Congressional Report Alleges Fraud in Fundraising for ‘Christian Nationalist’ Freedom250

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

Hijacking the 250th

An explosive interim staff report, released this morning by Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee, charges that Freedom 250, the organization President Trump and his allies created to supplant the nonpartisan, congressionally-created America250 celebration, misled donors who thought they were supporting the nonpartisan celebration. According to the Democrats’ sources, Freedom 250 officials confused corporate executives who had already donated to America250 with its “aggressive outreach,” and even gave the routing and account numbers for Freedom 250 to donors intending to make contributions to America250.

 “I’m a lawyer, and I know better than to pronounce that a crime has been committed,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the committee, told the Washington Post, which first reported on the investigation. “But I do know the elements of fraud, and there is evidence of all those elements here.”

The report, titled “From Vanity to Insanity,” emphasizes that one of the chief goals of Freedom 250, in addition to being a personalist project for Trump, was to infuse the semiquincentennial with Christian nationalism and “enshrine their preferred kind of Christianity as the de facto national religion.” As a result, “a commemoration Congress designed to educate, engage, and unite the country has, under Freedom 250, become a vehicle for a Christian nationalist, partisan, and Trump-centered vision of American identity.”

The drafters write that while “significant questions remain unanswered,” the evidence they do have “supports a conclusion that should alarm the American people. The national celebration that belonged to the entire country was hijacked to serve one man’s vanity, andthe methods they’ve used and perfected—from capturing nonprofits to exploiting interested donors, diverting public funds, and dismantling independent entities—have paved the way for the ultra-wealthy and politically connected to take advantage of the American people.”

As Trump Fumes About His Great State Fair Fail, His Staff Question July 4 Plans

CNN reports that Trump has been “livid” about the sparse turnout at his Great American State Fair, particularly the kick-off speech he decided to give after numerous musical acts backed out. (The musical acts, incidentally, are cited in the Democrats’ report about Freedom 250’s deceptions. The report charges that Freedom 250 used “middlemen—including businessmen in the entertainment industry with past ties to President Trump—to conduct outreach to the artists and obscure Freedom 250’s political nature.”) Given Trump’s obsession with the poor turnout, his own staff is mystified about the planning for the Fourth of July, which seems tailor-made for encouraging people to stay home: a maze of street closures, fencing, a late start, possibly 11:00 p.m., for fireworks, and the heat dome that is enveloping Washington, D.C. with oppressive heat and humidity. Trump’s genius marketing skills were on display yesterday at his speech at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota, during which he pledged that on the Fourth he would give a “really long speech,” even though it’s going to be 107 degrees.

What Is With Trumpers and Pulp Fiction?

Brian Kaylor, who broke the story of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth praying for “great vengeance and furious anger” by using a fictitious version of Ezekiel 25:17 used in the Pulp Fiction by Jules Winnfield, the character played by Samuel L. Jackson, finds that another top Trump official finds religious meaning in Jackson’s portrayal of a gangster. In promoting his new book about his religious journey, Vice President JD Vance referenced the film on a podcast this week, describing how a bloody shoot-out scene in the film, which both the characters portrayed by Jackson and John Travolta miraculously survive, was influential to his own faith journey. Referring to the Winnfield character, Vance said, “he has this religious sort of epiphany. And that’s really the entire movie from his perspective, is this ongoing religious journey.” Vance went on to talk about how he, too, “felt the touch of God.” Vance even once called Jackson’s character “one of my favorite theologians.”

SCOTUS to Hear Challenges to Assault Weapon Bans

I was already deeply concerned that the Supreme Court will be hearing legal challenges to assault weapons bans in Chicago and Connecticut, given its recent track record in Second Amendment cases. But knowing that the Vice President of the United States sees religious meaning in a lethal, bloody (albeit fictional) shoot-out scene makes the Republican obsession with assault weapons even more chilling. Yesterday the Justice Department also filed new lawsuits against California’s ban on Glock-style guns and Virginia’s ban on assault weapons, arguing they are unconstitutional.

ICE Arrested a Nun. Where Are the ‘Religious Freedom’ Police?

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a beloved nun, Sister Leticia Ugboaja, known as Sister Letty, walking to mass in her habit on Sunday in McAllen, Texas. Although she was released the next day after a social media furor and intervention by Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and Monica de la Cruz (R-TX), her story remains a pressing topic in the Catholic press, including the conservative Eternal Word Television Network and the news service of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. Both news outlets report that Sister Letty’s community in the Rio Grande Valley remains on edge because of ICE. “For now, it is clear that Homeland Security enforcement protocols that make it possible for a religious sister, or anyone, to be detained and handcuffed while peacefully walking to church on a Sunday morning are wildly disturbing and need to be reformed,” said Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville.

Meanwhile, Vance continues to declare the Vatican’s teaching on immigration “troubling.” There is also no word from Trump’s “religious liberty” allies, who have often claimed that under Democratic presidents, Christians are under threat of government “weaponization” of “anti-Christian bias,” and even arrest. 

DOJ Withholding Information Ahead of Blanche Confirmation Hearings, Dems Charge

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche turn over information in response to dozens of unanswered oversight requests dating back to January of 2025. The subjects of the requests include pardons, payments to January 6 insurrectionists, DOJ purges of career attorneys, Emil Bove, Jeffrey Epstein, Blanche’s cryptocurrency conflicts,  ICE’s murder of Renee Good, Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund, and much more. 

Kushner Resort Threatens Albania’s EU Accession 

European Union officials are warning Albania’s governmental leaders that the country’s accession to the EU is at risk owing to its support of the Jared Kushner-backed resort that has sparked the Flamingo Revolution and mounting calls to topple the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama. Tineke Strik, a Dutch member of the European Parliament who led a fact-finding mission to Albania, told the Guardian, “If Rama is really serious about his EU ambitions, he should step back from this trajectory and say to the Trump clan: ‘Sorry, the EU is my first priority.’”

What in the World…?

Trump has appointed Avi Loeb, a controversial astronomer known for his claims about alien life, to lead a panel studying the supposed national security risks of supposed UFOs. “His theories have won praise in UFO circles but often put him in conflict with academic peers,” the Associated Press reports. “Other astronomers accuse him of making exotic claims with little evidence. Some chafe at his habit of skipping the peer review process and bringing claims directly to the public.” 

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