Donald Trump says he ‘wasn’t involved’ in creation of $1.7bn compensation fund – US politics live

Closing summary

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Our live coverage is ending now. In the meantime, you can find all of our live US politics coverage here.

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Here is a summary of the key developments from today:

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Police are investigating a deadly shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego as a hate crime, after three people were killed and two dead suspects were identified near the scene. Democratic leaders from across the country issued statements in the wake of the shooting calling out Islamophobia and advocating for stricter gun laws.

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At a healthcare affordability event, Donald Trump announced that his website TrumpRx.gov will now include a catalog of generic drugs. Trump touted the move as “increasing the number of drugs available on TrumpRx by nearly seven times, adding over 600 affordable generics to the website”. After TrumpRx.gov launched in February, listing only 43 medications, healthcare experts pointed to other websites that better aggregated affordable drug deals.

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Trump has said he would “hold off” an attack on Iran scheduled for Tuesday at the request of Gulf leaders. In response to a reporter’s question Monday, Trump said he postponed striking Iran for two to three days at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates “because they think that they are getting very close to making a deal”.

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Trump moved to dismiss a $10bn lawsuit against the Interal Revenue Service and his administration created a $1.776bn “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate his allies for supposed persecution by the government. Democrats harshly criticized the settlement, saying it amounts to the creation of a “slush fund” for the president’s allies. Ninety-three congressional Democrats – including House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries – filed an amicus brief with the court on Monday saying that such a claim “raises the specter of corruption unparalleled in American history”. Later in the day, Trump said he “wasn’t involved in” the creation the fund and said it would be run by a committee of “very talented people”.

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An effort to reshape South Carolina’s congressional districts got its first full airing Monday in the state House. Lawmakers launched a lengthy discussion over the consequences of acceding to Trump’s calls for a US House map that could yield a clean sweep for Republicans.

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Trump also said he is requesting the attorney general and Justice Department investigate mail-in voting in Maryland. In a post on Truth Social, Trump alleged that Maryland had “sent out 500,000 Illegal Mail In Ballots” and blamed “the Corrupt Governor of the State, Wes Moore”, a Democrat, who “allowed this to happen in order to make sure that Democrats win”.

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Nancy Pelosi has endorsed San Francisco supervisor Connie Chan in the race to fill the seat Pelosi will vacate at the end of her term.

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The Trump administration has proposed allowing up to 17,500 white South Africans to enter the United States as refugees, beginning in the new fiscal year, CNN reports, citing an emergency determination letter sent to Congress that it obtained.

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Donald Trump said he “wasn’t involved in” the creation of a so-called anti-weaponization fund, but said it had been “well received”.

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In response to a follow-up question asking how the fund would be administered and whether the president himself and his family would seek compensation through the fund, Trump said “it’ll all be dependent on a committee” of “very talented people”.

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  Donald Trump has moved to dismiss a $10bn lawsuit against the Interal Revenue Service and his administration has created a $1.776bn “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate his allies for supposed persecution by the government. In a justice department press release announcing the move, acting attorney general Todd Blanche said, completely unironically: “The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again.”

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  Democrats have harshly criticized the settlement, saying it amounts to the creation of a “slush fund” for the president’s allies. Ninety-three congressional Democrats – including House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries – filed an amicus brief with the court on Monday saying that such a claim “raises the specter of corruption unparalleled in American history”.

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  Also this morning, Donald Trump was back to posting about Thomas Massie, the Kentucky congressmen who has long been fighting the president’s ire and has his Republican primary on Teusday. Trump wrote: “The worst Congressman in the long and storied history of the Republican Party, is Thomas Massie. He is an obstructionist and a fool.”

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  Meanwhile Defense secretary Pete Hegseth spoke at a campaign rally for Ed Gallrein who is competing against Massie in Kentucky, while the Pentagon confirmed that Hegseth’s “participation has been thoroughly vetted and cleared by lawyers, including the Department of War Office of General Counsel.”

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  An effort to reshape South Carolina’s congressional districts got its first full airing Monday in the state House. Lawmakers launched a lengthy discussion over the consequences of acceding to Trump’s calls for a US House map that could yield a clean sweep for Republicans. South Carolina is the latest state were redistricting is is being discussed – debates have already played out in Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana.

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Democrats have harshly criticized the settlement, saying it amounts to the creation of a “slush fund” for the president’s allies. Ninety-three congressional Democrats – including House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries – filed an amicus brief with the court on Monday saying that such a claim “raises the specter of corruption unparalleled in American history”.

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In the brief, the lawmakers accuse the justice department of having “colluded” with Donald Trump and asking the judge to dismiss the case herself, arguing that the president is effectively “self-dealing” because he has a role on both sides of the litigation.

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“Never in the history of the United States has a sitting president sought a monetary settlement from the government he leads – let alone sought many billions of dollars in taxpayer funds,” their lawyers wrote.

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“Should this lawsuit achieve Plaintiffs’ desired ends, it would result in the improper and unconstitutional transfer of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of the President, his family, and his allies.”

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“Congress has not authorized any fund, much less one involving billions of taxpayer dollars, for these purposes,” they added.

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In a press release, representative Jamie Raskin, the House judiciary committee’s ranking member, said:

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No president can concoct a fake case for $10 billion in damages against the government so he can be plaintiff and defendant and then ‘settle’ his bogus case against himself as a judge.

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An anti-weaponization fund has been created as a result of a settlement agreement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Services, a Department of Justice statement seen by the Guardian US on Monday morning revealed.

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The settlement directs the attorney general to issue an order to establish the funding within 60 days of the effective date.

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The US Department of Treasury should be provided with all the necessary forms and documentations to direct the payment of $1.7bn to the anti-weaponization fund account, said the statement. Trump claims allies were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration.

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President Trump moved to dismiss his $10bn lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, the AP reported Monday.

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The move to withdraw comes after reports that the Trump administration planned to create a fund to compensate its allies. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Florida.

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On Saturday, Guardian US reported that Trump could agree to drop his lawsuit in exchange for the launch of a $1.7bn fund to compensate people Trump believes were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration. About 1,500 January 6 rioters would be part of the group eligible for the fund.

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The treasury department’s Judgment Fund, a collection of taxpayer funds to settle court judgments, could reportedly be the vehicle for the fund.

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It’s election day in Kentucky’s fourth congressional district tomorrow and the race for the Republican representative is between the incumbent Thomas Massie – a consistent thorn in Trump’s side – and Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein.

n Massie is hosting a pulled pork and chicken dinner for his supporters at Veteran’s Memorial Park tonight to talk about what he hopes to achieve in congress, while defense secretary Pete Hegseth is expected on the ground in Kentucky at 1pm to support Gallrein. Hegseth and Gallrein will appear together at an event organized by America First Works, a conservative grassroots advocacy organization.

Representatives Lauren Boebart and Warren Davidson stood by Massie during a campaign event Sunday, as Trump continued to lambast him on Truth Social.

n “Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, a Weak and Pathetic RINO from the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Trump. “Must be thrown out of office, ASAP!”

n The chances appear higher for Trump and Gallrein. On Saturday, Bill Cassidy, the Republican senator from Louisiana who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment over the January insurrection, was voted out of his primary election.

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President Donald Trump conceded in an interview with Fortune magazine published on Monday that he may have to wait until the war with Iran was over for more interest rate cuts.

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“You can’t really look at the figures until the war is over,” he said.

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Trump said Iran was “dying to sign” a ceasefire deal with the US. “But they make a deal, and then they send you a paper that has no relationship to the deal you made.” he told Fortune.

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The president also said he “should have asked for more” of a stake in Intel on behalf of the US government.

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The Trump administration last year took a 10% stake in Intel and announced an investment of about $10 billion in the chipmaker for building or expanding factories in the U.S.

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Eight months after the deal, the government’s Intel position has grown to be worth more than $50 billion.

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Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

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An effort to reshape South Carolina’s congressional districts will get its first full airing Monday in the state House.

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Lawmakers will launch a lengthy – and potentially testy discussion – over whether to accede to president Donald Trump’s calls for a US House map that could yield a clean sweep for Republicans, AP reports.

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Debates already have played out in Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana as Republicans push to leverage a recent Supreme Court ruling that weakened Voting Rights Act protections for minority districts.

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The ruling has opened the way for Republicans to redraw districts with large black populations that have elected Democrats. In South Carolina, that means targeting a seat long held by representative Jim Clyburn, the only Democrat among the state’s seven representatives in the House.

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Clyburn has said he has no intention of retiring, even if his district gets changed. He told reporters last week in Washington that he has addresses in Columbia, Charleston and Santee, adding:

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I live in three districts. I’ll decide which one to run in.

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“It ain’t about Jim Clyburn’s district,” he added. “This isn’t about voting. This is about turning the clock back to Jim Crow 2.0.”

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Early voting is scheduled to begin on 26 May for South Carolina’s statewide primaries on 9 June. In addition to redrawing congressional districts, legislation pending in the state House would move the House primaries to August. If it clears the House, the legislation then must go to the Senate.

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In other developments:

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  A US Senate official on Saturday removed security funding that could be used for Donald Trump’s planned $400m White House ballroom from a massive spending package, Democratic lawmakers said, imperilling Republican efforts to devote taxpayer money to the contentious project.

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  The Republican senator Bill Cassidy lost his primary on Saturday, as voters in Louisiana opted instead to advance two challengers to a runoff election after an extraordinary intervention by Trump to oust the incumbent.

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  With two days to go before the next big test of Trump’s iron grip over his party, the president went head-to-head on Sunday with his nemesis, Thomas Massie the Kentucky congressman who is in a fight for his political life in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

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  Workers renovating one of Washington DC’s most historically symbolic sites in a project ordered by Trump may be risking their safety as they race to finish on time for the US’s 250th anniversary celebrations, a union monitoring the site has warned.

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  The FBI director, Kash Patel, is facing new scrutiny following reports that he participated in a snorkelling excursion around the USS Arizona during a trip to Hawaii last summer.

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Summary

Closing summary

Our live coverage is ending now. In the meantime, you can find all of our live US politics coverage here.

Here is a summary of the key developments from today:

• Police are investigating a deadly shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego as a hate crime, after three people were killed and two dead suspects were identified near the scene. Democratic leaders from across the country issued statements in the wake of the shooting calling out Islamophobia and advocating for stricter gun laws.

• At a healthcare affordability event, Donald Trump announced that his website TrumpRx.gov will now include a catalog of generic drugs. Trump touted the move as “increasing the number of drugs available on TrumpRx by nearly seven times, adding over 600 affordable generics to the website”. After TrumpRx.gov launched in February, listing only 43 medications, healthcare experts pointed to other websites that better aggregated affordable drug deals.

• Trump has said he would “hold off” an attack on Iran scheduled for Tuesday at the request of Gulf leaders. In response to a reporter’s question Monday, Trump said he postponed striking Iran for two to three days at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates “because they think that they are getting very close to making a deal”.

• Trump moved to dismiss a $10bn lawsuit against the Interal Revenue Service and his administration created a $1.776bn “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate his allies for supposed persecution by the government. Democrats harshly criticized the settlement, saying it amounts to the creation of a “slush fund” for the president’s allies. Ninety-three congressional Democrats – including House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries – filed an amicus brief with the court on Monday saying that such a claim “raises the specter of corruption unparalleled in American history”. Later in the day, Trump said he “wasn’t involved in” the creation the fund and said it would be run by a committee of “very talented people”.

• An effort to reshape South Carolina’s congressional districts got its first full airing Monday in the state House. Lawmakers launched a lengthy discussion over the consequences of acceding to Trump’s calls for a US House map that could yield a clean sweep for Republicans.

• Trump also said he is requesting the attorney general and Justice Department investigate mail-in voting in Maryland. In a post on Truth Social, Trump alleged that Maryland had “sent out 500,000 Illegal Mail In Ballots” and blamed “the Corrupt Governor of the State, Wes Moore”, a Democrat, who “allowed this to happen in order to make sure that Democrats win”.

• Nancy Pelosi has endorsed San Francisco supervisor Connie Chan in the race to fill the seat Pelosi will vacate at the end of her term.

• The Trump administration has proposed allowing up to 17,500 white South Africans to enter the United States as refugees, beginning in the new fiscal year, CNN reports, citing an emergency determination letter sent to Congress that it obtained.

Many of the contenders in California’s gubernatorial election have issued statements in the wake of the deadly shooting at a San Diego mosque.

“California is strongest when we reject fear, division, and extremism in all its forms,” said former state attorney general Xavier Becerra.

“To our Muslim communities in San Jose and across California: you belong here, and we will protect your right to worship freely and safely,” said San Jose mayor Matt Mahan.

“All Californians, no matter what you look like or what faith you belong to, deserve to go to school, houses of worship [sic], and work without fearing for their lives,” said former California congresswoman Katie Porter. “Our next Governor must be prepared to protect our communities and fight back against such horrific acts of gun violence and Islamophobia.”

“We must all condemn hatred and violence targeting the Muslim community. There is no place for Islamophobia in our state,” said businessman Tom Steyer.

Democratic leaders from across the country are continuing to issue statements grieving the deadly mosque shooting in San Diego.

“I am horrified by the deadly attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego, an apparent act of anti-Muslim violence,” New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a social media post. “Islamophobia endangers Muslim communities across this country. We must confront it directly and stand together against the politics of fear and division. My thoughts are with the victims, their loved ones, and the entire community grieving this devastating attack.”

“Devastated by the horrific attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego,” Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar said in a statement on social media. “There is no place for anti-Muslim hate in America. We must confront this violence and protect the right to worship safely.”

“This tragedy at the Islamic Center of San Diego was motivated by hate—something we see far too often now. We must call out Islamophobia wherever we see it and we NEED gun violence laws, now,” said Arizona congresswoman Yassamin Ansari. “We cannot allow hate to become the norm in our communities and we cannot permit this kind of violence to keep happening.”

The Trump administration has proposed allowing up to 17,500 white South Africans to enter the United States as refugees, beginning in the new fiscal year, CNN reports, citing an emergency determination letter sent to Congress that it obtained.

The president is required to consult with Congress on a refugee admissions ceiling each year. In 2024, the United States set its refugee admissions ceiling at 125,000. After Trump returned to office, his administration slashed that number to 7,500. This year, the administration is proposing raising the level to 17,500 specifically for white South Africans – who Trump says are facing “a genocide”.

The first white South Africans granted refugee status by Trump arrived in the United States about one year ago. My colleagues Rachel Savage and David Smith reported then on the president’s decision to extend protections to them then:

On the same day the group arrived in the US, Trump’s government also ended legal protections that had temporarily protected Afghans from deportation, citing an improved security situation in the country, which is ruled by the Taliban.

One consideration for resettling Afrikaners not Afghans was that “they could be easily assimilated into our country,” Landau told reporters at the airport.

Trump suspended the US refugee settlement programme in January, leaving more than 100,000 people approved for refugee resettlement stranded. Then, in February, he signed an executive order directing officials to grant refugee status to Afrikaners, whose leaders ruled during apartheid while violently repressing the Black majority.

“It’s a genocide that’s taking place,” Trump told reporters at the White House, when asked why white South Africans were being prioritised for resettlement above victims of famine and war elsewhere on the continent, echoing a far-right conspiracy theory that has also been amplified by his South African-born billionaire adviser Elon Musk.

Adam Fulton

Oil prices and stock markets worldwide swung through a shaky Monday with uncertainty about what will happen with the Iran war.

The S+P 500 swivelled between gains and losses before finishing with a dip of 0.1% – its second loss since setting an all-time high last week – while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.5% after both indexes also yo-yoed, the AP reports.

Stocks moved in the opposite direction of oil prices, with the price for a barrel of Brent crude – the international standard – going from a high of $112 overnight to below $107 in the morning before turning back higher.

After settling at $112.10 per barrel, Brent’s price then fell back below $109 after Donald Trump said late in the day that he would hold off attacking Iran on Tuesday at the request of allies in the region, keeping alive hopes of a deal that would reopen the strait of Hormuz.

A jury has ruled in favor of Sam Altman and OpenAI in a legal dispute with Elon Musk.

My colleagues Nick Robins-Early and Dara Kerr have the full story:

The federal jury in Oakland, California, found Altman, OpenAI and its president, Greg Brockman, not liable for Elon Musk’s claims that they unjustly enriched themselves and broke a founding contract made with Musk when founding the startup.

The verdict, delivered after less than two hours of deliberation, is a stark rebuke of Musk and his lawyer’s claims that Altman “stole a charity” through his leadership of OpenAI. It also provides the AI firm with a clear path ahead to pursue going public later this year at about a $1tn valuation.

The state department has announced new sanctions on Cuban government agencies and officials. The sanctions target agencies including the Interior Ministry and National Police, as well as 11 government officials, including the chief of staff of the Cuban army and the ministers of justice.

“These sanctions advance the Trump administration’s comprehensive campaign to address the pressing national security threats posed by Cuba’s communist regime and to hold accountable both the regime and those who provide it material support,” secretary of state Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Here’s more on the growing tension between the United States and its neighbor:

The Senate has confirmed former New Mexico congressman Steve Pearce to lead the Bureau of Land Management. Donald Trump had selected Pearce, who has supported leasing public lands, at a moment when his administration is opening more public lands to mining, drilling and logging industries.

During his confirmation hearing, Pearce sought to assuage the concerns of Democrats and environmental groups. “The security and economic health of the country, especially the western states, rests squarely with the BLM,” he said. “We can and must balance the different uses of public land. Local economies and future generations depend on us doing our job right.”

Here’s more on Pearce, who Trump nominated to lead the Bureau of Land Management in November:

Nancy Pelosi has endorsed San Francisco supervisor Connie Chan in the race to fill the seat Pelosi will vacate at the end of her term.

“Connie understands San Francisco – our values, our diversity, our communities, and our responsibility to lead with both compassion and strength. She’s a mom who knows her power and knows her why. I am confident Connie is ready to bring clarity and purpose to the work ahead – for the children,” Pelosi said in a new video for the Chan campaign. “At a time when fundamental freedoms and democratic values are under assault, we need a leader in Congress who is prepared to fight — forcefully and effectively – for the people of San Francisco and for the future of our country.”

Here’s my colleague Lauren Gambino with more on Chan:

Lawmakers and national organizations are beginning to share statements denouncing the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego.

“I’m heartbroken by the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, and my prayers are with the families of the three precious lives lost today,” said California senator Adam Schiff. “Today’s shooting is a horrific attack on Southern California’s Muslim community. Every American should be able to practice their faith without fear of violence. And we must never be silent in the face of hate.”

“California sends our deepest condolences to the families and communities impacted by today’s shooting,” California governor Gavin Newsom and first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom said in a statement. “Worshippers anywhere should not have to fear for their lives. Hate has no place in California, and we will not tolerate acts of terror or intimidation against communities of faith.”

“I’m thankful for the swift and courageous actions of law enforcement and first responders who responded to the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego today. They ran toward the gunfire and toward the danger and ultimately saved lives,” said California congresswoman Sara Jacobs.

“No one should have to fear the daily gun violence that plagues our communities, and it is especially terrible to fear being targeted based on race or religion,” former congresswoman Gabby Giffords said in a statement. “My heart goes out to the Muslim community in San Diego and across the country, and to the families of the three people who should have made it home today. There is no world where armed, violent hate should be tolerated.”

“To God we belong, and to God we return,” the Council on American–Islamic Relations wrote in a social media post. “No one should ever fear for their safety while attending prayers or studying at an elementary school.”

“We must do everything we can to keep people safe at houses of worship and keep children safe in our schools,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a social media post. “There is no place in our country for this type of violence at mosques, synagogues, churches, or anywhere else.”

“My prayers are with the victims, their families and the Clairemont community,” House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a social media post. “We must crush Islamophobia and the hatred that is fueling it.”

Trump said he postponed striking Iran for two to three days at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates “because they think that they are getting very close to making a deal”.

Answering a second reporter’s question about Iran at his health affordability event, the president challenged the idea that Iran would benefit from more time to negotiate a deal to its favor. “We’ve taken a country that was going to have a nuclear weapon, and we’ve virtually destroyed its military,” Trump said.

He also lamented the economic fallout of the war, but said it was worth the cost. “We don’t want to go through this. We had the greatest economy ever,” Trump said. “But this is the most important thing we can do. We can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

Donald Trump echoed his earlier concerns about mail-in ballots, responding to a reporter’s question about his Truth Social post calling for an investigation into Maryland’s use of mail-in blalots.

“I’ve looked at Maryland for a long time, and I know Maryland pretty well, and I was told that it’s automatically a Democrat state. And I don’t believe that because I think I did really well there and I don’t believe it,” he said. “I’ve asked the, law enforcement to look at it very, very strenuously.”

Donald Trump says $1.7bn compensation fund would be administered by ‘committee of very talented people’

Donald Trump said he “wasn’t involved in” the creation of a so-called anti-weaponization fund, but said it had been “well received”.

In response to a follow-up question asking how the fund would be administered and whether the president himself and his family would seek compensation through the fund, Trump said “it’ll all be dependent on a committee” of “very talented people”.

Asked by a reporter about the shooting in San Diego, Trump said: “They’re giving a briefing and it’s a terrible situation.”

He added, “we’re going to be going back and looking at it very strongly.”