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Good morning, it's Tuesday, August 4. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche killed the $1.8 billion slush fund — but the president's tax shield remains untouched, and the Senate committee votes today.
Also in today's issue: Hackers hit U.S. water systems, A congressman's pattern of gifts, The pool wasn't vandalized.
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The Tax Shield Survives
If you filed your taxes last April and made a mistake, the IRS can audit you, review your records, and send a bill. That's how it works for every American. But as of this morning, a deal says the IRS cannot do the same to the president, his two adult sons, or the Trump Organization for any return filed before May 19, 2026. Today, the Senate is expected to confirm the man who made that deal.
Here's what happened. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — who served as Trump's personal lawyer before joining the Justice Department — posted two documents late Sunday to clear the path to his confirmation as attorney general. The first was a signed order killing the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, a pot of money created to pay Trump's political allies who said they were treated unfairly by law enforcement, potentially including January 6 defendants. That fund had drawn bipartisan outrage and was the main obstacle blocking Blanche's confirmation in the Senate Judiciary Committee — the panel that reviews nominees before they go to a full Senate vote.
The second document was different — an unsigned memo saying the IRS audit immunity applied "only retroactively," covering past tax filings, not future ones. Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, the two Republicans who had been blocking the vote, said Monday they were satisfied. The committee votes today.
Here's the thing — tax analysts say the second document changes almost nothing. The immunity still covers every return filed by Trump, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization before May 19. That date matters because the window potentially includes more than $2 billion in reported earnings from Trump's crypto ventures and stock trades made during his presidency. For any other American, those returns would face normal IRS review. Under this deal, they're off-limits.
And the memo that supposedly narrows things? It was unsigned. Legal experts say it carries no binding force and could be reversed the day after confirmation. The Tax Law Center at NYU called the assurances "not worth the paper they're written on." A federal judge ruled in July that the lawsuit behind the entire settlement — Trump's $10 billion suit against the IRS — was filed for an "improper purpose." The judge didn't void the deal but said the government cannot claim it resulted from a legitimate legal process.
Here's the honest truth. Blanche gave up the piece that was politically dead — the slush fund — and kept the part that matters most to the president personally. It's a trade, not a reform. The fund was the headline. The tax shield is the substance. Once Blanche is confirmed, there's no path to revisit it without new legislation or a court order. And with Republicans holding the Senate majority, that legislation isn't coming.
When reporters asked Trump about the agreement, he said he "didn't look at it." That's worth sitting with — a president claiming no awareness of a deal that shields potentially billions in his own tax liability. Watch what happens after today's vote. Not just whether Blanche advances, but whether anyone asks the next question: if this deal was struck for an improper purpose, why is it still standing?
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In other news that matters
Hackers hit water systems in at least seven states since July 27, with more than 30 Minnesota systems and nine Michigan systems breached. The FBI and EPA warned that attackers accessed internet-facing industrial controls, changed passwords to lock out operators, and caused boil-water notices in communities including Plymouth, Minnesota — population 80,000. No contamination has been confirmed, but several utilities were forced to switch to manual operations. U.S. officials suspect Iran. At a cabinet meeting Friday, Trump dismissed the Iran connection and blamed Minnesota, calling the state "grossly incompetent." When a foreign adversary hits American infrastructure and the president's first instinct is to blame the governor of the affected state, that's not a policy disagreement — it's a refusal to take the threat seriously.
The House Ethics Committee on Monday recommended censure of Representative Chuck Edwards, a Republican from North Carolina, for what its 25-page report called "persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct" toward two young female staffers. The panel found Edwards gave lavish gifts, commented on their appearance, invited them on vacations and intimate dinners, and that many relevant messages were "seemingly deleted" from his phone. Edwards, 65, denied sexual intent and said he had written sexual harassment policies in his corporate career. The full House votes in September. The Cook Political Report rates his reelection "Lean Republican," and his Democratic challenger, livestock farmer Jamie Ager, is polling within striking distance. The committee noted the House "regrettably lost two staffers" because of Edwards' conduct.
Federal prosecutors dropped felony vandalism charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, 67, and two others accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Hearn had been detained for five hours by National Guard troops and Park Police after touching peeling coating during a bike ride in June. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro — a Trump appointee — acknowledged in a 20-page filing that the damage came from "flawed installation by the contractor" and a rush to finish before the America 250 celebration, not from vandals. Trump rebuked Pirro on Truth Social, writing he "disagreed 100%." Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also contradicted the Justice Department's finding. When your own prosecutor tells you the facts don't support the charges — and your response is to attack her publicly — you're not defending a monument. You're defending a narrative.
P.S. Should one family's tax returns be off-limits to the IRS? Hit Reply — one word is enough.
