Independent News Drop

KELI From Inkwell, this is the Independent News Drop. I'm Keli, with Hast.

HAST The Attorney General under oath, declaring the same fund dead four different ways in one week. Let's start there.

KELI From our Ground News desk: back in May, Trump settled his suit against the IRS for 1.8 billion dollars. Part of that deal required the Attorney General to establish an anti-weaponization fund to distribute the money. AG Todd Blanche created it on paper in early August, then rescinded his own order on August 2nd to secure two Republican votes he needed for confirmation. By August 12th, in front of the House, he was asked directly whether the fund exists. Blanche said he's not sure how he can say it more clearly — the anti-weaponization fund doesn't exist. They use the word dead. Same hearing, same answer repeated: it will not happen through the anti-weaponization fund, which was never set up, and nothing has happened with it.

HAST So the counter-read: most newsrooms will frame this as a Trump legal win — fund killed, obligation erased. That's the surface. Structurally, the settlement agreement was never amended, and Trump's lawyers never signed off on the rescission. Which means they can sue to enforce it. Blanche admitted exactly that at his own confirmation hearing. The money sits in the Judgment Fund, a permanent federal appropriation that doesn't need commissioners or public announcement. The allies' claims are already moving through. Watch the next 72 hours for whether Trump's legal team files to enforce the original settlement language. That's the real story — not whether Blanche killed the fund, but whether killing it costs him in court.

KELI Staying with money and schools: rural Texas school districts are supposed to get state funding based on student growth. They're not getting it. The Texas Tribune found that fast-growing districts are running million-dollar shortfalls between what the state owes them and what it sends. When districts can't expand at the pace enrollment demands, charter schools move in to fill the gap — pulling students and per-pupil dollars out of the public system. The state's funding formula hasn't kept pace with growth in years, and school boards are either cutting programs or going to bond elections to cover the gap themselves.

HAST On a different front: the House Energy and Commerce Committee has launched a formal sexual abuse investigation into the Amateur Athletic Union. ProPublica's reporting triggered it — the AAU runs youth tournaments nationwide and has faced complaints about screening, supervision, and reporting failures. The Committee is looking at institutional practices, compliance with child protection laws, and whether the AAU has barriers to reporting built into its structure. No timeline yet on the probe.

KELI Heavier story next. A bipartisan group of senators on the Foreign Relations Committee has condemned President Trump's diesel fuel deal with Russia as illegal. Trump announced Friday that Putin agreed to increase diesel exports to the United States to ease fuel prices while the Iran war continues to strain energy markets. Six senators released a statement Sunday saying the administration must reverse the deal immediately — they argue it runs directly counter to existing sanctions law. The senators didn't specify which statutes they believe are violated, but the statement makes clear this isn't partisan pushback. It's structural: sanctions regimes depend on enforcement, and side deals with sanctioned nations undermine the legal framework itself.

HAST Overseas, Delhi police are maintaining restrictions on city center access after Saturday's mass detentions. Police had held thousands of protesters and released them, many with citations. The protest movement — sometimes called the cockroach group by opponents — has been sustained now through multiple enforcement cycles. Authorities say the access restrictions will stay in place as long as they deem necessary. No date set for reopening central areas.

KELI Before we close, a history note: on this day in 1958, NASA launched Pioneer 1, its first space probe, though it failed to achieve stable orbit and burned up on reentry.

HAST That's the Independent News Drop. For race night tools, racer.wiki. Lawz bodycam explainers on the channel. Full scripts and cards at inkwell.wiki slash cards, plus bible-shirts and art-shirts at inkwell.wiki slash bible-shirts and art-shirts. From Inkwell.

KELI Before we close, a word from Inkwell. There's an essay at Gil's Intelligent Version on what actually happened in 1914 — and how a real historical instinct curdled into false certainty the moment someone tried to measure it to the inch.

HAST It's called The Witness and the Ruler. At inkwell dot wiki, slash giv.