Judge Rules Trump’s Defense of IRS-ICE Agreement Is “Weak Sauce”

A federal court ruled Tuesday that the IRS broke the law when it shared taxpayer data with the Department of Homeland Security.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia called out the Trump administration for violating federal law over the data sharing, writing in its ruling that “The IRS is now on notice twice over regarding the inadequacies of its summer 2025 disclosures.

“The government and its personnel face steep civil and criminal consequences for willful disclosure of information in violation of section 6103,” the ruling states, referring to the law in question.

The IRS argued that a preliminary injunction against sharing taxpayer information is “highly unusual and harmful” because it requires the IRS to provide the district court with “prior notice of criminal investigatory activity,” according to court documents. The ruling panel called this argument “weak sauce,” as a lower court is allowing the IRS to file notifications “‘under seal,’ thereby shielding any criminal investigative activity from disclosure.”

It’s quite a rebuke for administration officials, and is another example of the White House rushing to find targets for its mass deportation machine without any regard for the law. The information sharing in question targeted thousands of taxpayers, ensnaring many people who didn’t commit any crimes. Undocumented immigrants pay billions in taxes every year.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency also appears to have been involved in the information-sharing effort, and another court ruled last month that DOGE has to disclose its internal communications related to the questionably legal deal between DHS and the IRS. The Trump administration is trying to stall disclosing to the public how private tax information was shared with immigration agents, who was involved, and whether it will comply with the law going forward.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned of a potential large-scale attack from Hamas nearly two weeks before October 7. He refused to pass that warning down to anyone else in the government.

Haaretz reported that Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet was warned on September 15, 2023, about the threat of an impending “earthquake” and a “huge surprise” from Hamas, a warning that was relayed to Netanyahu. The defense ministry held a meeting two days later, but no decisions were made. After seeing a lack of action, United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed spoke to Netanyahu directly for 45 minutes, trying desperately to convince him of the likelihood of an attack from Hamas after Netanyahu had scuttled talks earlier that year. Netanyahu had reduced the amount of Palestinian prisoners he agreed to release and postponed the committee intended to facilitate the prisoner and hostage exchanges—leading frustrated Hamas head Yaya Sinwar to end negotiations entirely in September, just weeks before the October 7 attack.

This breakdown led to a further destabilization of relations, with bin Zayed warning Netanyahu that “something there is about to explode.” But Netanyahu assured him that he was ready for anything.

“The emir hoped that despite his reserved response, Netanyahu would take the message seriously and take action,” an adviser told Haaretz. And yet Netanyahu chose not to brief anyone in the IDF or Mossad about bin Zayed’s warning. About 1,200 Isrealis were killed on October 7, and their deaths that were then used to justify a genocide of nearly 75,000 Palestinians.

“If we had known about the warnings, there’s a chance it would have given more weight to the first message we received from Sinwar,” a senior Shin Bet official told Haaretz. “Perhaps it would also have clarified what was behind his sudden withdrawal from the talks in early September. It’s possible we would have put two and two together and reached a completely different conclusion from the one we did, one that would have changed our entire assessment picture.”

This report of Netanyahu’s prior knowledge of an impending attack and his lack of action against it elicited countless reactions.

“Netanyahu bears personal and direct responsibility for the failure that led to the deaths of thousands of Israelis on his watch. His ignoring of the warnings is criminal negligence, and therefore he is doing everything to prevent the establishment of a state commission of inquiry that will expose the truth,” former Israeli Prime Minister and opposition leader Naftali Bennet wrote on X. “He did not go to the field, did not warn the heads of the security system, did not prepare Israel for the attack, and did not convene the cabinet.”

“Netanyahu cannot continue to serve in his position for another minute, and he certainly is not capable of fixing it,” Bennett continued. “If we do not replace this government, we will never know the truth that will only be revealed in a state commission of inquiry, because they are preventing its establishment out of fear of discovering the terrible truth.”

“It’s crucial to remember that the Nova music festival was supposed to end on Friday, October 6, but the organizers reached out to the IDF to get permission to extend it for an extra day. We know that warnings were everywhere at that point, yet the IDF approved the extension and added no security,” Drop Site News’s Ryan Grim wrote. “Now we know, from new reporting in Haaretz, that Netanyahu had explicitly been warned 10 days earlier that Hamas was planning an ‘earthquake’ of an attack.’

“Insane story. He was warned two weeks before the Oct. 7th attacks by the Emiratis about an imminent attack by Hamas—and did nothing,” Zeteo’s Medhi Hasan wrote. “No wonder Netanyahu has always wanted to drag out this war and block any chance of a proper independent investigation into Oct. 7th.”

President Donald Trump hosted his own early-bird 9/11 tribute after deciding to skip the official ceremony in New York City where politicians aren’t allowed to speak. His speech Tuesday demonstrated why that kind of rule is necessary.

The president hosted first responders and officials at the White House for a deeply unserious speech intended to commemorate those lost in the deadly attacks on September 11, but mostly focused on boosting his own disastrous agenda.

Trump began by ranting about his shameful militarization and beautification efforts in Washington, D.C., which have cost taxpayers nearly two billion dollars.

He then tied the deadly terrorist attacks on 9/11 to his ongoing military campaign in Iran. “A certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it,” Trump said, claiming Iran had been “punished greatly.”

After giving some shout-outs to various Cabinet members and Republican lawmakers in the audience, Trump briefly recounted his experience of watching the Twin Towers fall before veering into observations about something else entirely: The U.S. Steel Building, known as One Liberty Plaza, also “creaked a lot,” according to the president.

“We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big strong guys—and I’m not the smallest guy in the world—they grabbed me under the arm, and they said, ‘Gotta get out of here,’ and they literally lifted me up. This is not easy to do. I’m big, they lifted me up and started running with me,” Trump said.

Of course, One Liberty Plaza did not fall down, and Trump’s anecdote only served to make light of the experience of New Yorkers who didn’t have their own skyscrapers from which to survey the damage and chaos of 9/11.

Trump also took a moment to thank law enforcement, before turning it into a political jab.

“Our law enforcement holds our country together in light of some threats, we have some very real threats right now. We have people that want to go a different way. They want to go a communistic way, well that’s not gonna work,” Trump said. “Number one we’re not gonna let it happen, but that’s not gonna work.”

Trump reportedly decided to ditch the official memorial at Ground Zero on Friday after organizers told him he would not be invited to speak at the event. While Trump is not known for giving solemn speeches, and regularly detours into the political and absurd, in this case the organizers’ decision was merely a matter of precedent.

As part of its “Steel Across America” tour, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation will display a 21-foot, 16,9000-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center on the White House Ellipse, which has been closed to the public.

It’s well known that Donald Trump has made a pretty penny off of taxpayers by spending his downtime at his various Trump-branded properties and golf clubs. But the buck doesn’t stop there, as Trump has reportedly been milking his Secret Service agents for cash as well.

America’s billionaire president has a particular affinity for the hot dogs served near the eleventh hole at Trump National Golf Club outside Washington, D.C.

“He has this weird, very odd pride about how good the hot dogs are,” a former club employee told Forbes.

“That’s his thing,” they continued, adding that Trump personally ensures everyone in his orbit enjoys a club glizzy. “The chef has to be out there. And he’s like, ‘Chef, get everyone a hot dog—all these guys.’”

That could include as many as 30 golf carts full of Secret Service agents that need to escort the president around the course, according to Forbes.

At times, the hot dog stand has as many as 50 dogs prepared for the entourage—though none of them is on the house.

“There, in one all-beef transaction, is the Trump presidency in miniature,” reported Forbes. “Trump owns the club. Trump controls the chef. Trump doles out the hot dogs. Trump watches everyone eat them. Then Trump’s business sends the government the bill.”

It was not immediately clear how much each dog costs, but prices vary across his various clubs. At Mar-a-Lago, a wiener can run as much as $25. Trump National Doral Miami serves a $45 “Trump Dog,” which features a footlong wagyu sausage. Prices—and menu items—are more modest at Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia, where a traditional hot dog costs about $10.

Trump’s golf obsession is no secret. He has thus far spent at least 135 of the 596 days of his second term on the links—a little under a quarter of his term. He has totaled more than 1,400 hours playing golf, much of which has happened on his own properties.

Before entering politics, Republican Senator Roger Marshall, an obstetrician-gynecologist, routinely sued his patients for medical debts, charging exorbitant interest. 

The New York Times reports that Marshall, who is facing reelection in Kansas in November, sued over 700 patients for failure to pay medical bills, with 81 of them getting arrested as a result. In some cases, Marshall had bank accounts garnished, and regularly charged patients 18 percent interest annually. 

Marshall reportedly took legal action over debts as little as $101. Half of his lawsuits were filed under his name, while the rest were filed under his practice, Heartland Regional OBGYN, which he owned by himself from 1998 to 2012 before splitting ownership with another doctor from 2013 to 2019. Marshall stopped practicing medicine in 2016 after he was elected to Congress, but continued trying to collect some of the debts after that between 2017 and 2021. 

Many of the patients he sued were new mothers in Barton County, Kansas, a rural area where many lived in poverty and didn’t have health insurance or had policies that didn’t fully cover their medical bills. One woman was sued when her baby was nine months old over a $129 bill from a postpartum visit, and eventually had her wages garnished. 

“I was recently divorced, trying to do everything on my own,” Kellie Clutts told the Times. “I told them I could make partial payments, but it seemed like no matter what I said, they wanted the full amount at once.”

A spokeswoman for Marshall said that he spent decades treating patients regardless of income level, adding, “Judges issue warrants when people repeatedly miss court dates, not doctors.”  

The Times, however, cited court documents showing that Marshall regularly sought arrest warrants for unpaid bills. In 2007, Joe Vasquez and his wife were arrested in front of their grandchildren over an unpaid $4,561 bill for an emergency hysterectomy three years before. The Times interviewed eight people who were sued by Marshall between 2003 and 2015, and many of them were living paycheck to paycheck. Two of them were being sued over bills for late miscarriages requiring surgery. 

Despite his medical background, Marshall fought for the Affordable Care Act to be repealed, claiming in 2017 that “there is a group of people that just don’t want health care and aren’t going to take care of themselves.” He’s also tried to downplay the impact of higher fuel prices on struggling Americans, saying that paying more for gas is a good thing. 

Marshall should perhaps change his tone, because the latest polls in his reelection fight have him either neck-and-neck or behind his Democratic challenger, Adam Hamilton, a pastor. Voters in Kansas might decide they want a senator with some compassion instead of a doctor shaking down his patients for cash.