• Melania Trump beseeches Putin: First Lady Melania Trump wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging him to negotiate peace. The letter was presented to Putin at his Friday meeting with Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska. Melania urged Putin to consider the purity of children worldwide and the suffering caused by the ravages of war. The cloying letter may come with an underlying message from the Trumps to Putin. Perhaps it was intended to be a counterpoint to the show of strength President Trump arranged — a B-2 bomber with escorting F-35s flying directly over Putin’s head. Whatever the intent of the letter, it could have been better written.

• DC AG sues Trump admin: Washington, DC, Attorney General Brian Schwalb raised a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday, days after Donald Trump ordered a crackdown on the city’s high crime. Schwalb’s lawsuit focused on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s directive to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to disregard the city’s “sanctuary” polices and assist ICE in its immigration enforcement. Schwalb told MPD Police Chief Pamela Smith to ignore the “unlawful” order. While the 1973 DC Home Rule Act grants the city a certain amount of self-rule, the law also includes a provision that allows the president to “direct” the mayor regarding policing should the president call an emergency, which Trump has done. Friday evening, Smith and Bondi came to somewhat of a compromise, wherein MPD officers will offer limited cooperation with ICE, which includes information sharing.

• School DEI defunding blocked: It happened again — a district judge stepped in to stop the correct action of the executive branch. Judge Stephanie Gallagher sided with the plaintiff, the American Federation of Teachers, which argued that the Trump administration’s anti-DEI policy outlined in a February 14 letter runs afoul of procedural issues and violates constitutional rights. Thanks to Gallagher, schools that engage in the unconstitutional practice of DEI may not be defunded. Gallagher was first nominated by Barack Obama for the District of Maryland but was renominated by Donald Trump after her first nomination expired. It is remarkable how often district judges have ruled that halting unconstitutional actions is itself unconstitutional.

• CFPB pink slips resume: The unaccountable federal agency that was the brainchild of Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which the Trump administration has rightly been working to eliminate, got bad news on Friday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned a federal judge’s order that had halted the Trump administration’s effort to fire most of the CFPB’s staff. “The district court lacked jurisdiction to consider the claims predicated on loss of employment,” the court majority ruled. This will allow the administration to move forward on its firings, which will significantly downsize the CFPB. While Trump cannot eliminate the agency, which will take an act of Congress, his administration has significantly eroded its power. Far from protecting consumers, the CFPB has been an agency designed to inject leftist ideology into the nation’s free market system.

• Hochul pardons illegal alien who killed a man: If Democrats fought for Americans as hard as they fight for illegal aliens, they’d never lose another election. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has pardoned an illegal alien who was convicted of manslaughter in 1988 to prevent his deportation. After Somchith Vatthanavong shot and killed a man in a pool hall, he served 14 years in prison until his release in 2003. Despite being free to build a life in New York City for the last 22 years, he never became an American citizen — i.e., he never integrated. Vatthanavong was scheduled for an immigration appointment on July 1 under the new administration, until Hochul intervened, issuing an unconditional pardon that includes “relief from removal.” DHS called out Hochul on X, noting Vatthanavong’s rap sheet, which includes criminal possession of a firearm.

• Trump cuts deportation backlog for first time in 20 years: Under Barack Obama, the backlog of immigration cases waiting to be heard by the Executive Office for Immigration Review was just 750,000. That number doubled to 1.5 million in Trump’s first term and then surged past four million under Joe Biden’s feckless leadership. Now, in Trump’s second term, that backlog has decreased (paywall) from 4.2 million to 3.8 million, mostly due to the lack of new cases. As the cases grew over the last two decades, immigrants would wait years before their case was brought, allowing them to put down roots and protect themselves from removal. Now, cases are heard in just a few weeks, with many new immigrants being held in detention centers rather than set loose on American soil, leading some to give up their cases and return to their homelands.

• Trump sues CA over EV mandates: Although the One Big Beautiful Bill Act rescinded the Biden EPA’s permission for California to pursue its electric truck mandate, the Golden State has continued to pursue it. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has sought to continue imposing its so-called Clean Truck Partnership to force these heavy truck makers to replace their diesel truck production with all-electric trucks. The Trump Justice Department filed a lawsuit against California for defying federal law and moving forward with its EV mandate, which truck makers in the partnership have sought to exit in order to comply with federal law. “The Committee has been made aware that CARB staff is denying auto manufacturers approval to bring vehicles to market unless the manufacturers agree to comply with the preempted regulations,” House Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee stated in a letter to CARB.

• Schumer’s big personal lie: Politicians are infamous for bending the truth, but their lies aren’t often complete fiction made up out of whole cloth. Recently, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was blasted across social media for his repeated references to “the Baileys,” whom he describes as a “middle-class couple” from “a suburb on Long Island” who “bought into Reagan Republicanism in 1980.” Schumer made extensive notes of the Baileys over the years, including in his book Positively American: Winning Back the Middle-Class Majority One Family at a Time. He even claims, “I have guided my political life through the Baileys.” So, who are the Baileys? Well, it turns out they don’t actually exist; they are simply a figment of Schumer’s imagination. And “Bailey” wasn’t even their original name. A former spokesman for Schumer noted that he used to ask his staff, “What would the O'Reillys think?”

Headlines

• Texas House Democrats announce return, ending walkout over redistricting plan (Texas Tribune)

• Letitia James sues DOE over funding cap on state energy programs (Washington Examiner)

• Energy Department announces actions to secure American critical minerals and materials supply chain (Energy.gov)

• Trump administration places even stricter phaseouts for wind and solar subsidies (Washington Examiner)

• Court blocks FTC investigation into Media Matters’ alleged scheme against X (Engadget)

• Controversial New Orleans mayor indicted for alleged illicit relationship with taxpayer-funded bodyguard (Fox News)

• Dems’ pick for SC gubernatorial race arrested in his underwear — while calling himself God and Superman (NY Post)

• More Palestinians are calling for Hamas to leave power (NY Post)

• Humor: 11 new artifacts Trump ordered the Smithsonian to display (Babylon Bee)

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