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May 19, 2026
Top Treasury Lawyer Resigns After Creation of 'Anti-Weaponization Fund'
(New York Times) The top lawyer at the Treasury Department stepped down on Monday in the wake of the creation of a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" that could soon make payments to President Trump's political allies, according to three people familiar with the move. Brian Morrissey, the Treasury's general counsel, resigned from the position seven months after he was confirmed to it by the Senate and just hours after the Trump administration announced the fund on Monday.
Go to discussionJamie Raskin Says Trump's Gone From 'Brick And Mortar Corruption' To Something So Much Worse
(Huff Post) Fresh after news that Trump’s Department of Justice plans to create a $1.7 billion “anti-weaponization fund” to sponsor so-called victims of political “lawfare,” Raskin told The Daily Beast there is nothing more critical than cracking down on the administration’s array of grifts during the site’s Sunday podcast. “We’ve never seen abuse like the kind of abuse that has taken place under Donald Trump,” he said, accusing the president of using legal loopholes and a “shadow government” to help his “personal wealth skyrocket during the second term.”
Go to discussionEpstein got 'special treatment' in jail, former guard tells House Oversight Committee
(ABC News) A former prison guard who was on duty at the federal Metropolitan Corrections Center in New York when convicted Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019 testified Monday that the late sex offender received "special treatment" at the jail, two members of the House Oversight Committee said. Democratic Reps. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico said Tova Noel testified that Epstein received extra bed linens and a CPAP machine, and had access to "medications in a way no one else did."
Go to discussionTrump jawboned Thune to fire Senate's top rules referee over ballroom ruling
(Raw Story) President Donald Trump privately demanded that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) fire Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough. According to NOTUS, "President Donald Trump pressed Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fire the Senate parliamentarian after she ruled Republicans could not include funding for the president’s ballroom in a budget bill, two sources familiar with the request told NOTUS." However, Thune is adamantly refusing to get rid of MacDonough, who was first appointed as the Senate rules referee in 2012 and has often frustrated majorities in both parties.
Go to discussionTrump Proposed US, Russia, and China Unite Against ICC in Closed-Door Talks With Xi
(Mediaite) President Donald Trump reportedly suggested the United States, China, and Russia should unite against the International Criminal Court during closed-door talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week. The proposal emerged during wide-ranging conversations between the president and the Chinese leader that also touched on Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Trump argued the three powers shared common interests in opposing the ICC, which his administration has repeatedly accused of overreach and politicization, according to the report.
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Hegseth steps away from war duties to campaign against Trump foe
(Reuters) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth campaigned on Monday for a former Navy SEAL who is challenging one of President Donald Trump's top Republican targets in Congress, in a highly unusual appearance for a U.S. military leader. At a rally in Kentucky, Hegseth endorsed Republican candidate Ed Gallrein and criticized incumbent Representative Thomas Massie, who has been at odds with Trump over major legislation and led the drive to release government files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Go to discussionWhy Trump's stock trades are so exceptionally corrupt
(MS NOW) Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in American history. Just this week, we found out that in the first quarter of the year, Trump made more than 3,700 financial trades, worth tens of millions of dollars. That averages out to 59 trades a day and nine trades per hour. The conflicts of interest and personal corruption are simply astonishing. Many of the companies do business with the federal government. In fact, Trump allegedly bought stock in Amazon and Microsoft months before the Pentagon announced agreements with both companies.
Go to discussionLandmark regulations against 'forever' toxins removed by Trump administration
(CNN) Key Biden-era regulations designed to protect the nation’s drinking water from the most dangerous cancer-causing per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, were removed by the Trump administration Monday. Manufactured since the 1940s to make products nonstick, stain-resistant and water-repellent, PFAS chemicals have been linked to cancer, obesity, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, decreased fertility, liver damage, hormone disruption and damage to the immune system, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Go to discussionNews organizations sue to unseal filings in DOJ's Fulton County election investigation
(NBC News) A group of news organizations, including NBC News, has filed a motion to unseal filings and subpoenas in the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation into the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia. In January, the FBI seized ballots and other materials from the 2020 election from an elections hub in Fulton County, a Democratic stronghold in the key battleground state that President Donald Trump lost in 2020. Last month, the DOJ also sought to compel the county to hand over the names, home addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses of workers and volunteers who served during that election.
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