MONEY PROBLEMS: Americans for Public Trust (APT) filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Julie Johnson (D., Texas) over her “apparent use of an official congressional hearing to solicit political donations” on ActBlue. “My comment to the American people is vote, contribute through ActBlue, send money to your Democratic candidates,” Johnson said in a hearing. “Make sure that Democrats win in November so we can stop this nonsense once and for all.”
META MOVES: Meta announced a program to give every blind veteran in America a free pair of Meta AI Ray-Bans; over 130,000 veterans are eligible. “When Don Overton worked with our wearables team at Meta to build features that made the Ray-Ban Meta glasses more meaningful to the everyday lives of veterans, we at Meta knew we had to find a way to reach every blind veteran in America,” Meta’s President, Dina Powell McCormick, said of the program’s launch. “We are so proud to work with Blinded Veterans of America, Tunnel to Towers, Homes for Our Troops, Lighthouse Guild, American Council of the Blind, National Industries for the Blind, Oscar Mike, and more to donate glasses to every blind veteran in America, and to work with the BVA to ensure veterans have the training to use their glasses to regain their independence.”
THUNE MAKING HISTORY: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) is continuing his historic streak running the Senate GOP. “The Senate has now confirmed more appellate and district court judges in Trump’s second term than it had at the same point in his first term,” Ryan Wrasse noted. “Senate Republicans have always been committed to confirming constitutionalist judges to the federal bench, and that won’t stop.”
LOTR ON THE HILL: Sean Astin, who famously played Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings, stopped by the Hill in his role as the President of SAG-AFTRA. Astin joined Eric Schmitz on Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R., La.) staff on the Speaker’s Balcony, where he recited Gamgee’s speech from the end of The Two Towers.
NO MORE GAIN OF FUNCTION: Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is leaving her role in a few days, but she is racking up wins for President Donald Trump until the very end. Gabbard just announced that she is “releasing never before seen intelligence revealing new evidence of past US government funding for more than 120 biolabs in over 30 countries, including Ukraine.”
WEBER WINS: Rep. Randy Weber (R., Texas) is not on the Appropriations Committee, but he nevertheless scored major wins for his district in Texas. Weber brought in $131.2 million to his district.
PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS AT THE UN: The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) inspector general’s office found that “UNRWA school principals, teachers, security personnel, attendants, psychosocial counselors, and medical professionals” were also members of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades or other terror factions, the Washington Free Beacon’s Adam Kredo reported.
GO TEAM USA: TallBoy, a bar in Shaw, is partnering with Kalshi to give everyone free drinks if Team USA wins today’s World Cup match by three or more goals.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Happy birthday to Lexi Hamel, Rep. Mike Simpson’s (R., Idaho) ever-present sidekick!
