đ Programming note: A quick update on what to expect from WTFJHT as we head into the holidays... Iâll be publishing Monday, Dec. 29 and Tuesday, Dec. 30, before returning to my regular MondayâThursday schedule on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. As always, if something truly WTF-y happens, Iâll be here. Otherwise, this is a short pause to recharge and spend some time with family. Thanks for reading, sharing, and supporting this project. It means a lot and Iâm glad youâre here. -MATT
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WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
Day 484: Really bad stuff.
1/ The Trump administration will withhold federal funding for family planning clinics that provide abortions or refer patients to places that perform them in a change to how Title X family planning funds are awarded. The rule will resurrect a Reagan-era policy that requires abortion services to have âseparate personnelâ and require a âbright lineâ of âphysical separationâ from other family planning services. Title X serves about 4 million women a year and costs taxpayers about $260 million. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
2/ Trump tweets: The Justice Department put âan embedded informantâ inside his campaign in order to âspyâ on him in an effort to âframeâ him âfor crimes he didnât commit.â Giuliani tried to clarify Trumpâs tweets, saying the president doesnât âknow for sureâ if there was an FBI informant in his campaign. He added that Trumpâs legal team was told âoff the recordâ that there was not one informant but two informants. Trump tweeted that if the reports are true, then it would be the âall time biggest political scandal!â He called the allegations âreally bad stuff!â (NBC News / Washington Post)
Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI âSPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT.â Andrew McCarthy says, âThereâs probably no doubt that they had at least one confidential informant in the campaign.â If so, this is bigger than Watergate!
â Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 17, 2018
âApparently the DOJ put a Spy in the Trump Campaign. This has never been done before and by any means necessary, they are out to frame Donald Trump for crimes he didnât commit.â David Asman @LouDobbs @GreggJarrett Really bad stuff!
â Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2018
Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president. It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a âhotâ Fake News story. If true - all time biggest political scandal!
â Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2018
3/ Trump Jr. called a blocked number before and after the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower. On June 6, Trump Jr. was in contact with a blocked number for three to four minutes. Immediately after ending that call, Trump Jr. called Emin Agalarov, the pop star son of Russian oligarch Aras Agalarov. Two hours after the Trump Tower meeting occurred on June 9th, Trump Jr. placed another call to a blocked number that lasted three minutes. Then-candidate Trump spent that day at Trump Tower, where the private residence has a blocked number, and held no public events. (CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Rudy Giuliani: A president can commit obstruction of justice, contradicting Trumpâs now-former lawyer John Dowd, who said that âthe president cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer.â According to Giuliani, Muellerâs appointment was âreally about the firing of Comey,â which wouldnât count as obstruction â regardless of Trumpâs reason for doing so â because Comey was âreplaced by somebody else on an acting position immediately.â (CNBC / Washington Post)
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Avenatti to Giuliani: âPlease retire. Today.â Youâre becoming an âembarrassment.â (The Hill)
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Dear Dazed Rudy: Please retire. Today. You had a good run for many years. But you are distracting from that and quickly becoming an embarrassment. A never ending joke. Donât let this serve as your legacy. The time has come.
â Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 18, 2018
5/ Giuliani said Robert Mueller agreed to limit the scope of a potential interview with Trump to two topics instead of five. Mueller, according to Giuliani, is not interested in Michael Cohen or his business dealings. âThe main focus we want is Russia,â Giuliani said, adding: âThe President would testify tomorrow if it was about the truth. The truth is he had nothing to do with Russia. The President is not going to lie.â (CNN / Associated Press)
- Mueller subpoenaed another Roger Stone assistant. John Kakanis has worked as a driver, accountant, and operative for Stone was questioned by the FBI on the topics of possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, the WikiLeaks website, its founder Julian Assange, and the hacker or hackers who call themselves Guccifer 2.0. (Reuters)
6/ Summer School: Trumpâs lawyers are planning a series of summer prep sessions to get the president ready for a possible sit-down interview with Mueller. The planning meetings will be held during off-hours at the White House and will mirror his 2016 debate preparation, where aides briefed Trump in short sessions over many weeks. (Politico)
7/ Michael Cohenâs suspicious activity reports (SARs) arenât missing â the Treasury Department has restricted access to them. Earlier this week, a law enforcement official admitted to leaking some of Cohenâs banking records over concerns they had been removed from a Treasury Department database as part of a cover-up. The official could only access one SAR related to Cohen, but knew that two more should have been available. The Treasury Department also restricted some law enforcement agencies from accessing the database despite memorandums of understanding that allow agencies, including the DEA, the FBI, and the IRS, to access the information. (BuzzFeed News)
- đ¤ Letâs work together to answer your vexing questions about the curious case of Cohenâs SARs, where Avenatti got his information, and whether Mueller may already have Coehnâs reports. (WTF Community Center)
8/ At least 10 people were killed and 10 more wounded in a shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas. Trump offered his âsupport to everyone affectedâ and said mass shootings have been âgoing on too long in our country.â Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, called for legislative action, saying that by failing to act, âwe are failing our children.â And, in an open letter to Trump and federal lawmakers, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote: âYou were elected to lead â do something.â (New York Times / CNN / The Hill / ABC News)
- An armed man ranting âanti-Trumpâ rhetoric opened fire on police officers at the Trump National Doral Miami Golf Club in South Florida before he was wounded and apprehended. (New York Times / Sun Sentinel)
Notables.
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Trump personally asked the postmaster general to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon.com. Megan Brennan has resisted, explaining multiple times that the rates are bound by contracts and must be reviewed by a regulatory commission. Brennan also told Trump that the Amazon relationship is beneficial for the Postal Service. (Washington Post)
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Senate Democrats called for a multi-agency inspector general investigation into the Trump administrationâs failure to implement mandated sanctions against Russia. In a letter addressed to the inspectors general of the State Department, Treasury Department and Intelligence Community, Democratic lawmakers said the administration has not complied with the Countering Americaâs Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. (Daily Beast)
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Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Emerdata, a company that was registered in August with Jennifer and Rebekah Mercer on the board, is footing the legal bills for the two companies. (BuzzFeed News / CNN)
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Trump tapped Robert Wilkie as next Veterans Affairs secretary after conduct issues sank Ronny Jacksonâs nomination. Wilkie has been leading the VA in an acting capacity since March. (Politico)
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The White House is considering shrinking its communications team in part to reduce the number of leaks. While most staffers are not expected to be fired outright, thereâs a sense that a few staffers will pay a price for the leaked comment about John McCainâs brain cancer â even if thereâs no evidence they were involved in the leak. (Politico / CNN)
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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross tried to demonstrate how benign the effects of a 25% levy on steel imports and 10% tariff on aluminum would be by holding up a can of Campbellâs Soup. Today, Campbell said it expects profits to decline by 5% to 6% this year â worse than earlier projections of between 1% and 3%. (CNBC)
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The House failed to pass the Republican-written farm bill. The measure died in a 198 to 213 vote that saw 30 House Republicans join 183 Democrats in voting against the legislation. The House Freedom Caucus wanted assurances that the House would vote on a tough immigration plan in exchange for their votes, which they didnât receive. (CNBC / Washington Post)
A political newsletter for normal people
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