Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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Tulsi Gabbard resigns as director of national intelligence, citing her husband’s health

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard resigned as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence on Friday, saying she needed to leave office as her husband battles cancer. She is the fourth Cabinet member to depart during Trump’s second term, all of them women.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-tulsi-gabbard-director-national-intelligence-iran-788f1f14259d72bd7936fa2e83149efa?

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Trump Squeals in Self-Pity at Fury Over $1.8B Grift Fund

The president complained that he gave up “a lot of money” by allowing the revenge fund to be created.

President Donald Trump has defended his $1.8 billion revenge slush fund, complaining that he gave up “a lot of money” for the controversial scheme.

Days after insisting he had nothing to do with setting up the fund, the billionaire president posted on Truth Social, saying he allowed the initiative to be created so he could help others.

“I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward,” he wrote.

“I could have settled my case, including the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal BREAK IN of Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune. Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!”

The comments come as the backlash against the fund continued on Friday, with congressional Republicans in open rebellion, MAGA grifters lining up for a taxpayer-funded cut, and Capitol Hill lawsuits in full swing.

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis called the scheme “stupid on stilts,” and Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick spearheaded a bipartisan House effort to kill the fund in its current form, while former GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took aim at acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who helped broker the deal.

“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops?” McConnell asked. “Utterly stupid, morally wrong—Take your pick.”

Trump’s complaint about losing money comes despite the president’s wealth growing as he sits in the Oval Office.

According to Forbes, his net worth is estimated at $6.5-$7.3 billion. This is largely due to significant investments and proceeds from cryptocurrency ventures; a growing family portfolio of office towers, golf resorts, and licensing deals worldwide; and substantial equity in the parent company of Truth Social.

But the fund is becoming a growing headache for the administration, with critics saying it would give Trump and his allies enormous influence over who receives taxpayer money, including January 6 rioters who assaulted police.

Several MAGA acolytes have already said they would be applying for compensation.

Among them is Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader who was sentenced ‌to 22 years for “seditious conspiracy” in relation to the January 6 attack. He estimated his claim could be worth between $2 million and $5 million.

Election denier Mike Lindell is also seeking a payout, arguing that his company, MyPillow, lost $400 million due to perceived government weaponization.

And GOP Congressman Andrew Clyde, who was previously embroiled in a messy legal battle with the Internal Revenue Service, did not rule out using the fund himself during an interview with Politico on Thursday.

The backlash has exposed deepening GOP fractures, with senators now demanding limits on who can cash in, while House Republicans skipped town early and blew off a deadline on an immigration enforcement bill as a result of the divisions.

The issue is also rapidly becoming a defining test for Blanche, who was once regarded as one of New York’s more respected white-collar lawyers but is now viewed in Washington as Trump’s personal fixer inside the Justice Department.

Blanche, who is auditioning to become Trump’s full-time attorney general following Pam Bondi’s sacking earlier this year, signed off on the fund after Trump agreed to drop a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leaking of his tax records.

But in another stunning development, he added a clause to the deal declaring the federal government was ”forever barred and precluded" from examining or prosecuting Trump, his sons, and the Trump organization’s current tax issues.

The acting attorney general was was grilled by Republicans and Democrats alike this week over the opaque backroom deal, including why the DOJ was signing off on an initiative tied to IRS settlements and taxpayer payouts that critics say should fall under the Treasury Department.

But Blanche and Trump have both defended the scheme, with the president describing it as a small price to pay for alleged weaponization by the Obama and Biden administrations.

“What they did in terms of weaponization will never be allowed to happen in this country again,” Trump said earlier this week.

“We think that anybody involved in that process should partake, and you’re talking about peanuts compared to the value. It destroyed the lives of many, many people.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/billionaire-trump-whines-about-lost-cash-in-slush-fund-deal/?

ps:Pathetic

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Jailed Trump Fixer Plots Wild Grift Fund Cash Grab

Michael Cohen, now a fervent Trump critic, claims to have suffered “identical” wrongs to those that prompted the president to sue his own administration for $10 billion.

Donald Trump is wringing $1.8 billion out of his own administration and his disgraced former fixer wants a slice of the action.

Michael Cohen says he plans to ask for money from the Justice Department’s new slush fund for Trump allies who claim they were persecuted under the Joe Biden administration. Cohen is a former Trump lawyer who served jail time for tax evasion, lying to Congress, and making hush money payments to a porn star with whom the president is alleged to have had an extramarital affair.

He’s since reinvented himself as a staunch Trump critic. That effort would not seem to extend as far as snubbing the latest windfall for the president’s allies. “I am working through the process on my own and will submit the letter directly to the DOJ once completed,” he told CBS on Thursday.

“The basis for which Trump instituted the $10 billion action are the same causes of action that have affected me as well,” he went on. “[It] has cost me my law license, my businesses, finances, family happiness, business relationships and opportunities.”

Trump’s $10 billion suit against the IRS, alleging the agency failed to stop a former contractor leaking the president’s tax returns to The New York Times in 2020, landed in January. The IRS was under Trump’s control when the documents were leaked, and has been for the duration of his legal action.

His administration has now come up with a novel solution for the unprecedented puzzle of effectively defending itself from itself by seeing off the action with a pledge to create a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund for payouts to Trump allies who claim to have been unfairly prosecuted under Biden.

Cohen’s catalogue of crimes was assembled across two cases in 2018. He pleaded guilty in August of that year to five counts of tax evasion tied to his taxi medallion business, one of making false statements to a bank, and two campaign finance violations covering hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels on the president’s behalf.

Trump’s former attorney also pleaded guilty separately that November to lying to Congress, in a case brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office, about the timeline of negotiations for the president’s abortive Trump Tower Moscow project during the 2016 election.

Cohen made no mention of persecution at his sentencing in December 2018. Instead, he accepted responsibility for his actions, while also heaping a large portion of the blame on the president himself.

“My weakness can be characterized as a blind loyalty to Donald Trump, and I was weak for not having the strength to question and to refuse his demands,” he told a judge then.

It’s a line he’s cleaved to since, variously describing the president as a “cult leader,” an “organized crime don,” “poster boy for facism,” and a “master manipulator” since his release from federal prison in 2020.

The Daily Beast has contacted the Justice Department for comment on this story.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jailed-trump-fixer-michael-cohen-plots-cash-grab-from-justice-departments-new-anti-weaponization-fund/?

ps:How pathetic is that?????

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Top Republican Leads Mutiny Against Trump’s $1.8B Grift Fund

Some GOP senators are taking their private outrage public.

A top Republican senator blasted President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion vengeance fund as “stupid on stilts”—and called on his GOP Senate colleagues to publicly condemn it. The Department of Justice this week announced a $1.776 billion fund that will make secret payments to Jan. 6 rioters and other Trump allies who say they were wrongly prosecuted by the Biden administration, without any legal or congressional oversight.The fund has sparked fury on both sides of the aisle, with Republican senators refusing to vote on an immigration funding bill in protest, and “erupting” at acting attorney general Todd Blanche during a closed-door meeting on Thursday.

Some Republican senators, including Thom Tillis of North Carolina, are also publicly sharing their unfiltered thoughts on the taxpayer-funded plan.

“These people don’t deserve restitution,” he told reporters on Thursday. “Many of them deserve to be in prison. This is just stupid on stilts.”

Tillis, who serves on five Senate committees but announced last year that he wasn’t seeking re-election this fall, also said he had colleagues who shared his concerns—and that they “needed to speak up.”

“This is beyond the pale,” he added. “This is not good for my colleagues. There’s not one positive thing that could be spun out of this between now and November. This is bad policy. It’s bad timing, and it’s bad politics.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who is also retiring this fall, had a similarly scathing assessment of the fund, which would be overseen by five commissioners handpicked by Blanche—who was previously Trump’s personal attorney—and could be removed by the president at will.

The recipients will remain anonymous, along with the amounts they receive, and Blanche has refused to rule out the possibility that Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump after being convicted of violent crimes could apply for payouts from the fund.

“So, the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong—Take your pick,” McConnell told reporters Thursday.

Republican Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana have also spoken out against the fund.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.

Trump and the DOJ have tried to claim the fund was created as part of a “settlement agreement” in exchange for the president dropping a lawsuit against his own Internal Revenue Service over tax returns that were leaked by an independent contractor during his first term in office.

The judge in the case, however, had expressed doubts that the suit addressed a genuine case or controversy involving actual adversaries, since Trump himself oversees the IRS.

Rather than respond to the judge’s inquiries and face the very real prospect of the case being thrown out, Trump withdrew the suit without referencing or submitting a settlement to the court, Judge Kathleen Williams wrote in her order dismissing the case.

During Thursday’s closed-door meeting with Blanche, which lasted nearly two hours, up to 25 Republican senators spoke out against the fund.

Their reactions were “incredibly hostile,” multiple senators told Punchbowl’s Andrew Desiderio, as they demanded certain guardrails be put in place.

Thanks to the controversy, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota sent lawmakers home for the Memorial Day recess without voting on a reconciliation package that would allocate an additional $70 million to immigration enforcement through 2029.

The move reportedly infuriated Trump, who has demanded that Congress pass the reconciliation bill by June 1.

The funding bill was already facing some Republican opposition in the Senate after Trump’s allies attempted to include $1 billion in funding for the president’s White House ballroom.

Trump originally said the project would cost $100 million and be paid for entirely with private donations.

Now, the White House is demanding ten times that amount in public funds to build a six-story underground military bunker beneath the event space, would serve as a “shield” for the complex below, Trump told reporters this week.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-republican-thom-tillis-leads-mutiny-against-donald-trumps-18b-grift-fund/?

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Trump Hits Devastating Three-Year Low in Damning Poll

Voters are calling BS on the president’s pledges of an economic golden age under his watch.

Donald Trump’s second administration has seen voter confidence in U.S. economic performance plummet to its lowest point in three years.

The president sailed back into office last year on a pledge to increase affordability and fatten paychecks across the country. A meager 16 percent of voters now say the economy is doing well, with three quarters saying that conditions are only getting worse—the highest share since May 2023—according to the result of a new Gallup poll released Friday.

The survey also shows the highest numbers of Americans assuming a dim view of their future economic prospects than at almost any other point since January 2022, when inflation rocketed to 9 percent in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Washington Post, which reported the results of the Gallup poll Friday, added that Trump’s average approval ratings currently stand at just 36 percent, down four points since January and the lowest of either term since the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 riots in 2021.

Oil prices continue to dominate voter concerns. Trump’s war with Iran, launched on Feb. 28, and Tehran’s resulting shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, have sent gas rocketing up above $4.50 per gallon. The national average stood at just $2.90 prior to the conflict.

Experts say Trump’s flagship tariffs policy has only served to worsen the situation. D.C. think tank the Tax Foundation estimates the president’s levies against ally and enemy alike over the past year amount to a $1,500 hit for the average American household this year, up from $1,000 in 2025.

The damage has been increasingly reflected in polling numbers, and not just on voter approval of the president’s performance now more than 15 months into his second term.

Poll-tracking site Silver Bulletin shows Democrats with an almost seven point lead on the generic congressional ballot ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The Daily Beast contacted the White House for comment on this story. “The American economy has been resilient under President Trump because his economic agenda has a proven track record,” spokesperson Kush Desai said. “Americans can rest assured that as this agenda continues taking effect, and as Congress passes more of the President’s healthcare and housing affordability agenda, the best is yet to come in the second Trump term.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/president-trump-hits-devastating-three-year-low-in-damning-poll-on-the-us-economy/?

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This Is What Makes Trump’s Slush Fund Worse Than Nixon’s

Republicans told Richard Nixon they could no longer support him two years after he won the presidency in a landslide. Could Trump’s $1.8 billion “weaponization fund” be his tipping point?

It seemed inconceivable when Richard Nixon won a historic presidential election victory in 1972 that his own Republican Party would turn on him two years later and drive him from office.

There was the subsequent Watergate break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters, of course, and the discovery that the president bugged the Oval Office. But it was Nixon’s secret $700,000 slush fund that was the final nail in the coffin.

He used this money from rich friends—including $100,000 from reclusive millionaire Howard Hughes—to pay for the dirty tricks exposed by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

Nixon famously declared, “I am not a crook.”

But he was, and that quickly became apparent as his White House scheming unraveled and his clandestine slush fund was exposed.

On Aug. 7, 1974, a Republican delegation composed of Senator Barry Goldwater, Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott, and House Minority Leader John Rhodes met with Nixon at the White House to deliver an ultimatum.

“There’s not more than 15 senators for you,” Goldwater told Nixon. His impeachment was almost certain.

Nixon announced his resignation the following evening.

When Donald Trump swept into the White House for a second time on the back of a decisive 2024 victory and proceeded to bully his own party into submission in Congress, he also appeared untouchable.

As recently as this week, the president was able to force out two old-school Republicans, Bill Cassidy and Thomas Massie, by corralling his base to successfully primary them, and to humiliate another, John Cornyn, because he wasn’t sufficiently MAGA.

But a week is a long time in politics.

There were the usual moans from Congress and around the country on Monday when Trump’s acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, announced an unprecedented settlement accompanying the president’s decision to withdraw his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the disclosure of his tax records (which most presidents make public willingly).

A $1.776 billion fund would be established to compensate people who claim they have been politically targeted by the government.

By government, he meant the Obama and Biden administrations. Blanche sent a clear message of defiance by refusing to rule out rioters pardoned of Jan. 6 offenses as potential beneficiaries.

In effect, Trump was the plaintiff in the suit, and his own government was the defendant. Although he claimed to know nothing about it, the president was also party to the final outcome. The scheme was seen as a method of funneling cash to his political allies.

Perhaps we have become immune to the excesses of the Trump administration and its grifting, but there was a general sense of helplessness in the country. Even apathy. This is what he does, seemed to be the takeaway from most jaded observers.

On his podcast on Wednesday, Jon Stewart pointed out the obvious distinction between the Nixon slush fund and the Trump one.

Talking about Watergate, Stewart remarked: “Think about that in comparison to $1.8 billion of taxpayer money, at least I think Nixon’s slush fund was donors! At least it was stand-up bribery.

“This is f---ing OUR money. I mean, it’s—do we even have a Congress or a court?”

Outraged, he continued, “It’s all Orwell. It’s all a ‘f--- you’ troll. Everything they’re doing is a ‘f--- you’ troll to us. ‘This is against the weaponization of it and it’s patriotic.’ They’re trolling us. His entire career is a troll.

“They’re going to give it to people that sprayed MACE at police officers and pretend that they’re rewarding patriotism.”

Democrats echoed Stewart’s outrage, as did a few Republicans already on the outs with Trump or planning to stand down before November’s midterms.

But then on Thursday, something seismic happened in Congress. Republican senators found a spine.

According to numerous reports, more than 25 outraged GOP lawmakers met with Blanche to express their anger and dismay at the “weaponization fund” that would come from the public purse.

They went on to hold Trump’s treasured $72 billion immigration enforcement bill hostage. It is meant to pay for ICE, border patrol, and other immigration operations, but the senators left for the Memorial Day recess without voting it through.

The senators were also grumbling about a previously undisclosed $1 billion that Trump wanted to pay for a six-story bunker beneath his White House ballroom, which he had promised would be financed by donors.

Even Trump had to concede he wasn’t sure if he still had control of the Senate.

There are 53 Republicans in a 100-member Senate. The margins of control are slim.

“Is it possible on May 21, 2026, Republicans finally found an ethical bridge too far?” asked Democrat Sen. Richard Durbin.

In 1972, Nixon amassed one of the biggest landslides in American history. He won more than 60 percent of the vote and captured 49 of the 50 states.

With a record victory margin of nearly 18 million votes, Nixon’s total of 520 electoral votes was close behind Franklin Roosevelt’s record-breaking 1936 re-election and Ronald Reagan’s re-election in 1984.

His victory stance ended up being a middle finger to those who voted for him.

Have the Republicans in the Senate reached a tipping point with Trump?

We may have to wait until the midterms to find out. But if Trump’s Republican Party has the disastrous election some are predicting, expect them to come back snarling.

And then Trump could have something else in common with Nixon. His own party could turn and tell him it’s time to go.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/nixons-watergate-slush-fund-was-from-donors-trump-is-using-our-money/?

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Trump’s Too Busy for Don Jr.’s Wedding—But Not Too Busy for Golf

An analysis of the president’s golfing and travel shows that he has spent the majority of his weekends outside Washington, but he could not leave the capital to attend his son’s wedding.

President Donald Trump says he is too busy to attend his eldest son’s wedding—but the demands of the presidency have not kept him off the golf course.

Despite hitting the links at least 14 times since going to war with Iran, according to online trackers and a Daily Beast analysis, Trump said his son’s Memorial Day weekend wedding was “not good timing” for him and that he needs to be in Washington.

That claim did not align with the president’s initial public schedule for the weekend, which said he planned to travel to his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey. However, Axios reported later on Friday that Trump will now stay in Washington after scrambling to fix the schedule.

Staying in Washington is inconsistent with how Trump has spent many of his weekends this spring, during which he has frequently jetted out of town despite the war.

That includes the weekends beginning March 7, March 13, March 21, March 28, April 24, and May 2. He was in China for a state visit in mid-May, but he headed for his Virginia golf club upon returning to Washington. He even skipped a “Rededicate 250” faith event on the National Mall that same weekend for a day at the golf club—though he appeared at the event virtually.

In total, Trump has golfed on at least 111 days, or 22.7 percent, of his second stint in office, according to an analysis by the Donald Trump Golf Tracker, which was confirmed by the Beast.

While Trump has time to spend hours on the links, a wedding is just too much.

“He’d like me to go, but it’s going to be just a small little private affair, and I’m going to try and make it, I’m in the midst—,” Trump said of Don Jr.’s wedding. “I said, ‘You know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things.’”

He continued, “That’s one I can’t win on. If I do attend, I get killed. If I don’t attend, I get killed—by the fake news, of course, I’m talking about. But he’s uh, [with] a person I’ve known for a long time and hopefully they’re gonna have a great marriage.”

The president confirmed in a Truth Social post on Friday afternoon that he would not be attending.

“While I very much wanted to be with my son, Don Jr., and the newest member of the Trump Family, his soon to be wife, Bettina, circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so,” he claimed. “I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time.”

Trump has found time to hit the links this spring—both to play, as he first did on March 8, just eight days after engulfing the United States in an unpopular war with Iran, and to attend tournaments at his courses in Miami and Virginia as a spectator, as he did on May 3 and May 9.

The president has hit the links so much, and with so much security, a HuffPost investigation published on March 28 found that taxpayers have spent more than $100 million to fund Trump’s favorite hobby. Since then, Trump has golfed an additional nine times, including at his courses in Palm Beach and Doral, Florida, and Sterling, Virginia.

The White House did not return a request for comment about Trump’s golfing.

Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson, who began dating after Don Jr. dumped Kimberly Guilfoyle in late 2024, will tie the knot on a private island in the Bahamas on Saturday in front of fewer than 50 guests.

CNN reports that all of Don Jr.’s siblings—Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany, and Barron—will attend. It is unclear whether first lady Melania Trump will make the trip.

While reports have described the wedding venue as a small Bahamian island, none pinpoint exactly where the younger Trump, 48, and Anderson, 39, will say “I do.” Some Bahamian islands, including Bimini, are less than 100 miles from Mar-a-Lago, where Trump spent time as recently as the first weekend of May.

On May 1, he spoke to seniors in The Villages, Florida, and then delivered remarks at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches that same night. He remained in South Florida the remainder of the weekend, and attended the PGA Cadillac Championship at his Doral golf club on May 3.

In an earlier trip, Trump attended a UFC fight in Miami on April 11—at the same time Vice President JD Vance was in Islamabad, Pakistan, leading peace talks with Iran that ultimately crumbled.

Trump even flew south on April 25 to celebrate with winners of his second annual $TRUMP meme coin contest at Mar-a-Lago, where the top 297 token holders attended a conference and gala luncheon.

The top 29 $TRUMP coin holders even received a VIP champagne toast with the president, something his own son will not get to experience on his second wedding day.

The thrice-married Trump was present for his eldest’s first marriage in 2005, when he tied the knot with Vanessa Kay Haydon at Mar-a-Lago. That ceremony was attended by around 370 guests, mere months after Trump and Melania got hitched and held their reception at the same venue.

Don Jr. and Vanessa were married for over a decade and share five children: Kai Trump, 19; Donald J. Trump III (Donny), 17; Tristan Trump, 14; Spencer Trump, 13; and Chloe Sophia Trump, 11.

While Don Jr.’s official ceremony is in the Bahamas, The Daily Mail revealed Friday that he and Bettina have already legally tied the knot in Florida this week.

A marriage certificate obtained by the Daily Beast shows that the two were officially wedded at the West Palm Beach home of Anderson’s sister, Kristina McPherson, on Thursday. The Trump family has not publicly acknowledged the ceremony.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-too-busy-for-don-jrs-weddingbut-not-too-busy-for-golf/?

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Republicans sour on Trump economy

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images President Trump promised an economic golden age when he returned to office last year. Instead, voters are in their crankiest mood in years about their financial outlook — and the pessimism is spreading even to Republicans, Axios' Mike Zapler writes. Why it matters: The growing GOP gloom could hardly come at a worse time for Trump and the party — less than six months out from a midterm that's likely to turn on the economy. 📉 Trump's approval rating has been dropping for months. But the University of Michigan's May consumer sentiment survey released yesterday revealed something more striking: Republicans are beginning to lose confidence in the economy, too. Republican and independent voters' attitudes about the economy hit a low point in Trump's second term, per the survey. Overall sentiment hit an all-time low, period. Expectations that inflation will remain high shot up among everyone surveyed, but especially Republicans. The long-run inflation expectations for Republicans "are currently more than double their February 2025 reading on a monthly basis," the Michigan survey found. Data: University of Michigan. Chart: Axios Visuals 🧮 By the numbers: An AP/NORC poll out this week found that around 6 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump's handling of the economy. That's down from about 8 in 10 in February. Gallup's gauge of consumer economic confidence released yesterday found that Republicans' economic outlook has dipped for the past four months, to the lowest level of Trump's second term. A CBS News/YouGov poll this month told much the same story: Just 36% of Republicans said Trump's policies were making them financially better off.

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🐘 Trump's revenge campaign backfires

President Trump. Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Bloomberg via Getty Images President Trump's week started in triumph when he took out a pair of Republican adversaries up for reelection — but ended in a rare moment of Republican resistance, largely of his own making, Zapler writes. Why it matters: Trump has spent the better part of a decade steamrolling congressional Republicans. But the costs of his revenge tour — and some politically toxic priorities — have caught up with him. 👋 Just as the Senate was getting ready to take up a reconciliation bill Thursday to fund immigration enforcement, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) suddenly sent the chamber home until June. The move spared Republicans from having to vote on Trump's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" to compensate people his administration says were targeted by the Biden Justice Department. The fund was turning into a political debacle on the Hill — a "slush fund" to critics in both parties. Republicans also might've been forced to vote on security funding for Trump's White House ballroom.