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Trump issued the pardon to Adam Kidan, a key player in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal that was exposed in the 2000s.

The decision against a hike is a win for Trump — but a contrast with Warsh’s hawkish rhetoric.

If you’re in the U.S. military, Ben Shapiro would like you to know that he considers your life acceptable collateral damage. “No one in America wants American casualties, it’s a tragedy and a horror,” the Daily Wire pundit said ina recent video on the war with Iran. But, he continued, “We do understand that war does come along with casualties. And we are willing to undergo those casualties in pursuit of an end, and a victory for America.” In other words, Shapiro believes defeating Iran is so important that, if you or your loved ones in the armed forces happen to get blown up in the process, that’s all very sad, but ultimately worth it. Which raises an interesting question: since he feels that way, when will Ben grab a rifle, strap a Kevlar helmet on his head, and put the rest of his body where his mouth is?

The remark comes amid a rise in Islamophobic attacks on Mamdani ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

Texas’s Republican Senate nominee, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, is struggling to raise funds thanks to his scandal-laden career and a nasty primary. The New York Times reports Wednesday that major Republican donors have so far refused to spend money on Paxton’s campaign, where he is polling behind James Talarico, who could be the first Democrat Texas sends to the Senate since 1993. Those donors had spent money in the state’s Republican primary, which placed a spotlight on Paxton’s extramarital affair and criminal charges over alleged state securities fraud. After Paxton narrowly secured the GOP nomination following a runoff with incumbent Senator John Cornyn, these donors’ opinions haven’t changed, especially since the attorney general has been seen traveling with his lover and now has been accused of committing voter fraud. Two of the GOP’s biggest money committees, the Senate Leadership Fund and MAGA Inc., haven’t spent any money on Paxton’s campaign despite President Donald Trump backing him. It’s become an open secret that each is waiting for the other super PAC to pony up millions of dollars, according to the Times. The former is run by people close to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and who backed Cornyn in the primary, while the latter is run by Trump advisers. “Somebody is going to have to spend big money,” Dan Eberhart, an oil executive raising funds for Paxton, told the Times. “We’ll see who blinks.”Other national Republican groups plan to spend money on other Senate races in Ohio and Kansas, even though those races aren’t as close as Texas. As of early July, Talarico has nine times as much cash in his main campaign account as Paxton does, and has already spent $12 million in ads. He also continues to rake in money from wealthy Democrats in places such as Chicago and Martha’s Vineyard. Will Trump and the GOP step up to bail out Paxton?

American taxpayers are about to get hit with additional charges for the Trump administration’s Great American State Fair.The Department of the Interior asked Congress for an additional $10 million to cover portions of the Freedom 250 event, including the state fair, a prayer event, and a massive July 4 fireworks display that tried to break the world record (but has still not been recognized by Guinness three weeks after the fact).Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, told The Washington Post Wednesday that the administration had initially presented the funding need as part of a broader stopgap funding measure for the whole government. It asked for an unspecified amount of funding “to recoup costs associated with support of events celebrating America’s semiquincentennial,” according to Merkley.But that only raised questions about the administration’s spending habits—particularly since Trump’s One Big Beautiful Act set aside $150 million last year specifically to cover the semiquincentennial’s expenses. Most of that financial support was redirected to Freedom 250, a Trump-backed public-private partnership that largely replaced the congressionally created bipartisan America 250 group that was organizing the historic anniversary celebration, according to the Post.But that’s not all the money that went into funding the president’s highly politicized, poorly attended 250th celebration. In June, Trump officials diverted roughly $90 million away from the National Park Service, utilizing entry fees to some of the country’s most popular parks—such as Yellowstone and Yosemite—to fund anniversary-related projects.Private donors also contributed a significant sum to the event: Freedom 250 has accepted donations from corporate sponsors that are currently doing business with the Trump administration, including Palantir, Boeing, Chevron, Lockheed Martin, and more, according to the Freedom 250 website.Administration officials offered up more details about the new funding request in a follow-up meeting with Merkley’s office, clarifying that they needed the money to cover routine National Park Service costs incurred during the events.But the Department of the Interior offered a different reason entirely to the Post. When reached for comment, the agency claimed that the funding was needed to address heightened security needs in light of recent threats leveled at the president, citing the Ultimate Fighting Championship event held on the White House lawn in June and the assassination attempt during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April.“Given the elevated security threats against high-profile events in Washington, D.C. … an elevated security posture was needed to ensure the safety of the public at these events. This funding would help address the expenditures associated with the elevated security posture,” the department wrote in an email.In a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shared with the Post, Merkley wrote that it is “unacceptable to ask the American people to bail out Freedom 250.”

Under Kevin Warsh, the Federal Reserve refuses to cut interest rates and may soon raise them. The post Trump’s New Fed Chair Deserts Trump appeared first on The American Prospect.