50501 FRIDAY BRIEFING | MAY 29, 2026

Delaney Hall, Alabama's blocked map, the Jan. 6 officers' lawsuit, new strikes on Iran, and the official denials running underneath them all...

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Delaney Hall

Inside Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed ICE facility in Newark owned and run for profit by the GEO Group, advocates, family members, lawmakers, and detainee letters say roughly 300 people are on a hunger and labor strike.

The Department of Homeland Security denies there is any hunger strike at all.

Members of Congress who toured the facility described what they saw.

Small food portions that, according to CBS New York, contained maggots. Rep. Jerry Nadler said one woman had waited more than a month for a mammogram for a breast lump, and another detainee with colon cancer was going untreated.

Gothamist reported that some people inside had already signed deportation orders or even won their cases and were still being held.

DHS says the core allegations are not true, and that detainees receive three meals a day, clean water, and medical care.

The week was a series of attempts to see past that denial:

On Memorial Day, Gov. Mikie Sherrill was turned away at the door. Sen. Andy Kim said he was pepper-sprayed outside the facility while trying to conduct oversight and de-escalate the situation. By Wednesday, Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Dan Goldman, and Jerry Nadler, joined by Sen. Cory Booker, forced the issue and got inside; Espaillat carried a court order, saying the Constitution protected his right to inspect. DHS said about six demonstrators were arrested, and agents pepper-sprayed protesters over several nights.

On Fox News, border czar Tom Homan said the administration would seek a court order to force-feed the strikers if doctors judged them in danger. It is a difficult thing to threaten against a hunger strike that officials insist is not happening.

A court blocked Alabama’s congressional map as intentionally discriminatory

A federal panel blocked Alabama from using its Republican-drawn congressional map in November’s midterms, ruling that it intentionally discriminated against Black voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution. The judges wrote that they couldn’t require Alabamians to vote under a plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.

Worth noting before anyone calls it a partisan ruling: two of the three judges on the panel were appointed by Trump, and the decision was unanimous.

Hours later, South Carolina’s state Senate declined to advance a Trump-backed map that would have dismantled Rep. James Clyburn’s Black-plurality, majority-minority Democratic district.

Alabama is appealing to the Supreme Court, so this is not settled. But coming a week after Louisiana lost a majority-Black district, it showed that the post-Louisiana v. Callais redistricting fight is not moving in only one direction. Voting rights are not only about whether a ballot can be cast. They are about whether that ballot still carries weight after the lines are redrawn, and this week, in two states, that weight held.

Capitol officers sued to block the $1.776 billion settlement fund

The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was created as part of a settlement resolving Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. Critics say the structure looks less like accountability and more like a taxpayer-funded political reward system, a concern that has come from some Republicans as well.

This week, the fund drew a direct legal challenge from the people with the most personal stake in it. Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges, officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, sued to block the fund, arguing it is positioned to reward the very rioters who attacked them, including members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Their complaint leans on the 14th Amendment, which bars paying debts “incurred in aid of insurrection,” and argues that Trump was functionally on both sides of the case that created the fund.

A judge has already paused the fund until at least June 12. Some Jan. 6 defendants and allies may try to seek payouts, but the fund is currently frozen and no claims have been accepted.

The U.S. struck Iran while calling a deal close

Early this week, the U.S. carried out strikes in southern Iran.

Officials described them as self-defense strikes targeting missile sites and boats allegedly attempting to lay mines near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said it shot down a U.S. drone.

The strikes came while negotiators worked toward a ceasefire in Qatar. By Friday, the administration was saying a peace deal was “very close,” which Iran wouldn’t confirm.

The White House declared on May 1 that hostilities had “terminated.” Which, they haven’t.

Congress, which holds the constitutional power to declare war, has been repeatedly rejecting, blocking, or delaying War Powers measures since March. A ceasefire would be welcome. A war narrated from press availabilities, with Congress kept at the margins, is not how war powers are supposed to work.

The reported DOJ probe turned to the funding behind E. Jean Carroll’s case

In 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll. In 2024, another ordered him to pay $83.3 million for defaming her.

This week, reporting first suggested Trump’s Justice Department was investigating Carroll. But Reuters later reported that the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office denied opening any criminal investigation into Carroll.

The current reported focus is a nonprofit tied to Democratic donor Reid Hoffman that helped fund Carroll’s lawsuits against Trump.

The reported probe is examining the funding behind her cases, not Carroll personally. The acting attorney general has recused himself, because he personally represented Trump in the Carroll appeals.

A woman won her cases against the president, and now the funding network behind those lawsuits is under scrutiny, in the same pattern as the department’s moves against James Comey and Letitia James.

A Pentagon contract and climbing prices

The Pentagon awarded Dell a roughly $9.7 billion contract this week, after Trump bought between $1 million and $5 million of Dell stock in February, publicly told people to “go out and buy a Dell,” and those shares later climbed. His holdings are not in a blind trust. Defense officials say the deal followed a competitive process and saves money, watchdogs say the appearance of self-dealing is a problem, and appearance is precisely what conflict-of-interest rules exist to prevent.

CPI inflation rose 3.8% over the 12 months ending in April, its highest in nearly three years, with food up 3.2% over the year.

What to watch for:

The Anti-Weaponization Fund hearing on June 12, which decides whether the money stays frozen, and whether the rules for who qualifies ever become public.

Alabama’s emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, which could undo this week’s voting-rights ruling before November.

Delaney Hall, and whether state inspectors and members of Congress get full, ongoing access, or whether the official denials simply outlast the news cycle.

The Iran war-powers question, which returns to the House in June, and the talks the administration wants to define before Congress weighs in.