throw our entire air travel system into chaos.”
“This agency is violating the Constitution and the law,” Murphy said, noting the significant number of federal court rulings against DHS enforcement across the country. “This cannot continue.”
Mullin, a former senator, responded in the same tone as Murphy.
“You know,” Mullin said, pausing, “I do have an opening statement here, but wow, Sen. Murphy, the outlandish claims you made there is just flat wrong.”
Mullin continued, arguing that DHS is “doing the job that Congress gave us the authority to do, and our men and women out there every single day is enforcing laws.”
“If you don’t like the laws, you can change them,” Mullin said, ducking the specific accusations from Murphy. “We’re not picking and choosing which laws we enforce. We’re simply enforcing the law.”
Mullin also accused Murphy of engaging in “political theater” that has contributed to an increase in threats to DHS officers.
“Is that what you want?” Mullin asked. “I don’t think it is.”
Another 160 prescription drugs being added to TrumpRx
The Trump administration is adding 160 prescription medications to TrumpRx, a clearinghouse where cash-paying patients can buy certain drugs by forgoing their insurance, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said at a White House briefing on Tuesday.
The site, which launched in February with several dozen brand-name drugs, expanded last month to an array of generic drugs. It currently offers 74 medications whose prices were negotiated as part of President Donald Trump’s Most Favored Nation deals with 17 major drug makers, as well as 602 generic medicines.
Patients looking for a generic drug can compare the price available through home delivery pharmacies, including Amazon Pharmacy and Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, and at local pharmacies near them.
“It means that four out of five medications that are picked up by Americans going into that same drug store that I mentioned earlier now have the opportunity to double check that the price they’re getting in that drug store, wherever they’re buying it from, is the best price out there,” Oz said at the briefing.
TrumpRx is key to Trump’s messaging that he is lowering drug prices, though some experts question how much Americans will really save. Those with health insurance may pay less than the prices available on the site.
Some 12 million people have visited TrumpRx and have saved $500 million, Oz said, though those numbers could not be verified.
“Hadn’t even heard”: Oz deflects on Pulte appointment while speaking for White House
Cabinet officials have been assuming the White House podium during press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s absence. On Tuesday, it was Dr. Mehmet Oz’s turn — and he seemed to struggle with some straightforward questions.
Multiple reporters asked the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about President Donald Trump appointing Bill Pulte, a top housing official, to be acting director of national intelligence. Significant staffing changes commonly come up during press briefings, and the person running them is expected to speak broadly on behalf of the White House.
“I think Bill is a great guy. I know him socially. I’ve not worked with him in his current job,” Oz said in response to CNN’s Kristen Holmes. “But I do trust the president’s judgment.”
Pressed by reporters about Pulte’s lack of qualifications for an intelligence role, Oz repeatedly deflected: “Ma’am, you’re asking me a question outside of my lane.”
“I don’t know anything more about Bill Pulte than you do,” Oz said to another reporter. “I did not think that would be one of the questions that would even come up here. I hadn’t even heard the news when I walked out.”
Oz was the fourth Cabinet official to take the podium after Leavitt went on maternity leave in April. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have also taken turns, and Bessent similarly dismissed some questions during his round, admitting he had not talked to the president that day.
The White House used to hold daily press briefings, allowing reporters to ask wide-ranging questions on the news of the day to the press secretary. The briefings were scaled back during Trump’s first administration, as the president tended to speak more himself.
Oz says he doubts Trump makes his own day-to-day investment decisions
Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, suggested Tuesday that Donald Trump likely does not make his own day-to-day investment decisions when asked about conflict-of-interest concerns over the upcoming UFC event at the White House.
“I don’t think the president sits at the Oval Office and makes individual investment decisions,” Oz said during a White House press briefing.
“But I don’t know about that issue,” he continued. “But knowing him, I suspect someone else is making those decisions.”
The exchange comes ahead of a UFC event June 14 on the White House South Lawn as part of celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary. The event coincides with Flag Day and the president’s 80th birthday.
Questions about a potential conflict of interest have surfaced after reports the president purchased up to $50,000 in stock of TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment.
Millions of Medicare enrollees can pay only $50 a month for weight loss drugs, starting July 1
Eligible Medicare beneficiaries will be able to obtain super-popular, but pricey GLP-1 medications for $50 a month, starting July 1, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said at a White House briefing on Tuesday.
The deal stems from the “Most Favored Nation” agreements that President Donald Trump inked in November with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, the manufacturers of Zepbound and Wegovy, respectively. The program is part of an 18-month pilot project, known as Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, since Medicare by law is not allowed to cover medications for weight loss.
The drugmakers are reducing the prices Medicare pays to $245, which will help pay for expanded coverage of weight loss medications, under the agreement.
Medicare enrollees who are overweight and have prediabetes or who have had a stroke or other cardiovascular disease will be eligible, as will those who have obesity and diabetes or uncontrolled high blood pressure and severe obesity, according to the criteria announced last year. CMS’ FAQ site on the program does not yet include eligibility information.
About 10% of Medicare enrollees would be eligible for expanded access under the deals, senior administration officials said in November. Medicare already covers certain weight loss drugs if they are also approved to treat certain medical conditions.
Airport proposal and Newark protests: Markwayne Mullin's approach to homeland security
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin has had a busy few months since he was confirmed to the job in March, taking over from Kristi Noem.
He will take questions from lawmakers today during a hearing in front of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Homeland Security. While he’s on the calendar to discuss the department’s budget request for the upcoming year, he’s likely to face questions about his actions as the head of the agency so far.
A look at his first 60 days as a Cabinet secretary showed his attempt to straddle the line between the conciliatory and drama-free approach to immigration enforcement he promised lawmakers during his March confirmation hearing, and the desire from MAGA hardliners — and the president himself — to deliver on one of the signature issues that propelled Donald Trump back to the White House.
At airports: Most recently, Mullin proposed cutting customs staffing and possibly stopping the processing of international travelers altogether at airports in cities and states that do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
The idea, which has not been greenlit by the White House, has drawn backlash from travel industry groups, major airlines, and local officials. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also criticized Mullin’s plan during a recent congressional hearing.
In New Jersey: Mullin is also contending with rising tensions at an ICE facility in Newark, where hundreds of detainees launched a hunger strike over poor conditions. Violent clashes erupted outside the facility between protesters and ICE agents.
DHS has denied that there was a hunger strike and has continued to push back against the allegations of inhumane living conditions.
During a Cabinet meeting last week, Mullin criticized politicians speaking out about conditions at the facility, saying “there was only a handful of individuals that was refusing to eat because they want their ethnic group, or their ethnic-right food.”
