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New Trump nominee about to run into buzzsaw as he runs risk of humiliation: Nobel winner

There could not be a worse time for Donald Trump’s pick to take over as chair of the Federal Reserve from Jerome Powell, with economic indicators trending towards a possible interest rate increase at a time when the president expects cuts.

That is according to Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, who wrote on his Substack on Wednesday that newly-appointed Kevin Warsh may find himself as the lone vote opposing a rate increase, or leaving the current rate in place until the next meeting.

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Todd Blanche among Trump officials hit with subpoena motion over slush fund

House Democrats have quickly stepped up their pressure on officials involved in setting up President Donald Trump's massive fund to pay off allies who say they were politically targeted by previous administrations.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top-ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, moved to subpoena acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other administration officials involved in establishing the $1.776 "Anti-Weaponization Fund," reported MeidasTouch correspondent Scott MacFarlane.

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CNN fact-checker busts Trump over 'truly bananas' claim to reporters

A CNN fact-checker called out President Donald Trump's false claims that the presidential elections in 2016, 2020 and 2024 were "rigged" against him in a rant to reporters on Wednesday.

Trump was speaking to press at Joint Base Andrews when a reporter asked him if he saw himself in Spencer Pratt, a MAGA-backed Los Angeles mayoral candidate. The president called elections in California "dishonest," which CNN Senior Reporter Daniel Dale pointed out was false.

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Official probe launched into Trump's most 'brazen act of public corruption'

House Democrats are opening an inquiry into the "massive slush fund" established by the Department of Justice to pay off President Donald Trump's allies.

The DOJ announced the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund" as part of a settlement of Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, and House Democrats notified Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano that they were seeking documents and other evidence related to the fund.

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Jim Jordan gets earful from civil rights attorney at hearing: 'The donors have spoken'

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) came armed with gotcha questions at Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Southern Poverty Law Center — and walked away empty-handed after civil rights attorney Maya Wiley repeatedly deflected his attacks by pointing to one inconvenient fact: the donors don't care.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche used the phrase "Manufacturing Hate" — charging that the SPLC was "not dismantling these groups" but "manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose" — and it became the hearing's title. The committee convened in the wake of a federal grand jury indictment on April 21, charging the SPLC with 11 counts, including wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

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DOJ's incompetent probe effort ridiculed as agency sends files to wrong office

The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon has become the latest symbol of the Trump administration's chaotic approach to election investigations after sending a records demand to the wrong office in her attempt to investigate Detroit's 2024 election results.

According to Talking Points Memo, the controversial Dhillon demanded that Wayne County's clerk provide records from the 2024 election, claiming the DOJ intended to investigate supposed fraud. However, she made a fundamental error: in Michigan, cities and townships run elections — not county clerks.

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Biographer flags 'secret' as Trump's Epstein-linked friend is added to entourage

President Donald Trump has ushered disgraced filmmaker Brett Ratner into his inner circle, and his former biographer offered an explanation.

The 57-year-old director accompanied the 79-year-old president to China last week ostensibly to scout filming locations for "Rush Hour 4," a franchise reboot Trump helped greenlight last year, and author Michael Wolff told The Daily Beast's "Inside Trump's Head" podcast he had an idea why Ratner been added to his orbit.

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Epstein's mysterious 'main girlfriend' facing new probe despite immunity deal: report

A woman who was Jeffrey Epstein's "main girlfriend" for about seven years and has remained silent due to a 2008 plea deal could have to face lawmakers in an investigation, according to a report from The BBC this week.

Nadia Marcinko, who was an assistant pilot for the late financier and convicted child sex offender's private plane and visited him at least 67 times in prison, was among four women previously named as Epstein's "potential co-conspirators," The BBC reported. She was his "most significant partner after Ghislaine Maxwell" and was granted immunity from prosecution — but that could change.

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GOP senator shares post calling Trump 'Commander-in-Cheat' — and then deletes it

Sen. John Cornyn briefly shared a post calling Donald Trump the "Commander-in-Cheat" on Tuesday — then deleted it — in a stunning moment of apparent candor from a Republican incumbent fighting for his political life one week before a Trump-backed primary runoff.

As first reported by The Federalist's Sean Davis, Cornyn retweeted a post from advocacy group Pastors for Children that ticked through Ken Paxton's long list of scandals — his impeachment, felony indictment, and divorce on grounds of adultery — before landing on the kicker: "Endorsed by our Commander-in-Cheat."

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Kimmel audience bursts into cheers at senator's 'perfect comeback' to Todd Blanche's whine

The in-studio audience for Tuesday night’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC burst into cheering and raucous applause after the host shared a clip of Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) putting acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in his place earlier in the day.

According to Kimmel, it was “perfect.”

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Former cop who was jailed over a Charlie Kirk post gets $835,000 settlement

A former police officer arrested by Tennessee officials for making a Facebook post about right-wing activist Charlie Kirk's murder will receive $835,000 as part of a wrongful incarceration settlement, CNN reported on Wednesday.

"Under the deal announced Wednesday, Larry Bushart, agreed to drop the five-month-old case alleging that his constitutional rights were violated when officials in Perry County, Tennessee, held him in jail," said the report, noting that the lawsuit, brought with help from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), had been set to go to trial in two months. "'I am pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,' Bushart said in a statement Wednesday. 'The people’s freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy.'"

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Jan. 6 officers take first step toward defeating Trump's insurrectionist 'slush fund'

Two of the most recognizable police officers from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to kill the Trump administration's $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" before it can pay out a single dollar to the rioters who beat them.

Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, calling the fund "the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century."

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'GOP senators are running scared' as data guru spots startling evidence in Texas

CNN's Harry Enten found evidence to suggest Democrats have a real shot at picking up a Senate seat in deep-red Texas.

President Donald Trump announced his endorsement Tuesday of state attorney general Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in a May 26 runoff election, and Enten told "CNN News Central" that Republicans were right to question the move.

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