Monday briefing: Does Trump’s $1.8bn ‘anti-weaponization fund’ signal a new era of law and disorder?

In today’s newsletter: What an unprecedented scheme reveals about an increasingly uninhibited leadership – and what it might mean for American democracy Good morning. It has been two weeks since details of a settlement in the case of Trump v the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) first emerged. An out-of-court agreement with the US president created a $1.8bn fund for the Trump administration to dish out at its discretion. In response, the outrage has been unrelenting. Critics argue the result stinks of cronyism and corruption, effectively a “ scheme for the Trumps to reward political friends while indirectly benefiting the family”. There has been rare pushback from within Trump’s own party: more than a dozen Republican senators have reportedly urged the administration to change course. YouGov polling found a majority of Democrats and Republicans oppose the fund . UK politics | A trove of government documents about Peter Mandelson contains no record of any measures taken to mitigate serious security concerns over his appointment as Washington ambassador, the Guardian has learned . Health news | A daily pill can double survival time in patients with the world’s deadliest cancer, according to the results of a clinical trial that experts are saying is a “gamechanger” and one of the biggest breakthroughs in decades. Lebanon | European leaders have condemned Israel’s expanding incursion into Lebanon , after its military captured the medieval Beaufort castle and Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to push even deeper into the country. Employment | An Indian citizen who came to the UK to work as a care worker through the post-Brexit visa scheme has been awarded nearly £30,000 , because his employer failed to give him a single day of work for a year. UK news | Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams was forced to sit in silence on stage at an event at Hay festival, after lawyers advised her not to speak because of ongoing legal action brought by Me...

Original source: Guardian