Blanche says taxpayer money could go to Jan. 6 Capitol Hill rioters
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made clear Wednesday that the rioters who attacked law enforcement and wanted to hang Vice President Pence in the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill assault could receive some of the $1.8 billion in compensation money set aside by Donald Trump. Blanche said he couldn’t fully rule out the possibility that someone who was violent toward police would receive some of the money, saying it was up to the commissioners who would control the fund. Five commissioners would be appointed and could be removed by President Trump. Some of the people involved in trying to overthrow the election of Joe Biden as president have already been seeking millions from the government, and CNN reported earlier Wednesday that many of them were looking to submit claims to the fund whenever possible. Trump pardoned more than 1,000 of the rioters who had been prosecuted over their role in the Jan. 6 attack.
Ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr. has breast cancer
Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr., and mother of their five children announced Wednesday she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. “While this isn’t news anyone expects, I’m working closely with my medical team on a treatment plan,” she said in an internet post Wednesday. “I am staying focused and hopeful while surrounded by the love and support of my family, my kids, and those closest to me,” Trump said. Vanessa and Donald Jr. divorced in 2018 after twelve years of marriage. Vanessa Trump has been dating golfer Tiger Woods.
Netanyahu pushes for more attacks on Iran
CNN reports that a U.S. official has told it that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressured Donald Trump to stage new attacks on Iran during a phone call the two had on Tuesday. The official told CNN that the phone call was tense and reflected Netanyahu and Trump’s differing views on how to proceed with the Iran war. Trump announced he was halting strikes that he said were planned for Tuesday at the request of allies in the Gulf, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to allow negotiations to proceed. The ongoing negotiations have frustrated the Israeli prime minister, who has long advocated for a more aggressive approach in dealing with Tehran. Netanyahu has argued that a delay only benefits the Iranians, according to Trump officials and Israeli sources. Trump and Netanyahu talked for an hour.
SpaceX plans to become a public company
Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company SpaceX has revealed that it plans to go public, although some details of the planned sale of stock in an initial public offering (IPO) have yet to be disclosed. A successful public offering could make Musk a trillionaire. Stock would be traded on Nasdaq under the stock symbol SPCX. The company expects to raise between $50 billion and $80 billion in the IPO, which could take place next month. In 2025, SpaceX lost $4.9 billion on revenues of $18.7 billion. SpaceX said it has already lost $4.3 billion in the first three months of this year on $4.7 billion of revenue.
Judge rules Trump and White House must preserve records
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump White House must comply with the Presidential Records Act and preserve their official records, including communications that they send via non-official text message services. The Trump administration has tried to avoid following the records law as part of its effort to increase power of the Executive Branch. Judge John Bates of the D.C. District Court ruled, “Congress has the enumerated power to regulate presidential records.” Attorneys representing presidential scholars, historians, the press and public transparency groups had argued to Bates that presidential records could be destroyed quickly unless the court acted. Bates wrote, “Access to those records allows future Presidents to pick up where their predecessors left off, Congress to identify inefficiency and misfeasance, and the public to learn from the mistakes of the past.” The Trump administration is expected to continue challenging the law.
Trump plans to build arch without seeking Congressional approval
The Washington Post reports that the Trump administration plans to go ahead with its plan to build a 250-foot arch in the nation’s capital without seeking approval from Congress. According to the report, the administration is taking the position that a plan approved by Congress in 1925 to build two tall columns as part of the Arlington Memorial Bridge project amounts to approval of its new plan to build Trump’s arch. The columns were never built. Lawyer Wedy Liu of the Public Citizen Litigation Group who has filed a lawsuit to stop the arch plan is quoted as saying that the idea that Congress approved building Trump’s arch 100 years ago is absurd.
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