This is our flagship newsletter Morning Wire. You can subscribe here and we’ll email it to you daily.Welcome back. We hope you had a good weekend. In the news today: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche rescinds a $1.8 billion fund for Trump’s allies; wildfires near Spokane force the evacuation of 60,000 people; and Trump’s pattern of threats and walk-backs on Iran. Also, the ethnic community that celebrates a centuries-old culture by transforming a village into a kingdom for a day.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Blanche rescinds Trump’s $1.8 billion ‘anti-weaponization fund’ for president’s alliesActing Attorney General Todd Blanche issued the formal order late Sunday, in a move that follows weeks of negotiations with two Republican senators who were blocking his nomination to become attorney general. Read more.Why this matters:A spokeswoman for Texas Sen. John Cornyn, one of the senators holding up Blanche’s nomination, confirmed the deal, which comes ahead of a Tuesday confirmation vote for Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee.Blanche said at a June hearing that the Justice Department would not move forward with the fund, as he faced bipartisan outrage over the possibility that rioters who attacked police on Jan. 6 could be considered for payments. But Cornyn and Tillis, both members of the Judiciary panel, have said they wanted to see the promise in writing before they endorsed Blanche’s nomination — especially as Trump continued to express support for the idea.Related coverage →Sen. Bernie Moreno says former son-in-law Max Miller should not serve in the HouseSenate leaders reach funding deal to avoid shutdown during campaign season
