demmiblue
demmiblue's JournalPlatner's Texts With Women Concerned Campaign as Senate Race Took Off
Source: NYT
Graham Platner’s insurgent bid for Senate in Maine was gathering steam last summer when his campaign was confronted with some potentially explosive information.
Mr. Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, told a senior campaign aide that he had been exchanging sexual messages with multiple other women.
It was the kind of revelation with the potential to damage the political newcomer just as his campaign to unseat Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, was beginning to resonate with voters, especially in a state where female voters make up a large share of the electorate.
Mr. Platner’s exchanges with women were confirmed by current and former campaign officials, who gave different accounts of some of the details. Ms. Gertner said the couple, who had married in November 2023, according to the town clerk of Sullivan, Maine, was working through his indiscretions in marriage counseling.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/30/us/politics/graham-platner-maine-senate-texts.html?smid=url-share
Judge Reopens Trump I.R.S. Suit, Questioning 'Weaponization' Fund
Source: NYT
A federal judge in Miami made a striking turnabout on Friday, reopening President Trump’s $10 billion case against the I.R.S. and saying that she wanted to investigate “grievous allegations” that the hasty deal to resolve it was “premised on deception.”
The ruling by the judge, Kathleen M. Williams, was a significant blow both to Mr. Trump, who had voluntarily dismissed the suit last week, and to the Justice Department. After the president withdrew the suit, senior department officials released a pair of extraordinary agreements that settled the case by establishing a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who claimed they were victims of government “weaponization” by Democrats. The deal also conferred lucrative tax benefits on Mr. Trump, his family and his businesses.
Judge Williams’s decision came in response to court papers filed on Wednesday by a bipartisan group of 35 former federal judges who urged her to bring the case back to life and dig into the details of the agreement to settle it.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/us/politics/trump-irs-lawsuit-ruling.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
White House breaks from precedent by not releasing Trump's medical report
Trump, who is the oldest president to be inaugurated, declared on social media that he was in perfect health following an hourslong visit on Tuesday to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
But despite promising to provide a summary of the checkup in “the next day or so,” the White House has since offered no additional information — nor has it confirmed that Trump’s physician plans at any point to offer a public readout.
The three-day silence marks a departure from the White House’s handling of Trump’s prior physical exams. After a visit to Walter Reed last April, personal physician Dr. Sean Barbabella summarized the results in a memo released two days later. When Trump returned for another exam in October, Barbabella’s declaration that he remained in “exceptional health” was published later the same day.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/29/politics/trump-physical-exam-results
Lmao... Bret Michaels is out! 🤣
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) 2026-05-29T09:48:38.832Z
* The threats are no laughing matter, though.
The Trump Administration Is Spending $5 Million to Coat Horse Statues in Gold
Four massive bronze horses positioned along the roads surrounding the Lincoln Memorial still shine in the sun from their first restoration in the 1970s. But their gold-toned coating is faded and patchy, and their heavy stone bases are cracked and dirty.
The Trump administration wants them glittering with a fresh coat of gold in time for America’s 250th anniversary on July 4. So in mid-April, the National Park Service handed a $5 million contract to a gilding studio in Maryland to repair the statues and cover them with a thick layer of 23.75-karat gold leaf.
It awarded the project without a full competition, according to NPS documents reviewed by NOTUS.
https://www.notus.org/trump-white-house/national-park-service-dc-beautification-contracts-horse-statues
The Trump administration is spending million to coat horse statues near the Lincoln Memorial in gold.
— NOTUS (@notus.com) 2026-05-28T17:59:12.70245182Z
https://www.notus.org/trump-white-house/national-park-service-dc-beautification-contracts-horse-statues
Young MC is out:
Who’s next?
— Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.com) 2026-05-28T05:20:03.096Z
Trump appointees push $250 banknote with his portrait
Source: WaPo
Trump administration officials have pressed the office responsible for printing the nation’s money to design a $250 bill featuring the president’s portrait, according to four current and former employees, in what would be the first appearance of a living person on U.S. currency in more than 150 years.
Starting last year, two political appointees at the Treasury Department — U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and his senior adviser, Mike Brown — repeatedly urged staff at the agency’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing to prepare prototypes of the note, according to the employees, who said the move raised concerns because federal law currently allows only deceased people to appear on bills.
The employees spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
As part of the effort, Beach in August and September provided bureau staff with mock-up designs for the note, including one that shows President Donald Trump’s face in the center of the $250 bill between the signatures of the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to one of the employees and records reviewed by The Washington Post.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2026/05/28/trump-250-bill-pushed-by-treasury-appointees/
Americans are hurting to afford groceries and gas while Donald Trump and his goons are focused on a ballroom, UFC fight, sending the DOJ after a woman he raped, and this:
— Adam Parkhomenko (@adamparkhomenko.bsky.social) 2026-05-28T11:46:23.664Z
The White House Intervened to Get a $620 Million Deal for a Company Tied to Donald Trump Jr.
The president’s eldest son said through a spokesperson that he wasn’t involved. The Pentagon said Trump Jr. played no role in the record-setting deal. And the startup’s founder told reporters that his company, Vulcan Elements, received no political favoritism.
But interviews and Defense Department records reviewed by ProPublica show that the request to loan hundreds of millions of dollars to the firm linked to Trump Jr. was made by Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to President Donald Trump and a friend of Trump Jr.’s.
Of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was considering funding at the time, Vulcan’s was the only deal initiated by a top aide to the president, said an official at the Pentagon who was not authorized to speak publicly.
https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-vulcan-deal-white-house
NEW: When the Pentagon announced a 0 million loan last year to a startup linked to Donald Trump Jr., defense officials and the company tried to tamp down suspicions of cronyism.
— ProPublica (@propublica.org) 2026-05-28T11:30:01.560Z
We found that the request came directly from the White House.
House Democrats launch new anti-corruption caucus targeting Trump-era ethics concerns
Source: MS Now
As lawmakers grow increasingly frustrated with President Donald Trump’s planned $1.8 billion lawsuit settlement fund and his thousands of stock trades totaling hundreds of millions dollars, a trio of House Democrats is launching a new caucus aimed at fighting malfeasance in government.
The new End Corruption Caucus — details of which were shared first with MS NOW — is launching at the direction of Reps. Jason Crow, D-Col., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Mike Levin, D-Calif., spanning the party’s centrist to progressive wings.
“Corruption is poisoning our politics,” Crow said in a statement. “From the disastrous Citizens United decision, to the President using his office to enrich himself and his family, our democracy is buckling under the influence of billionaire donors and special interests.”
“We must take on corruption to lower prices, restore trust, and help working families,” Crow added.
Read more: https://www.ms.now/news/house-democrats-anti-corruption-caucus-trump
Morris Day and The Time responds: "Contrary to rumor, Morris Day & The Time will not be performing at the 'Great America
Morris Day and The Time responds: "Contrary to rumor, Morris Day & The Time will not be performing at the 'Great American State Fair.'"
— Phil Lewis (@phillewis.bsky.social) 2026-05-27T21:50:27.837Z
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