JUST IN: Top-ranking Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin has moved to subpoena acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and other officials involved in the creation of "one of the most brazen acts of public corruption and self-dealing in American history." trib.al/lrUwnqu

The Atlantic congratulates our staff writer @matteowong.bsky.social for winning an ASME NEXT Award for Journalists Under 30. You can find his work here: theatln.tc/cemLUEPg

The IRS has agreed to not audit Trump's taxes. But in 2024, a @propublica.org @nytimes.com investigation found that a long-running audit involved Trump allegedly claiming the same huge write-off twice on a Chicago tower. That audit could've led to a tax bill of $100M for Trump. (From May 2024)

this doesn't speak well of Kentucky Republicans

"Europeans may imagine that the EU is a mere bureaucratic inconvenience. But the Russians have never believed that. On the contrary, the Russian president has long understood that when unified, Europe can resist Russian influence and Russian corruption." @anneapplebaum.bsky.social on Europe Day

WATCH — @anneapplebaum.bsky.social : “Trump entered office worth $2.3 billion and is now worth $6.5 billion… Decisions are made based on what's good for the president's own companies, not Americans… for example — why did the Saudis invest $2 BILLION in Kushner’s companies?”

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social From the annual Speech for Europe in Vienna, organized by the Institute for Human Sciences, ERSTE Foundation, the Vienna Festival, and the Jewish Museum Vienna.

Destinus and Rheinmetall have officially launched the RUTA Block 3 program - a new European long-range cruise missile. Ukraine will support development, operational testing, and production of essential components for the RUTA Block 3 program. EU and Ukraine stronger together.

That matters because it NORMALIZES and provides legal cover for Trump colluding with DoJ and IRS to control both sides of the bogus lawsuit he filed. This is not a settlement. It’s theft. Facts matter. END/ Source: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/b... Source: www.wsj.com/us-news/law/... The judge:

NEW: The top lawyer at the Treasury Department just resigned. Even though he clerked for Clarence Thomas, perhaps the $1.7B heist was probably too much. Also note the Times (right) and the WSJ (left) refer to it as a settlement. The judge found IT IS NOT A SETTLEMENT. 1/

Trump earlier this year bought as much as $680,000 in stock of Eli Lilly, the maker of blockbuster obesity drugs, as the agencies he oversees undertook an agenda that benefited the company. This is revealed in Trump's quarterly ethics report. In healthcare, however, the trades for Lilly—a company

Netanyahu's policy of territorial expansion are unambiguous. Israeli forces have established positions in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, seizing over 1,000 sq km, the equivalent to roughly 5% of Israel’s 1949 borders, according to FT calculations. www.ft.com/content/1c15...

Trump Just Created An Unconstitutional $1.776 Billion Loyalty Rewards Program For MAGA We discussed the rumor of this on Friday, but it's now real: Donald Trump has handed himself a $1.776 billion fund of taxpayer money — unappropriated by Congress — to dole out to friends in the MAGA movement who…

In any democracy, this would be considered illegal state funding of the president' s political supporters

Here's the rub. The slush fund will be drawn from a larger Treasury Department fund. The latter compensates actual victims of the government. But the new one will be put under Trump's direct control in a new way and untangled from any oversight, Raskin notes. 3/ newrepublic.com/article/2105...

ABC News reports that Trump is set to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against IRS in exchange for DOJ creating a new $1.7 billion fund that will be used to pay "compensation" to Biden "victims." That could potentially include the Jan 6 insurrectionists. 2/ newrepublic.com/article/2105...

This is insanity: Trump's DOJ is about to "settle" his lawsuit against the IRS by creating a $1.7 billion slush fund to pay off victims of Biden "weaponization." I talked to Jamie Raskin about this. It's even more corrupt than it first appears. 1/ (new piece) newrepublic.com/article/2105...

Raskin says the fund is unconstitutional. Congress didn't structure it. 14th Amendment prohibits obligations in service of insurrection. Raskin says Dem House will shut it down and compel transparency on payments. He's calling on Rs to legislate against it now. 4/ newrepublic.com/article/2105...

Trump just stole $1.8B. He’s going to give it to his business, his kids, and people like Flynn, Eastman, Giuliani, and the Oath Keepers. He’s doing this without court approval or Congress. This is a crime, but there’s no one to prosecute it because the DoJ is in on it.

Democracy, Kleptocracy and more....with Steven Bartlett youtu.be/kwEtOyaFhCA?...

Nobody can remain neutral in the conflict between Russia and Europe, I told the Austrians... orf.at/av/video/onD...

Sometimes, a scandal is so big you have to pick off one piece of it. So in the case of Trump's insane stock trading, pick this: He did 6 trades of Intel stock. That company now counts the US government as a $9 billion stakeholder, thanks to Trump's intervention. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

“.. We spotted nine Polymarket accounts .. who made collectively $2.4 million betting almost exclusively on U.S. Military operations. .. “.. Now, here is the crazy part. 98% win rates.” @mediaite.com www.mediaite.com/media/news/6...

I mean I know it’s normal now. But government officials lying and saying the elections have all been rigged is functionally treason against the constitutional system and should be punished as such.

In the months before the Hungarian election, the Danube Institute, a government-funded think-tank, distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in an attempt to build an international echo chamber and amplify Orban. @atlatszo.hu has some of the contracts english.atlatszo.hu/2026/05/14/j...

As Ukraine continues to target Moscow, Russians “can clearly see the contrast between propaganda and reality,” @anneapplebaum.bsky.social argues.

Kari Lake, Trump’s candidate for ambassador to Jamaica, has “no diplomatic or political preparation, other than the 14 months she has just spent running America’s foreign broadcasting agencies into the ground,” @anneapplebaum.bsky.social argues.

Donald Trump’s Financial Disclosure Shows Purchases Of Major Media Company Securities Including Paramount, WBD And Netflix deadline.com/2026/05/trum...

"You cannot celebrate European civilization while simultaneously attacking the legal and political order invented here, or while openly seeking to undermine the institutions that protect pluralism and dissent" An answer to Vance and Rubio: www.erstestiftung.org/en/a-speech-...

1) An Europa, für Europa, zu #Europa hin. @anneapplebaum.bsky.social hat Grundzüge dargelegt, wie diese #EU , d.h."Union", sich zu etwas aufraffen kann, wozu sie bisher etwas zu lasch, zu schwächlich war. Nicht Aufrüstung wird hier maßgeblich, sondern die Einstellung zu einem sozialen Traum(?). -->

Rede von @anneapplebaum.bsky.social an und über Europa, in der sie u.a. sagt, dass es notwendig ist - will man europäische Souveränität wahren - dass Entscheidungen, die Europa betreffen, auch in Europa gefällt werden müssen.

Having thoroughly damaged America's relationships with Europe, Trump is now getting ready to do the same thing in Asia giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

"Rarely, if ever, is anyone given a diplomatic posting directly following such a spectacular failure, especially one that did so much damage to American interests around the world." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Repairs to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool will now cost $13.1 million. Trump had promised $1.8 million. The Interior Department added $6.2 million to the no-bid contract for repairs late last week. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/u...

"Rarely, if ever, is anyone given a diplomatic posting directly following such a spectacular failure, especially one that did so much damage to American interests around the world." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

“That day, we realized the Russians had come to kill us” is how one theater survivor put it to me. “They didn’t come to fight with Ukrainian soldiers. They just wanted to kill us.” from James Verini, an excerpt from his book "The Theater" www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Kari Lake is set to become...Ambassador to Jamaica www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

This, from Nick Kristof, is required reading www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/o...

Four years ago, President Vladimir Putin offered Moscow and its business elite a de facto deal: 'support my war in Ukraine, and in exchange you won’t have to think about it.' In the past week, that deal was broken. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Four years ago, President Vladimir Putin offered Moscow and its business elite a de facto deal: 'support my war in Ukraine, and in exchange you won’t have to think about it.' In the past week, that deal was broken. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The Russians have built a museum of "Polish Russophobia" at the site of the Katyn massacre, where Stalin murdered tens of thousands of Polish officers. This is all part of a campaign to erase the memory of Stalin's crimes, writes @elpais.com elpais.com/internaciona...

Il faut relire Autocracy.inc de l'excellente journaliste Anne Applebaum. Les Américains ont élu en 2024 un "wannabe dictator". Leur démocratie est-elle assez solide pour rester libérale, alors que, là-bas comme en Europe, une partie de notre société est en train de perdre ses repères?

Ziobro is accused of stealing governmnent funds as well as illegally using spyware against other Polish politicians

The New York Times just won a Pulitzer prize for reporting on Trump's business interests, including crypto www.pulitzer.org/winners/staf...

NEW: Russia and China both provided Iran with satellite imagery during the war, which helped facilitate Iranian attacks against US forces and regional countries. There is evidence that at least Russia is helping Iran reconstitute some of its military capabilities during the ceasefire period. (1/6)

"The U.S. administration has suggested that the troop withdrawal was meant to punish German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for criticizing Washington’s Iran policy. But in fact it punishes the pro-American German middle class" www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

The EU flag is flying at Hungary’s parliament again after Péter Magyar was sworn in as prime minister — the first time it’s been displayed there since Viktor Orbán had it removed in 2014.

Hungary’s parliament sings “Ode to Joy” — the anthem of Europe — after Péter Magyar is sworn in as prime minister. Hungary is once again a proud member of the European Union.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar inaugural speech: "The psyche of the whole country was poisoned by politics that was artificially inciting hatred. The Hungarian state is not allowed to do anything like this ever again... This era is, once and for all, finished."