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California Policy and Politics Thursday
Trump signals support for Pratt in L.A. mayoral election: ‘I’d like to see him do well’ -- The president was at Joint Base Andrews for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Commencement when he responded to a reporter’s question about Pratt’s run for mayor. “I’d like to see him do well. He’s a character,” Trump said. “I heard he’s a big MAGA person. He’s doing well.” Noah Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/21/26
Trump’s MAGA Praise Could Haunt Spencer Pratt in Los Angeles -- Democrats have been trying to portray Mr. Pratt, a former reality TV star, as a MAGA Republican in the mayor’s race. President Trump just gave them a helping hand. Soumya Karlamangla in the New York Times$ -- 5/21/26
Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt hosts South L.A. block party on Bass’ old turf -- Mayoral hopeful Pratt spent Wednesday afternoon campaigning at a Hyde Park block party, in a neighborhood incumbent Karen Bass represented in Congress. Pratt again declined to answer questions from the news media. Sandra McDonald in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/21/26
Spencer Pratt Was a Reality TV Villain. Now He Wants to Be L.A.’s Savior -- Former star of ‘The Hills’ is running a biting, social-media-savvy campaign to be the next mayor of Los Angeles. Laura J. Nelson and Isabella Simonetti in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 5/21/26
Fan A.I. Videos Help Long Shot Break Through in L.A. Mayor’s Race -- Supporters have created A.I. videos to boost the mayoral campaign of Spencer Pratt, the former MTV star. Some videos have gone viral, but it’s not clear whether they will yield votes. Madison Malone Kircher and Ken Bensinger in the New York Times$ -- 5/21/26
Bass goes easy on Pratt, not so much a fellow Democrat -- The Los Angeles mayor largely avoided playing up Trump’s endorsement of her conservative rival, instead swiping at a challenger from her left. Jeremy B. White Politico -- 5/21/26
Mayoral candidate Raman unveils rebuilding plan for Pacific Palisades -- Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman is calling for the city to create a central ‘recovery district’ that can redirect some property tax in Pacific Palisades to local infrastructure projects. Raman, a City Council member, is also calling for reservoirs to remain full during fire season. Noah Haggerty in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/21/26
Arellano: Steve Hilton and Spencer Pratt need Latinos, not Trump -- With less than two weeks before the primary election, Steve Hilton is leading in the polls for governor, and Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Spencer Pratt is making the city’s progressive class sweat. Gustavo Arellano in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/21/26
Sergey Brin pours $500,000 into S.F. campaign to kill CEO tax -- Google co-founder Sergey Brin this week donated $500,000 to a campaign opposing a June ballot measure to expand the Overpaid CEO tax, helping to bolster a counterproposal that would eliminate the tax and make more San Francisco businesses tax-exempt. Aldo Toledo in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/21/26
National Democrats said they’d stay out of this California race. Then they picked a side -- In the Central Valley, Democratic officials are betting that a candidate running to the middle will woo enough swing voters to topple incumbent Republican Rep. David Valadao. Maya C. Miller Calmatters -- 5/21/26
Democrats may cast last-minute ballots for governor. What it will mean for the count -- Hesitation by Democratic-leaning voters reflects the toll of a historically uncertain primary race for governor. A new poll this week suggests that Democrats are starting to consolidate around Xavier Becerra, but the race remains close. Justine McDaniel in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/21/26
Insurance rates
One of California’s largest insurers will hike rates nearly 30% this fall -- Starting in October, customers on the California FAIR Plan will get hit with the insurer’s largest rate hike in years. Premiums will rise overall by just under 30% for the FAIR Plan’s nearly 663,000 residential policyholders. Megan Fan Munce in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/21/26
Workplace
California’s Governor Signs A.I. Order Aimed at Protecting Workers -- Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to explore an overhaul of labor policies to deal with potential mass job displacement from artificial intelligence. Cecilia Kang in the New York Times$ -- 5/21/26
Intuit cuts 17% of workforce after $8.6 billion quarter -- Intuit said Wednesday it will cut approximately 17% of its full-time workforce as the Mountain View financial software giant restructures around artificial intelligence, mid-market growth and a broader effort to simplify its operations. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Dean Seal and Kristin Broughton in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 5/21/26
Meta cuts 8,000 jobs as Mark Zuckerberg bets the company’s future on AI -- Meta began laying off about 8,000 workers Wednesday, carrying out one of its largest rounds of job cuts in years as the Silicon Valley tech giant redirects money and staff toward artificial intelligence. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/21/26
Marketplace
In Hollywood, image is everything. And David Ellison has an image problem -- Media mogul David Ellison is confronting a revolt in Hollywood over his $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, with 5,000 artists and industry workers warning of dangerous media consolidation. Ellison’s perceived coziness with the administration, along with controversial changes at CBS, has sullied his reputation in a town where image is everything. Meg James in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/21/26
LA28
LA Mayor Karen Bass warns city doesn’t ‘have enough hotel space’ for Olympics -- Bass defended her support for a deal to delay the city’s $30 minimum wage hike for hospitality and airport workers. Dustin Gardiner Politico -- 5/21/26
Wildfire
Containment grows on Sandy fire, others across Southern California -- A wildfire that forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate Simi Valley jumped to 15% containment overnight, according to officials. Summer Lin in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/21/26
Fires ring Southern California and it’s only May. What’s going on? -- Wildfires have torched more than 26,000 acres in California this week, forcing 45,000 evacuations and signaling an early start to the area’s typical fire season. This level of fire activity may seem unusual for May, but experts say that, increasingly, that is no longer the case. Alex Wigglesworth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/21/26
After the fire, outside investors were the bogeymen of Altadena. Now some are embraced -- After the Eaton fire, Altadena residents vilified outside investors snapping up burned lots, until one couple’s conversations with infill builder Ocean Development turned a feared bogeyman into a catalyst for neighborhood recovery. Doug Smith, Eric Thayer in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/21/26
With homes still charred lots, Palisades fire survivors find solace in temple reopening -- Synagogue leaders credit revitalization plans and fundraising prior to the blaze for speeding up its return — it also did not burn, with its recovery efforts focused on smoke damage. Rachel Kraus in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/21/26
White nationalism
Social media, manifesto of San Diego mosque shooters rooted in white nationalism -- The gunmen who killed three people at the San Diego Islamic Center left behind a 75-page document that preached hate, anti-Islam and antisemitism and promoted violence and chaos, law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told The Times. Richard Winton and Paige St. John in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/21/26
As Islamic Center reopens after deadly attack, San Diego Muslims express uneasiness, defiance -- San Diego County religious leaders remained on edge Wednesday in the wake of Monday’s deadly attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego, even as law enforcement officials said they were increasing patrols around houses of worship. Alex Riggins, Hannah Elsmore, Walker Armstrong, Maura Fox in the San Diego Union Tribune -- 5/21/26
Homeless
One force sets the Bay Area’s homelessness crisis apart: rent -- Sky-high housing costs have made the region an outlier, pushing more people into homelessness and making it harder to escape. Luis Melecio-Zambrano, Ethan Varian in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/21/26
Education
Lurie budget would end S.F. cash grants for thousands of low-income City College students -- Mayor Daniel Lurie’s forthcoming budget will propose a 30% cut to “Free City,” the popular perk that has allowed thousands of city residents of all income levels to attend City College of San Francisco for free since 2017. Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/21/26
Walters: Education is vital and costs California billions, so why aren’t candidates for governor talking about it? -- The single largest item in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recently proposed budget — and arguably its most important — is the $91 billion (plus $60 billion in local and federal funds) it would spend to educate the state’s nearly 6 million students, from transitional kindergarten through high school. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 5/21/26
Also
This Cannes Film Cost $500,000 to Make. $400,000 Was AI Compute Costs -- But what’s compelling about “Hell Grind” isn’t the campy plot: It’s that every character, setting and prop in the 95-minute movie was generated by AI. Startup Higgsfield AI took just two weeks to make the film, and spent $500,000—80% of which went to compute costs. Isabelle Bousquette in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 5/21/26
Santa Monica Pier area among the dirtiest beaches again in new Beach Report Card -- For the fifth consecutive year, the area around the Santa Monica Pier was named one of California’s dirtiest beaches by researchers with the environmental nonprofit Heal the Bay. Karen Garcia in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/21/26
POTUS 47
How the $1.8 Billion Trump Fund May Violate Past Practice and Policy -- The fund that could offer payouts to Trump allies who accuse the government of mistreatment is not only highly unusual but also appears to violate the administration’s own policies. Devlin Barrett in the New York Times$ -- 5/21/26
Trump’s Government Moves to Spare an Unhappy Taxpayer Named Trump -- No president has ever used the federal government to advance his own personal interests and those of his family and allies as expansively and openly as Mr. Trump has. Peter Baker in the New York Times$ -- 5/21/26
The War Is Over. The Strait Is Open. We Totally Won. The Iran War According to Donald Trump -- The New York Times analyzed the president’s statements suggesting that the conflict was drawing to a close and compared them with the reality of the moment. Often, there was a wide disconnect. Michael Crowley, Ashley Cai and Lazaro Gamio in the New York Times$ -- 5/21/26
Ballroom won’t be funded after Senate GOP drops $1 billion Trump security request -- In a blow to the White House, Senate Republicans will remove a $1 billion Secret Service funding request that would help President Donald Trump’s ballroom project from their immigration enforcement funding bill amid internal objections. Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes Politico -- 5/21/26
Republicans squirm as Trump pursues legacy, control and revenge -- Republicans are coming to grips with a president who less than six months out from the midterms is focused on racking up a body count of lawmakers who have crossed him, asserting his control over his party and burnishing his legacy — putting the GOP legislative agenda and the survival of its majorities at risk. Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney and Myah Ward Politico Lindsay Wise, Ken Thomas and Marianne LeVine in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 5/21/26
Trump Gets His Payback, but It Comes at a Cost in Congress -- Republican senators are angry the president is working to unseat their colleagues. But he is also creating more free agents in his own party in Congress willing to defy him. Carl Hulse in the New York Times$ -- 5/21/26
Democrats’ Midterm Strength Masks Fierce Divides and Frustration, Poll Shows -- Democratic voters are in a combative, anti-establishment mood, unhappy with their party and disagreeing about its best path forward, a New York Times/Siena poll found. Katie Glueck, Ruth Igielnik and Camille Baker in the New York Times$ -- 5/21/26
California Policy and Politics Wednesday
‘The crisis is here and now’: Hollywood’s anxiety reshapes California politics -- Long a force in presidential politics, the industry is entering the midterms with a more urgent and self-interested agenda. Daniel Miller and Jeremy B. White Politico -- 5/20/26
Hilton and Becerra lead in a tightening race in final weeks of California governor’s campaign, poll shows -- Former Biden Cabinet member Xavier Becerra remains the top Democrat in the California governor’s race despite being targeted by a barrage of negative political ads and enduring sharp attacks from his rival candidates during recent debates, according to a new poll released Tuesday by the state Democratic Party. Seema Mehta in the Los Angeles Times$ Linh Tat in the Orange County Register$ -- 5/20/26
Can you trust that post about Tom Steyer? How paid influencers are flooding into the governor’s race -- Billionaire Tom Steyer is paying influencers to boost his California governor campaign. Some didn’t disclose it. A state law offers little accountability. Jeanne Kuang, Yue Stella Yu and Maya C. Miller Calmatters -- 5/20/26
In growing fight, Steyer’s campaign says pro-Becerra influencers didn’t disclose pay -- In the latest escalation of a fight over the use of paid social media creators, Tom Steyer’s campaign for governor filed a complaint Tuesday accusing influencers who posted content supportive of Xavier Becerra’s campaign of failing to disclose that they had been paid, which is required by California law. One of the two influencers accused, however, said she had not been paid by the Becerra campaign to create posts supporting his candidacy. Ben Wieder in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
This California district is a must-win for Democrats. They’re fighting over who can flip it -- Like Captain Ahab with his white whale, Democrats have spent years chasing Rep. David Valadao. Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/20/26
‘There will be blood’: Why the race for California’s 40th Congressional District is so volatile — and expensive -- The negativity in the race has abounded, since redistricting pitted two incumbents against one another: Rep. Ken Calvert, a Corona Republican who has served in Congress since 1993, and Rep. Young Kim, an Anaheim Hills Republican who defeated a sitting Democrat in 2020 to first join the House. Kaitlyn Schallhorn in the Orange County Register$ -- 5/20/26
What are they trying to hide? California lawmakers kill lobbying transparency bills -- Good government groups backed legislation that sought to make every lobbyist letter public and online. Those proposals appear dead for the year. Ryan Sabalow Calmatters -- 5/20/26
Even while courting moderates on voter ID, GOP leaders still push debunked fraud narrative -- While GOP lawmakers try to convince moderates that a voter ID requirement is a “common sense” idea, they continue to push President Donald Trump’s debunked fraud narrative. Nadia Lathan Calmatters -- 5/20/26
‘The whole system has to be reimagined’ — Newsom calls for rethinking economy amid AI boom -- Gavin Newsom argued for a fundamental overhaul of economic and tax policy on Tuesday as he tested a populist message with a crowd of Democratic political professionals ahead of a likely presidential run. Jeremy B. White Politico -- 5/20/26
In D.C., Gavin Newsom previews his pitch: ‘People want fighters’ -- Every Democrat has a theory for the party’s way out of the wilderness of the Trump era and back to the White House. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s is “fighting fire with fire.” Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/20/26
Why Nancy Pelosi bypassed Scott Wiener and endorsed his rival -- Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and state Sen. Scott Wiener are two of the best known elected officials in San Francisco. Wiener is now the front-runner in the race to succeed Pelosi in Congress. Yet the two high-profile Democrats have virtually no relationship, a fact driven home Monday by Pelosi’s endorsement of one of Wiener’s Democratic rivals. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/20/26
L.A.’s democratic socialists look to boost their clout in City Hall -- Democratic socialists in L.A. have been gaining power over the last six years. This year, the local DSA chapter has endorsed in five City Hall races. Opponents say DSA policies aren’t practical for the city, despite recent successes. Sandra McDonald in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
Immigrant rights advocates rally for more state healthcare funding, criticize Newsom -- Human rights advocates on Tuesday rallied outside the state Capitol to push back on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget plan to reduce state-sponsored healthcare coverage for undocumented immigrants. Katie King in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
ICE
Adelanto ICE detainees launch hunger strike to demand improved conditions -- More than 40 people began a hunger strike inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center on Friday to demand quicker medical attention and to protest meager food portions and mold in the showers, several detained people told the Southern California News Group. Ryanne Mena in the Orange County Register$ -- 5/20/26
Workplace
In deal with business leaders, $30 minimum wage for L.A. hotel and airport workers will be delayed -- A $30 minimum wage for hotel and airport workers will be delayed after Los Angeles elected officials persuaded a group of business leaders to drop a ballot measure that would have devastated the city budget. Melissa Gomez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
Tech layoffs top 5,000 in Bay Area this year after LinkedIn announces cuts -- LinkedIn disclosed a decision to slash hundreds of Bay Area jobs, a downsizing that sends this year’s announced tech layoffs in the region past a milestone of 5,000 staffing cutbacks. George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/20/26
Meta Begins Laying Off Thousands of Employees as It Transforms Around AI -- The cuts of roughly 8,000 jobs, or 10% of staff, are meant to offset the cost of the company’s AI investments. Meghan Bobrowsky and Raffaele Huang in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 5/20/26
Marketplace
Dogfight over California: The ugly battle between electric air taxi leaders Joby and Archer -- Two California companies at the front of the global race to bring battery-powered air taxis to the public are trying to trip each other up in court. Caroline Petrow-Cohen in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
Wildfire
Crews continue aggressive fight against Sandy fire, other SoCal blazes -- Another “dynamic day” is expected Wednesday in the Sandy fire, officials said, when crews will be working to keep the fire from spreading into areas including the Santa Susana Field Laboratory and Box, Bell and Woolsey canyons. Terry Castleman, Karen Garcia and Alex Wigglesworth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
California wildfires: Three blazes burning now are a wake-up call for challenging summer ahead, Cal Fire chief says -- California is entering summer with fire danger already running higher than usual, fueled by dry grass, early snowmelt, persistent wind and a hot March that left parts of Northern California especially vulnerable, state fire officials said Tuesday. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 5/20/26
Housing
S.F. plans huge expansion of affordable housing fund amid push to ease building rules -- The city would more than double its annual contribution to an affordable housing trust fund under a charter amendment proposed by District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar with the support of Mayor Daniel Lurie. J.K. Dineen in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/20/26
Education
California, other states sue over new Trump limits on loans for nurses, PAs, therapists -- California and a coalition of other Democratic-led states are suing the Trump administration over new limits on federal borrowing by aspiring nurses, physician’s assistants, therapists, social workers, mental health practitioners and other healthcare workers, arguing the changes will further reduce a struggling but vital workforce. Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
California community colleges crack down on fake students stealing financial aid -- After a spike in fraudulent applications to California’s community colleges, school officials say they are getting better at detecting and preventing fraud, though it still happens. Adam Echelman Calmatters -- 5/20/26
Screens would be banned until 2nd grade under draft LAUSD plan -- The L.A. Board of Education got its first look at proposed screen-time limits for students, including a total ban until secnd grade. Over the next school year, the proposal would phase in daily screen-time limits that gradually increase by age. Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
Street
Oakland could lose shelter beds, close fire stations if voters don’t pass parcel tax, mayor says -- Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee’s first budget proposal delivers a blunt message to voters weighing yet another city tax: Without new money, Oakland can avoid layoffs of city staff, but not deeper deterioration in basic services. Kate Talerico in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/20/26
San Diego Mosque
‘He was my protector’: Daughter of security guard at San Diego mosque remembers her dad as her hero -- Families of the other two victims, Nader Awad and Mansour Kaziha, did not speak, but others at the press conference called them brave heroes whose losses are unfathomable. Roxana Popescu, Alex Riggins in the San Diego Union Tribune -- 5/20/26
San Diego shooting victims remembered for selfless dedication to their Muslim community -- A burly security guard, a paternal shopkeeper and a husband of a teacher were described as pillars of the Islamic Center of San Diego. Randy Dotinga and Daniel Wu in the Washington Post$ -- 5/20/26
Teens suspected in mosque shooting met online, where they were radicalized, FBI says -- Investigators believe that two teens who killed three people at San Diego’s largest mosque before fatally shooting themselves had been radicalized online, where the two became virtual friends before meeting up in person, authorities said Tuesday. A manifesto had been recovered, and the incident is being investigated as a hate crime. Teri Figueroa, Karen Kucher in the San Diego Union Tribune -- 5/20/26
San Diego attackers’ hate manifesto targeted many groups, sought ‘destruction of political system,’ sources say -- The gunman who killed three people at the San Diego Islamic Center left behind a 75-page document that preached hate, anti-Islam and antisemitism and promoted violence and chaos, law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told The Times. Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
The San Diego Mosque Shootings Were a Crime Made for and by the Internet -- The teenagers met online and bonded over shared hatreds. When they realized they both lived in the San Diego area, they met in person. And when they decided to kill, they apparently livestreamed themselves. Tim Arango, Chelsia Rose Marcius, Madison Malone Kircher and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs in the New York Times$ -- 5/20/26
San Diego Attack Follows Alarm About Rising Islamophobia -- Muslims pointed to a rise in overt hatred online, political attacks and harassment in the months before the killing of three people outside an Islamic center. Shaila Dewan and Jill Cowan in the New York Times$ -- 5/20/26
Breathe
Volvo to pay $197 million after hidden pollution device found in California truck engines -- Volvo Group North America has agreed to pay nearly $197 million to resolve allegations from California regulators that company’s heavy-duty truck engines violated California emissions standards and certification requirements. Tony Briscoe in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
Wildfire
Report finds no failures in Altadena fire evacuations. Critics decry lack of accountability -- More than a year after the deadly Eaton fire swept through Altadena, killing 19 people, a new, outside review of firefighters’ decision-making concluded “there was no failure” by L.A. County fire officials in ordering evacuations. Grace Toohey and Jenny Jarvie in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
Fire tearing through Santa Rosa Island reaches critically endangered trees -- The critically endangered Torrey pine tree only grows naturally two places in the world — a state park near San Diego and on Santa Rosa Island — and one of those places is on fire. Clara Harter in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
Ebola
‘This is bad’: Bay Area experts warn Ebola outbreak could worsen quickly -- Infectious disease experts are concerned the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda is worsening — and while the risk to the U.S. public is low, they hope it doesn’t reach the devastating scale of the 2014 outbreak that originated in West Africa and killed more than 11,000 people, the largest Ebola outbreak since the virus was discovered half a century ago. Catherine Ho in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 5/20/26
Also
Tennis great Billie Jean King graduates from Cal State L.A. 65 years after enrolling -- Long before Billie Jean King won dozens of Grand Slam tennis titles, founded the Women’s Tennis Assn., became part owner of the Dodgers and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she enrolled in what was then called Los Angeles State College. Steve Henson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
Burglary suspect trapped in a wall is rescued after Salinas cops on coffee break hear his cries for help -- A group of Salinas police officers were enjoying a break from fighting crime at a local coffee roaster when they heard faint cries coming from the walls. Summer Lin in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 5/20/26
Huge, Hungry Whales Are San Francisco’s Latest Traffic Headache -- To stop the growing number of ships colliding with whales, scientists are deploying a network of AI-powered cameras in the San Francisco Bay. Jim Carlton, Poppy Lynch in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 5/20/26
POTUS 47
Police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 sue to block Trump’s $1.8 billion fund -- Two police officers who defended the Capitol against a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021, sued the Trump administration on Wednesday to try to block the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund that they say will be used to reward the rioters and right-wing militia groups who tried to stop Congress from certifying the election results that day. Luke Broadwater in the New York Times$ -- 5/20/26
Senate advances anti-Iran war measure in surprise blow to Trump -- Democrats won an unexpected victory Tuesday when legislation to halt the Iran war cleared an initial hurdle in the Senate — a vote that strengthens their hand in the increasingly fractious debate over the conflict. Connor O'Brien Politico Theodoric Meyer in the Washington Post$ -- 5/20/26
Trump’s Deal With His Administration Also Ends His Tax Audits --Addendum to agreement creating ‘anti-weaponization’ fund stipulates that government will cease tax inquiries into Trump and his businesses. Richard Rubin in the Wall Street Journal$ Alan Feuer, Andrew Duehren and Glenn Thrush in the New York Times$ -- 5/20/26
With Trump’s Settlement, a Possible $100 Million I.R.S. Penalty Melts Away -- A tax audit that President Trump has been fighting since his peak earning days as a television celebrity was most likely wiped away in this week’s settlement with the Justice and Treasury Departments. Russ Buettner in the New York Times$ -- 5/20/26