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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 […]

The U.S. Treasury Department has unveiled a new $1 gold coin with President Trump’s face on it.“As America commemorates 250 years of independence, the US Mint will begin striking this new $1 gold coin to honor the enduring legacy of liberty and a lasting symbol of patriotism,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote Wednesday morning. “Featuring President Trump, it celebrates the strength of American values, and the promise of a nation dedicated to preserving freedom for all.”This move is technically illegal, as the Presidential $1 Coin Act proclaims that no coin shall “bear the image of a living former or current President,” until at least two years after their death.* The Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 also holds that living people cannot appear on the back of a coin. The Trump administration is trying to skirt those laws by arguing that the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act allows the president to create memorial coins to celebrate America’s 250th.A Treasury Department spokesperson told Axios the coin is already being made and will be released this fall.The decision was quickly lambasted as yet another example of President Trump’s narcissism and desire to be commemorated.“Congratulations, we’ve entered the end stages. Eliminate the penny, plug the nickel, and make some commemorative gold coins nobody can afford,” former GOP Representative Thomas Massie wrote on X. “I feel sorry for the folks who will be sold worthless knockoffs of this by the usual grifters.”* This story has been updated to correct the law that limits presidents from appearing on $1 coins.

Donald Trump announced his intent to commit acts tantamount to war crimes in Iran in a Fox News interview that aired Tuesday evening. Asked whether recent U.S. strikes against Iran will “expand,” Trump said, “Ultimately, we’ll hit energy targets.” He vowed to hit Iran “very hard” this week, and warned that “next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges. We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges, unless they get to the table and negotiate.”TRUMP: Ultimately, we'll hit energy targets in Iran. Next week comes the bridges. We're going to knock out all of their power plants. We'll knock out all of their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate pic.twitter.com/tpnTyUygP1— Acyn (@Acyn) July 14, 2026International law prohibits such deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure. The Geneva Conventions protect “objects indispensable to civilian survival” from attacks or reprisals, and they bar the sort of indiscriminate, blanket strikes the president described.This is far from the first time Trump and his military officials have made, or boasted about following through on, such threats.For example, Trump has previously threatened to “take out … power plants that create the electricity, that create the water” and to “do things that would be so bad they could literally never rebuild as a nation again.” After bombing a highway bridge near Tehran in April, he said there was “much more to follow.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had promised the previous month to give Iranian troops “no quarter.” And of course, also in April, Trump infamously threatened a genocide of Iran’s more than 90 million people, posting, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

Hundreds of federal prosecutors are begging the Senate not to confirm Todd Blanche, arguing that the acting attorney general has increasingly placed his loyalty to Donald Trump over his duties to the country.Mimi Rocah and Perry A. Carbone, two prosecutors that worked with Blanche in the Southern District of New York and “once considered him a close friend,” published a scathing indictment of the acting attorney general in MS NOW Wednesday, writing that it has been “painful” to watch someone they once regarded highly continually bow to Trump’s whims.“As federal prosecutors, we were taught that our duty was to pursue justice fairly, impartially and independently—not to bring or win cases at all costs, to advance political agendas, or to serve powerful individuals,” wrote Rocah and Carbone. “In our view, Blanche has turned his back on these principles.”The duo elaborated that their concern was not political, but rather institutional, questioning whether the Justice Department would continue to exist as an entity that serves the American people—and whether the American people would continue to have faith in its abilities to serve them—if it remains under Blanche’s control.They cited Blanche’s willingness to fire career prosecutors and FBI agents to satisfy Trump’s political interests, his belief that Trump has a “right” and a “duty” to shape federal probes, as well as the DOJ’s $1.8 billion slush fund as examples that have so far tanked their faith in Blanche’s abilities to remain independent of the White House.Earlier this week, a federal judge ruled that the massive slush fund was illegitimate, as it had been created through an arrangement between two entities—Trump’s personal attorneys and Trump’s administration—effectively acting in cahoots. In doing so, the judge dismantled months of Blanche’s handiwork, killing the taxpayer-funded reparations intended for Trump’s supporters, and also nixing the addendum Blanche had penned that granted Trump and his family unusual immunity from tax claims. The judge also referred all the attorneys involved—including Blanche—to state bar agencies for potential disciplinary proceedings.Rocah and Carbone further flamed Blanche for giving a platform to Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and a prolific sex trafficker in her own right, to lie about her experiences, and then rewarding her with a cushy prison transfer.“Todd Blanche has shown himself unable or unwilling to stop prioritizing the interests of Donald Trump above all else,” the attorneys wrote.They are far from alone in their criticism. More than 1,200 former DOJ employees sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday in unified opposition to Blanche’s confirmation, writing that Blanche has “utterly failed” his oath to support and defend the Constitution.“The consequences of Blanche’s attacks on DOJ’s apolitical workforce radiate beyond the halls of Main Justice, affecting the entire country. They’ve meant that much of the department’s vital work isn’t being done, or isn’t being done as well—leaving communities less safe, Americans’ rights less protected, and our national security more vulnerable,” the letter reads.“The culture of fear Blanche has instilled within DOJ’s workforce must end. Respect for career professionals must return,” the letter continues. “Would-be job applicants need to believe the Justice Department lives up to the virtue in its name. And instead of exhibiting fealty to the president, the attorney general must heed John Adams’s admonition that our republic remains a ‘government of laws, not of men.’“For the sake of the institution where we once proudly served, we urge you to reject Todd Blanche’s nomination,” the cohort concluded.