U.S. strikes Iranian military sites. And, Trump's $1.8 billion fund faces scrutiny

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American aircraft fired on a number of Iranian sites over the weekend, according to the U.S. military, including on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said this morning that it has responded by firing on a U.S. military base. Despite these volatile conditions, President Trump said on Truth Social this morning that "Iran really wants to make a deal," and told Americans to "just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end."

A plume of smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Tyre, southern Lebanon, on June 1. Kawnat Haju/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Congress returns to Washington with a long to-do list. Lawmakers left for a Memorial Day break without passing a plan to fund immigration enforcement for the rest of Trump's term. The funding measure is stuck because of concerns about the Trump administration's push for an anti-weaponization fund. The administration says the fund would allow the DOJ to pay people who claim they were targeted by the federal government. Critics are concerned it could potentially provide cash payments to Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

Trump's anti-weaponization fund isn't just getting pushback from Congress, but also from the courts. The nearly $1.8 billion fund was established as part of a settlement stemming from Trump's lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, who initially dismissed the lawsuit after the settlement, now says she will review the case . A group of 35 retired federal judges filed a motion last week saying that Trump's lawsuit against the IRS was "itself a fraud on the court." Because the IRS is an agency the president oversees as the leader of the executive branch, the judges say that Trump was, in a sense, both the plaintiff and the defendant in the case. Judge Williams has given Trump's lawyers until June 12 to respond to the motion. The DOJ has been temporarily blocked from establishing the fund following a Virginia judge's ruling.

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Graham Platner seemingly emerged out of nowhere to become the presumptive Democratic nominee for the Senate seat in Maine. But his campaign has been dogged by controversies, including racist comments and remarks blaming sexual assault on victims in old, deleted Reddit posts. He has covered a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol. And, most recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that Platner exchanged sexually explicit messages with multiple women early in his marriage. The incidents raise a big question: Does Platner have too much baggage to carry on? Or can the anti-establishment political message that has generated much enthusiasm among his Democratic base carry him through?

In a conversation with Leila Fadel for NPR's Newsmakers , Platner addresses some of his controversies, the failures of his own party and his criticism of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The interview was recorded before news broke of the explicit sexual messages.