Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R), backed by both President Trump and Gov. Brian Kemp (R), is projected to lose the Republican runoff for Georgia governor to healthcare executive and billionaire Rick Jackson, according to Decision Desk HQ. 

Jones’s loss deals a major blow to the president, adding another statewide loss to his primary scorecard.

Jackson will now face Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) in the general election, which the nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report considers a “toss up.” 

Jones was long seen as the frontrunner in the GOP race after he received an early endorsement from the president. A long-time ally of the president, Jones previously served as the Georgia co-chair for Trump’s first presidential campaign and signed Electoral College documents falsely claiming Trump beat former President Biden in the 2020 election.

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The White House has argued that funding related to security ‒ including a hospital underneath the ballroom and a rooftop drone center ‒ is separate from the ballroom project.

In response to the explosive report, the White House said Trump remains committed to spend $400 million in private funds on the ballroom. "President Trump and generous American patriots are funding the ballroom to the tune of approximately $400 million, which will be a secure and appropriate venue for Presidents for generations to come," White House spokesman Davis Ingle said.

Ingle pointed to the June arrests of five suspects in what the FBI alleged was a plot to attack Trump's Ultimate Fighting Championship event as an example of why a larger, more secure ballroom is needed.

"The events over the weekend and the foiled attempted attack on the historic UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House proves exactly why the East Wing Modernization Project is severely needed for large scale events, which include drone proof structures and drone ports among other critical security enhancements," Ingle said.

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Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter on Tuesday to FBI Director Kash Patel, demanding answers regarding allegations he's using a "slush fund" to pay out allies.

"We have been receiving troubling reports that you may be using part of the budget of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a personal slush fund to make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in unlawful 'bonus' payments to loyalist MAGA henchmen who have engaged in misconduct," begins the letter, adding:

We write to find out precisely how much slush fund largess you have put on the American taxpayer's tab. According to information received by the House Committee on the Judiciary, your office has issued more than $1 million in awards to special agents serving on your "Director's Advisory Team" —a curated group of agents who are willing to carry out your unlawful partisan and personal orders—and special agents on your security detail, circumventing the mandatory maximum pay caps established by statute.

Raskin goes on to suggest that Patel's payouts may be illegal.

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Gavin Newsom said on Monday that Donald Trump directed the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to investigate him and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

The California governor said in a video statement that federal agents had knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees in recent days as part of an effort to find a crime, demanding records and “abusing the grand jury process”.

“Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets, he’s coming after me because I am considering running for president. Because he hates that I have consistently called him out over and over again for his lies and deceit,” Newsom said.

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