Good Monday evening. Congress is back and so are we. In this edition: Trump administration scraps "anti-weaponization" fund after blowback threatened to derail reconciliation bill.
Plus, Iran talks, Maine Senate race, Jerome Powell and concert series.
Anti-Weaponization Fund
The Trump administration is backing off plans to stand up a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund after adverse court rulings and bipartisan criticism that threatened to derail Republicans' immigration enforcement funding bill.
The controversial fund — announced by the Justice Department last month as part of a settlement resolving President Trump's lawsuit against the IRS — was intended to compensate individuals who claimed they were victims of "lawfare and weaponization" under past Democratic administrations.
Democrats and some Republicans quickly condemned the proposal as a "slush fund" for the president's allies, potentially including individuals convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
The decision to scrap the fund, first reported by Axios, came after two separate court rulings cast doubt on its future.
On Friday, a federal judge in Florida reopened President Trump's case against the IRS and ordered him and the Justice Department to explain "charges of collusion and whether the Parties are truly adverse."
In a separate case, a federal judge in Virginia temporarily blocked the fund from making any payments while litigation continues.
The Justice Department said Monday it would comply with the Virginia court's order and halt work on the fund.
"The Department of Justice disagrees strongly with the decision on the Anti-Weaponization Fund put forth by the United States District Court Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, wherein the Court stated that, under no circumstances, may the Department of Justice proceed with the Anti-Weaponization Fund recently established in order to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people," the department said in a statement.
"This Fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise. The Department will abide by the Court's ruling."
The administration's decision is expected to ease concerns among Republican senators who postponed votes on an immigration enforcement funding package before the recess because of objections to the fund.
The reconciliation bill, a top priority for the administration and GOP leaders, would provide roughly three years of funding for ICE and Border Patrol through a party-line vote, shielding the agencies from future appropriations battles.
Republican senators held a tense meeting with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the fund before postponing votes on the bill and leaving Washington for the recess.
As a result, Republicans missed President Trump's June 1 deadline to deliver a finalized reconciliation package.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and other GOP leaders had urged the White House to pull the plug on the fund, warning it was threatening the reconciliation bill.
"I do think the best way to handle it is if the administration decides to shut it down themselves," Sen. Thune told reporters Monday.
Senate Democrats had also vowed to force votes on the issue during the upcoming vote-a-rama, when senators can offer an unlimited number of amendments to a reconciliation bill.
Sen. Schumer said Democrats still plan to pursue amendment votes related to the fund.
"If Trump and Republicans are truly abandoning this corrupt scheme, they should have zero problem banning it in law," he wrote on social media. "This week, Senate Democrats will push legislation to ban this slush fund and ensure no president can ever do this again. Trump's word is nowhere near enough."
President Trumpsaid talks with Iran are "continuing" at a "rapid pace" after Tehran threatened to withdraw from negotiations over Israeli attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. After Iran's threat, President Trump said he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and representatives of Hezbollah before announcing that both sides had agreed to suspend hostilities. "There will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back," the president wrote on social media. "Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel."
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) appears to be leaving open the possibility of reentering the state's U.S. Senate race following Democratic frontrunner Graham Platner's sexting scandal. "People have the impression that I 'withdrew' or 'dropped out,'" she told the Portland Press Herald. "I simply suspended active campaigning. I am still on the ballot." Gov. Mills, 78, suspended her campaign on April 30, effectively anointing Mr. Platner as the Democratic nominee. The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Mr. Platner exchanged sexually explicit images with women other than his wife last year. The Democratic primary to challenge incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is scheduled for June 9.
Jerome Powell, the former Federal Reserve chair, warned that efforts to politicize the central bank could erode public confidence in the institution. "If any administration finds a way to remove Fed officials over policy differences, then future administrations will do so as well," he said while accepting the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Sunday. "The public would lose faith that the central bank will make decisions based only on what's best for all Americans." Mr. Powell's term as Fed chair ended May 15 amid an unprecedented effort by the Trump administration to influence monetary policy, including launching a criminal investigation into Mr. Powell and seeking the removal of Fed Governor Lisa Cook.
President Trumpcalled for the cancellation of a concert series planned for the National Mall as part of the nation's 250th anniversary celebration after several performers withdrew from the event. "Cancel it," he wrote on Truth Social over the weekend. "We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain." Freedom 250, the group organizing the 16-day exposition known as the "Great American State Fair," announced nine musical acts on Wednesday. Since then, at least five performers have backed out.
For your radar…
Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN3 at 10am ET.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies Tuesday before a House Appropriations subcommittee. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN3 at 4pm ET.
