Top Items:
Sarah Ferris / CNN:
Senate Republicans drop Trump ballroom funding from immigration bill — Congressional news Donald Trump Immigration — Senate Republicans have formally removed funding for President Donald Trump's ballroom security as part of their sprawling immigration funding package, according to revised legislative text released Wednesday.
Discussion:
New York Times, MS NOW, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, NewsMax.com, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CBS News, KRDO, Newsweek, The Hill, Reuters and New York Sun
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Magan Crane / Bloomberg:
Trump Blames Court Block for Collapse of ‘Weaponization’ Fund — President Donald Trump said his administration was dropping plans for a $1.8 billion fund to pay victims of alleged government “weaponization” only because a federal court temporarily blocked the move, which had become a political lightning rod.
Farrah Tomazin / The Daily Beast:
Trump Humiliated After Senators Pull Ballroom Cash — DANCE FLOORED — The decision has left the future of security funding for the project uncertain. — Donald Trump's White House ballroom was dealt a blow after Senate Republicans formally abandoned their efforts to provide $1 billion in taxpayer funding for the project.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and MS NOW
Mike Zapler / Axios:
Thune hits breaking point with Trump
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Metro.co.uk, Raw Story, Mail Online, CBS News, NBC News and MS NOW
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate GOP drops $1 billion for White House ballroom from budget package
Senate GOP drops $1 billion for White House ballroom from budget package
Discussion:
CNBC, Washington Examiner, The Guardian, The Independent and New Republic
Robert Tait / Reuters:
Trump suggests he will make Todd Blanche permanent US attorney general
Trump suggests he will make Todd Blanche permanent US attorney general
Discussion:
Breitbart, Bloomberg, The Hill, NewsMax.com, New York Sun, Above the Law, New Republic, UPI, CBS News, The Daily Signal, New York Times, NBC News, IJR and Washington Examiner
NBC News:
House votes to rebuke Trump over war with Iran — The House passed a largely symbolic war powers resolution Wednesday over objections from Republican leaders that it would “weaken the president's hand” in negotiations with Iran. — WASHINGTON — The House offered a rare rebuke …
Discussion:
CNN, Reuters, Politico and The Independent
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Wall Street Journal:
GOP-Led House Votes to Limit Trump's Iran War Powers — Effort to constrain White House comes as war has morphed from a heavy bombing campaign to a fragile ceasefire — WASHINGTON-The GOP-led House voted to restrict President Trump's ability to continue the war against Iran without congressional approval …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Independent and Raw Story
Reuters:
Trump says Iran has agreed to not have a nuclear weapon — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran has agreed not to have a nuclear weapon and that he would probably meet with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at some point if things “work out”. — “They've already agreed they're …
Mike Lillis / The Hill:
House passes resolution to end the Iran War — House lawmakers on Wednesday passed legislation designed to force President Trump to end the Iran War, marking a victory for Democrats and the constitutional purists who say the conflict is illegal without explicit congressional approval.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, CBS News, IJR, Newsweek and Los Angeles Times
Washington Post:
In a first, House votes to block Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran — The Senate advanced a similar war powers resolution last month on a procedural vote, reflecting growing impatience with a conflict Congress hasn't authorized. — Summary — The House passed a resolution Wednesday …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Washington Examiner, MS NOW, Washington Times, New York Times, The Independent and RealClearPolitics
Erich Wagner / GovExec.com:
Trump signs order moving thousands of federal employees into Schedule F — President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order formally converting nearly 10,000 career federal workers into Schedule Policy/Career, making them effectively at-will employees.
Discussion:
The White House and Balls and Strikes
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Gregory Korte / Bloomberg:
Trump Order Makes It Easier to Fire Agency Staffers At Will
Paul Krugman:
Trump Has Given Up — Another day of many errands and meetings, so another short, informal post. — Donald Trump will never admit that his gratuitous Iran war has been a total disaster. But the debacle has clearly broken him. So we are now saddled with a president who has given up governing …
Discussion:
Civil Discourse …, NewsMax.com, Washington Examiner, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Hill, Forbes and The Atlantic
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New York Times:
This Man Should Not Be in Charge of National Intelligence — In the 20th century, Americans learned how government abuse of secrets can threaten liberty. It happened during Woodrow Wilson's presidency, the McCarthy era and J. Edgar Hoover's long reign at the F.B.I. After the Watergate scandal …
Discussion:
New Republic, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Hill, The Mahablog and Military.com
Hayes Brown / MS NOW:
Bill Pulte is Trump's most dangerously sycophantic promotion yet — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte would become acting director of national intelligence. Pulte is stepping in to replace Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned from her post last month.
Punchbowl News:
Dems threaten FISA over Pulte
Discussion:
The Guardian, New York Magazine, The Contrarian, Defense One, Salon, The Hill, Bloomberg, NPR, Semafor, New Republic, NOTUS, Politico, MS NOW, Associated Press, Responsible Statecraft and Blue Virginia
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Bill Pulte Is a Putz—But a Dangerous Putz
Bill Pulte Is a Putz—But a Dangerous Putz
Discussion:
New York Times, CBS News, The Hill, Washington Examiner, MS NOW, Forbes, The Atlantic, New York Magazine and Politico
Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
America Broke Something When It Gave Trump a Second Chance — The Heritage Foundation's “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise” — popularly known as Project 2025 — was much more than a wish list of conservative policy preferences. It was much more, even, than a blueprint for a second Trump administration.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money and Talking Points Memo
New York Times:
CBS News Fires Scott Pelley of ‘60 Minutes’ — Mr. Pelley, a longtime correspondent and former “CBS Evening News” anchor, harshly criticized the show's leadership during a staff meeting on Monday. — CBS News fired Scott Pelley on Tuesday, he said, jettisoning one of the network's best-known journalists …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Washington Free Beacon, NBC News, PJ Media, Blaze Media, MS NOW, Townhall, Rolling Stone, Public, NewsMax.com, NextDraft, New Republic, U.S. Home, Fox News, Megyn Kelly, Newsbusters, ZeroHedge News, The Post Millennial, The Hill, Forbes, UPI, The Guardian, IJR, CBS News, Deadline, The Wrap, Instapundit, Boston.com, Advocate, Mediaite, Poynter, Politico and HotAir, more at Mediagazer »
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Oliver Darcy / Status:
Clock Strikes Midnight for Pelley
Discussion:
New York Times, New Republic, Washington Post, The Wrap, New York Post, Newsbusters, NPR, Fox News, The Bulwark, KRDO, Forbes, The Maine Wire, New York Sun, Deadline, The Daily Wire, Raw Story, HuffPost, Poynter, Rolling Stone, The Gateway Pundit, Al Jazeera, Yahoo Entertainment, Breitbart, Wall Street Journal, RedState, TMZ.com, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Mediaite, CNN, MS NOW, WXIA-TV and Public, more at Mediagazer »
Tara Suter / The Hill:
Trump: 'Scott Pelley's a stiff'
Trump: 'Scott Pelley's a stiff'
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Wrap, IJR, Raw Story, HuffPost and Los Angeles Times, more at Mediagazer »
G. Elliott Morris / Substack:
G. Elliott Morris — This chart from the latest YouGov/Economist poll result is really quite stunning. Trump's net approval is not only deeply negative, but about 15(!!) points below what it was at this point in 2018. With this data you'd expect this year's midterms to be even worse …
Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:
Senate Confirms Trump Court Pick Rated ‘Not Qualified’ To Be A Federal Judge — Katie Lane, the first of Trump's judicial nominees to earn the abysmal ABA rating in his second term, now has a lifetime seat on a Montana district court. — WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans voted Tuesday …
Discussion:
Reuters
Dan Maurer / Lawfare:
Rules of Engagement When the Troops Appear at Polling Sites — State election officials can mitigate the perils of federal “armed men” at the polls. — Meet The Authors — Open, noncoercive, and safe elections are a hallmark of a healthy democracy. Today, those characteristics are in jeopardy.
Matt Burgess / Wired:
xAI Asks Court to Strip Alleged Grok Deepfake Nudes Victims of Anonymity — Four people suing Elon Musk's AI firm under pseudonyms due to the risks of being identified may face a difficult choice: Reveal your real names, or drop the lawsuit. — Elon Musk's artificial intelligence firm …
Discussion:
The Guardian
Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:
Ken Calvert, Young Kim Appear Headed To Ugly GOP Runoff For California House Seat — Both are currently Republicans in Congress, but Democrats lumped them into a newly redrawn district and made them run against each other. — WASHINGTON — Republican Reps. Ken Calvert and Young Kim appear headed …
Discussion:
NBC News, CBS News, The Hill and Washington Examiner
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Ryan Cooper / American Prospect:
Aftermath: Something Is Going to Snap — This story was first featured in the Aftermath newsletter, a series from David Dayen exploring the economic consequences of the war in Iran. To have these stories delivered to your in-box as soon as they are published, sign up for the newsletter here.
Discussion:
Washington Post and Asia Times
Ben Chapman / New York Post:
Feds raid $35M SoCal mansion of tech boss charged with sending secret shipments to Iranian military, nuclear programs — See more of our coverage in your search results. — Add The California Post on Google — Federal agents, in a daring predawn raid Wednesday, pounced on the opulent …
Discussion:
US Department of Justice, Townhall, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times, Dallas Express, NewsMax.com, KTLA, U.S. Home and abc7NY
Holly Otterbein / Axios:
Primaries leave muddled picture of Dems' way ahead … - Iowa's Senate primary: Moderate state lawmaker Josh Turek easily topped Zach Wahls, a progressive endorsed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), with a $10 million assist from an organization often aligned with the Democratic establishment.
Discussion:
Politico, American Prospect, The San Francisco Standard and The Intercept
Washington Post:
Americans' national parks passes will pay for Trump's July 4 plans, documents show — Entry fees are going toward a $1.6 million fireworks display and D.C. beautification, while donations will fund a $5 million helipad at the White House. — Summary — The Trump administration is diverting …
Discussion:
Straight Arrow, New Republic, NewsMax.com, Raw Story and The Independent
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
U.S. Support for LGBTQ+ Issues Remains Down From Peak — WASHINGTON, D.C. — After two decades of rising support for LGBTQ+ issues, U.S. attitudes have plateaued and begun to slide back modestly. Approval of same-sex marriage, moral acceptance of gay and lesbian relations …
Discussion:
Axios, Fox News, The Daily Wire, RedState, Louder With Crowder, Advocate, LGBTQ Nation, The Daily Caller, The Daily Signal, PinkNews and New York Times
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
‘Infuriated’ Former Judges Take on Trump — Critics say it is unseemly for retired judges to trade on the prestige of their former positions. — Judges retain a special status even after they hang up their robes. Addressing them in a 2020 article, an American Bar Association official …
Slate:
The Supreme Court Just Transformed Its Horrible Voting Rights Ruling Into Something More Calamitous — This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate's coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court. The best way to support our work—and unlock exclusive legal analysis—is by joining Slate Plus.
Discussion:
Election Law Blog, Above the Law, Democracy Docket, Alabama Political Reporter, Blaze Media, Los Angeles Times, KRDO, Vox, New Republic and Newsweek
Nate Jones / Washington Post:
Trump library says no Twitter DMs can be found, despite evidence he sent them — Records show that Trump's first administration opted not to save DMs in its library archives, raising questions about compliance with the Presidential Records Act. — Summary
Discussion:
The Atlantic, The Independent and Raw Story
Emily Hallas / Washington Examiner:
Thune calls out ‘bizarre’ copycat candidate in Dan Sullivan Senate race: ‘Designed to confuse’ — A closely watched U.S. Senate campaign in Alaska is stoking controversy after a candidate bearing the same name as one of the major candidates entered the race.
Discussion:
Straight Arrow, NewsMax.com, Associated Press, NBC News, Alaska Story, Washington Times, Townhall and Raw Story
NBC News:
GOP Rep. Andy Ogles deletes homophobic social media post, blames staffer — The now-deleted comment, which received pushback from both Democrats and Republicans, read: “Homosexuality has no place in America. Happy Nuclear Family Month.” — Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn. …
Discussion:
Washington Post, KRDO, The Spectator, TMZ.com, Advocate, Raw Story, LGBTQ Nation, Rolling Stone, The Hill, Newsweek, PinkNews, HuffPost, Washington Examiner and Mediaite

