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John Thune Reportedly 'Not A Big Fan' Of Trump's New $1.8B Settlement Fund

WestNet News wire Source: HuffPost
John Thune Reportedly 'Not A Big Fan' Of Trump's New $1.8B Settlement Fund
Sanjana Karanth
Bloomberg via Getty Images

John Thune Reportedly 'Not A Big Fan' Of Trump's New $1.8B Settlement Fund

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Tuesday that he's "not a big fan" of President Donald Trump's newly announced $1.8 billion settlement fund that sparked immediate backlash, according to CNN.

"I'm not sure exactly how they intend to use it," Thune told the outlet. "But my understanding is that was just announced. But yeah, I don't see a purpose for it."

The Justice Department announced a so-called "anti-weaponization fund" on Monday meant to give cash payouts to people claiming they were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration. Democrats have described the fund as a scheme to reward the president's political allies, particularly those charged with crimes for rioting at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Thune has grown increasingly critical of Trump's spending decisions, including those included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

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Cornyn, Paxton Flood Texas Airwaves In Final Day Of GOP Senate Runoff

Voters in Texas saw little of the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate on Monday — provided they stayed away from screens.

Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton had no public campaign events scheduled for the final day of their more-than-yearlong quest for the GOP nomination. Instead, their fight for Tuesday’s runoff continued as it has for months — intense and unabated — through advertising that has topped $109 million, heavily from Cornyn’s side.

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Sonny Rollins, Tenor Saxophonist And Restless Genius Of Jazz, Dies At 95

Sonny Rollins, the tenor saxophonist and restless genius whose bold, distinctive tone and constant experimentation kept him on the cutting edge of jazz for more than 50 years, died Monday at age 95.

From his early days as a teen phenom to his more measured solo work and experimentation with free jazz, Rollins was revered for his improvisational skill. He was one of the last living greats of the bebop era and — along with John Coltrane and Charlie Parker — one of the most influential saxophonists of his time.

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U.S. Military Strikes Iranian Boats, Missile Launch Sites: CENTCOM

The U.S. military carried out strikes on Monday in southern Iran against targets including boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, in what it described as defensive actions.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement the strikes were designed “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”

Read more from Reuters:

How To Watch The Scripps National Spelling Bee

The best young spellers in the English language are competing at the Scripps National Spelling Bee this week, continuing a more than century-old tradition. The three-day competition begins Tuesday and concludes Thursday night.

The first bee was held in 1925, when the Louisville Courier-Journal invited other newspapers to host spelling bees and send their champions to Washington. After a long run at a convention center in suburban Maryland, the bee returns to the nation’s capital this year at Constitution Hall, a few blocks from the White House.

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Jazmin Tolliver

Massie Files To Run In 2028 After Losing To Trump-Backed Candidate

Days after losing the Republican primary to challenger Ed Gallrein, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) announced he has filed paperwork to campaign for his U.S. House seat in 2028.

Donald Trump endorsed Gallrein after Massie clashed with the president on several issues, including the Jeffrey Epstein Files and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

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Israeli Opposition Leader: Trump’s Emerging Deal With Iran Is 'Bad For The Region'

The deal being discussed between the U.S. and Iran fails to achieve any of Israel’s goals for the war, Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Monday, as he accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to influence a better agreement.

Lapid, who is part of an alliance attempting to unseat Netanyahu in elections this year, said details of the emerging deal are “disturbing.”

Read more from The Associated Press:

Philip Lewis

More Black Men Are Tuning Out Major Media Outlets

Black men who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and then for Donald Trump in 2024 have soured on the president, expressing concern about the president’s leadership, the economy and skyrocketing gas prices. But they’re also frustrated with another group — the news media.

A focus group conducted on Wednesday by the Democratic firm Navigator Research, which HuffPost was allowed to view, revealed that these men have chosen to divest from what they believe are mainstream media outlets and largely get their news from nontraditional outlets and independent creators on platforms like YouTube.

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Li Zhou
Tom Williams via Getty Images

Trump Again Boosts Paxton Ahead Of Contentious Texas Runoff

President Donald Trump reiterated his backing for scandal-plagued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Sunday ahead of a closely contested Senate primary runoff this week.

“Ken Paxton was a GREAT Attorney General, probably the best in the Country. He was also very loyal to your favorite President, ME, as the Dumocrats played their ultimate game of Weaponization, and failed, BADLY!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump also criticized incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) without mentioning him by name, and repeated his complaints about Senate Republicans’ failure to advance restrictive new voting rules.

“Ken’s opponent was VERY disloyal to me, as President, and didn’t fight hard enough for the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump claimed.

The Texas race heads to a runoff on Tuesday, with the winner facing off against Democratic nominee Texas State Rep. James Talarico this fall.

Cornyn on Sunday noted that Senate Republicans didn’t have the numbers to advance parts of Trump’s policy agenda like he’s demanded and described himself as an "ally" of the president. He also argued that a Paxton primary win could put Republicans at higher risk of losing the seat in November.

“I think I can help maintain the Senate seat in Republican hands,” Cornyn said during a Fox News interview.

Taiyler S. Mitchell

Iran's Supreme Leader Is Reportedly Sheltering In An Undisclosed Location

Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is sheltering in a secluded location and has only been reached through a complex courier network, CBS News reported, citing U.S. officials.

As such, Iranian officials have had difficulty communicating within the Iranian government. Mojtaba Khamenei has not made a public appearance since before the start of the war.

Read more at CBS News.

Key Moment
Taiyler S. Mitchell
Kayla Bartkowski via Getty Images

Crack In California Chemical Tank Could Lessen Explosion Risk

A crack in a 7,000-gallon chemical tank on the brink of exploding in Orange County, California, could actually reduce the risk of explosion.

“Our firefighters went in, and they were able to visualize the tank. What they found was a potential crack in the tank, which could potentially be relieving some of the pressure in there,” Orange County Fire Authority Interim Fire Chief TJ McGovern said Sunday, according to CNN.

The tank, located at GKN Aerospace in the city of Garden Grove, is holding methyl methacrylate, and an explosion at this site could also then lead to the explosion of a nearby tank containing the same chemical that is more than twice the size.

“We’re talking about possibly one of the worst chemical incidents in California history,” Orange County Fire Authority incident commander Craig Covey told NBC News.

Newsom declared a state of emergency in the region on Saturday due to the possibility of an explosion. An estimated 50,000 people have been evacuated, and it's unclear when they will be able to return home.

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