Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton, acting attorney general T...
says the Trump administration is scrapping its anti-weaponization fund, and appears at
“Jacqueline Diaz reports this came in testimony before Congress.”
When pressed on the status of the controversial anti-weaponization fund, Blanch was unequivocal. We are not moving forward with the fund, period. He was speaking at a house appropriations subcommittee hearing on the DOJ budget.
The almost $1.8 billion fund was created as part of a settlement, resulting from a $10
billion lawsuit filed by Trump against the IRS. Trump sued over his previously leaked tax returns. That settlement also includes a provision granting immunity from tax audits for Trump's family and his companies. So the fund may be over, but the rest of the IRS settlement, including that immunity, still
stands. And Blanch says the DOJ does not plan to change that deal. Jacqueline Diaz and Pierre News President Trump has named Bill Pulti to be the acting director of National Intelligence, the job is supposed to ensure that timely and objective intelligence
“is provided to the president, but even some Republicans are questioning Pulti's qualifications”
and Pierre's Eric McDaniel has more. After the intelligence failures before the September 11 attacks in Iraq War, the office of the director of National Intelligence was greeted to be the expert voice, presenting clear, factual information to decision-makers, including the president. Multi-currently serves as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and has used
the posts to go after the president's perceived enemies. Senator John Corden, a member of the intelligence community, and a Texas Republican, recently defeated by Trump to back primary challenger, has questions. Trump cited Pulti's qualifications for the role as someone with "deep experience" managing the most sensitive matters in America, Eric McDaniel and Pierre News the Capitol.
Iran says it's stopped communicating with the U.S. mediators after Israel threatened to bomb "be rude" as it's fights with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. President Trump is disputing the reports and says talks are continuing.
“Iran says fighting in Lebanon is part of the wider ceasefire talks of the U.S. over the”
war, but Israel and the U.S. maintain Lebanon is separate from the Iran war talks. As in Pierre's Franco-Ordoni has explained, the renewed fighting has complicated Trump's fragile ceasefire with Iran. Iran has made very clear that it sees the fighting in Lebanon as a direct link to the negotiations and the fact that fighting started again just kind of highlights how hard it has been for Trump or really any U.S. President recently working with
Israel when they have different security objectives. Trump wants a deal and Israel is looking at their security and really wants to weaken Hezbollah. And Pierre's Franco-Ordoni is reporting, primaries are being held today in California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota. U.S. stock market added to its records today.
This is NPR News from Washington. Jeff Bezos' blue origins says last week's rocket explosions spared fuel tanks in some other
critical parts of the launch pad.
The company's massive new Glenn rocket blew up during an engine firing test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The blast sent shock waves across the state. Blue Origin says the water tank at the pad is fine and the tower still standing can be repaired in place. The company says it can launch again by years end.
Scientists have started an ambitious new effort to develop gene therapies for brain disorders, like Alzheimer's Parkinson's and ALS, and Pierre's John Hamilton reports. The Allen Institute in Seattle is running the collaborative effort, known as the Brain Health Accelerator. It's an outgrowth of the federally funded brain initiative, which was launched by President Obama in 2013.
Ed Lane of the Allen Institute says scientists now know how to tweak a particular gene in certain brain cells. And that opens up the possibility for very specific precision genetic therapies for brain disorders.
Lean says one of the first targets will be Huntington's disease, a fatal inherited disorder.
It's caused by a genetic mutation that tells nerve cells to make too much of one type of protein. Scientists think gene therapy can prevent this. John Hamilton and PR news. The bleak week film festival is celebrating cinema of despair. It started in LA as a counter to the demand for feel-good movies after the pandemic.
The festival coincides with the city's June, gloom, and feature cinema's most brutal offerings. Five years later, bleak week has gone global with events at 100 theaters across 73 cities. This is NPR News. It's June, and another big week in the run-up to the midterms. Primaries and half a dozen states, including California, where new congressional maps are in place,
and a chaotic race for governor is wide open. We're also following gas prices and Iran. So far, talk of a peace deal is just talk. We'll keep you posted. Listen, every morning, up first on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
