Will Jarvis: In Washington on Tuesday, the Department of Justice quietly released a remarkable one-page document. It gives President Trump, his family, and his businesses complete immunity from any ongoing inquiries into their taxes. The new provision could be lucrative for the president. As of 2024, the Times reported that Trump could owe the IRS more than $100 million over his use of a dubious accounting move related to his skyscraper in Chicago. It's not clear if that IRS investigation is still ongoing or if there are any other audits that would now be stopped. Experts say the new immunity move might amount to illegal political interference in the audit process. with one senior adviser at NYU's tax law center calling it a quote breathtaking abuse of the tax and legal system.

Will Jarvis: The immunity clause was actually an add-on to another controversial move by the DOJ this week. Its new $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who claim they were targeted during the Biden administration. On Capitol Hill yesterday, acting attorney general Todd Blanch, who will help oversee the fund, defended that arrangement amid fiery criticism from lawmakers who called it a slush fund for Trump's allies.

Todd Blanch: The fact that I used to be President Trump's lawyer is just a fact. But I'm the acting attorney general. So don't say the president's former personal lawyer will do something. The acting attorney general will do something.

Anonymous Lawmaker: Mr. Attorney General, you are acting today like the president's personal attorney. And that's the whole problem.

Will Jarvis: When pressed about who will get the money, Blanch suggested it could go to a wide range of people, including Hunter Biden, who was prosecuted during his father's administration. Ultimately, the names of people who receive payouts might not become public. The panel overseeing the fund is only required to submit confidential reports.

Will Jarvis: Last night in Kentucky, Representative Thomas Massie lost his re-election bid, becoming the latest victim of President Trump's retribution campaign against Republicans who've defied him.

Thomas Massie: You all You all don't like bullies and you don't tolerate them and I love you for it."

Will Jarvis: Massie lost decisively to Ed Galin, a candidate handpicked by the president after a race that ended up being one of the most expensive House primaries in American history. Trump had grown increasingly frustrated with Massie over his criticism of the administration's handling of the Epstein files, the war in Iran, and other issues. In the end, Massie learned what so many other Republicans who have opposed Trump have found out, and that is there is virtually no place in the modern Republican party for a Trump skeptic.

Will Jarvis: A new Times investigation has uncovered details about an audacious US-Israeli plan at the start of the war with Iran. Early in the war, after Iran's Supreme Leader was killed in an air strike, President Trump said it would be best if quote, "Someone from within the country took power." Turns out the US and Israel had someone specific in mind. The former president of Iran, Makmoud Akmad. So, there's been all sorts of questions about what exactly the goals of this war were. Was it regime change? Was it just to decimate the Iranian military or set back its nuclear program? And what we found is that very clearly from the beginning, this was a war about regime change. The United States and Israel wanted to topple the government in Iran and install a new pliable leader and Akmadina Jad was the leader they had in mind.

Mark Misetti: The plan to install Akmad Jad is surprising for a number of reasons. First off, he's known to most people as the hardline Iranian leader of more than a decade ago. Someone who was famously a Holocaust denier, talked about wiping Israel off the map, was firmly in favor of accelerating Iran's nuclear program. So all the things that this war is supposed to fight against, Akmad Jad was for. But actually in recent years he had become something of a critic of the Iranian regime, a kind of gadfly who had been under house arrest because the Iranian regime frankly hadn't trusted him.

Will Jarvis: In San Diego, authorities say the two suspects accused of opening fire on a mosque this week met and were radicalized online and that investigators recovered a document laying out a deeply bigoted worldview. In the hours after the attack, which killed three people, a 75page file circulated online that appeared to match the document found in the suspect's car. It contains Nazi symbols, racist and misogynistic passages, and a list of mass killers. It also describes how its authors were inspired by other mass shootings, including an attack on two mosques in New Zealand in 2019 that killed 51 people. Authorities say the attack in California could have been even more deadly if not for the actions of a security guard, Amin Abdullah. He ordered a lockdown before exchanging fire with the attackers who killed him.

Will Jarvis: And finally, Tesla is making a big bet that could shake up the trucking industry. The electric car company hasn't had a blockbuster new product in more than half a decade. But now it's going allin on electric trucks. It recently announced that after years of delays, it's launched an assembly line that it says could eventually produce up to 50,000 of the vehicles each year. While it's not the first company to electrify big rigs, until now, the EV versions have been at least twice as expensive as diesel models, and concerns about how far they can travel on one charge have kept demand low. Tesla's version is expected to be much cheaper than other electric trucks and be able to travel up to 500 m before needing to be plugged in. If the EV semis catch on, they could help push the industry towards battery power, helping reduce toxic emissions and smog.