Top Treasury Lawyer Quits as Trump Creates $1.8 Billion Slush Fund

The U.S. Treasury’s highest ranking lawyer quit just hours after President Trump announced his Anti-Weaponization Fund—a brazen attempt to dole out $1.8 billion of taxpayer money to his allies, supporters, and himself.

Treasury General Counsel Brian Morrissey resigned shortly after the fund was approved on Monday, according to The New York Times. Morrisey has yet to publicly comment. He served for only seven months.

The fund—created by Trump in exchange for his dropping of his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS—allows anyone who feels they were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration to seek damages. This includes but is not limited to January 6 rioters, right-wing think tanks, and even the president’s own super PAC. And while he claims he “wasn’t involved in the whole creation of it,” Trump controls who sits on the board of the fund.

There’s also a massive disclaimer that states that once the funds are disbursed, his administration has “no liability whatsoever for the protection or safeguarding of those funds, regardless of bank failure, fraudulent transfers, or any other fraud or misuse.” The move preemptively dodges any future legal issues that may arise from awarding funds to people who went to jail for assault and sedition (and have committed other crimes since).

The outcry has been swift and widespread, with Senator Elizabeth Warren calling it an “insane level of corruption—even for Trump.” California Governor Gavin Newsom said it was “Waste, fraud, and abuse in the flesh.” Maybe those same feelings about this blatant self-enrichment scheme got to Morrissey.

President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency wants Americans to keep guzzling “forever chemicals” in their water.

The agency offered a formal proposal Monday to repeal Biden-era regulations on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, a.k.a “forever chemicals” because they linger in the environment for hundreds or even thousands of years.

If finalized, the proposal would rescind protections against GenX, PFHxS, PFNA, and PFBS, four of the six PFAS outlined in the Biden restrictions, and delay a requirement to filter out PFAS by 2029 until 2031.

David Andrews, chief science officer for the Environmental Working Group, told The Washington Post that the decision was “a betrayal of public health and the mission of making America healthier. Safe and clean drinking water should be a right for everyone in this country.”

“Slow-walking this is really just going the wrong direction,” he added.

In addition to infuriating environmental advocates, the move is also sure to inflame the Make America Healthy Again sect of Trump supporters, who have criticized Zeldin’s willingness to allow chemical companies to dictate policy.

Thousands of Maryland residents will be receiving new mail-in ballots due to a vendor error. Yet Donald Trump has interpreted the state’s attempt to correct the switch-up as some kind of fraud.

“In Maryland, they sent out 500,000 Illegal Mail In Ballots, and they got caught!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday afternoon. “So now, they’re going to send out 500,000 more Mail In Ballots, but nobody knows what’s happening with the first 500,000 they sent.”

“In addition, many of these Ballots went to Democrats, so any Republican running in Maryland doesn’t have a chance! This was done by the Corrupt Governor of the State, Wes Moore. He allowed this to happen in order to make sure that Democrats win.”

Officials with the Maryland State Board of Elections shared Monday that they believed a small number of local voters had received incorrect forms. In an attempt to ensure the “integrity and security” of the vote, state officials opted to reissue all requested mail-in ballots instead of just a few.

“Mail-in voting is an integral facet of the electoral process. With over 500,000 voters requesting mail-in ballots, we want to eliminate any doubt in its integrity or accuracy.… That is why I have arranged the sending of replacement ballots,” said the Maryland state administrator of elections, Jared DeMarinis.

Nonetheless, Trump has demanded a federal investigation into the mail-in ballot switcheroo.

“It never made sense to me that Maryland was considered an automatic Democrat State, but now I see why,” Trump continued in his social media post. “I’m sure this has gone on for years. I’m going to ask the Attorney General of the United States, and the DOJ, to bring an immediate investigation into this situation.”

It’s the latest attempt by the president and his allies to seed doubt and distrust into America’s electoral process. Despite large-scale investigations that extensively debunked the MAGA movement’s initial conspiracy about the 2020 election, the Trump administration still has not let go of the pipe dream that Trump actually won his second presidential race.

Over the weekend, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed that there was a “ton of evidence that the [2020] election was rigged.”

“We’re very focused on finding out whether the right people voted,” Blanche told Fox News Sunday morning.

A federal jury rejected Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI Monday, in part because the statute of limitations had expired.

Musk alleged that OpenAI, including Altman and company president Greg Brockman, had breached OpenAI’s charitable trust by turning the organization into a for-profit company. He also claimed that Microsoft had aided and abetted such a breach.

An advisory jury in Oakland, California, determined that Musk had waited too long to bring his $150 billion lawsuit forward, and tossed his claim against Microsoft out along with it.

Musk filed his complaint against OpenAI in the summer of 2024, but the jury found that he was aware of the behavior discussed in his suit as far back as 2021. That puts his claim beyond the three-year statute of limitations.

The jury served in an advisory role and delivered its opinion to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who accepted the verdict. Steven Molo, Musk’s lead counsel, said that he intends to appeal the decision, though Marc Toberoff, who represented Musk in court, declined to offer a basis for that appeal, according to The New York Times.

Even if Musk’s case hadn’t been dismissed on procedural grounds, it’s not clear it would’ve been successful. When Musk took the stand last month, he somehow managed to undermine his entire case.

President Trump said that he was planning to attack Iran Tuesday, but has been convinced otherwise by the U.S.’s Gulf allies.

“I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow, in that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond,” Trump posted on Truth Social Monday afternoon.

However, Trump added that while he has instructed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, and other military leaders to hold off, he wrote that he has “further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.”

Trump has been alternatively issuing angry warnings and claiming that a deal is close for weeks now, so one wonders how true this post actually is. The president is also known for changing his mind as his own deadlines draw close, raising the question of whether this is a desperate ploy to pressure Iran into accepting a deal.

Earlier on Monday morning, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade urged Trump to break the current ceasefire with Iran and use military force to seize the country’s enriched uranium, target its current leaders, and retake the Strait of Hormuz. For now, at least, Trump appears not to have listened. The war has badly damaged Trump’s approval numbers, bringing them to a new second-term low. At this point, even a complete reversal may not change Americans’ minds.

The president’s increasingly erratic behavior may be a sign of his rapid aging.

Donald Trump has always been loud and unfiltered; his figure, at six foot three inches tall and 224 pounds, is imposing. His penchant for drawing attention has not waned, even as he approaches his 80th birthday. By all means, Trump appears, perhaps more than ever, to be everywhere.

Yet over the last several months, Trump’s hallmark character traits have sparked global concern about his stability and judgement. The 79-year-old has spent hours at Walter Reed Medical Center, fallen asleep during more than a dozen critical meetings, appeared lost and disoriented around foreign heads of state, frequently slurred his speech, appeared with discolored and bruised skin on several occasions, has thrown cheap and petty insults at members of the press, challenged longstanding U.S. alliances, and even taken jabs at the pope.

His bombastic attitude and careless disregard is no longer instilling confidence in his base—instead, The Atlantic’s Jonathan Lemire suggests that Trump’s increasingly leaky filter could be an important warning sign about Trump’s old age.

In contrast, former President Joe Biden was visibly thinner and weaker as he approached 80. To avoid embarrassing public flubs, Biden withdrew from the spotlight, handing his aides the public-facing reins of the administration while he managed the country from a quiet White House.

Trump has not approached his second term in office with the same caution. The president regularly dominates headlines and steals the spotlight. That’s a clear attempt to create a public perception that Trump is just as fine as he’s always been—but there are major differences between the 79-year-old Trump and his 70-year-old self when he first entered office.

For one, Trump has dramatically scaled back his travel, according to Lemire. He is taking fewer foreign trips, and his domestic travel schedule has dwindled in comparison to his first term.

His “displays of disinhibition” are also more pronounced, writes Lemire. Trump’s famously unscripted rants now prominently feature multi-minute deflections or tangents on completely unrelated topics in which Trump will sometimes refer to himself in the third person.

Trump has prioritized his “executive time” in the morning, in which he binges cable television and uses his phone, and has fallen in love with $145 Florsheim loafers, swapping his dressier shoes for the soft-cushioned leather oxfords.

Trump’s team has circled the wagons: They insist repeatedly on his health and mental sharpness. Many of his Cabinet gladly wear the (poorly sized) Florsheims Trump has bought them. Lemire posited that the latter move was so Trump’s own shoes don’t stand out.

Trump has also enjoyed more leisure than ever: So far, the president has spent more than a fifth of his second term—about 21.95 percent—golfing. Trump has hit the links at least 106 times since he returned to office, which puts him on pace to exceed the 307 days he spent golfing over the course of his first term.

Former President Barack Obama, in comparison, racked up a total of 333 rounds of golf over eight years in office.

The American public is apparently wising up to Trump’s age: A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released last week found that 59 percent of Americans do not believe that Trump has the mental acuity to lead the country.

On Monday, Hennepin County District Court charged ICE agent Christian J. Castro over the shooting of Venezuelan immigrant Julio Sosa-Celis on January 14—in the middle of “Operation Metro Surge”—with four counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime.

Castro had not been previously identified. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told the Minnesota Star Tribune they found out who he was thanks to medical records from Castro, who visited a hospital right after the shooting, and an interview by state law enforcement where the shooting took place.

At the time, the federal government charged Sosa-Celis and his roommate Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna with assaulting a federal officer and posted their mug shots online. Then–Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused them of “attempted murder,” and DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the pair “began to resist and violently assault the officer.” McLaughlin claimed that an unnamed ICE agent, fearing for his life, had fired a defensive shot while on the ground because he was being beaten with a shovel.

Video evidence showed that in fact, Castro was standing up and shot Sosa-Celis through the closed door of his apartment, and no shovel assault took place. After an FBI special agent testified that Castro and DHS’s account was wrong, Castro and other ICE agents were placed on administrative leave and the charges against Sosa-Chelis and Aljorna were dropped.

This is the second time an ICE agent has been charged in Hennepin County for their actions during the Trump administration’s immigration offensive in Minnesota. Last month, agent Donnell Morgan Jr. was charged with two counts of second-degree assault for allegedly pointing a weapon at drivers. But there still haven’t been charges filed over the two highest-profile ICE-related deaths from the operation, those of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

“It’s just a very unique scenario,” Moriarty told the Star Tribune. “We obviously are trying to be very thoughtful and intentional. While I understand people really want accountability and they saw what they saw in the [Good and Pretti] videos, this is incredibly complex. The last thing we want to do is make a mistake if we feel something is appropriately charged and get dismissed out of federal court.”

Moriarty added that the federal government’s refusal to share even basic information with local and state agencies about Good and Pretti’s deaths hasn’t helped investigators. In March, Minnesota state prosecutors sued the federal government to force their hand.

“Think about how unprecedented that is,” Moriarty said. “The federal government won’t even give us the identification of the shooters.”

President Trump’s newly minted MAGA slush fund comes with a massive disclaimer that serves to absolve the administration of any future crimes their allies may commit with the taxpayer money.

The “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” approved Monday, contains roughly $1.8 billion for anyone who felt unfairly targeted by the Biden administration— from January 6 rioters, to right-wing think tanks, to the president’s own super PAC. The fund also notes that once these groups have received their money the Trump administration has “no liability whatsoever for the protection or safeguarding of those funds, regardless of bank failure, fraudulent transfers, or any other fraud or misuse of the funds.”

This disclaimer allows Trump to wash his hands preemptively while this billion dollar fund will very well likely go to folks who were convicted of unlawful entry, assault, and seditious conspiracy. Some of those people have already committed crimes since they received their mass pardon from Trump.

“[This] seems like an exceptionally bad idea to give to people notoriously known for committing crimes,” the Ways and Means Committee Democrats wrote on X.

The White House is replacing a space known for protests with a parking lot for a month of major national events—including Donald Trump’s birthday.

Over the weekend, a pedestrianized stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and Lafayette Square Park was painted with yellow lines denoting parking spaces. The area has served as a viewing spot for tourists and a gathering place for protesters for two decades.

The White House said the parking lot will last through June 28 in order to accommodate several events on the grounds for the country’s 250th anniversary.

Next month, Trump’s birthday plans include “UFC Freedom 250,” which apparently means a pricey UFC fight on the White House’s South Lawn and a “fan fest” at the Ellipse. It’s the same spot where Trump once urged his followers to “fight like hell” before they stormed the U.S. Capitol. In late June, the Great American State Fair will be held at the nearby National Mall.

Lafayette Square Park, another protest spot, has been closed for months for a “major rehabilitation” and is expected to reopen on May 31, according to the National Parks Service.

It seems clear that the president, who regularly lashes out against critics, isn’t interested in getting any more angry feedback from Americans.

There’s reason to suspect that this change may not be temporary, as the Trump administration hasn’t exactly been forthcoming about the president’s other renovation plans.

The price tag for Trump’s White House ballroom skyrocketed from $200 million in private donations to $400 million, before Republicans decided to throw $1 billion sourced from American taxpayers at the project. Trump claimed last July that the project would not “interfere with the current building,” but then demolished the entire East Wing.

Fox News thinks that escalating the war in Iran is the best way to end the conflict.

On Fox and Friends Monday morning, Brian Kilmeade called for sending American troops to seize Iran’s enriched uranium, seizing the Strait of Hormuz, and targeting the “bad actors that have been insincerely negotiating with our group.”

“The best chance for no casualties is you open up four different fronts immediately, simultaneously, with an army that hasn’t been paid, with the IRGC, which is being also hurt,” Kilmeade said.

Resuming attacks on Iran in this way would likely produce a response from Iran and increase the chance of U.S. military casualties. Kilmeade has no military experience or expertise on the Middle East, but being on Fox News carries weight: Trump is an avid watcher, and could very easily take this as a viable option.

Later on Monday, Trump made a long-winded post on Truth Social complaining about media coverage of the Iran war, mentioning “The Failing New York Times, The China Street Journal (WSJ!), Corrupt and now Irrelevant CNN, and all other members of the Fake News Media” and claiming that even if Iran totally surrendered, the media would say it had defeated the U.S.

Trump didn’t mention Fox News in his rant, and the network continues to support the war even as other right-wing personalities have come out against it. It’s not clear what he’ll do, but the president won’t take any option that makes him look bad, even if it divides his base and is the best way forward.