Harry Litman: “The American people are being compelled to fund—and by funding to implicitly endorse—a bounty for the people who stormed the Capitol, beat police officers, and tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power.”

“All of us are, in effect, being conscripted into Trump’s campaign to rewrite the history of January 6th. The message the fund sends—that the rioters were victims, that their convictions were injustices, that the government owes them not accountability but a check—is sent in all of our names, with all of our money. We are being made, without our consent, co-signatories to the biggest lie of Trump’s presidency.”

“The Justice Department has moved on two fronts to chip away at some of the last traces of its vast investigation into the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, aligning itself ever more closely with President Trump’s own efforts to whitewash the events of that day,” the New York Times reports.

“On Friday evening, just as the holiday weekend was beginning, federal prosecutors in Washington filed motions to formally dismiss the most serious criminal cases stemming from Jan. 6 — those that involved leaders and members of far-right groups who were tried and convicted on charges of seditious conspiracy.”

“Hours later, one of the Justice Department’s official social media accounts confirmed that the department was scrubbing its online archives of news releases used to publicize the cases filed against Jan. 6 rioters.”

The Guardian: Trump’s justice department scrubs its website of news releases about January 6 defendants.

“Florida may have violated the Constitution when it donated a valuable property in downtown Miami for President Trump to build a presidential library that is likely to include for-profit businesses,” the New York Times reports.

“The suit argues that Mr. Trump, his library foundation, the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Florida officials and entities violated the Constitution’s domestic emoluments clause, which prohibits the president from accepting money or gifts from states.”

The Atlantic: “Though Trump has long compared himself to America’s two greatest presidents, we were recently told by two people who are in a position to know such things—a senior administration official and a longtime Trump confidant—that the president had, in private conversations, begun thinking about himself less as a peer of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and more as an addition to Hegel’s immortal trifecta.”

Said the confidant: “He’s been talking recently about how he is the most powerful person to ever live. He wants to be remembered as the one who did things that other people couldn’t do, because of his sheer power and force of will.”

“The tendency to self-aggrandize is as fundamental a feature of Trump as his sculpted hair and overlong red ties. But it has become even more important in setting his priorities and steering his actions as he hurtles through his final term in office. He no longer has to worry about the judgment of voters and can instead focus on what he’s decided really matters: ascending to become one of history’s so-called great men and leaving an enduring—and, in many cases, physical—imprint.”

“President Donald Trump said Saturday that he views his repeated brushes with violence as a sign of his historic significance and is determined not to let the dangers affect him,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Trump: “I’ve studied assassinations, and I must tell you, the most impactful people, the people that do the most … they’re the ones that they go after.”

He added: “And I hate to say I’m honored by that, but I’ve done a lot.”

New York Times: Again, a gunman got perilously close to Trump.

Thomas Edsall: “The damage President Trump has inflicted on the United States and the world is so enormous and wide-ranging that it is hard to grasp.”

“It runs the gamut from public and private institutions to core democratic customs and traditions, from the legal system to universities, from innocent targets of fraud to those duped into believing vaccines do more harm than good.”

More Republican influencers, including former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), are doubting or outright denying aspects of the assassination attempt against President Trump, Wired reports.

“Federal agencies are engaging in discussions to resolve a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump and his family over the leak of their tax information to news organizations,” the Washington Post reports.

“The lawsuit, when it was filed, sought at least $10 billion in damages, claiming that the federal government did not properly safeguard the tax returns ‘from unauthorized inspection and public disclosure.’ Trump is suing the government in a personal capacity, not as president.”

“Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, his administration has enthusiastically — and steadily — embraced his campaign to try to rewrite the story of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol,” the Washington Post reports. 

“Trump immediately granted a blanket pardon to nearly everyone charged or convicted in connection with the attack, calling them ‘patriots.’ Earlier this year, his White House posted a falsehood-strewn retelling of that day.”

“Then, this week, his administration moved to vacate some of the last remaining and most serious criminal convictions stemming from the riot.”

“A drone maker backed by President Donald Trump’s two oldest sons is trying to sell to Gulf countries while they are under attack by Iran and dependent on the U.S. military led by their father,” the Associated Press reports.

“The sales drive by Florida-based Powerus – which announced a deal last month to bring aboard Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. – positions the company to potentially benefit from a war that their father began.”

“More than five years after violent riots at the U.S. Capitol, President Donald Trump still can’t avoid lawsuits seeking to hold him legally responsible for the chaos that temporarily disrupted Congress’ certification of the 2020 election,” Bloomberg reports.

“A federal judge in Washington handed a multi-part loss to Trump on Tuesday night, keeping civil claims alive in multiple, consolidated lawsuits that were brought by Democratic members of Congress and law enforcement officers. It’s one of the last remaining legal fights against Trump predating his second term in the White House.”

Eric Trump released plans for Donald Trump’s presidential library in a new video rendering of the mega-skyscraper to be built in downtown Miami.

CBS News: “The Justice Department has reached a settlement with former Trump national security official and right-wing activist Michael Flynn after he sued the department, alleging that he was wrongly prosecuted during the first Trump administration.”

“The retired three-star general sued the Justice Department in 2023 for $50 million in damages, alleging the government ‘improperly and politically’ targeted him because of his association with President Trump’s 2016 campaign and position in the White House.”

Robert Mueller, former special counsel who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, died Friday, MS Now reports.

“With his Atlantic City casinos in duress in the 1990s, Donald Trump saw a potential lifeline in sports betting and aggressively campaigned to legalize it in New Jersey. But when state powerbrokers shut him down, Trump vowed that he’d eventually find a way to win,” CNN reports.

“More than three decades later and no longer in the casino business, the Trump family has found a new avenue to profit off sports wagering: prediction markets, a fast-growing industry where people can bet on almost anything.”

Walter Mead: “Two weeks in, it appears to be a stalemate. Devastating airstrikes have not broken the mullahs’ will to resist. The effective closing of the Strait of Hormuz and the global turmoil in energy and stock markets haven’t shaken Mr. Trump’s resolve.”

“For the president, the question is whether he pulls back or dives deeper in. The answer will define his place in history. If the U.S. pulls back from the new Gulf war without reopening the Strait of Hormuz and achieving goals like securing Iran’s nuclear materials, the consequences for Mr. Trump’s power and prestige, at home and abroad, will be profound. ‘Trump always chickens out’ won’t merely be an insult his enemies hurl at him. It will be carved on his tombstone.”

“Yet to advance further into the chaos of an escalating and widening war holds other risks. Unless American forces can break Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the economic consequences of the war will inexorably grow.”

“Congressional Democrats are opening a probe into millions of dollars private companies pledged to President Donald Trump’s planned presidential library, asking what happened to the money after the original fund was dissolved last year,” the Washington Post reports.

“Special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified records and obstruction of justice at Mar-a-Lago after his first term will not be released, a Trump-appointed judge in Florida ruled Monday,” CNN reports.

“The decision by US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who threw out the case Smith brought against the president before he was re-elected, is a major win in Trump’s efforts to keep the special counsel’s findings forever hidden from public view.”

Politico: Judge Cannon permanently blocks release of Jack Smith report.