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Trump says hush money sentence means Democrats have lost the ‘Witch Hunt’

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Donald Trump framed Friday’s sentencing hearing as a win, saying the sentence that will leave him unpunished for his felony conviction in the Manhattan hush money case means the “Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, unAmerican Witch Hunt.”

“That result alone proves that, as all Legal Scholars and Experts have said, THERE IS NO CASE, THERE WAS NEVER A CASE, and this whole Scam fully deserves to be DISMISSED,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social shortly after the proceeding ended.

The hearing, during which a New York judge sentenced the president-elect to an unconditional discharge, which carries no penalties, capped off Trump’s yearslong legal woes.

“After spending tens of millions of dollars, wasting over 6 years of obsessive work that should have been spent on protecting New Yorkers from violent, rampant crime that is destroying the City and State, coordinating with the Biden/Harris Department of Injustice in lawless Weaponization, and bringing completely baseless, illegal, and fake charges against your 45th and 47th President, ME, I was given an UNCONDITIONAL DISCHARGE,” Trump said.

During the sentencing, the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, said Trump had been shielded by the office of the presidency.

“The real Jury, the American People, have spoken, by Re-Electing me with an overwhelming MANDATE in one of the most consequential Elections in History,” Trump said. “As the American People have seen, this ‘case’ had no crime, no damages, no proof, no facts, no Law, only a highly conflicted Judge, a star witness who is a disbarred, disgraced, serial perjurer, and criminal Election Interference.”

Ten days from now, Trump will reenter the White House as the first president to be a convicted felon.

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Congress

GOP calls off votes after contentious meeting on ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

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Senate GOP leaders have canceled plans to vote this week on a party-line immigration enforcement bill, a major setback as lawmakers contend with President Donald Trump’s personal political agenda.

Several Republican senators said action on the legislation would wait until after a weeklong Memorial Day recess — guaranteeing that Congress would blow a Trump-set June 1 deadline for the immigration funding.

The decision appeared to be driven by fierce internal divides over politically sensitive issues not related to the core purpose of the bill — pumping tens of billions of dollars into Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies.

It came after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche struggled Thursday to quash GOP concerns over a newly announced $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. Leaders had already concluded they would have to omit a $1 billion Secret Service funding line item that could have gone toward Trump’s White House ballroom due to internal dissension.

Blanche met privately with Senate Republicans as the administration and GOP leaders tried to defuse the controversy over the fund.

GOP leaders believed they had enough members who would support a proposal targeting the fund that it would ultimately be added into the filibuster-skirting bill, as Blue Light News first reported Wednesday.

Asked if the briefing changed her mind, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a critic of the fund, told reporters, “No.”

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) — who have also been critical of the fund — declined to comment. But two people granted anonymity to describe the meeting said the meeting did not go well for the administration and that Blanche was not persuasive.

Money for the fund isn’t included in the GOP’s immigration enforcement bill. But because the bill involves Justice Department funding and the Senate Judiciary Committee is involved in the bill, senators have a path to add language related to the fund into the bill with only 51 votes. Republicans did discuss possible guardrails they could put on the fund during the meeting.

Republicans have not yet finalized the bill they plan to put on the Senate floor, raising the possibility that the chamber could punt action until after a weeklong Memorial Day recess. Senate leaders could have attendance issues if they try to keep members in town past Friday afternoon.

Asked if they could still vote on the bill this week, Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) told reporters, “That’s being discussed.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told reporters after leaving the meeting that leaders would likely decide “within the next hour or so” about whether to send members home and reconvene after the recess.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune declined to comment on the fund or on the ability to pass a bill this week as he left the meeting.

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Congress

GOP Rep. won’t rule out tapping into DOJ fund

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Rep. Andrew Clyde said in an interview Thursday he supports the DOJ’s new, $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund — and isn’t ruling out seeking money from the account for himself.

The Georgia Republican said the goal of the fund is to “make whole” anyone who has been unfairly targeted by the government, including people who rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Pressed on whether he would personally pursue compensation, he reiterated that the fund is for “anyone” who has been the victim of government weaponization.

Clyde has, in the past, argued he’s been targeted by the IRS, and was subject to civil asset forfeiture nearing $1 million. Clyde fought the IRS in court and recouped a large amount of the money, but says he still has legal fees.

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Congress

Blanche makes little headway with GOP critics of ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche struggled Thursday to quash GOP concerns over a newly announced $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.

Blanche met privately with Senate Republicans as the administration and GOP leaders try to defuse a controversy that is complicating their push to quickly advance an immigration enforcement bill.

GOP leaders believe they have enough members who would support a proposal targeting the fund that it would ultimately be added into the filibuster-skirting bill, as POLITICO first reported Wednesday.

Asked if the briefing changed her mind, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a critic of the fund, told reporters, “No.”

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) — who have also been critical of the fund — declined to comment. But two people granted anonymity to describe the meeting said the meeting did not go well for the administration and that Blanche was not persuasive.

Money for the fund isn’t included in the GOP’s immigration enforcement bill. But because the bill involves Justice Department funding and the Senate Judiciary Committee is involved in the bill, senators have a path to add language related to the fund into the bill with only 51 votes. Republicans did discuss possible guardrails they could put on the fund during the meeting.

Republicans have not yet finalized the bill they plan to put on the Senate floor, raising the possibility that the chamber could punt action until after a weeklong Memorial Day recess. Senate leaders could have attendance issues if they try to keep members in town past Friday afternoon.

Asked if they could still vote on the bill this week, Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) told reporters, “That’s being discussed.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) told reporters after leaving the meeting that leaders would likely decide “within the next hour or so” about whether to send members home and reconvene after the recess.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune declined to comment on the fund or on the ability to pass a bill this week as he left the meeting.

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