Blue 812 News Issue 70 - May 24

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A week after news of the $1.8 billion slush fund broke, GOP lawmakers have already had enough. Republicans fumed after a tense meeting with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday about the fund. They had peppered him with questions about how it would work — and left entirely dissatisfied with his answers. Senate Majority Leader John Thune then sent frustrated lawmakers home, without passing legislation to fund ICE and Customs and Border Patrol. But Trump won’t see the light: “I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward. I could have settled my case … for an absolute fortune,” Trump posted on his person blog, Truth Social. “Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!”

Republican leaders are not exactly racing to show their support for something 68% of Americans are opposed to. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said he “is not a fan” of the fund and he’s “not sure exactly how they intend to use it … I don’t see a purpose for that.” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) – now free of political constraints – said, “I don’t actually see any legal precedent for that.” “So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? The fund is “utterly stupid, morally wrong,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a statement. After summarizing his interpretation of the slush fund, retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) quipped “It’s an embarrassment to think that Republicans came up with this idea.” Asked if Congress can do anything in response, Tillis replied: “Yeah, nuke it.” Over in the House, Rep. Fitzpatrick (R-PA) has similar plans: “We’re gonna try to kill it.”

Senators are looking at different ways to use the reconciliation bill to restrict who would be eligible for the money, and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D–MD) is planning to introduce fresh legislation to shut the fund down completely. Efforts are also underway in the courts to prevent January 6^th rioters from ever seeing a penny. Two police officers who defended the Capitol filed a lawsuit to stop the fund from paying anyone involved in the riot. “The fund encourages those who enacted violence in the President’s name to continue to do so,” the lawsuit reads. “If allowed to begin making payments, the fund will directly finance the violent operations of rioters, paramilitaries, and their supporters who threatened plaintiffs’ lives that day, and continue to do so.”

find call/email scripts to oppose this fund here.

Sen. Jim Banks | Sen. Todd Young | Rep. Mark Messmer | Find your sen | Find your rep

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A man who opened fire Saturday near a White House security checkpoint has died after being shot by officers returning fire, according to the Secret Service. A bystander was also struck, but a law enforcement official said it wasn't clear whether that person was hit by the suspect's initial bullets or those fired subsequently by officers. It was the third incidence of gunfire in the vicinity of the President in the past month, disproving the adage, ‘third times the charm’.

The suspect was identified as 21-year-old Nasire Best, said a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. According to District of Columbia court records, Best was previously arrested in July 2025 after attempting to enter a different White House checkpoint without authorization. Best didn’t heed officers’ commands to stop, “claimed he was Jesus Christ” and said he wanted to be arrested.

Trump-backed candidate Paula Copenhaver filed a petition for a recount in the race for state Senate District 23 and to contest the election in the closely watched primary race between her and incumbent state Sen. Spencer Deery (R-West Lafayette). Last week, after the last remaining provisional ballots were counted, preliminary results showed Deery to be the winner with only three votes over Copenhaver. “After carefully reviewing the available information, we have obtained documented evidence of illegal voting by unqualified voters in the Senate District 23 Republican Primary,” Copenhaver said in the statement. She is challenging the validity of the ballots cast by 14 voters who posted on social media or told reporters they were Democrats but pulled a Republican ballot solely to support Deery. State election law allows someone to select a party’s primary ballot if they voted for a majority of that party’s candidates in the last general election or intend to in the upcoming election. State law also provides a way to challenge someone at the polling place looking to pull a crossover ballot. Copenhaver’s filing contends there are ways to challenge a crossover voter after the polls close, too.

Now the Indiana Recount Commission will oversee the recount process. The commission is made up of members representing Indiana’s Republican and Democratic parties and is chaired by Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales, though Rep. Ed DeLaney (D-Indianapolis) has called on Morales to recuse himself from the commission if the District 23 race goes to a recount due to his ties to Turning Point USA. The group’s political arm, Turning Point Action, endorsed Copenhaver.

Along with her petition, Copenhaver also filed a motion to subpoena self-identified crossover voters to give depositions before the Recount Commission. The voters, under penalties of perjury, would be questioned by the attorneys for both candidates. These depositions, she said, would assist the commission in “determining whether votes cast by the identified voters should be excluded from Candidate Deery’s recount total.” In a press release, Deery disputed Copenhaver’s contention that the votes cast by the 14 individuals were invalid. “The challenged voters’ records undermine the petition’s central theory,” Deery said. “Included in the subpoena list are voters who were not even voters in this primary, who have a history of voting Republican, and who are being targeted over their social media posts.”

In a sudden turn of events, top Indiana Republicans including Jim Banks and Todd Rokita have called for Diego Morales to drop out of the Secretary of State’s race, and instead endorsed Republican challenger Max Engling, a senior adviser and regional director in Banks’ Senate office who entered the race Wednesday. Indiana Treasurer Daniel Elliott became the latest statewide Republican official to break with Morales, calling Friday morning for the secretary of state to “resign immediately,” citing multiple ongoing controversies.

Morales showed no signs of backing down, saying state convention delegates — not party insiders — should decide the Republican nominee. “Delegates will decide who will be the Republican nominee for Indiana Secretary of State,” Morales said in a Thursday afternoon statement. “The decision belongs in the hands and only the hands of Republican convention delegates and I’m confident I’ll be renominated.”

Thursday marked the filing deadline for GOP candidates. Morales, Engling, Knox County Clerk David Shelton and conservative activist Jamie Reitenour are the four candidates who filed to run for the nomination.

After 8 years at the Meadows, the Terre Haute Farmers’ Market will be moving back downtown, this time as part of the government campus. The market will relocate to a space next to the Vigo County Courthouse at 201 Cherry Street, offering more space for vendors, food trucks and community gathering areas. Officials are working on adding amenities including bathroom options and picnic tables to the space. The last market day at the Meadows will be June 27. The first market at the courthouse location will be July 4.

Substacker Amee Vanderpool is submitting a claim for money from Trump’s slush fund. She’s created a template so we can all do the same. Find it here.

If we can’t stop this fund in the courts or Congress, at least we can bury them in paperwork!

Get Free and 50501 are holding a national day of action on June 27th called All of U.S. 250. While the Trump regime plans a whitewashed, anti-American celebration of our 250th anniversary, we will mobilize together to tell our nation’s story truthfully, celebrate the progress we have made through struggle and commit to the work to ensure liberty and equality for All of U.S. We can learn more, find events already on the books in our area and get involved here.

Federal grants accounted for 42% of Indiana’s general revenue in fiscal year 2025 — totaling about $22.6 billion — and state officials say a new public dashboard launched Monday intends to give Hoosiers a better look at how that money is spent. The new Federal Funding Expenditures Dashboard, available within the Indiana Transparency Portal website, allows users to sort and review six years of federal spending data across state government. The tool breaks down expenditures by federal department, federal program, state agency, spending category and individual accounts.

The dashboard is the first public-facing tool in Indiana dedicated specifically to tracking federal expenditures, according to the comptroller’s office. It complements the existing Indiana Transparency Portal, which already includes information on contracts, employee salaries, vendors and overall state expenditures. State officials said the new platform differs from federal databases like USASpending.gov because it focuses on dollars actually spent by Indiana agencies — not just federal awards issued to the state. Users can sort expenditures by federal departments — such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or the U.S. Department of Agriculture — as well as by spending categories, including social service payments, contractual services and payroll costs.

visit the Blue812News Local Events calendar to see all upcoming events

Tuesday, May 26th at 6pm: Nasty Women of Vigo County meeting. 5-7pm at the VCPL Main Branch. Special guest: state senate candidate Kacey Blundell

Tuesday, June 2nd at 5pm: Vigo County Council Meeting in the Council Chambers in the Vigo County Government Center, 127 Oak Street

Wednesday, June 3rd at 6pm: Mile with the Mayor at Thompson Park. A 1-mile walk with the mayor.

Thursday, June 4th at 6pm: Terre Haute City Council Meeting at City Hall.

A federal judge dismissed the Trump administration’s criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father who had been deported to El Salvador last year. “The objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego’s successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution,” the judge wrote.

A judge largely banned federal agents from arresting people around several buildings in Manhattan where immigration proceedings happen. The ruling prevents agents in New York from making arrests immediately after immigration hearings, a particularly nefarious tactic that’s become a hallmark of Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

State lawmakers have rejected dozens of anti-vax bills pushed by Make American Healthy Again supporters. “Even though this is an increasingly partisan ​space, Republicans across the board are not anti-vaccine and there are lawmakers that really just want sensible, transparent vaccine policy,” Dr. Erin ⁠Abramsohn, executive director of the Infectious Disease Prevention Network, told Reuters.

The Colorado Supreme Court ordered the state’s largest children’s hospital to resume gender-affirming care for minors, after the hospital suspended the practice due to pressure from the Trump administration.

​Plans for a 2,100-acre data center in Northern Virginia were derailed after locals lobbied against it for 27 hours straight. In addition to its proximity to the historic Manassas National Battlefield Park, locals cited concerns for pollution and energy consumption.

Litter is declining across the US.

A U.S. District Judge dismissed all remaining federal charges against the last four protesters arrested outside the Broadview ICE facility during Trump's Operation Midway Blitz. The defendants included Kat Abughazaleh, a former Democratic congressional candidate. The reason? Gross prosecutorial misconduct.

Scientists at Oxford University are developing a new vaccine that could be ready for clinical trials within two to three months to help tackle the Ebola emergency.

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