Treasury Sec. Swears They’re This Close to Finding Something on Antifa

The Trump administration says it’s reeeeeally close to figuring out who’s funding antifa. Who’s gonna tell ’em? 

During a White House press briefing Thursday, the Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for an update on the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation into antifa. “How close are you guys to figuring out who’s funding it?” she said.

“It is ongoing. We’ve made substantial progress. And I think in the weeks and months ahead, we’re gonna have a lot to report,” Bessent said. 

There’s just one problem for Bessent’s loose timeline to deliver results: Antifa doesn’t formally exist. Antifa, which is short for “anti-fascist,” is a movement, not a group. The so-called organization lacks a central structure and instead functions as a loose network of individuals and small groups who act separately under the banner of opposing facism. Still, the Trump administration has insisted this so-called group is a major domestic terror threat.

On that front, Bessent claimed he could announce some slight progress: He said the IRS was now providing new guidance on 990 forms, requiring nonprofits to report the recipients of funding following the government’s (spurious) claims about the Southern Poverty Law Center. 

“And we are going to encourage, or demand, that nonprofits know their grant recipients. So, if a grant recipient is violent, if they are suppressing people’s rights, then you are responsible for that,” Bessent said. 

It was a particularly ironic answer from the secretary, who had, moments earlier, defended the creation of a $1.8 billion slush fund that could award funding to some of Donald Trump’s most dangerous allies, including the leader of a violent hate group.  

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill is calling for the Delaney Hall immigration detention center to be shut down after the Department of Homeland Security denied state health inspectors access to the facility.

“The New Jersey Department of Health today sought to conduct a health inspection of Delaney Hall, but it was denied full access and was allowed to inspect only a limited part of the facility,” Sherrill wrote on Thursday. “As I’ve said repeatedly, refusing to provide full access raises serious questions about what ICE is trying to hide from public view. New Jersey believes in the rule of law, will uphold the Constitution, and Delaney Hall should be closed down. I am calling for ICE to immediately de-escalate the situation as I continue working to keep New Jersey residents safe.”

Since last Friday, around 300 detainees have reportedly been engaging in a labor and hunger strike inside the facility in protest of due process violations and inhumane conditions—in which at least one person has died. Denying state health inspectors access to the prison only exacerbates those allegations. There have also been protests outside the jail that have seen federal immigration agents pepper-spraying, tasing, and arresting protesters. In one incident over the weekend, agents pepper-sprayed Democratic Senator Andy Kim after he visited the detention center.

Delaney Hall is also where four Democratic politicians, including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Representative Lamonica McIver, attempted to visit to conduct oversight last year. Baraka was arrested, and McIver is still facing criminal charges after the incident.

The Trump administration has completely denied that the hunger strike is happening, even as border czar Tom Homan threatened to force-feed prisoners participating in it.

“People detained at Delaney Hall are facing brutal and inhumane conditions. Their families and community members who are protesting their treatment, and the elected officials who are asking to inspect the facility, should not face pepper spray and rubber bullets for doing so,” the New Jersey ACLU wrote in a statement. “Our federal representatives—who have the congressional authority to conduct oversight visits of the facility—have instead taken pepper spray to their eyes and experienced abuse at the hands of federal agents.”

Delaney Hall is a for-profit private mass prison run by security company Geo Group, which contracts with the federal government.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gracelessly dodged questions about the $1.8 billion slush fund the Department of Justice awarded to the president and his allies.

During a White House press briefing Thursday, a reporter asked Bessent to comment on the process for developing the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” set up as part of a settlement for Donald Trump’s failing lawsuit against the IRS.

Surprise, surprise: Bessent’s response did not mention the fund at all.

“This is going to be the only question I take on this matter today. So, there’s ongoing litigation, so it’d be inappropriate for me to comment,” Bessent said. “President Trump is a great American who has endured more than 10 years—10 years—of nonstop harassment and weaponization from federal and state government actors. A bad actor at the IRS leaked more than 400,000 tax returns, including the Trump family, all the employees, and that’s how we got here now.

“No American should be targeted for political reasons, and every citizen deserves fair treatment and the full protection of the law. The Department of Justice represented the Treasury and the IRS in this matter, and I’m going to have to refer any questions to active Attorney General Todd Blanche.”

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins also pressed the secretary on the sudden exit of Brian Morrissey, the Treasury’s top legal officer, following the announcement of the fund—but Bessent wouldn’t bite.

“I will not be taking any other questions, I will not be taking any other questions,” he repeated. Maybe he should add that to his list of pathetic affirmations?

It appears that Bessent is intent on allowing Trump to pillage the Treasury and award his worst allies with taxpayer dollars—without owing taxpayers any answers. This lack of transparency is par for the course, but Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund is a criminal enterprise so egregious that it manages to stand out in a presidency that was already blatantly corrupt.

The son of conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito seems to have gotten a nice job in the Treasury Department.

Philip Alito has been working in the department’s office of the general counsel since early last year, NOTUS reports, raising questions of conflicts of interest as the court hears cases concerning the Treasury, including President Trump’s deal to avoid tax audits of himself and his family, as well as his $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

Alito’s office provides legal and policy advice to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and his employment seems to have been deliberately kept secret. Alito doesn’t have a public résumé or a LinkedIn account, and he isn’t mentioned anywhere on the Treasury Department’s website. His three professional bar listings have incorrect information regarding his previous employers and appear to be out of date, according to NOTUS.

An unnamed former official said that when Alito was hired in early 2025, he didn’t have an exact role and seemed to have been hired because the Trump administration wanted loyal employees across the federal government.

“Everybody knew who he was. I think it’s fair to say he kept a pretty low profile. I kind of had the impression that he was kind of a little bit sheepish about his celebrity affiliation. You’d go into a meeting and if people were introducing themselves by first and last name, he’d just say ‘Phil,’ not Phil Alito. He’s a pretty soft-spoken guy,” the official told NOTUS.

Another former official told the publication that Alito became an attorney-adviser, briefed on important department matters and able to offer legal advice.

“There’s no doubt he got that position because of who he is,” this official said. “[Advisers] are in all the meetings, so they knew all the issues across the board.”

Alito was on the job when other important cases concerning his department, such as challenges to Trump’s emergency tariffs, went before the high court, and his father never recused himself. With Trump’s anti-weaponization fund and his IRS settlement blocking audits of his taxes facing legal challenges, that is almost certain to happen again.

A spokesperson told NOTUS that “Philip Alito is currently detailed from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia as a Counselor in the Office of the General Counsel, and his portfolio covers a broad range of topics. As a matter of both professional and personal judgment, Phil does not counsel on any matters reasonably expected before the Supreme Court. Like all attorneys in the Office of the General Counsel, Phil is in compliance with all applicable ethical obligations.”

However, the department didn’t answer NOTUS’s questions on when Alito started at the agency, what his specific duties were, or whether he filed an ethics disclosure form. It seems that in the Trump administration, questions of ethics are easily ignored.

Employers and institutions have so far paid out a cumulative $2 million in legal settlements to people who were fired or penalized over their online reactions to Charlie Kirk’s death.

Kirk—a longtime right-wing activist who played a critical role in translating the MAGA agenda to America’s college-age youth—was assassinated in September. His death proved as polarizing as his life’s work: Millions of people reacted, some with shock and rage, and some with apparent glee.

An estimated 600 people were either penalized or let go from their places of employment, a punishment for their publicized opinions on the right-winger’s untimely demise.

The consequences were hailed by the Trump administration. In an honorary postmortem episode of Kirk’s podcast hosted by Vice President JD Vance, the number two Republican encouraged listeners to call the employers of anyone “celebrating Charlie’s murder.” Former Attorney General Pam Bondi likened the anti-Kirk posts to hate speech, and said at the time that the Justice Department would “absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”

Legal experts fretted that the governmental response had set a dangerous precedent. Yet the settlements have proven to be a major win for freedom of speech.

One of the largest settlement recipients was a retired Tennessee cop, Larry Bushart, who was jailed for more than a month after he posted a meme related to Kirk’s assassination. Bushart settled an “unlawful incarceration” lawsuit for $835,000 last week.

“I am pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,” Bushart said in a statement last week. “The people’s freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy.”

Biologist Brittney Brown settled last week with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for $485,000 after she was fired for similar causes, also involving a Kirk-related meme on her Instagram account. In a statement, Brown claimed that all she wanted was her job back.

Suzanne Swierc made a comment about Kirk on her private Facebook page. But a screenshot of her post, taken and shared by someone else, ultimately cost Swierc her job at Ball State University. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the college on Swierc’s behalf. They settled on Tuesday, with Ball State University agreeing to pay $225,000.

“Suzanne was speaking as a private citizen on a matter of public concern when Ball State fired her over a private social media post,” Stevie Pactor, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Indiana, said in a statement. “The First Amendment does not allow government institutions to retaliate in those circumstances, and this settlement reflects that.”

Many more such lawsuits could be on the horizon. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has recorded at least 14 First Amendment lawsuits in federal court over wrongful termination related to comments made about Kirk’s death. That tally does not include those brought by workers terminated in the private sector, or for employees who filed in state court, reported Axios Thursday.

CBS head Bari Weiss is bringing in former New York Times technology columnist Nick Bilton to lead 60 Minutes after months of internal controversy.

Weiss announced Bilton as executive producer of the longtime evening segment on Thursday, replacing former executive producer Tanya Simon. While Bilton has produced documentaries, he has zero broadcast news experience.

“I’m here to lead this show, not preserve it under glass. That means honoring what works and being honest about what doesn’t. I have a notebook full of ideas. Some are about the show itself. Some are about the next generation of correspondents,” Bilton wrote in his introductory letter to staff. “Some are about the strange fact that we produce one extraordinary hour for one night a week in a world that consumes content around the clock. I’m excited to share them.”

Also on Thursday, CBS officially fired Sharyn Alfonsi, who warned a day earlier that the move was due to her protesting Weiss’s pulling of her story on El Salvador’s CECOT megaprison. The network additionally cut ties with 60 Minutes executive editor Draggan Mihailovich and correspondent Cecilia Vega.

“It sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom,” Alfonsi told The New York Times on Wednesday of her own contract being terminated. “I think it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize accurate reporting.”

President Trump visited soldiers Tuesday at Walter Reed Military Medical Center, but chose not to meet with 14 who were injured in the war in Iran.

CBS reports that Trump made time to meet service members while he was at the medical center for his six-month physical, but did not meet any of the ones who were recovering from the recent war, and the White House refused to discuss the matter.

“President Trump was honored to meet with our amazing service members and medical staff while at Walter Reed Medical Center,” a White House spokesperson said.

In a speech at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, Trump mentioned the 13 soldiers who have died during the Iran war, calling them “wonderful souls” who “gave their lives” to ensure that Iran would not get a nuclear weapon. On Wednesday, he again said those 13 were “great people” and that losing them “is a terrible thing.”

“We want to lose very few, we want very few to be injured. We’re very careful, but war is war. War is dangerous,” Trump said.

When it comes to living, wounded soldiers, Trump doesn’t have a good track record. While trying to plan a big military parade in his first term, Trump said to his chief of staff, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, “Look, I don’t want any wounded guys in the parade. This doesn’t look good for me.”

In 2019, at a welcome ceremony for Gen. Mark Milley being named chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Trump was upset that an Army captain severely wounded in action in Afghanistan, Luis Avila, was brought to sing “God Bless America.” After Avila sang, Trump congratulated him, but afterward he told Milley, “Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.”

The Justice Department is trying to obtain the names, addresses, financial data, and other personal information of Reddit and X users who criticize ICE’s violent immigration tactics.

Bloomberg reported that U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro has subpoenaed the massive social media platforms for the information of two anonymous users who made negative comments toward ICE. They are now part of a criminal investigation, even as Pirro’s office has yet to alert them of the charges. Attorneys for the users believe the investigations could be focused on officer endangerment regarding revealing the location of an ICE agent but dispute that their clients committed any crimes.

This is a clear attempt at intimidation of dissent and muzzling free speech, and it isn’t the first time. In February, the Department of Homeland Security sent out dozens of subpoenas to Google, Reddit, Discord, and Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram), demanding they divulge the personal information of users who have criticized or helped locate ICE agents.

The Trump administration is paying close attention to every Reddit thread and Instagram comment that opposes its massively unpopular deportation units—and is trying to take legal action against them. This insecure authoritarianism is a real low, even for this administration, especially as Trump moves to pay his own supporters who actually committed real crimes from a $1.8 billion slush fund.

The Trump administration has doubled down on Donald Trump’s threats against Oman.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned Thursday that Washington “will not tolerate any effort to impose a tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz.”

“Oman, in particular, should know the U.S. Treasury will aggressively target any actors involved—directly or indirectly—in facilitating tolls for the strait and any willing partners will be penalized,” Bessent wrote in a statement posted to X.

“All nations should reject outright any efforts by Iran to disrupt the free flow of commerce,” he continued. “Tehran’s days of terrorizing the region and the world are over.”

Trump shocked attendees of a Cabinet meeting Wednesday when he casually threatened Oman, promising to blow the country up if it tried to take control of the strait, which Oman borders.

“It’s international waters, and Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow ’em up,” Trump said. “They understand that, they’ll be fine.”

The president insisted that “nobody” would control the Strait of Hormuz, and that the U.S. would instead “watch over” the passage.

But Bessent’s toll ban would actually undermine Trump’s plan to make a buck off the vital trade route: The president pitched the idea of imposing a toll on ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz back in April, although it was not immediately clear how the U.S. would obtain control of the foreign waterway, let alone toll it.

Approximately one-fifth of all crude oil shipments funnel through the strait, which is situated between Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Most of that oil is moved toward China or India. In 2024, the U.S. imported roughly 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day through the strait, accounting for about 7 percent of total U.S. crude imports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Nonetheless, the shuttered strait has caused a crisis of global proportions. The average cost of gas in the U.S. is $4.42 per gallon, with large swaths of the country pushing $5 a gallon, according to the AAA’s price tracker. That’s about 50 percent higher than prices were before the war started. Costs have also gone up for the rest of the world, a reality that has only aggravated U.S. alliances.

President Trump on Tuesday again refiled a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over a July 2025 report that he submitted a letter and explicit drawing to a birthday album for Jeffrey Epstein.

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit last month, ruling he couldn’t claim the paper published the story with actual malice. Then Trump refiled and ran into another stumbling block on May 13, when U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles ruled that he couldn’t use the discovery process in his claims that the newspaper defamed him. In the new lawsuit, Trump’s lawyers wrote that the Journal’s reporters tried to “falsely pass off as fact that President Trump, in 2003, wrote, drew, and signed this letter” but “failed to show proof.”

Trump’s reasoning for the lawsuit is hollow, especially considering that the House Oversight Committee included the birthday book, complete with the drawing from Trump, in a September release of Epstein materials from his estate. It’s more likely that Trump is trying to shake down the Journal for a big settlement and intimidate its owners, the Murdoch family, into favorable coverage.

It’s a pattern that Trump has followed against other media companies, which ended up forking over money that supposedly is going to Trump’s presidential library. Trump also has pending defamation lawsuits against The New York Times for $15 billion and the BBC for $10 billion. It seems that he won’t stop until he’s made them pay for reporting that he doesn’t like.