Good evening, and welcome to Raw America. I’m British Chris.
Trump is still shielded from IRS audits even after his controversial slush fund got shelved; Jared Kushner’s Albanian resort deal is now under a formal corruption investigation; the White House wants political loyalty tests baked into federal grant applications; and a Trump supporter who threatened to murder federal judges is heading to prison.
Before we get into it, take a moment to upgrade your Raw America subscription to a paying one. We’re witnessing the complete capitulation of major media outlets like CBS, CNN, the Washington Post, the LA Times, and other storied legacy media brands to pro-Trump billionaires. They’re not using their endless wealth to invest in journalism, but to silence all accountability reporting and fire everyone who doesn’t play along.
This is precisely why we created Raw America. We are reader-supported, editorially independent and not for sale. But that also means we are completely dependent on readers like you becoming paying subscribers to stay operational. If you’ve been enjoying our daily news breakdowns, Capitol Hill reporting and exclusive live interviews on a free subscription, today is the best day to upgrade to a paying one. None of this would be possible without you.
Trump Gets to Keep IRS Immunity Despite Giving Up His Slush Fund
Even though Donald Trump quietly put his $1.8 billion slush fund for MAGA loyalists on hold, the other arguably more controversial half of that IRS deal is still very much alive.
Under the terms of the Justice Department settlement, the IRS is “forever barred” from pursuing any known or unknown probes into Trump’s tax returns. That means no audits, investigations, or accountability for Trump, his family members, or his companies, for anything that happened before that agreement was signed.
The fund got paused after a federal judge in Virginia temporarily blocked the administration from moving forward with it. The Justice Department said it “disagreed strongly” with the ruling but would comply. But the audit immunity? That’s untouched.
It’s not just Democrats sounding the alarm. Republican Senator Thom Tillis told reporters that family members close to Trump have nearly doubled their net worth in the last year and a half, and wondered: “How can you not at least have them be subjected to the same thing I’m subjected to?”
Republican Senator John Curtis of Utah was even blunter, saying the audit immunity is “part of the problem” and calling for the provision to be killed completely. Curtis said he “needs it dead.”
The president’s finances being off limits from the IRS is the epitome of corruption. And now even members of his own party are calling for his taxpayer-funded legal fortress to be demolished.
Jared Kushner’s Albanian Resort Now Under Corruption Investigation
Jared Kushner’s luxury resort project on the Albanian coast has been met with fierce resistance from local protesters. Now prosecutors are joining the fight.
Albania’s Special Prosecution Office Against Corruption and Organized Crime, known as SPAK, has opened a formal inquiry into decisions governing protected land along the southern coast. Investigators are asking if environmental protections were removed specifically to clear the way for Kushner’s project.
The development, tied to Kushner’s investment firm Affinity Partners, would turn a stretch of protected coastline into a high-end tourism destination with reportedly 10,000 hotel rooms and villas. The area is home to flamingos, Mediterranean monk seals and sea turtles. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama approved the project in December 2025 and has defended it as a major economic opportunity.
Meanwhile, thousands of Albanians have taken to the streets for two consecutive days. Protests have included clashes with security personnel, and viral footage of a demonstrator being dragged from the resort site has only added fuel to the fire. Demonstrators are calling for the project to be stopped and some are demanding Rama’s resignation.
Kushner and Ivanka Trump visited Albania earlier this year as negotiations continued, though final environmental studies still haven’t been completed. That detail alone should raise eyebrows. And now that SPAK is involved, the future of this project looks increasingly uncertain.
Trump Wants MAGA Purity Tests for Federal Grant Applications
The White House released a roughly 400-page regulatory blueprint last Friday. One proposal buried in the fine print would require all federal grants to be approved by Trump’s political appointees, who would have to certify that the money “demonstrably advances the president’s policy priorities.”
This means every grant for health research, housing assistance, transportation and science funding would all be subjected to a MAGA purity test.
The rules would bar grants to organizations or projects that promote DEI, assist with voter registration or engage in what the administration calls “issue advocacy.” Grant recipients could face termination of their funding if the Trump administration later decides their work isn’t in the “public interest.” And scientists would face limits on which foreign labs they can collaborate with, and even which conferences they can attend.
This isn’t just about ideology, but about control. One conservative budget analyst told the New York Times that “the whole idea here is to have one control tower.” That’s not how federally funded public services are supposed to work.
Courts have blocked many of Trump’s previous attempts to cut or freeze grant funding. This time, the administration is going the regulatory route, which is harder to challenge legally and could be far more permanent. The rules are aimed to be finalized by October.
Public health groups, scientific organizations and nonprofits are already preparing to fight back. But communities that rely on these grants are the ones who’ll pay the price if this goes through.
Trump Supporter Who Threatened to Murder Judges Begs for Light Sentence
A Las Vegas man named Spencer Gear is heading to federal prison after threatening to murder federal judges, prosecutors and public officials. His attorneys begged the judge overseeing his case for a light sentence. She wasn’t having it.
Gear targeted prominent judges overseeing cases who presided over Trump cases. He also threatened Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who handled Trump’s hush-money case.
He told Merchan he was “a dead man,” and told others he would “spill their blood.” In a voicemail to a female judge, he made comments targeting her gender, telling her she couldn’t do anything to Trump without sending a man to handle it.
At sentencing Monday, Gear told the court he was “embarrassed” by his behavior. The jury convicted him on nine counts of threatening a federal official and eleven counts of transmitting threats to injure. Judge Jennifer Dorsey sentenced him to 60 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
This is what underscores the belief system of MAGA diehards: violence and threats. For now, we still have a federal judiciary that delivers consequences.
Stories like these don’t get the attention they deserve from the billionaire-owned outlets that control most of what you see and hear. That’s exactly why Raw America exists.
We’re just getting started. Our Washington D.C. team is expanding so we can break more news directly from the Capitol. We’re also bringing you more live interviews with experts giving you the inside knowledge the Trump regime wants to keep hidden. None of that happens without readers like you stepping up to become paying subscribers. Today we interviewed author Jared Yates Sexton about the far right’s plans to stay in power after Trump. You can watch the full interview below or by clicking this link.
If you’re already a paying subscriber, thank you sincerely. But if you’ve been enjoying our work on a free subscription, now is the best time to upgrade to a paying one. Your support is what keeps this operation running.
Thanks for watching. I’m British Chris. We’ll see you next time.
STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
Republican ‘Spiraling Out of Control’ After Trump Endorses Her Opponent. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who is running for governor of South Carolina, is reportedly “spiraling out of control” after President Donald Trump endorsed her primary opponent, according to former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) Santos was responding to a series of social media posts Mace made on her X account after Trump’s endorsement, one of which resulted in a community note fact-checking Mace’s claim that Trump praised her as a “fighter.” Trump has since come out against Mace after she advocated for the full release of the Epstein files.
DOJ Investigating George Santos for Insider Trading. Disgraced former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is now the subject of a new federal criminal investigation for allegedly trading off of insider information on the prediction market Kalshi, where bettors can make wagers on political and cultural events. Santos is accused of manipulating people who placed bets on who would attend Trump’s State of the Union address when he announced that he would be present in the House of Representatives gallery, only to forgo attending the speech. Unnamed sources told NPR Santos allegedly made tens of thousands of dollars in profit by betting on his own attendance.
Trump’s Appointment of Bill Pulte as Director of National Intelligence Shocks Intel Community. Various prominent figures in the American national security and intelligence communities are expressing disdain over the recent appointment of Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte as the next Director of National Intelligence. 26-year CIA veteran Marc Polymeropoulos told Politico that Pulte’s appointment “will cause worry amongst IC professionals that the DNI will be fully weaponized in support of going after Trump’s political enemies.”
