Today, inflation spikes to 4.2% as oil prices climb, Maine, South Carolina and Nevada held their state primary elections, the government admits it lied about events at Cities Church in a new filing in the criminal case against Don Lemon and other journalists, a judge refused to issue a restraining order against the $1.8B slush fund but gave a stern warning to justice department lawyers, and the justice department’s bid to get the courts to release certain epstein files was a ruse after all.

Click to listen for free. Never any paywalls!

Sources:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.231106/gov.uscourts.mnd.231106.539.0_1.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/10/magazine/trump-epstein-files-white-house-vance-doj.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Inflation jumps to 4.2%, the highest since early 2023

Election highlights: Primary results in Maine, South Carolina, Nevada and North Dakota set stage for November midterms

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.231102/gov.uscourts.mnd.231102.540.0.pdf

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/5-takeaways-from-the-latest-midterm-primaries-with-platners-win-and-mixed-results-for-trump-support

Today, Epstein's assistant for over 20 years Lesley Groff denied any knowledge of his crimes during her House Oversight Committee testimony, a U.S. Apache helicopter was shot down over the Gulf according to Trump, republicans in the House have passed the $70B ICE funding bill, ICE has detained over 500 babies and toddlers under this administration, a new report out from the Government Accountability Office says the Camp East Montana ICE facility wasted millions and put detainees at risk, a Somali referee says his World Cup dreams have been dashed after the U.S. denied him entry, and the Broadview Six grand jury transcripts have been released.

GUEST: Executive Director of Demand Progress Sean Vitka joins us today to discuss FISA Section 702 reform.

Click to listen for free. Never any paywalls!

Sources:

Lesley Groff, Epstein assistant, denies knowledge of his crimes to House Oversight Committee

U.S. Apache helicopter shot down by Iran, Trump says; crew rescued by sea drone - CBS News

ICE has detained over 500 babies and toddlers under Trump

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/09/world/africa/somali-referee-world-cup-us-entry-omar-artan.html

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-funding-trump-congress-republicans-c395a434f47fa41a7131369847091910

https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-ceasefire-helicopter-hezbollah-israel-9-june-2026-50d7a8ecbb2cf33836af152679adb40e

https://abc7chicago.com/post/us-attorney-andrew-boutros-acknowledges-speech-broadview-6-grand-jury-calls-resignation-mount/19264829/

Today, Donald Trump has formally nominated his personal lawyer Todd Blanche to be the Attorney General, the IRS failed to match taxpayer records with ICE data accurately, a federal judge has blocked Donald’s $100,000 visa fee, the lawsuit to stop the UFC fight at the White House has been assigned to Judge Amit Mehta, Mayor Mamdani adds a free Bryant Park watch party for the Knicks after Trump’s visit forces the cancellation of them around Madison Square Garden, Skagit County courts limit Zoom hearings for vulnerable community members in Washington state, and Andry Hernández Romero - the gay stylist sent to CECOT prison - is rebuilding his life in Spain.

GUEST: Senior Attorney and leader of the Southern Environmental Law Center's (SELC) Environmental Justice Initiative Chandra Taylor-Sawyer.

Click to listen for free. Never any paywalls!

Sources:

Andry Hernández Romero rebuilds life after CECOT from Europe | Advocate.com

Skagit County Courts Limit Zoom Hearings for Vulnerable Community Members - Skagit Scoop

IRS failed to match taxpayer records with ICE data accurately, report finds - POLITICO

Court blocks Trump’s $100K visa fee - POLITICO

US judge asked to bar Trump's UFC fight at White House | Reuters

City adds Bryant Park watch party as Trump visit scuttles Game 3 MSG gathering - Gothamist

Trump Nominates Blanche for Attorney General, Setting Up Confirmation Fight - The New York Times

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is going to stop reporting deaths of newly released detainees, massive protests break out in Albania over Jared and Ivanka’s planned resort, the House bucks Trump and passes Ukraine aid and Russian sanctions, but they’re rolling back food assistance for pregnant women and children, the Senate has blocked extending FISA section 702 over Bill Pulte being named acting DNI, the DOJ says Trump could tear down the Statue of Liberty if he wanted, a whistleblower claims DOGE planned to mark 2.7M as dead, the Pentagon has cut 180 religious identities from personnel records, the hair loss drug Donald has taken for years is now absent from his medical record, and the governor of Hawaii has signed a powerful trans shield law.

Click to listen for free. Never any paywalls!

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2026/06/04/ice-stop-reporting-deaths-newly-released-detainees-internal-memo-says/

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/us/politics/house-ukraine-aid-russia-republicans.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/06/04/ivanka-trump-jared-kushners-planned-albanian-resort-draws-protests/

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/04/nx-s1-5846966/george-santos-kalshi-threats

Erin In The Morning

Hawai'i Governor Signs Powerful Trans Shield Law Bill Just In Time For Pride

Read more

7 days ago · 533 likes · 12 comments · s. baum

House bill rolls back food aid for pregnant women, children - The Washington Post

Exclusive | Trump Urges ‘Less Shackled’ Pulte to Fire Intelligence-Community Employees - WSJ

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/05/white-house-ballroom-donald-trump-00951892

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/senate-blocks-extending-key-surveillance-program-following-backlash-over-trump-pick-to-lead-intel

Whistleblower claims DOGE planned to mark 2.7 million people dead - The Washington Post

Pentagon Cuts 180 Religious Identities From Military Personnel Records - The New York Times

Trump took a hair-loss drug for years. It’s no longer on his medical records. - The Washington Post

So every day, I dig into the news, select headlines based on public interest and what I think you’ll find newsworthy, and put together a script for the Daily Beans podcast. I figured you’d like to see the headlines and get the links I’ve gathered for the day to create the podcast (all human-powered! Absolutely NO AI!)

I could do this daily if you’d like, but I don’t wanna hit your inbox every morning unless you want it. So let me know if the below information would be helpful to get each day!

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026

Today, California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota head to the polls in the 2026 primaries, a federal appeals court rules that Hegseth’s order to boot transgender service members is unconstitutional, Donald may be about to drop his $1.8B slush fund, Iran suspends talks over Israeli attacks on Lebanon sending gas prices soaring again, Hegseth removes female and black Navy Officers from the promotion list, Scott Pelley accuses CBS boss Bari Weiss of ‘Murdering’ ‘60 Minutes’, and a federal judge rules that anti-trump protestors can continue to fly an 8647 flag near the national mall.

Click to listen for free. Never any paywalls!

Sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/iran-suspends-talks-us-israel-attacks-lebanon-rcna347865

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/01/86-47-flag-donald-trump-00944462

https://apnews.com/article/transgender-military-ban-trump-02c27819995ebfbea6aa45d2633028d3

https://www.axios.com/2026/06/01/trump-weaponization-fund-drop

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/us/politics/hegseth-navy-promotion-list.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/media/scott-pelley-cbs-news-bari-weiss-60-minutes-rcna347968

The establishment of this slush fund constitutes a rule under the administrative procedure act, and when the government creates a rule they have to give notice in the federal register so we the people have an opportunity to comment. The government didn’t do that here, so I’m asking the court to set aside the fund until they follow the law and provide the requisite notice and comment period.

According to the APA, Title 5 U.S. Code § 553(b) and (c), General notice of proposed rule making shall be published in the Federal Register, unless persons subject thereto are named and either personally served or otherwise have actual notice thereof in accordance with law. After notice required by this section, the agency shall give interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rule making through submission of written data, views, or arguments with or without opportunity for oral presentation.

Had the government followed the law, I would have submitted comments raising a number of issues about the proposal to create the fund. First, it is important that the fund be equitable and therefore open to everyone who has suffered from abuse of governmental authority. I have an interest in providing comment on whether the fund is available to those harmed by Trump administration abuses like the ones I experienced.

Second, I have questions about whether the fund will reward constitutionally ineligible claimants - like those barred by payouts from the government because they participated in an insurrection – leaving less money available to pay eligible claims.

Third, why is the fund capped at $1.776B? The government says it’s based on projected valuation of future claims, but offers no evidence to support that.

It’s also important that the fund be legally sound, or else a future administration could deem some payouts unlawful and demand their return. But the fund that Todd Blanche created sits on a legal house of cards.

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Like the fact that the fund is going to be run by five commissioners appointed by Blanche without legal authority from Congress, as required by Article II, Section II, Clause 2 of the Constitution. Unless Congress says otherwise, only the President can appoint government officers, and the Senate must confirm them. If the members of the fund are not lawfully appointed, everything the fund does is legally suspect. The notice-and-comment process would have exposed this flaw.

These are just some of the problems with the fund. Identifying and fixing these problems is why agencies are required by law to go through the notice-and-comment process. But the Trump administration circumvented the law because it was inconvenient to its goal: to redirect $1.8B in taxpayer money into the pockets of Trump’s criminal co-conspirators and political allies.

The whole thing is an insult to those of us who faced actual weaponization at the hands of the president and his allies. And I will not stand idly by while the government prevents actual victims of lawfare from having our voices heard on the matter. This is not a legitimate fund; it’s pure theft and cannot go unanswered.

You can read my lawsuit here.

Many have asked how they can help. The Public Citizen Litigation Group is filing this suit pro bono, but you can support them with a tax-deductible donation here.

~AG

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I’ve asked for $8.647 million. Feel free to ask for $864,700, or $8,647, $86,470, or any other appropriate amount based on punitive damages due to “lawfare” and “weaponization”. The “Thank you for your attention to this matter” at the end is important.

Here’s the text of my claim:

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530

May 20th, 2026

Dear Acting Attorney General Blanche,

Recently, you set up a $1.776B compensation fund for victims of lawfare and weaponization perpetrated by “political and career federal employees, contractors and agents” who targeted “individuals, groups, and entities for improper and unlawful political, personal, and/or ideological reasons (“Lawfare” and “Weaponization”).

On August 6th, 2019, the Department of Veterans Affairs (political and career federal employees) launched an administrative investigation into myself (an individual) and my podcast (Mueller, She Wrote: an entity) for political and ideological reasons.

I currently have a case pending in federal court in the Southern District of California. (Gill v. McDonough 3:23-cv-01892). The memorandum you filed in the case to establish the fund states that “A claimant who already has a claim pending in court or administrative proceedings may be eligible for relief subject to section V part B. (Settlement Agreement, Trump v. IRS (SDFL) (2026) V(E)).

Pursuant to Section V part B, I am willing to drop my litigation pursuant to an award of $8.647M from the Weaponization Fund. As with your fund amount of $1.776B, the amount I am seeking is based purely on punitive damages and backpay.

Thank you for your attention to this matter,

Allison Gill
CEO, MSW Media, Inc.

The fund is purportedly a “settlement” agreement between Trump and the IRS pursuant to Donald’s $10B lawsuit against the agency he controls, seeking compensation for the unauthorized release of his tax returns (despite the IRS releasing the tax returns of over 400K other people.)

But this is not a settlement.

Donald unilaterally dropped his law suit on the eve of briefs coming due to explain how the courts even had jurisdiction to resolve a case where Trump controlled both sides of the suit. The judge closed the case, but noted that because there were no settlement terms outlined in the notice to the court, there is no settlement of record. That makes this “weaponization” fund nothing more than theft of taxpayer money without appropriations from Congress and without a court order.

For the past week, I’ve been discussing the fund, and hoping someone would have standing to sue to stop it. Today, former Capitol police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan PD officer Daniel Hodges filed suit in the federal district court for the District of Columbia to dissolve the fund.

In it, their lawyers Brendan Ballou and Samuel T. Ward-Packard argue that Dunn and Hodges do have standing:

The Anti-Weaponization Fund is inflicting and will continue to inflict cognizable injuries on Plaintiffs.

By creating the Anti-Weaponization Fund, funding it, and authorizing claim criteria that will allow it to make payments to, among others, Proud Boys and January 6 rioters, Defendants have inflicted concrete and cognizable harms on Plaintiffs Dunn and Hodges.

The Fund’s mere existence sends a clear and chilling message: those who enact violence in President Trump’s name will not just avoid punishment, they will be rewarded with riches. That message, by itself, substantially increases the already sizeable risk of vigilante violence Dunn and Hodges face on a near-daily basis. And it encourages those who are harassing Dunn and Hodges, and sending them death threats, to up the ante.

These concrete, imminent injuries, which Defendants have caused, give Plaintiffs standing.

And if and when the Fund begins making payments, Plaintiffs’ injuries will compound. In particular, if the rioters who have already accosted Plaintiffs in person on several occasions receive even a fraction of the $1.7 billion, the danger to Plaintiffs is enormous.

Payments from the Fund will be used to finance the operations of those who have threatened and tried to kill Plaintiffs. The rioters and paramilitaries who tried to kill Dunn and Hodges on January 6, and who continue to threaten them today, need money for their operations. The January 6 rioters had caches of guns, pepper and bear spray, body armor, tactical gear, and communications equipment. Such sophisticated equipment is expensive to obtain and maintain.

Accordingly, many rioters, including members of paramilitary groups, fundraised for their operations before and after January 6, and continue to do so today. Crowdfunding by rioters and their supporters since January 6 has raised at least $5.3 million. And Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes received donations as recently as May 16, 2026. The Fund will make render such fundraising far easier, supplementing online crowdfunding with public financing out of a confidential $1.7 billion slush fund.

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Earlier this year, on the fifth anniversary of January 6, Enrique Tarrio said that “[t]he thing that I’m searching for is retribution, retaliation.” After briefly disclaiming violence, Tarrio added, “I want them to pay. They made an example out of us, and we need to make an example out of them.”

Compensating rioters like Tarrio through the Anti-Weaponization Fund will encourage them to seek that retribution, and furnish them with the resources to bring it about.

It will be up to the courts to determine whether the plaintiffs have standing. I will keep you posted.

You can read the entire lawsuit here.

Associated Press

Retired Judge Gleeson and three other lawyers filed their brief, which undercuts Trump’s ability to even sue, let alone settle for a $1.7B unsupervised fund to be distributed to his January 6th coconspirators. I break down that brief on today’s episode here: