The Political Markup for June 1, 2026
Politics
The judge in Trump’s suit against the IRS has reopened the case to investigate misconduct, saying Trump and the DOJ had deceived and manipulated the court, making it a victim of fraud due to apparent collusion between Trump’s personal attorneys and Trump-appointed DOJ officials. The judge had originally closed the case because there was no settlement presented. Soon after, DOJ announced the Trump family would no longer be subject to IRS audits and that a $1.776 fund would be created to pay Trump supporters who were investigated by the government.
Trump’s selfish agenda and lack of focus on actual issues may hurt Republicans in the election.
Only one Republican on the U.S. House Oversight Committee attended a meeting where Pam Bondi took questions on handling of the Epstein case.
Tom Massie filed FEC paperwork to allow him to continue fundraising and run for office again in the future.
Gretchen Whitmer said she is not running for president in 2028.
Framers of the Constitution never envisioned Congress would be so deferential and aligned with a president and that political parties would become so influential.
Economy
Kevin Warsh, the new Federal Reserve chair appointed by Trump, wants to use a different measure of inflation which would be lower by not taking into account issues such as tariffs and geopolitical conflicts.
International
Mojtaba Khamenei says Iran will not relinquish the uranium it has been developing for potential use in nuclear weapons. Trump and Israel have said this is a necessity.
The U.S. has now killed over 200 people in boat strikes in the Pacific and Caribbean that the military says are drug traffickers, though no evidence has been shared and the attacks are illegal since the boats don’t provide an immediate threat.
The UN is facing a financial crisis, in part because the U.S. and China have not paid their dues.
Four U.S. airports are screening passengers from African countries for Ebola. Kenya temporarily stopped the U.S. from quarantining Americans with the disease in its country.
Last year wildfires across the world caused direct losses of $54 billion, the highest on record.