The Briefing With Jen Psaki 5/29/26 — 🅼🆂🅽🅱️🅲 Breaking News Today May 29, 2026

[0:00] It's a tough day to be a slush fund, or I guess a January 6th rioter, I don't know. [0:05] Well, you don't know how the other slush funds are feeling. [0:07] Maybe there's some other slush funds that had good Fridays today. [0:10] That one had a bad day. [0:12] There might be slush funds we don't even know about, but the one we know about, [0:15] there are slush funds we know about. The one we know about, it's not looking good for its prospects, [0:21] but we'll see. It's not looking good. [0:22] We'll see. Yeah. Well, Chris, have a great weekend. [0:25] You too. [0:26] Okay. Okay. [0:27] A big part of the story of the last year, and we've talked about this a lot, [0:31] and a lot of my colleagues have as well, and I would say of the first year and a half of the [0:37] presidency, actually, is all of the efforts at pushback, all of the people out there who are [0:43] pushing back against the Trump administration, people in the streets, people in courts, [0:48] people filing lawsuits, so many people participating in the pushback. [0:52] And because Trump seems to throw something new at the wall every day, [0:56] sometimes crazier than others, it can feel at times like those efforts aren't working, [1:02] like they aren't keeping up with the pace of Trump's destruction. [1:06] But the truth is, Trump is actually on a pretty big losing streak right now, [1:11] and a particularly big one on this Friday. [1:14] I mean, take, for instance, Donald Trump's decision to slap his name on D.C.'s iconic [1:18] Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. [1:19] Late last year, I'm sure you remember, Trump just decided to rename the building after himself, [1:25] slapping gold, gaudy letters on the building above John F. Kennedy's name before eventually [1:31] ordering the iconic cultural institution to close for two years so he could make his own [1:35] renovations to the building. [1:37] Well, today a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to remove his name from the [1:42] building within two weeks, and he also blocked the administration from taking any steps [1:46] to close the institution. [1:49] And that lawsuit against Trump's Kennedy Center takeover had been in the works. [1:53] It wasn't last week. [1:54] It's been in the works for five months. [1:55] But it took until now to see some tangible results. [2:00] And Trump, for his part, took that news about as well as you would expect. [2:05] Today, in a lengthy, screed, essay-like On Truth Social, he lashed out at the judge who made [2:11] the ruling and said he would now try to transfer control of the Kennedy Center to Congress, [2:16] basically suggesting he has given up on his battle to take it over, which there are a [2:20] lot of things to be concerned about right now. [2:22] That's frankly a bit of a relief. [2:25] But that is far from the only battle the Trump administration is losing right now. [2:28] Ever since Trump's ICE takeover of Minneapolis, local prosecutors have been on a mission to [2:34] hold ICE agents accountable for their actions in that city, as they should, as the people [2:38] of Minnesota and across the country are demanding. [2:41] Well, today we saw the first arrest of an ICE officer for his role in one of the shootings [2:45] that took place in Minneapolis earlier this year. [2:48] Christian Castro was the ICE agent who allegedly chased a man into a residential home, fired [2:53] a gun through a closed door, hitting a man in the leg, and narrowly missing a child's crib. [2:58] Now, at the time of the incident, the Trump administration claimed the agency had fired [3:01] in...the agent had fired in self-defense. [3:04] But that story, of course, quickly, completely fell apart. [3:08] And now that ICE agent has been arrested on charges of second-degree assault and falsely [3:12] reporting a crime. [3:13] And that news came just hours before we learned that federal agents have agreed to withdraw [3:18] from the parking lot of the Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey, where for a [3:23] week now, federal agents have clashed with protesters and Democratic elected officials. [3:28] The protesters have been trying to draw attention to what the ACLU says is a hunger strike by hundreds [3:33] of detainees at the facility who are themselves protesting inhumane conditions and treatment inside [3:39] the facility. [3:39] Now, DHS continues to deny that hunger strike. [3:43] But today, after federal officers charged into a crowd of protesters, pushing them to [3:47] the ground and spraying them with a chemical irritant, after an officer beat a protester [3:52] with a baton across the torso, thighs, knee, and calves as the protester just tried to flee, [3:58] the Democratic governor of New Jersey, Mikey Sherrill, established a protective zone around [4:02] the facility run by state police rather than federal law enforcement. [4:06] The governor also called for the facility to be closed. [4:10] So the administration is being held to account for some of their most reckless and unpopular [4:15] actions. [4:16] And yes, sometimes it takes a while for the legal system to catch up to these reckless actions. [4:23] But in some cases, the pushback is happening much more quickly. [4:28] Remember, it was only 10 days ago when the Trump administration announced its settlement, [4:31] essentially with itself, establishing a $1.8 billion slush fund to benefit Trump's political [4:38] allies. [4:38] They tried to make it seem at the time like this slush fund was accountable to nobody, that [4:44] it could not be stopped, not by the courts or Congress or any third parties. [4:49] They were very, very braggy about it, in fact. [4:51] I mean, they claimed that because Trump and his DOJ had settled out of court, that the agreement [4:56] was basically untouchable. [4:58] They tried to make it seem like January 6th rioters and Trump allies were going to get [5:03] your tax dollars. [5:04] And there was really just nothing anyone could do about it out there. [5:08] The settlement even included a clause that said, quote, there shall be no appeal, arbitration [5:13] or judicial review when it comes to what they can and can't do with all that money, just [5:18] because they said so. [5:20] Unfortunately for Trump and his allies and January 6th rioters, that is not actually how [5:25] the law works in this country. [5:27] I mean, today a federal judge in Virginia blocked the DOJ from creating Trump's slush [5:31] fund and barred them, at least for now, from giving anyone any money. [5:36] And while that ruling, it's only temporary, it is also coming out of just one of the many [5:41] legal challenges the fund is already facing. [5:43] A January 6th prosecutor is suing to try and stop the fund. [5:46] Members of the Capitol Police are suing to try and stop the fund. [5:49] The nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, they're suing to try [5:54] and stop the fund. [5:55] A bipartisan group of 35 former federal judges are suing to try and stop the fund. [6:00] Heck, even the host of the popular podcast Mueller, she wrote, is suing to try and stop [6:03] the fund. [6:04] All of those lawsuits are attacking the fund also from different angles, with different [6:09] arguments for why the fund should be stopped. [6:12] And tonight we got word that yet another of those lawsuits scored yet another major victory [6:17] against Trump. [6:17] Tonight, the judge, who initially oversaw Trump's lawsuit against the IRS, reopened the case. [6:24] And this is a very significant development. [6:26] Because remember, as part of his settlement, I'm just going to keep putting quotes last week, [6:31] Trump voluntarily dismissed his case. [6:34] He dismissed it just days before his personal lawyers and the Justice Department were going [6:39] to be forced to explain to the judge how the heck they were actually oppositional parties, [6:44] how Trump and the department and the IRS that worked for his Treasury Department were on [6:49] different sides, right? [6:51] Since ultimately they're working for the same man. [6:53] And if the judge didn't buy their story, it could have been grounds for the judge to toss [6:57] Trump's case altogether. [6:58] So instead of actually working through the court system, Trump settled out of court. [7:03] Again, with his own Justice Department. [7:07] And he clearly wanted everyone to just assume that was the end of the story. [7:10] But it's not. [7:11] Hardly. [7:12] It's definitely not the end of the story. [7:13] Because that bipartisan group of 35 former federal judges I mentioned earlier, well, [7:18] they took action. [7:19] Just two days ago, they asked the judge to reopen the case on the grounds that the settlement [7:24] and the slush fund it created were a product of collusion. [7:27] That was itself a fraud on the court. [7:30] And they asked her to open an investigation to whether Trump and his sons, Don Jr. and Eric, [7:35] or the Justice Department, or both, defrauded the court to obtain their so-called settlement. [7:40] And tonight, Judge Kathleen Williams did just that. [7:43] And in her order reopening the case, Judge Williams gave President Trump two weeks to explain his [7:48] position on the following issues. [7:49] One, the allegation from the group of former judges that Trump and the Justice Department colluded, [7:54] and the allegation that Trump and the Justice Department are not truly adverse parties. [7:59] Good question. [8:00] Two, the allegation that Trump's voluntary dismissal of the case was premised on deception. [8:05] And three, whether the case should be reopened or not, because Trump and the Justice Department [8:08] may have committed fraud against the court. [8:11] Now, all of those very serious-sounding things Trump put in his settlement with himself about how [8:16] the settlement was unappealable and couldn't face judicial review, well, it turns out that was [8:22] all bluster. And now Trump will actually have to make his case in court, not just for why he should [8:28] be able to settle a lawsuit with himself and get a $1.8 billion slush fund all set up, but for his [8:34] immunity from IRS audits, and those for his family, too, and everything else he effectively gave himself [8:40] in the settlement he struck with his own Department of Justice. [8:44] Now, to give you a sense of just how vulnerable Trump's supposedly ironclad and unreviewable [8:49] settlement actually is. Tonight, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal [8:54] that Trump's top aides have discussed whether he should just kill the slush fund altogether. [8:58] First of all, why did it take you so long? That would be my question. [9:01] Using it as a sacrificial lamb, a bartering chip, to get ICE funding passed next week. [9:08] And they think they can do this, I gather, because more than a dozen Republican senators have [9:12] reportedly urged top Trump aides to drop the fund. That's just in the past 10 days. [9:17] It's more than one senator a day. Now, the slush fund is on very, very thin ice. That is clear. [9:23] A bad day, as I said to Chris, for a slush fund, for Trump's slush fund. And if people keep pushing [9:28] back, which, given all those lawsuits, I expect they will, that ice could very well break. But I [9:34] have lots of questions about this, and I have the perfect person to talk to about it. Joining me [9:38] now is Preet Bharara, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Preet, thank you for [9:42] being here with me on a Friday night, first of all. [9:44] Good to be here on a Friday night. No news, really, right, of the legal variety? [9:47] I texted you today, and I said, oh, my God, there's so much legal news. We'd already pre-booked [9:52] you. But, okay, let me start by asking you this. Obviously, these are two big rulings. They're [9:56] related on Trump's slush fund. But let's just start with Judge Williams' ruling tonight, which [10:00] effectively reopens the IRS case that Trump supposedly settled, kind of pulled it out of court, I guess. [10:07] Give us your thoughts on how that order came to be and what it means. [10:10] Well, what's so interesting about tonight is, you know, we talked about the three branches [10:16] of government. Do they work? Do they provide a balance and a check to each other? Well, [10:20] tonight we're seeing the third branch of government, as listed in the Constitution, [10:25] really asserting itself, right? You have the judge you just mentioned reopening the case that you've [10:31] been talking about. You have another judge who's frozen the quote-unquote slush fund. And the first [10:38] judge undertook the thing that happened at the behest of and at the urging of 35 retired judges. [10:45] So they're no longer on the bench. And they made some arguments, I think you also mentioned in the [10:49] opening. And so judges, whether they're in office or out of office and still thinking about the rule [10:55] of law, have made a very important statement here. And so I think that the original judge, [11:01] you know, doesn't want it to be a part of a gambit, something that's a little too cute for school [11:08] and wants to undertake under inherent authority that every court has to take a look at this. [11:15] And I think it might be, you know, quite bad for the administration [11:18] when discovery takes place, when the court examines things. And by the way, all the events of tonight [11:26] are kind of interesting because they crystallize, you know, which earth everyone lives on, right? So [11:31] there's earth one that I like to think that I live on, that you live on. [11:36] Then there's the person who I saw on Twitter tonight complaining about the judge listening to [11:43] or taking the urging of these retired judges on the very mundane technical point of whether or not [11:51] these judges had standing and then recites in the social media post, wow, we are in uncharted territory. [11:58] That's the uncharted territory we're in, not all the other stuff that you mentioned at the outset. [12:04] And then, and then, as you also mentioned, notwithstanding these, these rulings that are, [12:08] that are very devastating to Donald Trump. What is the thing that Donald Trump fulminated about [12:12] at great length today? Not having his name on the Kennedy Center. So a lot of people [12:16] revealing themselves tonight. No, I mean, that is quite an essay missive. And I referenced it. [12:24] Anybody can check it out if they want on True Social. Let me ask, I mean, I think the, the courts, [12:29] I think we're working in a way, as you said, it's showing the third branch of government is [12:33] working. There are questions I had about some of the things in here. I mean, in the, in the written [12:36] order, the judge also warned that she had the power to sanction the parties if this lawsuit was filed [12:41] for an improper purpose. So that's, that stuck out to us, but you can tell us how much it sticks out [12:47] to you. I mean, first of all, how does she establish the purpose when both parties in the suit clearly [12:52] seem to have been on the same side, or is that part of what she's looking at? So that's the easiest thing [12:57] to establish. And then whether or not it's an improper purpose or what the, the motivations were [13:02] or what the, you know, there's that word again. We haven't heard in a few years, Jen, collusion [13:07] in a different context, which is, which collusion is the word that's used in the order. I don't know [13:12] if that was deliberate or not, or a call back to history or not. But, but that remains to be seen, [13:17] right? The judge has inherent authority to do all sorts of things, including calling in witnesses, [13:22] having hearings, having people testify under oath, under penalty or perjury to find out what kinds [13:29] of communications took place, can ask for documents to be produced, can ask for emails to be produced, [13:33] can ask for texts to be produced. And I imagine all that is going to happen. So, you know, I, [13:38] I, presumably the judge has not prejudged this and I hope that she has not, but this will be a process [13:45] during which she has a lot of authority to ask for a lot of things and ask a lot of questions. [13:49] And so we'll see in a few weeks or a few months time. Yeah. I mean, in the, in the other case, [13:55] again, they're all related, which is why it's so interesting to talk about all of them. [13:58] A different federal judge, of course, temporarily barred the government from establishing the, [14:02] the slush fund, right? So there's the IRS case and then there's the slush fund, which emerged out of [14:08] Trump's settlement with himself, as I like to call it. Break that one down for me and where that goes [14:14] from here, because he essentially banned him or tell me if this is correct from even establishing [14:20] the fund. So even transferring money into the fund and certainly not giving out money. [14:24] How will we know and what happens kind of next there? Yeah. So just to be clear, [14:30] that judge has not made any ruling on the substance. That judge has not made any ruling on the merits. [14:34] That judge has taken the position that not knowing what the ultimate merits ruling will be, [14:40] we need to freeze the situation, um, with the status quo as it is, because it will be hard to [14:46] undo things. It'll be hard to unscramble the egg or unring the bell, um, and other metaphors that [14:51] courts use in this context. Um, there were three lawsuits that were brought. One of the lawsuits in [14:57] particular is the one on which the judge acted. Um, and there are a lot of different arguments, [15:01] including a separation of powers argument, um, you know, that's related to the argument that [15:06] this is a method of funding something that can only be funded by Congress. Um, some of the other [15:13] suits have not been resolved yet with respect to freezing or not freezing, uh, the slush fund. [15:18] But the way it'll unfold is what the judge said in the order, um, we'll take papers, we'll take [15:24] arguments. I imagine that even more people, even more institutions will weigh in on this. But, but I [15:30] will also say, and I was, I was struck by the end of your introduction here, um, notwithstanding that [15:35] the power and authority of life tenure judges. It may be that the most important judges in this case, [15:40] uh, in an informal sense are the members of Trump's own orbit and his own staff and his own cabinet [15:47] who are wishing and praying today he never engaged in this gambit. Right. To your point, I mean, [15:54] Republicans don't want this to be something they have to talk about. We see in polling, it's very [15:59] unpopular. They don't like it at all. I mean, right. I mean, the idea that your tax money and my tax money [16:06] and everyone else who's listening, their tax money is potentially going to go to people who [16:11] were convicted at trial or pled guilty before a federal judge after they beat and harmed law [16:18] enforcement officers sticks very badly in the craw for a lot of people, including for a change [16:24] in the craws of a lot of Republicans, including senators. There's a lot of ways the slush fund [16:30] may not survive. Um, it seems, it doesn't seem like good prospects for the slush fund. Priperera, [16:34] thank you so much for joining me tonight. I really appreciate it. So helpful. Um, [16:39] coming up, Pam Bondi, there's a lot of things happening today. Pam Bondi testified today [16:43] about Jeffrey Epstein and blames all of the problems in the Epstein investigation [16:47] on her replacement, her former deputy acting attorney general, Todd Blanche. [16:53] That's according to those in the room with her. Congressman Suha Subramaniam [16:56] was there. He joins us next. On our podcast, for months of dodging and trying to get out of it, [17:04] former attorney general Pam Bondi testified behind closed doors about the justice department's [17:09] handling of the Epstein investigation. And according to Democrats who were in the room, [17:13] there was one consistent theme in her testimony. She said, and I quote, acting A.G. Blanche was [17:21] managing the entire investigation, end quote. All of the mistakes that we saw, the redactions, [17:28] not protecting survivors. She continues to push that back onto the acting A.G. Todd Blanche. [17:34] We asked questions about Ghislaine Maxwell and the transfer. And again, [17:38] she referred those questions to Todd Blanche in the Bureau of Prison. So let's be clear. [17:43] We have many questions for Mr. Blanche. It was all Todd Blanche's fault, apparently. Blame him. [17:51] Now, maybe Pam Bondi was just trying to pass the buck, clearly, deflect some blame. But given that [17:56] Todd Blanche is the guy who is now in charge of the entire justice department, Trump probably [17:59] wasn't thrilled with that answer, which may be why Pam Bondi came out of that hearing trying to deny [18:05] she ever said it. Because this afternoon, the former attorney general made time to play keyboard [18:10] warrior, posting on X, quote, not true, in all caps, literally responding to people's posts. [18:16] But a leaked copy of her opening statement obtained by Amis now reads, quote, [18:21] I delegated oversight of this process to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. [18:26] So it seems like Bondi definitely had a lot to say about Todd Blanche's involvement in this [18:30] whole fiasco. But when it came to her boss, Donald Trump, she apparently had a lot less to say. [18:36] I also personally asked the former AG five times and five different questions about her [18:46] conversations with President Trump, whether he directed her at any given time on the Epstein Files, [18:53] what he knew, what he asked her to redact or not, and she refused to answer any questions about [19:01] President Trump. She was asked specifically about Donald Trump, President Trump's awareness [19:08] of Epstein's crimes before they became public knowledge. She had the opportunity to say Donald [19:15] Trump certainly wasn't aware of those crimes. She had the opportunity to say, I know Donald Trump, [19:21] and if he was aware of those crimes, he would have done something. Instead, she said, I don't know. [19:27] Joining me now is one of the Democratic members who was in the room with Pam Bondi today, [19:33] Virginia Congressman Suha Subramaniam. Okay. So as I just tried to lay out there, [19:39] former Attorney General Pam Bondi, I mean, she basically threw Blanche under the bus, [19:43] then she denied she did that. You were there, did she? [19:47] The whole time she was spending just talking about how this is Todd Blanche's thing. [19:51] Todd Blanche was in charge. Ask Todd Blanche. Ask Todd. Ask Todd. Ask Todd. [19:55] Kash Patel is the other one, too. She's referring to the two of them. But, you know, [19:59] clearly, she delegated this thing, and Todd Blanche was in charge of a lot, [20:03] and she took very little responsibility for her action in this. If you look at it, [20:07] all the bad stuff that's happened in the Epstein saga, Todd Blanche has been the center of it, [20:11] right? You talk about moving Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum security prison. You talk about the not [20:16] release of two and a half million files. Todd Blanche is in the center of all of this. So it makes sense [20:21] that she referred to Todd Blanche so much. Yeah, I mean, the buck ultimately stops of the person [20:25] running the department. But, I mean, to your point, Todd Blanche was involved in all of these [20:30] major things. It sounds like your senses, but you tell me, that, yes, she was trying to pass the buck, [20:34] but there may have been some truth to it there in terms of who was responsible for what and overseeing [20:39] what. Yeah, well, of course, President Trump wants his former personal attorney in charge of the [20:43] Epstein saga because the president is in the files, right? And so that's why he was so intimately [20:48] involved. Apparently, he was involved personally in some of the redaction process. That's something [20:53] we learned. And even people in his office were involved in that process. And so I asked her the [20:58] simple question, was at any point the department looking for Donald Trump's name before releasing [21:03] files to see if he was in them? And she said she didn't recall. All of a sudden, he had memory fog, [21:08] right? Well, I mean, the thing about that, and we noted that today as well, is that because she said, [21:14] as you said, she couldn't recall talking to him about his name being in the files. But reporting [21:18] in the Wall Street Journal from last year, she says she explicitly told him his name appeared [21:22] multiple times in the files and that her deputy, otherwise known as Todd Blanche, who we've been [21:26] talking about, was with her when it happened. What do you, I mean, yeah, so there you go. I mean, [21:32] the reporting's out there. What do you make of how she handled the questions about the president? [21:36] I mean, Harmeet Dillon, the assistant AG was there to just dive across the table to stop us [21:42] from asking those questions. I mean, the DOJ was very present in that room. It was pretty amazing [21:48] because we weren't sure if they're acting as their personal attorney or acting in their official [21:51] capacities or both. I think it was maybe both. And they kept telling her assert your privilege or [21:55] this is privilege. And then she would say, well, okay, but I also can refuse to answer the question [22:01] because this is all me coming in voluntarily, even though she's under subpoena. So the whole [22:06] thing was just a charade. And again, this is all about protecting the president and his own interests. [22:11] You mentioned earlier that she also passes the buck to Kash Patel, of course. What questions would [22:17] you like him to answer for? Oh, well, you know, she was saying over and over again that he would [22:22] not release files to the DOJ. So the DOJ didn't have files to release because Kash Patel was sitting on [22:27] them the whole time. So I'd want to know what Kash Patel was doing this whole time. [22:31] He was on his podcast last couple of years talking about the Epstein files over and over again and [22:35] how this is deep state conspiracy to not release them. He had the files himself and wasn't releasing [22:41] them. So what's the deal, man? What's going on? Yeah. I mean, yeah, exactly. There's lots of [22:46] questions we have for him about all sorts of things, including his bourbon. That too. [22:50] Where does the investigation go from here? What's next? I want to hear from Todd Blanche. I want to [22:55] hear from Kash Patel. The former AG herself said we need to talk to them. I also hear from the head of the [23:00] Bureau of Prisons. She said that that's who was in charge of moving Ghislaine Maxwell to a lesser [23:05] security prison, which should never have happened. And I want to make sure that all of three of them [23:09] come and testify under oath on video because the Republicans are still trying to cover up for this [23:15] and oversight Republicans are afraid of the president. And so they're trying to get these [23:19] voluntary interviews in place to protect them from the American people. [23:23] Sounds like you've got a lot of work ahead. And it's so interesting to hear from you about all of [23:28] us. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you. Congressman Suberaniam. [23:31] All right. Coming up, we've known for a while that Donald Trump is trying to turn [23:36] the nation's birthday into a celebration about himself. Nobody's surprised there. But now we're [23:41] learning just how incompetent his efforts are. New details about just what is going wrong are coming up [23:47] next. All come to know about Donald Trump is that he has always focused on appearances, [23:56] which helps explain why for all the things that he could be dedicating his precious time to as [24:01] president of the United States right now, he's fixated on a variety of pet construction projects. [24:06] He has ordered across Washington, D.C. ahead of the nation's 250th celebration in the coming weeks. [24:13] D.C. is looking beautiful. The fountains are almost all open. We had 28 of them. [24:19] And we have one in particular, a very long lake, we call it, the reflecting lake. The whole place was a [24:25] mass. And when it opens in a couple of weeks, long before July 4th, we want to have a for July 4th [24:34] weekend, but it'll be long before that. It's very exciting, actually. To me, I love construction. [24:37] It's very exciting. And we do many things. This place is looking beautiful. [24:42] Don't worry. Everything is under budget and under time. The nation's capital is looking beautiful. [24:50] Let me take you on a little tour, though, of Washington, D.C. and what it looks like right now. [24:55] We're going to start with the people's house, the White House. Now, as you look at this [24:59] photo, please don't mind the east wing-shaped gigantic hole in the ground you see there. [25:03] The area is, of course, currently under just a little construction for one of Donald Trump's [25:08] top priorities as president, a big ballroom that nobody asked for. Oh, and disregard all the work [25:14] being done right next door. That's just the octagon-shaped arena that's being set up on the south [25:20] lawn for the outdoor ultimate fighting championship bouts planned for June 14th, which, yes, happens to [25:26] be Donald Trump's birthday. But that's also close enough to America's birthday, kind of, [25:32] sort of, July 4th. So I guess why not just go ahead and promote it as part of the semi-quincentennial [25:39] celebrations, I guess. That's his argument. I admit it's all a work in progress. Just a few more. [25:44] Just a few more bells and whistles to put up. But just look at those arches from this angle. [25:49] Look at them. They really pop against the iconic neoclassical White House. Beautiful, [25:54] as he would say. I'm going to have a little more to say on that White House UFC event in just a bit. [25:59] But now I just, I want to take you across Pennsylvania Avenue to Lafayette Park, which [26:04] is right across the street from the White House. Another one of Trump's America 250th anniversary [26:09] projects. You know, just over a month ago, this park was missing some of its grass while it underwent [26:14] landscaping and fountain maintenance. But today, grass with some maintenance still pending. [26:20] Now, an interesting financial budgetary fact about this project is that in 2022, [26:26] the Biden administration estimated that it would take about $3.3 million to fix the park's two [26:31] ornamental fountains. Okay? According to the New York Times, the Trump administration then gave the [26:36] company Clark Construction a no-bid contract to do the job. And they agreed, because they are such [26:41] good negotiators, obviously, to pay $11.9 million to do it. And that total later jumped to $17.4 million [26:49] after other tasks were added. But look at that grass. Look at that grass. Now, speaking of no-bid [26:55] contracts, a theme, I should say, in the Trump administration, the Trump administration also [26:59] ordered a no-bid contract for the repairs currently underway at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. [27:04] It looks like one of Trump's favorite projects is just coming along there, doesn't it? Look at that. [27:11] Despite it reportedly being shoddy work and behind schedule, Owen was apparently paid for at an [27:15] inflated price. Now the White House says it needed those no-bid, these no-bid overpaid contracts [27:21] because they simply had to get it done for the 250th anniversary. But you might be noticing a [27:27] theme to Trump's America's 250 projects. What he claims is beautiful, or will one day soon be [27:34] beautiful, at least now seems at best rushed, overpriced, and even careless. Another example? [27:40] I have one. The New York Times is reporting that gallons of diesel fuel had spilled on the National [27:45] Mall during events set up for America's 250th during two separate incidents in the last two [27:50] weeks. And Trump's Interior Department said both incidents were cases of vandalism. That's our [27:55] explanation. In a statement to the New York Times, a department spokeswoman said, quote, [27:58] just last night an individual cut a fuel line to a light tower in an attempt to stop the great work [28:03] being done to celebrate our nation's 250th. This is unhinged behavior that will not be tolerated. [28:09] To be crystal clear, we will not be stopped. This administration continues to revitalize [28:13] the city at record speed. It's not what it seems like, does it? But here's the thing. [28:18] A government document about the first spill reviewed by the Times said a supply line [28:22] had failed, and that the spill originated from event-related equipment that lacked required [28:27] secondary and tertiary containment measures made no mention of vandalism. Now, with just a few weeks [28:33] until America's 250th birthday festivities begin, things are looking messy. And it's not just Trump's [28:40] construction projects. Musical acts have literally been dropping out like flies. I mean, [28:45] I think vanilla ice might be one of the few left, so I guess there's that. And what makes it all the [28:51] more senseless is that we've always known when America was turning 250 years old. It's never been [28:56] a secret. But for Trump, this appears to be about throwing out a slapdash coat of paint and hosting a [29:02] UFC fight to make himself look good. Speaking of that UFC fight, which I told you we'd come back to [29:08] on the South Lawn. Again, today we learned just draw-dropping new details about who gets to attend. [29:15] Because the Washington Post reports that the Pentagon is recruiting hundreds of U.S. [29:19] troops to appear as spectators for the White House cage fights. And those who attend will not only have [29:25] to pay their own way, but one memo circulated within the Air Force reportedly stipulates that to be [29:31] eligible, personnel, quote, must meet current waist height ratio and current physical fitness standards. [29:39] Would Trump meet those? I think we know the answer to that. Troops will also be required to wear their [29:44] short-sleeved dress uniforms, according to the memo. So Trump, basically just to sum this up, [29:49] on his birthday, will hold cage match fights in front of the White House, surrounded by physically [29:54] vetted soldiers who will pay their own way to be there, all in the name of celebrating America. [29:59] Someone who can put into context just how weird all of this is, is former Pentagon press secretary, [30:05] retired rear Admiral Drew and Kirby. He joins me next, along with former deputy.