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Recent health code violations at Trump National Golf Club Washington D.C. were apparently “politically motivated,” according to the club.Membership at the luxury club starts with a $100,000 initiation fee, but its price tag evidently does not assure total cleanliness. Health inspectors that visited the site on June 30 found pest problems, a lack of adequate handwashing facilities, and a slew of food safety violations.Yet the golf club has not only denied the Health and Human Services report obtained by NOTUS, it also suggested that the reported problems were merely a political construct.“We operate our properties to the highest health and safety standards. These so-called ‘violations’ are fabricated, politically motivated, and completely without merit. We stand firmly behind the integrity of our operations and reject these baseless claims,” the golf course told NOTUS in a statement.A health inspector spotted “a large quantity of small flies in the storage room near the employee restrooms,” per the report. The inspector also wrote that the facility was using and storing pest control products unfit for use in a food establishment, though they observed that the club remedied the situation by removing the “pesticides from the food establishment.”At the club’s more casual eatery, the inspector noted that several food products were stored at temperatures warmer than permitted by the health code, including blue cheese, sausage links, sausage patties, and pasta. All of those foods were kept at temperatures within a range referred to by the USDA as the “danger zone,” as it permits the sudden growth of dangerous bacteria—such as salmonella, E. coli, and staph—that can cause food poisoning, or even death.“The person in charge voluntarily discarded the blue cheese and sausage,” the inspector wrote.Donald Trump’s D.C. club is far from the only property under his company umbrella that has experienced unsavory health code violations. Health officials found insects, rodents, and dirty surfaces at Trump National Golf Club Westchester, and the Trump International Hotel in Chicago has also found itself plagued by flies, NOTUS reported earlier this year.

The Trump administration’s broader proposal requests nearly $1.5 trillion in total military-related spending for 2027.

Elon Musk may have broken the law when he got involved in the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election.The Wisconsin Elections Commission referred two complaints to the Brown County district attorney’s office last week, saying that Musk’s promise to hand out $1 million checks to voters could have been election bribery. The tech CEO and groups he backed spent at least $20 million in support of the Republican-backed candidate, Brad Schimel, in a bid to flip control of the court to conservatives. Schimel ended up losing the election to the Democratic-backed candidate, Susan Crawford.The commission voted 5-1 in a closed session to refer two confidential complaints from Milwaukee and Green Bay, and under state law, prosecutors have 40 days to notify the commission on whether they decide to prosecute. At issue is “a social media post that offered one million dollars to individuals who voted in the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court Election in order to induce them to vote in that election,” the commission’s motion stated.“On Sunday night, I will give a talk in Wisconsin,” Musk posted on X at the time. “Entrance is limited to those who have voted in the Supreme Court election. I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote. This is super important.”Musk deleted that post, and then posted again the same day attempting to clarify that “entrance is limited to those who have signed the petition in opposition to activist judges. I will also hand over checks for a million dollars to two people to be spokesmen for the petition.”Musk gave out two $1 million checks at a Brown County rally on March 30, 2025, two days before the election. His America PAC gave out another $1 million check to a different Wisconsin voter who signed the petition against “activist judges.” Throughout the campaign, the PAC offered to send registered voters in the state $100 to either sign the petition or refer another person to sign it.Musk escaped any consequences for offering million-dollar giveaways to voters during the 2024 presidential election. Now, it seems he might face the music for getting involved in a smaller election, one that didn’t even pay off for him in the end.

Comedian and podcast sensation Adam Friedland is unlike any guest WNK has had. Buckle your seatbelts for this one.

A version of the below article first appeared in David Corn’s newsletter, Our Land. The newsletter comes out twice a week (most of the time) and provides behind-the-scenes stories and articles about politics, media, and culture. Subscribing costs just $5 a month—but you can sign up for a free 30-day trial. Before I get to the most extreme Republican candidate… By […]