The Daily Brief — July 15, 2026
Trump $1 coins, Blanche confirmation hearing, Musk may have broken law
These are today’s top stories, delivered straight to your inbox. Catch up here on all the news.
Blanche Confirmation Hearing
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told senators at his confirmation hearing today that he and his team are “restoring trust” in the Justice Department.
Blanche was asked about the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files, its cases against Trump’s perceived opponents, and the roughly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” he established as part of the settlement of President Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS. The fund was blocked by a federal court.
Blanche told senators that the Justice Department made redaction errors, including the publication of names, photos, and email addresses of victims, in about 1% of the Epstein files it released but moved quickly to fix them.
On the “anti-weaponization” fund, Blanche said it was dead. Sen. John Cornyn asked whether the Trump-IRS settlement — which includes both the “weaponization” fund and a separate provision shielding Trump and his sons from IRS audit — could be enforced as a contract. Blanche said “it’s an enforceable document,” and said that Trump’s lawyers could try to argue in court that the Justice Department breached the agreement by not creating the fund, even though he insisted that the department will not move forward with it.
In one of the hearing’s tenser exchanges, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse asked Blanche about FBI Director Kash Patel’s travel and alleged on-the-job drinking. Blanche retorted that the question was “extraordinarily obnoxious” and said he had full faith in Patel.
Blanche needs support from every Republican on the Judiciary Committee for his nomination to advance, and two of them — Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis — haven’t committed to backing him, though Tillis said today that he was pleased with Blanche’s performance during the hearing. The committee is down one Republican with the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham. His sister, Darline Graham Nordone, who has been sworn in to replace him, does not have her committee assignments yet.
DNI Pick Can’t Say Biden Won
Separately, Jay Clayton — Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence — testified today before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Clayton, who is the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, was asked repeatedly who won the 2020 election and refused to answer the question directly. He said he’s “not an election denier” but would not say that Joe Biden won the election.
He was also asked about the New York Times reporters who had received subpoenas after publishing a story on the new Air Force One. He defended the subpoenas saying the reporters weren’t targeted, “those leaking classified information are.”
Trump Coins
The US Mint will begin producing commemorative $1 coins with a gold-like finish featuring President Trump to mark America’s 250th anniversary.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the coins on social media, calling them a celebration of “the strength of American values.”
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a frequent Trump critic, mocked the announcement, noting that the government recently ended production of the penny while introducing gold coins few Americans could afford. “I feel sorry for the folks who will be sold worthless knockoffs of this by the usual grifters,” he wrote.
Federal law generally bars living people from appearing on US currency. When Congress created the Presidential $1 Coin Program in 2007 — to honor US presidents in chronological order — it said that no living presidents or those who died in the past two years would be included.
News Break
Many of us know that the Moon pulls on our oceans, driving the tides, but did you know that it smells like gunpowder? Or that it was essential to the development of science and religion? Acclaimed journalist Rebecca Boyle takes readers on a dazzling tour to reveal the intimate role that Earth’s 4.51 billion–year–old companion has played in our biological and cultural evolution. In Our Moon, Boyle introduces us to ancient astronomers and major figures of the scientific revolution, including Johannes Kepler and his influential lunar science fiction. Our relationship to the Moon changed when Apollo astronauts landed on it in 1969, and it’s about to change again. As governments and billionaires aim to turn a profit from its resources, Rebecca Boyle shows us that the Moon belongs to everybody, and nobody at all.
Hegseth Blocks Promotions
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has blocked the promotions of seven senior Navy officers, five of whom are women or people of color, to the rank of two-star admiral.
The original promotion list included 22 officers selected by a board of senior admirals, which found the nominees to be among the Navy’s highest performers over careers spanning more than 25 years. Among those removed was Rear Adm. Amy Bauernschmidt, the first woman to command one of the Navy’s 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
Hegseth has not explained why he pulled Bauernschmidt or the other six officers. He has argued for years, including in his 2024 book The War on Warriors, that the military has focused too much on promoting women and people of color at the expense of white men.
Since taking office, Hegseth has fired or sidelined more than two dozen generals and admirals.He has also removed about 40 senior officers from promotion lists despite their selection by promotion boards. More than half of those removed or dismissed have been women or Black officers.
Musk May Have Broken Law
The Wisconsin Elections Commission says Elon Musk likely violated Wisconsin’s election bribery law.
The bipartisan commission, made up of three Democrats and three Republicans, found probable cause that Musk violated state law by offering $1 million to some voters “in order to induce [people] to vote.”
In March last year, Musk posted on X that he would give a talk in Wisconsin, with entrance to the event limited to people who had already voted in the Supreme Court election, and said that he’d “personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote.”
After election officials and Democrats raised bribery concerns, he replaced that post with another saying entrance would instead be limited to people who signed his America PAC’s petition opposing “activist judges.” Two people were chosen to receive the money and presented as spokespeople for his political group, America PAC.
The commission voted 5–1 in a closed session last week to forward election bribery complaints against Musk to the district attorney. Under state law, Brown County DA David Lasee, a Republican, has 40 days to decide whether to file criminal charges. The complaints, filed by voters in Milwaukee and Green Bay, remain sealed under state law.
Separately, a government watchdog group, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, has a pending lawsuit in Brown County circuit court that accuses Musk of running an “unauthorized lottery.”
Voter ID Bill
House Republicans combined the SAVE America Act with the 2027 funding bill for national security and the State Department before sending the package to the Senate.
The SAVE America Act would require Americans to show proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and a photo ID to cast a ballot. The House approved the bill earlier this year. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has not brought it up for a vote in the Senate because the opposition to it, which includes a handful of Republican senators, would prevent it from overcoming a filibuster.
For weeks, a group of House Republicans had refused to let any legislation come to the floor until Republican leaders found a way of pressuring the Senate to adopt the SAVE America Act. House Speaker Mike Johnson ended that impasse by agreeing to attach the act to the funding bill, which the House Republicans believe their Senate counterparts will have a harder time refusing to pass.
🤮 🤮 🤮. I know it’s not very constructive 🤮, but it is how I am feeling. 🤮 🤮 How can this be allowed to go ahead?! Are there no clearer heads? No spines to be found ?!!!! WTH?!
Did I read correctly that ALL service members will be tested for testosterone? I presume then that the low T service members will be either treated or separated from service.
That’s poppycock AND tomfoolery.