Donald Trump just killed his own slush fund.

Minutes before we came on air — a senior administration official told Axios the President’s $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund is, in their words, “dead for now.” Trump built that fund out of a lawsuit he filed against his own IRS, then aimed it at the people he calls victims of lawfare — a pot of taxpayer money critics said could cut checks to January 6 convicts. Judge Leonie Brinkema froze it Friday. Both parties turned on it over the weekend. And rather than defend it in open court on June 12, Trump pulled it himself.

Here’s why that matters to you: it was your money — $1.776 billion of it — and he just walked away from it. Trump doesn’t walk away unless the fight is already lost. What’s next: the June 12 hearing is still on the calendar. A dropped plan is not a dismissed case. Watch that date.

That was supposed to be number four tonight. It’s now the day’s biggest retreat. Here’s the rest of the countdown.

5️⃣ THE TAPE THAT NAMES MELANIA

The number five story on the countdown today: a voicemail surfaced this weekend that drags the First Lady back into the Epstein story. Amanda Ungaro — the model who flew Epstein’s plane out of Paris as a teenager, then spent two decades with the man who introduced Donald to Melania, Paolo Zampolli — released a recording she left for Zampolli. On it, Ungaro alleges Melania worked as an escort tied to Epstein’s circle, and that Zampolli brokered the silence that buried it.

We tell you what she says, not that it’s true. But Melania answered a rumor with an unscheduled White House denial back in April — and now there’s a tape, in the voice of someone who says she was there.

4️⃣ THE FUND HE COULDN’T DEFEND

Number four is the story that broke at the top — so we’ll keep it short here: Trump’s $1.8 billion lawfare fund went from frozen to dead in three days, killed by his own retreat. The live thread is June 12, when Judge Brinkema’s hearing can put the underlying IRS settlement under oath.

3️⃣ 70 PERCENT OF GAZA — AND A MILITARY MERGER IN THE NDAA

The number three story on the countdown today: Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his army to seize 70 percent of Gaza and told his commanders to strike the southern suburbs of Beirut. That’s a ceasefire turning into occupation. And while the bombs fall, the House quietly wrote Section 224 into its 2027 defense bill — a measure that fuses the U.S. and Israeli militaries on AI, cyber, and “data fusion,” which means your military’s data becomes Israel’s.

The Quincy Institute’s Ben Freeman calls it deeper integration than the U.S. holds with any country on earth. Why it matters: only 30 percent of Americans back Trump’s Iran war, and Congress is binding the two armies tighter anyway — in a defense bill, where nobody’s looking. What’s next: watch the floor amendments before this NDAA leaves committee.

2️⃣ OIL SHOCK — BRENT TOPS $97

The number two story on the countdown today: oil just told you the war is back. Brent crude jumped past $97 a barrel and U.S. crude past $94 within hours of Iran threatening to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut. One-fifth of the world’s oil moves through that strait.

Here’s what it costs you: gas is already up 45 percent since this war began. When the White House says “calm” and the market says “$97,” believe the market — it has no reason to lie.

1️⃣ IRAN WALKS — THE CEASEFIRE COLLAPSES

The number one story on the countdown today: the February ceasefire is gone. Over the weekend U.S. forces struck Iran’s coast, and Iran fired two ballistic missiles at American troops in Kuwait — both intercepted. Then Iran’s Revolutionary Guard-linked Tasnim agency signaled Tehran would walk away from the talks and keep Hormuz closed. That last part is Iranian state media — we attribute it, we don’t bank it.

Meanwhile Trump spent the weekend telling Congress the war was “terminated” — on paper, to beat the War Powers clock — while the strikes kept flying. The fighting is the fact. The “peace” is a press release. What’s next: the next 48 hours tell us whether Tehran makes the walk-out official.

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Thank you Ellie Leonard, Cat: Poli-Psych, LeftieProf, Peter W Shuster, Deeanna Burleson, and many others for tuning into my live video with Dean Blundell! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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