TrumpWatch publisher

Move by Canada comes after US president spent morning railing against the country, calling it the ‘most difficult’ nation he deals with

• Canada announces retaliatory tariffs on wide range of US goods

• Sign up for the US Breaking News email

On Truth Social, however, the president shot down assertions that the US talks with Canada collapsed in part due a proposed trade deal that would have weakened French language protections.

“I would never interfere with Canadians speaking French!” he wrote. “In fact, I have never even thought of doing such a stupid thing. This lie was made up by a weak and ineffective Prime Minister in an attempt to gain political support, which he has totally lost, from the people of Quebec.”

A recent memo claiming executive privilege over communications with private advisers invites corruption

A recent office of legal counsel memo on executive privilege maintains that private advisers to a president can avoid responding to a subpoena by asserting the president’s executive privilege. The ability of presidents to shield communications from public view through claims of executive privilege, whether their own or those of a senior adviser, was already a powerful tool for presidents to avoid accountability. But if courts accept the OLC’s new interpretation of presidential privilege, it will be substantially harder to call witnesses to testify before Congress or in court proceedings regarding possible wrongdoing by the presidents.

Equipping presidents with extensive power to block witnesses in legal proceedings is a dangerous practice that invites corruption by presidents and their advisers. Consider the former White House counsel Don McGahn’s 2019 refusal to testify in response to a subpoena by the House judiciary committee in connection with the special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Donald Trump. McGahn didn’t come up with that idea on his own. It was the Trump White House that sought to bar McGahn from testifying through an assertion of a type of executive privilege known as “testimonial immunity.” Ironically, Mueller was investigating whether Trump obstructed justice, among other things, by demanding that McGahn fire Mueller himself. Trump’s insistence that McGahn not testify, backed up by a 2019 OLC opinion, effectively made the first Trump administration complicit in the very obstruction under investigation.

UK PM to join delegation of leaders lobbying US president to step up supplies, as Kremlin accuses Burnham of wanting to continue war

• Burnham plans trip to New York as Ukraine pleads for US-made missiles

Vatican envoy Paul Gallagher met Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow earlier today, and Reuters has some snap quotes from Pope Leo XIV’s representative following the meeting. He is quoted as saying that “The Ukrainian war must end” and that the pair discussed “avenues for pursuing lasting and just peace in Ukraine”.

In relation to the post on a US military plane landing in Moscow (at 11:23), Reuters reported that the last time a US jet flew to Russia from Europe was in ​January, when special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travelled to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin for peace talks.

A fundamental rupture in the values that have united North America is not a problem that can be wished away: this is a warning to the western alliance

The Canadians are exceedingly angry. I realise this can sometimes be difficult for foreigners to deduce, given our national struggle to express the full range of human emotion outside ice hockey riots. However, let me assure you that the prime minister Canadians saw take the stage on Saturday morning in the wake of the collapse in trade negotiations with the US was a Mark Carney practically vibrating with fury.

“You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,” he said, in a rare press conference that was as candid and clear as he ever tends to be. “That’s fine … We’ve got the reserves, we’ve got the resilience, we’ve got the plan, we’ve got the focus. We’re gonna respond, we’re going to focus on what we can control and what we’re going to build.”

Jen Gerson is a Canadian commentator and co-founder of The Line. She lives in Calgary, Alberta

Move if materialized would be the largest single mass revocation of visas in US history

Donald Trump’s administration said on Monday it planned to revoke the non-immigrant visas of foreigners who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum status in the US, marking its latest step in a sweeping immigration crackdown.

A state department spokesperson said it was coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “to identify and revoke the non-immigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently”.

Far-right leader echoes ally Donald Trump and says operations to ‘track down illegal immigrants’ should begin this week, amid earthquake aftermath

Colombia’s far-right president, Abelardo de la Espriella, has announced a crackdown on immigrants, ordering authorities to detain and deport people who are in the country irregularly or have committed crimes.

In office for just over two weeks, the millionaire former lawyer made the announcement on Sunday as the country continued to grapple with the aftermath of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake on 10 August that killed more than 300 people and destroyed more than 30,000 homes.

November is the IMPEACHMENT MIDTERMS.

If we’re going to hold Trump and his cronies accountable, we need representatives who are willing to do it. That’s where our Courage Candidates come in! They have committed to bringing impeachment on their first day in Congress. Find your Courage Candidate today!

Rep. Al Green has filed new articles of impeachment! It’s urgent to email and call your representative and urge them to support H.Res.1486. We’ve only seen articles of impeachment filed a few times during this Congressional session, so this is a pivotal moment. This is an opportunity for every member of Congress to go on the record, either for or against unjustified killings by ICE and CBP.

Let’s let them know which side we’re on.

Use the following template to schedule an email to the appropriate office. Send the email as soon as possible.

DON’T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME AT THE BOTTOM OF THE EMAIL.

As a constituent of your boss, Rep. {{Rep Last Name}}, I urgently demand that they loudly support H.Res.1486 from Rep. Al Green, TX-09, to impeach President Donald Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors against the American people. This is their opportunity to stand, either FOR or AGAINST UNJUSTIFIED KILLINGS BY ICE AND CBP.

Rep. Green makes the case abundantly clear.

The President is reducing American democracy to an
authoritarian regime. An authoritarian regime is a system of
government that has no established mechanism for the transfer
of executive power and limits citizens’ civil liberties or political
rights, often characterized by a leader with near absolute power,
a powerful secret police force, low political trust, and little
tolerance of dissent.
The President is overseeing and defending unjustified
killings. An unjustified killing is a death caused by someone—
often a law enforcement officer or other authorized actor—when
there was no lawful reason, immediate threat, or legal
justification for using deadly force, making the act unlawful
under criminal or human rights standards.
The President is covering up unjustified killings. A coverup
is a usually concerted effort to keep an illegal or unethical act
or situation from being made public.
The United States Constitution accords the United States
House of Representatives the power to impeach a president for
high crimes and misdemeanors committed in violation of the
president’s mandated oath of office to preserve, protect, and
defend the United States Constitution, codified in Article II,
Section 1, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution.
High crimes and misdemeanors need not be criminal or
statutory, and are therefore not constrained by federal criminal
or civil statutes. Impeachment is a political question, as the
offenses “relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the
society itself,” as determined by a majority vote of the United
States House of Representatives.

It is absolutely critical that these offenses against our great nation not be normalized, and not be allowed to continue without the Constitutionally appropriate repercussions. Your boss has sworn an oath. Not to a party, not to a man or woman, but to our Constitution. It is their sworn duty to protect our country against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

As Donald Trump has deployed paramilitary forces into our cities, onto our streets, impeachment has become not only a necessity, but a solemn responsibility. Rep. {{Rep Last Name}} bears that responsibility, and must honor their oath of office now.

Thanks,

Want to grow your power?

We put out regular calls to action. Clear, simple ways that you can use your voice to fix our democracy. We’re here to empower you — because holding Trump and his ghouls accountable is going to take all of us. Sign up today.

The post Take Action: Impeach Trump for Unjustified Killings appeared first on Citizens' Impeachment.

Pam Am 103, Still: The trial of a former Libyan intelligence official charged in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland has been delayed because of “the discovery of new evidence that defense attorneys want to examine,” reported the A.P. Monday. “Jury selection was scheduled to begin Wednesday for the federal trial of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi in Washington, D.C. His trial will be the first in the U.S. for the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing.” U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich’s order “didn’t specify the nature of the newly discovered evidence…Al-Marimi’s lawyers say prosecutors disclosed the new evidence to them on Saturday.”

Unsolved Mystery: The identity for the gunman (or gunmen) responsible for the Apr. 16, 2013 attack on PG&E’s Metcalf electrical substation,15 miles southeast of San Jose, remains a mystery—and foreshadows what could too easily happen should the U.S. face a well trained spec ops adversary, writes Christopher Cox in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. Chilling: “[I]n the past decade, dozens of facilities — in Arkansas and Oregon, Florida and Washington — have been targeted, often using the same tactic as the one seen in 2013: puncturing the cooling system and letting the oil drain out,” Cox reports. Security at most stations remains lame. If saboteurs knocked out “nine total substations among” the three main U.S. power grids, they could “black out the entire United States.”

Gangs of New Russia: The Kremlin is “recruiting local gang members” to sabotage defence manufacturers across Europe “to test NATO’s resolve,” reports The Telegraph. “This week, Latvia detained three of its own nationals on suspicion of an arson attack against a drone manufacturer in neighbouring Estonia,” it said. “The attacks appear carefully calculated to fall just short of triggering Article 5, NATO’s mutual defence clause, intelligence officials believe.” Attacks have been reported in Poland. Russia has also been deploying so-called “hybrid warfare” to destabilize pro-E.U. Moldova.

GRU’s Arctic Offensive: The Kremlin “continues to send GRU officers to Norway under diplomatic cover,” reports The Barents Observer, which ripped away a number of the military intelligence agency operatives’ names and faces.

Kyiv’s Comely Assassin: Margarita—Margarita Reutt’s the name. According to the Guardian, Russian authorities have charged the otherwise “ordinary” 32-year-old woman with the Aug. 13 bombing assassination of a senior Russian submarine commander in Crimea. They say Reutt, a resident of Sochi, the Russian resort city about 300 miles across the Black Sea from Crimean Sevastopol, “confessed to the attack and said that a handler linked to Ukrainian intelligence had promised her a large payment in cryptocurrency and documents that would allow her to leave Russia afterwards…The FSB also said “Reutt showed no remorse.”

Iran Escalation: “Arab intelligence” has detected a “strategic shift inside the country’s hard-line leadership to get their forces ready to widen the war and raise the costs for the U.S., reports the Wall Street Journal). Kuwait and Gulf states are bracing for hits. The Trump administration, meanwhile, levied new sanctions on Iran as well as on 10 alleged “Hezbollah couriers” who have moved “hundreds of millions of dollars between Lebanon, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Iran.” (New York Times)

ISIS Wannabe: An American female convert to jihadism has been charged with involvement in a “ISIS-inspired terror plot” against the New York State Capitol in Albany, the feds announced. Jessica Bowie “converted to Islam about five years ago, adopted the name ‘Aisha Saif,’ maintained numerous social media accounts promoting extremist views and spent weeks conducting reconnaissance around the Capitol,” the feds said, according to Newsweek. They deployed an FBI informant to draw her out online—which might’ve been all too easy, it turns out: She has “a history of mental illness,” reported the Albany Times-Union.

Get Smart: DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations gets a forehead-slapping takedown in independent reporter Ken Klippenstein’s “The Most Dangerous Feds You’ve Never Heard Of.” Exhibit One: “An undercover agent spying on a church gym when her concealed surveillance wire fell out — which she only realized later.” That was in Minneapolis, where HSI spied on “several left-leaning political organizations—labor unions, a climate change group, socialist collectives — that investigators believed had provided help and money to what they described as the ‘violent opportunists and agitators’ on the street,” said documents obtained by The New York Times.

ICE-Iran Deal: Internal ICE emails “indicate immigration agents complied with an Iranian request to hand over specific nationals” in the U.S., but not only that, “accidentally sent the wrong person to Iran.” ICE “agents appear to have worked directly with government officials in Iran to deport over 100 Iranian nationals … just months or weeks before” the start of the war in late February, reported The Intercept. One unnamed ICE official wrote in late August 2025, a month before the first deportation flight, “Per request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases,” according to the A.P. “Just over a week later, someone with the same job title moved to make another, unspecified change to the deportation list after they said they met with the ‘Director at the Iranian Embassy.’”

Swalwell: FBI agents seized former Rep. Eric Swalwell‘s cell phone and laptop after he landed in San Francisco with his wife last Saturday, Aug. 15, after a flight from Washington, the Daily Mail scooped, as part of an ongoing investigation into his reported sexual misconduct. They also searched the D.C. home of the former outspoken Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee. Two days later newly declassified records were released about his escapades with the Chinese spy known as “Fang Fang,” the Mail said. Swalwell denies any improper behavior with women. But Marcy Wheeler, the influential blogger known as “Emptywheel,” made a case last week that the White House declassified the FBI’s Swalwell file back in March to derail his bid to be governor of California. Of note: The files reveal that the FBI “started testing whether Fang would make a worthwhile informant about the Chinese intelligence ties her family had in March 2013.” Wheeler wrote. There’s much more.

Subscribe now

Selective Secrets: “Even as the White House claims to be focused on transparency, it has ignored a congressional requirement to disclose a report on foreign meddling in the 2024 election,” reported The New York Times.

CIA Exit Lines: “The spy agency is swamped by what it calls an ‘unprecedented number’ of retirements as the Trump administration aims to shrink its workforce,” reports Warren P. Strobel at The Washington Post, quoting a “recent note to alumni.”

“A historic wave of departures at the CIA and deep cutbacks at the Office of Personnel Management are swamping the spy agency’s retirement system, leaving former spies with months-long waits to get their first pension check, according to former intelligence officials and internal agency messages.”

FBI Stymied: A U.S. judge last Monday blocked plans to move the FBI’s headquarters to a federal office building in Washington, “finding that President Donald Trump’s administration illegally tossed out a previously approved plan to build a new facility nearby in Maryland.” The judge said Trump’s insistence was “not in accordance with the law.” (A.P.)

CIA’s Bite of the Apple: “Without CIA funding that helped keep NeXT afloat in the ’80s, Steve Jobs might not have made a triumphant return to Apple—and the iPhone might not have its foundational operating code,” according to Sharon Weinberger’s fascinating tale in the Wall Street Journal.

U.S. Citizen Held as Spy in China: A Burma-born U.S. scholar, Min Zin, who was working in Myanmar and leading a think tank focused on democratization there, has been detained in China on suspicion of espionage. “A student activist in 1988 during Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement,” Min “traveled to Yunnan province in China, which borders Myanmar, for an academic conference” in June at the invitation of the Chinese government. The Trump administration calls him innocent of the charges and “wrongfully detained.” (Notus)

AIPAC in the News: “Allies” of Michigan Republican Senate candidate (and former House Intelligence Committee chairman) Mike Rogers “have asked AIPAC not to advertise on his behalf, triggering a rupture with the powerful but polarizing pro-Israel group,” Axios reported Saturday. Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz’s podcast, meanwhile, is “backed by the Israeli government, according to Connor Echols at the libertarian Responsible Statecraft think tank.

Real to Reel: High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam premieres Sept.13 on TNT, two days after the 25th anniversary of 9/11. It’s based on ex-CIA officer John Nixon’s book Debriefing the President, about his time as the first agency officer to interrogate Saddam Hussein after his 2003 capture. Nixon spent 13 years at the CIA as a senior leadership analyst, “briefing the most senior levels in the US government, did multiple tours in Iraq, and later taught at the Agency’s in-house training school, the Sherman Kent School,” says the announcement. Here’s the trailer.

Hey, thank’s for your patience! It’s never happened before that we failed to meet our weekend deadline, but unexpected developments on Sunday just derailed us. As you know, SpyTalk is an entirely volunteer and reader-supported publication, so we need all the help we can get. That’s turned out pretty well so far: August marks our 6th anniversary! But we can go years more only with your support. So if you haven’t done so already, please click below for a no-obligation free trial.

Leave a comment

Share

Justices’ ruling comes after lower courts had blocked president’s election order ahead of November midterms

The US supreme court sided with Donald Trump on Monday in his effort to crack down on mail-in voting, though it remains unclear if his administration can take action ahead of the midterm elections in November.

Justices on the court voted 6-3 along ideological lines to lift an injunction from June that a judge in Massachusetts placed on an executive order issued by the president. But a second injunction remains in place and the ruling leaves room for legal challenges.

Whenever Trump doesn’t like the facts, he calls it “fake news” or does what he’s doing here: tries to shoot the messenger by threatening them with a lawsuit.

The administration has been sending National Guard troops to various US cities ever since it became clear its mass deportation efforts weren’t nearly as popular with US residents (or the troops themselves!) as they were with the bigoted ghouls who infested the White House.

Trump claimed the National Guard deployments were necessary because the cities they were sent to (Los Angeles, Washington DC, Chicago, etc.) were so gutted by violent crime that the only solution was one that pushes up against the edges of martial law.

Most of the early deployments targeted states or cities where Trump had failed to secure a majority of the popular vote. Later deployments to Tennessee and Louisiana were actually welcomed by state reps who were more closely aligned with MAGA ideals than the rights and liberties of their states’ residents.

But no matter where the National Guard went, the promised reduction in violent crime failed to materialize. It’s an assumption anyone could make, given that it was more a show of force meant to force more cities and states to bend the knee, rather than a well-designed plan to address alleged crime epidemics.

The Center for American Progress released a report early last month, one that showed National Guard deployments weren’t doing much in terms of crime. Instead, the administration was spending more than a billion dollars ($1.7 billion at last count) in an attempt to take credit for the status quo: a long, sharp decline in violent crime rates that long proceeded either of Trump’s two presidential terms.

In an effort to falsely claim his policies have reduced crime, the president is exploiting the fact that violent crime and murder were already declining in the cities his administration targeted with these extreme interventions. On average, the 11 cities where the National Guard was deployed or threatened to be deployed saw a 14 percent decrease in their 12-month rolling violent crime rate and a 22 percent decrease in their 12-month rolling murder rate from June 2024 to June 2025, before the National Guard was first deployed to Los Angeles.

These recent violent crime trends, predating even Trump’s second inauguration, suggest that, more than likely, violent crime would have continued trending downward in these cities by the end of 2025, regardless of any additional interventions. However, the Trump administration has ignored this fact when reporting year-over-year crime statistics to claim these extreme tactics have made Americans safer.

Trump is the real lagging indicator here. The report was released July 10. It took until a few days ago for Trump to threaten the left-leaning think tank with a bogus libel lawsuit. This threat was delivered by someone in Trump’s personal employ, rather than any of the dozens (or hundreds) of lawyers employed by the federal government, for obvious reasons.

On Monday, one of Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers, Alejandro Brito, wrote a letter to the center warning that he would file the suit if the group did not fully retract the report, which was published on its website on July 13. The letter, viewed by The New York Times, was addressed to the group’s president and chief executive, Neera Tanden, a longtime Democratic official who served as a senior adviser to President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and to several of its board members.

Mr. Brito claimed that the report about the National Guard was full of malicious and false statements. He gave Ms. Tanden and members of her board until 5 p.m. on Friday to retract it and apologize to Mr. Trump.

Libel lawsuits are personal causes of action. The federal government cannot file a defamation lawsuit on its own behalf. Hence, the need to portray this criticism of the administration’s policies and claims are being portrayed as defaming Trump personally for the sole purpose of silencing critics of this iteration of the federal government.

The New York Times report doesn’t contain anything specific Trump’s lawyer claimed was defamatory in the threat letter he issued on behalf of his boss. It’s safe to assume Brito provided no specifics, but relied on intentional vagueness in hopes of making the legal threat stick. And because it’s an obviously bogus legal threat, the letter concludes with a phrase almost always deployed by people who know they have no legitimate case to make:

The letter ended: “PLEASE GOVERN YOURSELVES ACCORDINGLY.”

No problem, said the Center for American Progress lawyers. We are governed accordingly:

“This is utterly absurd,” the lawyer, Kevin H. Metz, wrote to Mr. Brito. “Truth is not and cannot be defamation.”

Mr. Metz went on to say that the center welcomed the opportunity to make its case in court and receive more information on the National Guard deployments through the process of discovery.

We’ll see if Trump tries to press this case or whether he’ll wander off to yell at the next thing that momentarily makes him angry. But even if he moves off of this particular provocation, he’s still got a year to let this simmer on the back burner.

It’s performative but it still serves a purpose: to deter others who might publish facts Trump doesn’t like but may not have the money, time, or legal acumen to fight back when the president decides he wants to sue in his personal capacity. And while we all know this is meaningless and unjustified, the fact is that Trump has pretty much unlimited amounts of time and money and, apparently, enough lawyers on hand willing to jeopardize their careers and reputations for a guy who ultimately may stiff them when it’s time to collect their legal fees.

Move is latest deterioration in trade relations between neighbors with historically strong economic ties

Donald Trump announced a new 50% tariff on automobiles and crucial raw materials from Canada, the latest deterioration in trade relations between the two neighbors with historically strong economic ties.

The US president said that the increased tariffs would start on 1 January 2027 on all cars, trucks, automobile parts and steel. He also derided the nation’s tariffs on American farmers, writing on social media that Canada has been “ripping off” the US “for years”.

Prime minister praised for rejecting US trade proposal as Trump shows little interest in retreating from dispute

• Are you a Canadian boycotting US products? We’d like to hear from you

Mark Carney said on Monday that while American negotiators saw the French language in Canada as an “irritant … in Quebec, these are rights,” days after receiving widespread praise from political leaders for rejecting a US trade proposal that many perceived as weakening the country’s Francophone culture.

The prime minister’s remarks came hours after the US president, Donald Trump, showed little interest in retreating from the spat, posting on social media that Canada had been “ripping off the United States of America for years” and threatening a swath of new, economically devastating tariffs on cars and trucks.

Exclusive: internal correspondence reveals USCIS anti-fraud officers shifted on to two ‘high-priority’ initiatives

All US immigration officers working for a key anti-fraud unit have been reassigned by Donald Trump’s administration to focus on screening South African refugees and alleged “unlawful” voters.

Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS) immigration officers have been shifted full-time on to two “high-priority” initiatives, according to internal correspondence seen by the Guardian, leaving US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) unable to provide officers to train asylum officers in “the near future”.

As a reminder, my most recent obsession with the MN-15 case started when defendants filed a motion for discovery back on August 13. In a post laying out how the predication of the case depended on assault cases that had been entirely fabricated, I laid out what defendants asked for, along with some context. Those requests were:

• “The Court should require the government to produce all reports related to surveillance of Minnesota unions, non-profit organizations, protesters and activists.” This would disclose whether the mentions of spying on unions like SEIU and CWA went further than what defendants have obtained in discovery.
• “The Court should require the government to produce the withheld Project Whipple Shield ROIs.” The government has withheld five Reports of Investigation from the Project Whipple Shield investigation (the sub-investigation of a larger investigation), claiming that those relate to an ongoing investigation.
• “The Court should require the government to produce reports generated pursuant to CUC Operation Keyhole.” The sub-investigation of Project Whipple Shield is part of a larger MN investigation, Operation Puppet Master, which is part of a broader investigation, Operation Keyhole. Sant is demanding the overarching documents.
• “The Court should require the government to produce all of the Clearview AI reports it generated of protesters and activists during Operation Metro Surge.” Sant showed that HSI developed a Clearview dossier on him (with some inaccuracies); he’s demanding all of them.
• “The Court should require the government to produce internal communications related to Operation Puppet Master and Project Whipple Shield.” Sant argues this investigation was predicated on criminalization of First Amendment protected activities; he wants records that may show that.
• “The Court should require the government to produce downloads of all UCA ‘undercover phones’ and ‘undercover laptops.’” DOJ has not turned over the phones and laptops from informants. Sant wants them.
• “The Court should require the government to produce DOJ and DHS communications related to the charging decisions, defendant self-surrender, and doxxing in the AFO cases.” Sant — who is represented by Kevin Riach, who also represented one of the people Pam Bondi doxxed, Paul Johnson — wants records on that doxxing that DOJ withheld by dismissing cases (including Johnson’s). [my emphasis]

Last week, one of the Special AUSAs (many of them JAG officers) that keep cycling through Minnesota’s US Attorney’s Office, Sommer Honeycutt, filed a response.

Before I explain how bad it is, let me note that that same day, a real AUSA, Tory Sailer, filed a notice of appearance, then moved to continue a hearing on the motion that Honeycutt already said she could attend.

The defendants were not amused, partly because defendants and their supporters had already scheduled to be present, partly because MN’s USAO has been diddling with this purportedly important prosecution.

8. The Government has chosen to file a sweeping indictment against fifteen individuals, alleging at least 260 overt acts over a period of six months and involving thousands of hours of investigative time. The Government should be able to assign adequate prosecutorial resources to reflect the alleged size, scope and severity of the charged offense.

You get the feeling that someone reviewed Honeycutt’s response and realized, oh shit, we need to start putting some lawyers with experience on this.

Of the 37-page motion, at least 12 pages addressed a selective prosecution claim that defendants have not yet made. Other broad swaths of the response address a First Amendment challenge that defendants have, likewise, not yet made.

More remarkable still, Honeycutt only addresses four of the discovery requests — basically the sub-requests to the bolded request above. And she does a piss poor job of that.

The Defendants’ broad stroked request for “1) All communications between DOJ prosecutors in this District and DOJ in Washington regarding the decisions to begin this investigation or to pursue this prosecution”, is objected to by the Government for the above reasons. Further the government objects to the Defendants’ requests for “2) All communications between anyone within DOJ and other members of the executive branch related to this investigation and prosecution; 3) All communications between and among federal law enforcement agencies regarding any decisions that suggest they were motivated by political purposes or targeted their investigative activities at protected First Amendment speech or activity.” Lastly, the government objects to the Defendants’ request for “4) All agent rough notes or work product that disclose any improper motivation to commence this investigation or to target investigative activities based on protected First Amendment speech or activity.” Therefore, the Government respectfully asks this Court to deny the Defendant’s discovery requests.

And while some of the original requests were unlikely to be granted, Honeycutt has basically forfeited DOJ’s attempt to address not just those requests, but also more substantive ones, like missing Reports of Investigation, Clearview Reports, and the main informant’s missing phone and laptop.

Likewise, Honeycutt doesn’t address the request I’ve been harping on: the arrest records for 16 people Pam Bondi doxed back on January 28, the same day the investigation was purportedly approved.

The Court should require the government to produce DOJ and DHS communications related to the charging decisions, defendant self-surrender, and doxxing in the AFO cases.

And that’s interesting, because whereas the opening memos (Operation Puppet Master; Operation Whipple Shield) on this investigation both attributed this investigation to events — including purported “assaults against federal officers” but also “impeding federal officers” and “damage to property” that happened since November 2025 (November 28, in the case of the Operation Puppet Master memo), Honeycutt’s description of how and when the investigation started is all over the map, starting with the way she boasts that undercover agents started infiltrating the group before getting approval for the investigation.

The Defense claims that “on January 28, 2026, just four days after agents murdered Alex Pretti, HSI official[sic] opened its mass spying campaign, which it called ‘Operation Puppet Master.” ECF No. 212 at 3. The Defense argues that after the death of Alex Pretti, Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh “directed federal prosecutors to aggressively charge protesters in Minnesota.” Id. at 17. He continued that “on January 28, 2026, DHS and the U.S. Attorney’s Office put Singh’s direction into action. In one day, DHS both initiated “Operation Puppet Master.” Id. The defense claims Associate Deputy Attorney General Singh’s statements were made in “late January.” Id. HSI undercover agents attended meetings on January 11, 2026, and gained access to DAMN Signal chats by January 14, 2026. The indictment includes 83 overt acts prior to January 28, 2026. See generally ECF No 1.

However, HSI’s investigation into “individuals engaged in acts of violence, destruction of federal property, intimidation of federal officers and employees, and attempts to impede federal operations” began in December 2025. See Ex 1. Furthermore, HSI’s investigation into Twin Cities Direct Action (“TCDA”) began well before January 28, 2026. Undercover agents had already infiltrated TCDA by January 11, 2026. ECF No. 1 at ¶ 9, Overt Act (OA) 1-3. At the January 11, 2026, meeting, an unindicted coconspirator created a Signal group chat called “TCDA,” in order to plan for a direct action at the Whipple Building on January 23, 2026. Id. at ¶ 9, OA 3. Undercover agents were invited and gained access to Signal chat messages involving TCDA members by at least January 14, 2026. Id. at ¶ 9, OA 6. DAMN (then called TCDA) members organized and planned for a blockade at the Whipple building in the “TCDA” Signal group chat. Id. at ¶ 9, OA 6-7, 11, 16, 21. Defendant Isaac Sant posted a white flyer in the “TCDA” Signal group chat advertising the blockade at the Whipple building. Id. at ¶ 9, OA 16. The flyer was shared on the Black Cat Worker’s Collective Facebook page. Id. [emphasis original]

You’re not helping, Sommer, but you appear not to understand that.

This section doesn’t address the apparent cherry-picking for the reporting (December surveillance; January surveillance attributed to Project Whipple; much longer report on January surveillance attributed to Operation Puppet Master; badly cherry picked screen capped Signal texts from January from the main informant). And Honeycutt’s timeline is inconsistent with the timeline disclosed in these surveillance reports, because the surveillance started earlier than Honeycutt disclosed.

Worse still, her description of why the investigation started doesn’t match the November timeline of the opening memos — certainly not the November 28 timeline. The only dates that took place before the opening of the investigation (whether January 28 or February 11) described in this section are either in summer 2025 or a November 18 protest that — according to the source she cites — supports a claim of violent federal crackdown but does not back her own claim that protestors threw rocks (though the local Fox account describes “at least one” protestor throwing something). Plus, two events that describe how DOJ hunkered down after ICE shot a mother dead on her way home from dropping her child off at school.

As early as July 31, 2025, Federal Protective Services (FPS) began to get complaints of Whipple employees being aggressively followed. See Ex. 3. FPS Officers received reports from 200-300 people—including directors of the VA, maintenance staff, contractors, lawyers and judges—about harassment, being followed, and other aggressive, intimidating, and interfering behavior. See Ex. 3. For example, officers received complaints about debris being thrown or placed in the road that could puncture vehicle tires outside of the employee/ICE gate. Screws and 2-piece caltrops have been routinely found on a regular basis. See Ex. 3. FPS also received complaints from civilian employees who reported finding tracking devices or air tags on their personal vehicles. See Ex. 31

On June 3, 2025, protesters—incorrectly believing there was an ongoing immigration raid—surrounded a joint law enforcement operation on Lake Street, where federal investigators were executing search warrants in a meth and trafficking case.2 Similarly, on November 18, 2025, federal agents executing a search warrant were surrounded by protesters who began to throw rocks damaging vehicles.3 Agents had to leave the search early for their own safety.

Jersey barriers around Whipple went up on January 12, 2026. See Ex 3A.

1 One civilian contractor noted being followed three times from Whipple in March 26, 2026, April 10, 2026, and April 7, 2026. See Ex. 3A. A Whipple maintenance employee reported being followed on April 29, 2026, and being cut off by the car that resulted in a minor collision. See Ex. 3A On May 6, 2026, one high ranking Veterans Affairs employee noted in their report of being followed to FPS that the encounters he has experienced with the followers “demonstrate clear harassment and intimidation acts meant toward me.” See Ex. 4. He also said saw an uptick in protesting activity outside of the Whipple in approximately June of 2025 and stated he noticed the first violent protestor in September of 2025 and saw an additional increase in December of 2025. The week of January 6th, 2026, the VA were allowed to telework for their safety because of the agitator activities outside of the Whipple building. See Ex 4. On March 12, 2026, an immigration judge reported being on high alert and taking different routes home and is afraid of physical harm after being followed. See Ex. 5. A deportation officer reported being followed four times starting in March of 2026, to include twice being followed to his home or around his home, at one point his minor son was followed while driving the deportation officer’s personal car. See Ex. 6.. This same deportation officer was followed the Whipple building to the federal courthouse in Minneapolis twice. See Ex. 6. One instance Defendant Morgan was following the deportation Officer, waited for him to leave the courthouse and then stepped in front of hindering him from leaving. Morgan was clearly recording him and then knocked his sideview mirror causing it to fold. The incident was captured on the US Marshals surveillance. One administrative assistant for a non-ICE tenant, was followed February 20, 2026, April 8, 2026, April 10, 2026, April 14, 2026, April 15, 2026, April 17, 2026. See Ex. 3A. She relayed she had been followed so many time that she install her own dash camera and home cameras at her own expense. See Ex. 7. She described dangerous and aggressive driving habits while following her, switching lanes and cutting people off. She said they didn’t seem to be trying to hide the fact that they were following her.

2 https://alphanews.org/chaos-erupts-on-lake-street-in-minneapolis-as-feds-attempt-warrant-ondrugs-money-laundering/

3 https://mndaily.com/city/protesters-clash-with-federal-agents-during-immigration-raid-on-st-paulbusiness/11/19/2025/eicmndaily-com/ [my emphasis]

One of her sources — the one for the June 3 protest — includes a very early Nick Shirley cameo, in case you needed proof, beyond Jayden Scott and Jake Lang’s early involvement that this case arose out of far right fever swamps.

And the things that date to January (at least what is accessible in unsealed exhibits — Honeycutt did not include her own exhibits unsealed) — are not about protestors but about the government’s response to having shot a mother dead in her car.

In effect, Honeycutt is saying that the opening memos that took weeks to approve were wrong.

And in a filing that attempts to rebut a First Amendment claim, she relies on complaints of federal employees who are not ICE goons complaining about things that are, in part, protected by the First Amendment, many of which post-date the start of the investigation.

While Honeycutt makes a case that the indictment spanning five months includes two instances of obstruction, her claim that the activities following cars go beyond the First Amendment is weak, and she makes no claim that the events charged as assault really were.

This is — as is so common from Todd Blanche’s DOJ — slovenly work.

But it’s what you get, I guess, when you assign loaner JAGs to run a high-profile prosecution.

Update: Josh Kovensky reads the metadata, which reveals this shitshow filing was actually from the January 6 criminal installed at DOJ.

A Minnesota federal prosecutor hired under Trump II named Sommer Honeycutt was listed as having signed the filing. Metadata on the document lists Brian W. Lynch, a federal prosecutor who marched on the Capitol on January 6, as its author.

Lynch, a longtime gang prosecutor, co-directs Joint Task Force Vanguard, the DOJ’s effort to use organized crime and counterterrorism investigative methods to target the Trump administration’s political opponents.

The document lists Lynch as working in the Office of Deputy Attorney General; the DOJ earlier told TPM that Vanguard reports directly to the Deputy Attorney General, a role until recently held by Blanche.

On top of fucking over Honeycutt, this will make it far easier for defendants on reply to demand communications between MN and Main DOJ.

The post Sommer Honeycutt Says DOJ Was Wrong about Why They Opened the MN-15 Investigation appeared first on emptywheel.

The president’s border wall plan could damage or destroy ‘the oldest-known books in North America’

On an overcast summer morning, Carolyn Boyd, an archeologist at Texas State University, stood at the foot of a cave in west Texas, looking up toward a series of towering murals painted on a rock wall. Three massive human-like figures soared toward an overhang that had sheltered the painting from the elements since they were drawn here perhaps 4,000 years ago.

An artist herself, Boyd knows how hard it would have been to paint these long, crisp lines. Before starting, the bands of Indigenous hunter-gatherers who lived in this west Texas valley, where the Pecos River empties into the Rio Grande, would have spent weeks pulverizing gypsum, hematite, limonite and manganese to make paint. They would have gathered massive quantities of sotol stalks to fold its fibers into scaffolding. The painting itself would have required teamwork and precision, with people at the bottom guiding artists on the wall as they painted figures stretching up to 30ft tall.

Test of US rhetoric will rest on whether nations such as India, China and Russia view economic threats as credible

Tehran has vowed to retaliate against any country that cooperates with the US attempt to impose fresh sanctions against Iran in what the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has billed as “the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary”.

In advance of the US announcement, the United Arab Emirates, Iran’s single biggest trading partner in the Middle East, announced it was ending all trade with Iran, a move Tehran believes was coordinated between Washington and the UAE.

This live blog is now closed.

• US supreme court rules Trump can proceed with crackdown on mail-in voting

• Sign up for the US Breaking News email

Donald Trump has threatened to increase tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, auto parts and steel to 50% today, after trade negotiations between Washington and Ottowa broke down last week.

On Truth Social, the president blasted Canada, and said the new duties will go into effect on 1 January 2027.

Republicans who deny Joe Biden won the 2020 election are running for governor and secretary of state across the US

Election deniers are back on the ballot.

In most swing states, at least one major Republican candidate has questioned or outright denied the results of the 2020 US presidential election, which Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden.

The US is scooping up treasury bonds in an effort to raise their price and push yields down – but it’s not working

The bond market is driving the Trump administration crazy. Last week, the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, announced that the government would sharply ramp up its purchase of treasury bonds, in an effort to raise their price and thus push down their yield, which amounts to the interest rate the government pays on its debt.

It didn’t quite work as planned. Yields on treasurys fell after Bessent’s bond market intervention but soon bounced back. By Friday afternoon, the yield on the 10-year treasury was back near where it was before the secretary’s announcement. The yield on the 30-year bond was again trading around its highest level in 20 years or more.

A Guardian correspondent’s sobering account of the US betrayal of Ukraine – and the possible reasons behind it

American presidents have struggled to get the measure of Vladimir Putin. When George W Bush met him in 2001, he reported that he had “looked the man in the eye”, got a “sense of his soul” and found him “trustworthy”. Barack Obama thought Putin was making a mistake with his interventions in Ukraine and Syria, but didn’t do much about it. Joe Biden backed Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion, yet his fear that Putin would reach for the nuclear button if backed into a corner made him risk averse. He worried about the impact of the sort of long-range strikes against Russian territory that Kyiv is now launching on a daily basis.

This caution frustrated Ukrainians to the point that they looked forward to Donald Trump shaking things up after he won re-election. Be careful what you wish for: the returning president thought his rapport with Putin would be enough to get Russia to sign up to an immediate ceasefire. In Trump’s head it was President Zelenskyy, fighting a war he was bound to lose, who was the problem.

Investors will hope Kevin Warsh offers ‘comfort blanket’ at annual meeting of central banks amid bond market anxiety

The new US Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warsh, faces a critical test this week amid anxiety in government bond markets over inflation and Donald Trump’s tax and spending plans.

As the world’s most powerful central bank prepares for its annual Jackson Hole conference, analysts said bond traders would be looking for signals from Warsh over its commitment to fighting inflation.

This week’s Judicial Notice is sponsored by

BriefCatch is trusted by over 22,000 legal professionals, 50 Am Law 200 firms, and 70+ courts. Built directly into Microsoft Word, it delivers real-time insights to help you write with precision, clarity, and confidence. And with RealityCheck, BriefCatch now verifies that citations are accurate and authorities are used correctly. To learn more, schedule a meeting with an expert—or try it out for free with BriefCatch Express.

*Taps mic.* Anybody out there? It’s late August, and things are quiet—which is fine by me, since my fall is looking hectic.

I published one post, my podcast interview of Molly Abraham, the new general counsel of Coinbase. We discussed pending legislation affecting crypto (the CLARITY Act), how Coinbase’s legal team is using AI, and whether em dashes—which Molly and I both adore and will continue to use, even if they’re a hallmark of AI-generated writing—should be surrounded by spaces on either side. (For more on that controversial topic, see my LinkedIn post—featuring a reader poll that’s still open.)

Here’s my practical pointer for the week: Don’t touch jalapeño peppers with your bare hands; instead, use disposable gloves. If you do touch hot peppers with your bare hands, wash them thoroughly, with something other than regular hand soap. (I learned this the hard way, but I’ll spare you the embarrassing details.)

Now, on to the news.

Lawyer of the Week: James Percival.

On July 23, James Percival, general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, posted a thread on X that opened as follows: “Every day, the brave men and women of ICE risk their lives to remove the Worst of the Worst from our country. Today, in honor of the DHS Worst of the Worst series, I am starting a new series: Worst of the Worst, District Judge Edition.” He then criticized four judges:

• Judge Matthew Kennelly (N.D. Ill.), for “enter[ing] an order staying the termination of TPS [Temporary Protected Status] for Burma…. even though these decisions are not subject to judicial review”;

• Judge Allison Burroughs (D. Mass.), for “den[ying] our request to go forward with termination of Somalia TPS notwithstanding our Supreme Court wins”;

• Judge Paula Xinis (D. Md.), for entering an order preventing the removal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia; and

• Judge Hernan Vera (C.D. Cal.), for “enter[ing] an order micromanaging DHS’s use of force policy with respect to violent anti-ICE agitators in Los Angeles.” [UPDATE (8/24/2026, 8:50 a.m.): Typo corrected: Judge Vera sits in the Central District of California, not the Northern. The typo was mine, not Percival’s.]

Percival’s thread generated blowback. Critics argued that his calling out these judges by name—during a politically polarized time, and in light of the dramatic increase in threats against judges—“could get someone killed,” as former federal prosecutor Gregory Wallance argued in USA Today. In response, Percival condemned “the absolute absurdity of the liberal media response” to his tweets, arguing that “legitimate fact-based critiques of judges and their rulings is fair game in a free society”—and adding that “the media has no issue with it if the judge is conservative.”

Now the controversy has escalated: Last Tuesday, 128 retired judges filed an ethics complaint against Percival with the Florida Bar. They argued that Percival’s “Worst of the Worst” thread “had the effect of impugning the integrity of the four sitting judges,” “mischaracterized important elements of the cases,” “increase[d] the unfounded perception that the judiciary is biased and its results unfair,” and “raise[d] the risk of threats of violence against judges.”

As a strong supporter of both free speech and the federal judiciary, I see legitimate concerns on both sides. In a free and democratic society, judicial rulings—and the judges who issue them—are not above criticism. But criticism should ideally be measured and responsible, in light of the serious and growing threats against judges.

Readers, what do you think? Read Percival’s original X thread, check out the retired judges’ complaint, and vote in this poll:

Other lawyers in the news:

• As first reported by Court Watch and picked up by Above the Law and Law360, former assistant U.S. attorney Alexander Strohmeyer was indicted on 12 charges of threatening to murder three former officials in the U.S. Attorney’s Office (M.D. Tenn.)—who were involved in his August 2024 termination from that office—as well as two of these officials’ immediate family members. The criminal complaint that preceded the indictment, which includes screenshots of threatening text messages allegedly sent by Strohmeyer, is… quite the read.

• According to a new study by Professors Lee Epstein and Eric Posner (via Adam Liptak), the 10 most active participants in Supreme Court oral arguments from 2005-2026 were nine justices and one lawyer: Paul Clement, who argued an astounding 101 cases over this 20-year span.

• Speaking of Supreme Court advocates, Amy Howe penned an interesting post for SCOTUSblog about who gets appointed by the justices to argue as amicus—or “friend of the Court”—to defend a position when a party has abandoned it.

• In a follow-up on last week’s Lawyer of the Week, Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, might he get nominated to serve as the Senate-confirmed Deputy Attorney General? He’s in the running but has some competition, per Bloomberg Law—with Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, Assistant Attorneys General Harmeet Dhillon (Civil Rights) and Colin McDonald (National Fraud Enforcement), and U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli (C.D. Cal.) as possibilities.

• Not in the running: failed D.C. U.S. attorney nominee turned U.S. pardon attorney Ed Martin, who’s stepping down as pardon attorney and leaving the DOJ to fight unspecified “Legal Battles for the upcoming Midterm Election and the Presidential Election of 2028,” according to a Truth Social post by Donald Trump.

• Congratulations to Paul Caron on his reappointment as dean of Pepperdine Law, which he has led for the past nine years—making him #16 on the list of longest-serving law deans in the United States.

In memoriam: Ted Striggles—a professional dancer and a lawyer, who used his legal skills to help struggling artists—passed away at 84. May he rest in peace.

Judge of the Week: Chief Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

This year has been a big one for Chief Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers (N.D. Cal.). In May, she presided over the high-profile trial in Musk v. Altman—and dismissed Elon Musk’s case against Sam Altman, after an advisory jury issued a verdict against Musk.

In July, the 61-year-old, Oakland-based jurist took over as chief judge of the Northern District of California. In my opinion, N.D. Cal. is one of the five most important district courts in the country right now, thanks to its popularity as a venue for big-ticket cases involving Big Tech—such as Apple Inc. v. Epic Games, Inc., over which Judge Gonzalez Rogers presided, now before the U.S. Supreme Court (in part)—and challenges to Trump administration policies.

And now, Chief Judge Gonzalez Rogers is in the news once again. She’s presiding over the multidistrict litigation known as In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, thousands of cases alleging that social-media giants are putting out platforms that are addictive and harmful to children. Last week, the first trial in the MDL got underway, in People of the State of California v. Meta Platforms Inc.—a case involving claims by 29 state attorneys general that Meta is violating state consumer protection and federal privacy laws.

As she did in Musk v. Altman, Judge Gonzalez Rogers is using an advisory jury. As she explained in a pretrial order, because “the issues at play in this trial impact the daily lives of the public across the states involved,” “the Court deems it prudent to call an advisory jury to solicit the ‘standard of the community.’” But as she reminded the parties at a hearing earlier this month, “I’m ultimately the factfinder here”—which puts her in a position of great power.

Given the historic and high-stakes nature of this trial, it’s not surprising that numerous news outlets—including MLex, Law360, and CNBC—ran profiles of Chief Judge Gonzalez Rogers. Here are some takeaways:

• Her background. Although she’s lived in California for decades, she was born in Houston and grew up poor in San Antonio. She earned money for her studies by working for her family’s real-estate business, which involved cleaning houses and doing yard work. She left Texas to attend college at Princeton, before returning to the Lone Star State to attend law school at the University of Texas.

• Her path to the bench. After graduating from law school in 1991, she moved to San Francisco and started working at Cooley. She was the firm’s first Latina lawyer, and in 1999, she became Cooley’s first Latina partner. She left the firm in 2003 to focus on her children—she and her husband, energy consultant Matt Rogers, have three kids—but she remained involved in the legal world. In 2008, then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her to Alameda County Superior Court, and in 2011, then-president Barack Obama appointed her to the Northern District of California (where she became the court’s first Latina judge).

• Her approach to cases. Litigants and lawyers describe her as “smart,” “fair,” and hardworking. When she’s on the bench, she’s “tough,” “authoritative,” and “no nonsense.” In the words of Judge James Donato, a former colleague (at Cooley) and current colleague (on the bench), “You’re not going to get away with bluster, posturing or a fake front in her courtroom.” Or as Steve Berman of Hagens Berman put it, “If lawyers give her bulls**t, she just goes after them.”

In other news about judges and the judiciary:

• Two years ago this month, Judge Kenneth King appeared in these pages as Judge of the Week, after he allegedly ordered a 15-year-old girl to be handcuffed, put in a jail uniform, and locked in a detention cell for several hours (for the offense of dozing off during a school field trip to his courtroom). The girl’s mother sued on her daughter’s behalf, alleging Fourth Amendment violations and various torts under Michigan law. Judge David Lawson (E.D. Mich.) denied Judge King’s motion to dismiss—and last Friday, a unanimous panel of the Sixth Circuit affirmed (via Orin Kerr).

• Last week, I praised a recent opinion of Judge Stephanos Bibas (3d Cir.) for its highly engaging introduction. What are some of Judge Bibas’s writing tips? Check out his interview with Avalon Zoppo of Law.com.

• For more writing lessons from judges, see this fun SCOTUSblog post by Ross Guberman—“Six justices, five techniques: writing lessons from the 2025-26 term”—and Judge David Weinzweig’s great new book, Zen and the Art of Persuasive Writing.

In nominations news, Trump announced 11 new judicial nominees, nine on Tuesday and another two on Thursday:

• North Dakota Solicitor General Philip Axt (D.N.D.);

• Kentucky 34th Circuit Court Judge Daniel Ballou (E.D. Ky.);

• Magistrate Judge Richard Bennett (S.D. Tex.);

• First Assistant U.S. Attorney Courtney Coker (N.D. Tex.);

• Littler Mendelson shareholder Bradford “Brad” Kelley (E.D. La.);

• First District Court of Appeal Judge Robert “Bobby” Long (M.D. Fla.);

• Peter Mansfield (E.D. La.), chief of the Civil Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office;

• Jesus Osete (W.D. Mo.), principal deputy assistant attorney general for the DOJ Civil Rights Division;

• Trevor Pemberton (E.D. Okla.), a former Oklahoma state-court judge and general counsel to Governor Kevin Stitt (R-Okla.);

• Magistrate Judge Kyle Reardon (D. Alaska); and

• Zach West (N.D. Okla.), director of special litigation in the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office.

Based on the state of the Senate calendar, they probably won’t get confirmation votes until the lame-duck session, according to Nate Raymond of Reuters.

In memoriam: Walter Braud—the first Black judge in Illinois’s 14th Judicial Circuit, who later served as the circuit’s chief judge—passed away at 86. May he rest in peace.

Job of the Week: an opportunity for a real estate associate in Atlanta.

Lateral Link is partnering with an Am Law 100 firm seeking a 3rd–5th year real estate associate for its Atlanta office. The group represents developers—primarily on the borrower side, with select lender work—across acquisitions, dispositions, development, and related financings, giving the role broad exposure to the full transaction life cycle (roughly 80% real estate, 20% finance). Candidates should have solid commercial real estate transactional experience, ideally with some real estate finance or lending exposure. Open to attorneys currently in Atlanta or willing to relocate. To apply, send your résumé and law school transcript to Marion Wilson at mwilson@laterallink.com.

Read more

US president, pushing on with Freedom 250 festivities, makes over nation’s capital for Trump rally on wheels

• Kyle Kirkwood wins Freedom 250 IndyCar race after Trump waves the green flag

He got the wrong end of the stick. Donald Trump couldn’t figure out how to hold the green flag until his wife, Melania Trump, and Command Sgt Maj Matt Williams set him right. Then the US president waved the flag fast and furious like an excited schoolboy. The race was under way – and his conquest of Washington DC was complete.

Since returning to Washington, Trump has deployed the national guard, wrecked the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, demolished the East Wing of the White House and run the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts into the ground. His face adorns the Department of Justice, and he still has grand plans for a triumphal arch worthy of a Roman emperor.

With just 72 days until the midterm elections, Democrats have the momentum, and it’s growing.

In a special election on Tuesday, a Democrat once again flipped a district in deep Trump country blue.

I mean…

Up in Alaska, Mary Peltola gave Senator Dan Sullivan a preview of what’s to come in November with an incredibly strong showing in Tuesday’s open primary.

And after a bruising primary, Abdul El-Sayed seems to be surging in Michigan.

James Talarico has the momentum in Texas!

And, ummm…what is happening in Arkansas!?

Read more

The prime minister has focused on domestic affairs since coming to office. But at a time of global disruption, he will need to define Britain’s place in the world

A run of volatility in domestic British politics in recent years has tracked a period of global turbulence, and yet foreign policy over the same period has been an area of relative stability. What little is known about Andy Burnham’s approach to international relations expresses more continuity with Sir Keir Starmer’s administration than deviation. In negotiations with the EU, the red lines that prohibit membership of the single market or customs union still stand. Where Washington is concerned, Mr Burnham shows no interest in performances of bonhomie with Donald Trump, but his predecessor had already swapped that approach for a cooler pragmatic tone by the end of his tenure.

The new foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, has opened a good dialogue with Marco Rubio, his US counterpart. Such is the density of integration in defence and security matters that incoming UK prime ministers, regardless of ideology, have little choice but to invest time in cultivating a bond with whoever sits in the White House. Anyone hoping for a spectacular transatlantic rupture and sudden clinch with Brussels will be disappointed.

Breakdown shows Washington now prioritises its own interests over any semblance of shared economic ground

• ‘No more!!!’: Trump lashes out after US-Canada talks devolve into trade war

The calamitous collapse of trade negotiations between Canada and the United States is a warning to nations worldwide that pursuing any kind of dialogue with the current US administration is doomed at the outset, according to observers who say this recent episode indicates seeking a fair deal is futile.

Andrea Lawlor, an associate professor of political science at McMaster University in Ontario, said: “No matter the closeness of the historical relationship, the American administration has signalled that it now prioritises its interests above those of some sort of global economic coordination or harmony.

Devoted Trump aide flooded her now-disabled profile urging people to ‘never concede’ on 6 January 2021

The Donald Trump aide Natalie Harp flooded a since-disabled social media account with pro-Trump posts on the day that the president’s supporters attacked the US Capitol in early 2021, years before she went to work for him and developed an extraordinary close relationship with him, a new report has revealed.

CNN on Saturday reported that a deactivated account which Harp had on what is now known as X was packed with fiercely pro-Trump messages on the day of the January 6 Capitol attack in Washington DC, including posts repeating his lies that the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden toward the end of his first presidency, had been stolen from by fraudsters.

The scoundrel of Kai Bird’s meticulous biography of Roy Cohn, the heavy-lidded villain of mid-20th-century America, is as much Donald Trump as Cohn.

Cohn died of AIDS 40 years ago, just after he was disbarred. That’s time enough for him to be fading into footnotes, despite his notoriety in the 1950s as chief counsel to Sen. Joe McCarthy, the Commie hunter.

But Cohn’s legacy lives on in Trump. Lessons learned: Always attack. Never apologize. Deny. Sue. Countersue. If you lose, declare victory. Keep your name in the news. Loyalty yes, integrity, fuggedaboutit.

Trump learned these dark virtues from Cohn along with a New York brassiness that made people overlook venality, a trick akin to The Big Lie. Both men had the attention hunger of psychic vampires.

Read more

Natalie Harp is Donald Trump’s most devoted aide: she travels the world with him, types his Truth Social posts, and even pens the US president ‘adoring’ letters. But reports that Harp had no official security clearance for a year has raised questions about the people Trump allows into his inner circle. So just who is Natalie Harp?

The Guardian’s Washington bureau chief David Smith speaks to Reged Ahmad about Harp’s journey from cancer survivor to Trump supporter – and how one Democrat senator put her in the global spotlight

Read more:

White House faces questions over security clearance for top Trump aide Natalie Harp

Who is Natalie Harp? Trump’s closest and most devoted aide is in the spotlight

PM Mark Carney says ‘we got attacked’ as tariffs come into force on items from hockey sticks to tongue depressors

• The lesson from Canada’s collapsed trade talks with the US: negotiation may be futile

Donald Trump has hit back at Canada after a breakdown in negotiations plunged the two countries into a trade war.

In his first public comments since negotiations collapsed on Friday in Washington, the US president wrote on social media: “Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!”

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s attempt to calm bond markets is a sign of weakness not strength

“Look, there’s nothing magic about that $40tn number,” the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, told CNBC insouciantly last week, as the country’s debt mountain surpassed another bleak record.

Yet Bessent’s decision to intervene in government bond markets in an effort to combat soaring yields belied his studied calm in TV interviews – and reignited fears the US may be on the road to a debt crisis.

Since Hurricane Sandy in 2012, a growing labor movement has addressed the climate crisis and economic inequality

Ryan McElroen had spent years repairing the New York City subway underground when he got the opportunity to work in the middle of the ocean.

“I had no views other than the darkness at work,” he said. “Then I went polar opposite.”

President’s speech, declassification of documents and heightened claims of noncitizen voting have experts concerned

A series of moves by Donald Trump’s administration to sow doubt in the integrity of US elections has intensified concern among voting experts – and sparked hope among election deniers – that it could declare a national emergency.

The White House and US federal agencies have released a string of documents this summer – including disputed analyses of alleged voting by noncitzens and historical intelligence memos – stoking expectations that the US president could move to exert greater control over November’s US midterm elections.

Today’s Report

1. Overview

2. White House News

3. Truth Social Posts

4. Government Department News

5. 2028 Democratic Presidential Candidates

6. AI & Tech Company News

7. Congressional Watch

8. Policy Impact Analysis & Heatmap

1. Overview

Trump announced that a new ballroom and military facility is under construction at the White House, claiming the project will provide the executive mansion with “Great National Security.” He emphasized that the development is currently ahead of schedule and under budget. Furthermore, Trump stated that the construction is funded entirely by “Great American Patriots and Companies,” requiring “ZERO Dollars of Taxpayer Money.”

The State Dept engaged in several international activities today, including Secretary Rubio’s discussion with Dominican Republic Foreign Minister Víctor Bisonó Haza regarding digital infrastructure and trade. Concurrently, a U.S. delegation participated in APEC Senior Officials’ Meetings in Dalian, China, to promote “America First” foreign and trade policies within the region. Additionally, representatives from the DRC and the AFC/M23 reached a framework agreement in Switzerland to establish a ceasefire verification mission and a roadmap for long-term regional stability.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed five new bills into law, including legislation targeting the integration of artificial intelligence within the State Bar of California and privacy mandates for immigration service providers. The legislative package also formalizes procedures for child custody mediation and updates financial disclosure requirements for local agencies. Additionally, the governor established new mandates regarding the instruction of preventative health topics within public schools.

State-level adoption of sector-specific AI mandates introduces operational friction for technology firms by replacing federal consistency with a fragmented regulatory landscape, potentially creating a “global competitive disadvantage.” Conversely, the emergence of private-public infrastructure funding provides a new mechanism for facility development, though this shift risks the “erosion of standard budgetary oversight” and increased conflicts of interest. Geopolitical stabilization efforts through trade dialogue offer temporary relief for globalized supply chains by mitigating immediate escalation risks, yet these tactical pauses may fail to resolve underlying structural protectionism. These policy developments collectively signal an environment where compliance complexity and administrative shifts are balanced against a cautious reduction in cross-border trade friction.

Subscribe now

2. White House News

No White House news found.

3. Truth Social Posts

Trump reported that significant progress is underway on a new ballroom and military complex on the White House grounds, a project he described as something presidents have desired for 150 years. He asserted that the facility will provide the White House and Washington, D.C. with “Great National Security” and emphasized that the construction is currently under budget and ahead of schedule. Furthermore, Trump stated that the project is being funded entirely by “Great American Patriots and Companies,” requiring “ZERO Dollars of Taxpayer Money.”

Reference: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump

4. Government Department News

State Department (state.gov)

Secretary Rubio’s Call with Dominican Republic Foreign Minister Bisonó Haza

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Dominican Republic Foreign Minister Víctor Bisonó Haza to congratulate him on his appointment and affirm the U.S.-Dominican Republic partnership. The discussion focused on bolstering economic resilience through secure digital infrastructure. Both officials also explored expanding bilateral trade and investment, emphasizing new opportunities for U.S. companies to contribute to the Dominican Republic’s economic growth through transparent and mutually beneficial partnerships.

United States Participates in Third APEC 2026 Senior Officials’ Meetings in Dalian, China

A U.S. delegation led by Casey Mace is attending the APEC 2026 Senior Officials’ Meeting in Dalian, China, to advance “America First” foreign and trade policies. U.S. officials are focused on creating regional opportunities for American businesses in agriculture, energy, and health sectors. The delegation is promoting initiatives to reduce services export barriers and utilize U.S. innovation in supply chains. Additionally, a workshop on ocean technology is addressing illegal fishing and marine debris to support responsible economic development.

Joint Statement Between the Representatives of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Representatives of the Alliance Fleuve Congo/March 23 Movement (AFC/M23) on the Doha Process

Representatives from the DRC government and the AFC/M23 met in Switzerland alongside international mediators to assess progress on the Doha Framework for a Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The parties reported progress on the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism Plus (EJVM+) and scheduled a ceasefire verification mission for August 24. They established a new review mechanism and a roadmap for further negotiations, reaffirming their commitment to conflict resolution and stability in the Great Lakes region through the implementation of existing obligations.

5. 2028 Democratic Presidential Candidates

Gavin Newsom (gov.ca.gov)

Governor Newsom Signs New Legislation

Governor Newsom signed five bills into law, including legislation addressing artificial intelligence within the State Bar of California (AB 1651), privacy protections for immigration support service providers (AB 2624), and procedures for child custody mediation (AB 2789). Additionally, the new laws cover financial posting requirements for local agencies (SB 1126) and mandates regarding pupil instruction in preventative health (SB 1133).

JB Pritzker (gov.illinois.gov)

Daily Public Schedule: Saturday, August 22, 2026

Governor Pritzker has no public events scheduled for Saturday, August 22, 2026.

6. AI & Tech Company News

No relevant AI & tech company updates found for this date.

7. Congressional Watch

Covers the 2026-08-21 session — the Congressional Record is published with a one-day delay.

No Congressional Record found for 2026-08-21.

8. Policy Impact Analysis & Heatmap

This analysis is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

Impact on Market

Based on today’s policy developments, our analysis identifies the following market impact themes:

THEME 1. STATE-LEVEL TECHNOLOGY REGULATION

California’s adoption of sector-specific AI rules for the legal industry signals a fragmented regulatory future. Tech companies now face a patchwork of state-level mandates rather than a unified federal standard. This increase in compliance complexity creates significant operational headwinds. Critics argue this hinders innovation and places domestic firms at a global competitive disadvantage.

THEME 2. PRIVATE-PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE ALIGNMENT

The use of private funding for federal facility construction marks a shift in fiscal execution. This model seeks to bypass traditional appropriations while signaling strength in executive capacity. Market participants must monitor whether this trend expands to larger public works. Critics remain wary of potential conflicts of interest and the erosion of standard budgetary oversight mechanisms.

THEME 3. GEOPOLITICAL STABILIZATION AT APEC

U.S. participation in trade meetings in China indicates a preference for dialogue over immediate escalation. This tactical pause helps manage risks for firms heavily reliant on complex cross-border logistics. Lowered tensions provide temporary support for globalized supply chains. However, skeptics suggest these diplomatic efforts often fail to address deeper structural trade protectionism and long-term security disputes.

Policy Impact Heatmap with Market Direction

Each cell shows an estimated impact score on a fixed scale of -10 to +10, reflecting how today’s policy developments may affect each market sector. Positive scores (green, ▲) suggest bullish impact; negative scores (red, ▼) suggest bearish pressure. Rows and columns are sorted by impact strength, and sectors and policy events with no meaningful impact are omitted. The heatmap, the analysis below, and the Impact on Market themes above are produced from a single unified analysis: the heatmap visualizes the magnitudes, while the text explains the causal reasoning behind them.

Policy developments in California establish a precedent for vertical-specific AI regulation. The new state law mandates stricter oversight for artificial intelligence within the legal sector. This creates a compliance burden for technology firms serving professional services markets. Analysts observe this as a potential blueprint for broader state-level legislative restrictions. Such measures increase operating costs for AI developers focusing on legal automation.

Simultaneously, the administration’s focus on the White House facility project highlights a reliance on private-sector partnerships for public infrastructure. While proponents cite national security benefits, critics characterize the funding model as lacking transparency. Concurrently, diplomatic engagement at the APEC forum in China suggests a stabilization in trade rhetoric. This reduces immediate geopolitical risk premia for semiconductor and technology supply chains. However, trade uncertainty remains a persistent concern for global operations. The DRC mediation efforts provide potential upside for mining and materials firms by signaling improved regional stability in critical mineral zones. The interplay between domestic regulation and international diplomacy defines the current macro landscape.

Abbas Araghchi says country is unbowed but president Masoud Pezeshkian admits its people face ‘many problems’

Iran’s foreign minister has dismissed the threat of a fresh round of US economic sanctions as a “desperate” ploy, even as its president acknowledged that the Iranian people are facing “many problems” amid Washington’s efforts to isolate and debilitate the country’s economy.

Last week, Donald Trump announced a new campaign to increase the pressure on the Iranian economy, calling it “the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country”. The US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, is expected to announce further punitive economic measures on Iran – which he has described as “the toughest sanctions in history” – on Monday.

Share

Welcome to this weekend’s Trump Tyranny Tracker…

Trump’s cuts leaving critical infrastructure vulnerable to cyberattacks, federal agencies expanding their power over elections and civilians, and the DOJ again targeting political opponents were among some of the top weekend stories.

This Weekend at a Glance

• Trump’s CISA cuts have left U.S. infrastructure and elections more vulnerable as Iran-linked hackers attack American water systems.

• Federal agents found no evidence of widespread noncitizen voting after a nationwide hunt through voter rolls.

• Trump’s Iran war drained U.S. military resources as the last American aircraft carrier has left the western Pacific.

What We Need to Pay Attention To

How Trump Left America Vulnerable to Cyberattacks

What Happened: Trump cut CISA’s workforce by one-third and reduced its budget, while ending key intelligence-sharing and election-security programs. Now, amid his war with Iran, suspected Iran-linked hackers have targeted more than 30 U.S. water systems. At the same time, state election officials say they are receiving less federal intel as midterms approach.

Why It Matters: Trump gutted the agency responsible for protecting U.S. infrastructure and elections, then went to war with a country capable of attacking both. Now American water systems are being targeted while election officials are being left without critical federal intel months before the midterms.

Source: The Atlantic

Corruption

Trump-linked crypto venture World Liberty Trust granted bank status in unprecedented move for president

What Happened: A Trump-appointed federal banking regulator conditionally approved a national bank charter for World Liberty Trust, part of the Trump family’s crypto business. The unprecedented decision allows the company, which is 38% owned by a Trump-affiliated entity, to directly issue its own dollar-backed stablecoin and profit from transactions while Trump remains president.

Why It Matters: Trump’s government is granting regulatory approval to a business his family owns. He is yet again using the presidency to benefit his businesses via decisions made by the loyalists he installed in key agencies.

Source: ABC News

Power Consolidation

Inside Trump’s Failed Hunt for Noncitizen Voters

What Happened: Trump deployed Homeland Security Investigations agents nationwide to search voter rolls for noncitizens despite internal warnings that the effort would produce large numbers of false matches and could violate federal privacy laws. From January 2025 through May 2026, fewer than 150 cases were referred for prosecution and only 41 people were charged with election-related crimes out of more than 150 million voters.

Why It Matters: Trump sent federal agents to look for evidence to prove his election lies. They searched more than 150 million voters and found virtually nothing. His agencies did gain sweeping access to voter data as Trump tries to seize control over elections.

Source: ProPublica

Justice Department expands military’s power to detain migrants accused of trespassing

What Happened: The Justice Department issued a legal opinion expanding the military’s authority to arrest migrants outside newly designated military zones along the southern border. The zones have already allowed troops to detain migrants for trespassing despite the Posse Comitatus Act’s longstanding restrictions on using the military for domestic law enforcement.

Why It Matters: Trump continues to erase the line between the military and civilian law enforcement. His regime created military zones to give troops arrest powers and is now expanding where those powers can be used.

Source: CBS News

Weaponization of Institutions

Prosecutors Examined Firm With Tie to Judge in Trump Hush-Money Trial

What Happened: Federal prosecutors investigated Democratic fundraising firm Authentic Campaigns, formerly co-owned by the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over Trump’s criminal trial. The investigation followed a referral from House Republicans who initially sought communications involving Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Hakeem Jeffries, Adam Schiff, the DNC, and other prominent Democrats.

Why It Matters: Trump’s DOJ used a criminal investigation to seek communications involving his political opponents and the family of the judge who oversaw his felony conviction. Trump promised retribution, and his Justice Department continues to deliver.

Source: New York Times

Little Thefts, Big Charges: Trump’s Justice Dept. Targets Lesser Fraud

What Happened: The Justice Department is shifting federal resources toward small-scale fraud cases. Meanwhile, Trump has pardoned or commuted the sentences of white-collar fraudsters, as the DOJ drops cases against corporations and wealthy executives.

Why It Matters: Trump’s DOJ is prosecuting ordinary people for small fraud while Trump pardons wealthy fraudsters and his government drops cases against corporations and executives. This is another example of two systems of justice: one for the wealthy and powerful, and another one for everyone else.

Source: New York Times

FTC Strikes Deals to Ignore ‘Unlawful Credit Discrimination’

What Happened: FTC struck agreements with auto dealers accused of charging Black and Latino customers more. The FTC promised not to enforce parts of federal court orders requiring them to prevent credit discrimination and maintain fair-lending programs. They also made these deals without seeking court approval and, in at least one case, without notifying a state attorney general that had jointly brought the case.

Source: WIRED

Subscribe now

Media Suppression & Authoritarian Tactics

US military base schools put new emphasis on Western civilization and Christianity

What Happened: The Pentagon is introducing a new Western civilization course for students in military-run schools that links Western history with Christianity. The curriculum uses materials from a conservative publisher and Hillsdale College and portrays Islam as more violent than Christianity. The Pentagon is also installing education officials tasked with expanding “patriotic values and classical learning.”

Why It Matters: The Pentagon is bringing religion into government-run schools and deciding what version of American history children should be taught. And the “patriotic values and classical learning” sounds disturbingly familiar to Russia’s “patriotic education,” where the regime uses schools to indoctrinate children and teach them the version of history the state wants them to believe.

Source: Associated Press

Human & Civil Rights Abuses

US immigration judges are deporting people in mass hearings – some without notice

What Happened: Immigration courts are scheduling large numbers of migrants for hearings on short notice, sometimes moving cases forward by months or even a year. Those who fail to appear can be ordered deported in absentia. Advocates warn that some people do not receive adequate notice and may not know they have removal orders.

Source: The Guardian

ICE uses controversial program to boost deportations. Here’s how it works in 1 county

What Happened: Trump has dramatically expanded ICE’s 287(g) program, deputizing state and local police to interrogate and arrest people for immigration violations. Training for participating officers has been cut from about a month in person to just 40 hours online, while the program has faced lawsuits and complaints over racial profiling and wrongful detention.

Why It Matters: Trump is turning local police departments across the country into an extension of ICE while drastically cutting the training officers receive. A program already accused of racial profiling and wrongful detention is being rapidly expanded with no safeguards.

Source: NPR

Judge refuses to block Trump administration from building border wall along tribe’s reservation

What Happened: A federal judge refused to block Trump from moving forward with plans to build 62 miles of border wall across the Tohono O’odham Nation’s reservation in Arizona without the tribe’s consent. Tribal leaders say construction will destroy sacred sites, disrupt religious practices, and separate O’odham families and communities on opposite sides of the border.

Source: ABC News

Government Disruption

Families of USS Lincoln crew say Trump should be ‘ashamed’ of conditions on board

What Happened: The USS Abraham Lincoln has been at sea for almost nine months, including more than 200 days without a port call. There are reports of food shortages, plumbing problems, and deteriorating mental health conditions among sailors. Asked whether the deployment had gone on too long, Trump responded, “No, not nearly long enough.” Families of crew members condemned the conditions, as Democrats demand an investigation.

Source: NPR

Massachusetts anti-hunger advocate fasts to protest Trump food stamp cuts​

What Happened: More than 5.3 million Americans have lost SNAP benefits since cuts went into effect from Trump’s 2025 tax and spending law. In Massachusetts alone, enrollment has fallen by roughly 182,000 people, including almost 65,000 children, as rising demand overwhelms the system.

Why It Matters: More than 5 million Americans have lost food assistance because of Trump’s cuts. Families are losing help buying groceries so Trump can help pay for his massive tax cuts for the wealthy.

Source: Reuters

Depleted strategic oil reserve nears level that raises concerns about damage to caverns, operations

What Happened: Trump’s response to the Iran war is drawing 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, pushing it below 300 million barrels for the first time since the early 1980s. Energy experts warn the rapid depletion could damage the underground storage caverns and weaken the reserve’s ability to respond quickly to another emergency.

Source: CNBC

US CDC records more than 2,500 measles cases so far in 2026

What Happened: The CDC has recorded 2,566 measles cases so far in 2026, the highest annual total in more than 35 years. Cases have been reported across 45 states and D.C. 93% of infections involved people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown.

Source: Reuters

Imperial & Geopolitical Watch

Iran’s Secret Plan to Escalate the War

What Happened: U.S. and Arab intelligence indicates Iran used the two months after signing a June agreement with Trump to prepare for a broader war, accelerating missile and drone production, tightening Revolutionary Guard control over the military, and coordinating expanded attacks with militias in Iraq and Yemen. Iran also provided Gulf states with lists of energy facilities it threatened to destroy.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Trump orders Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea

What Happened: Trump ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea, citing Seoul’s refusal to join his war with Iran and calling the drills “hostile” toward North Korea. The decision came days after North Korea resumed ballistic missile tests while Trump praised his relationship with Kim Jong Un.

Why It Matters: Trump is weakening America’s defenses and alliances around the world. He has strained relationships in Europe and the Middle East, drained military resources for his Iran war, and is now weakening U.S. defenses in Asia to punish another ally. At this point, it looks very strategic.

Source: Associated Press

Why the Movements of a U.S. Oil Company in Greenland Have Attracted Attention

What Happened: Texas-based Greenland Energy moved drilling equipment to Greenland’s eastern coast without Greenland’s authorization as it pursued plans to explore a potentially massive Arctic oil field. The move prompted a formal warning from Greenland, which has delayed the project until at least winter 2027.

Source: TIME

Frustration with Trump grows among U.S.’s Persian Gulf allies, officials say

What Happened: U.S. allies including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain are frustrated with Trump’s handling of the Iran war and his failure to secure an end to the war. Some Gulf governments are questioning whether to continue hosting major U.S. military installations. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a new mutual defense agreement as they diversify their security partnerships.

Source: Washington Post

US pulls last aircraft carrier in Asia as Trump focuses on Iran and the Western Hemisphere

What Happened: The U.S. is pulling its last aircraft carrier from the western Pacific to support Trump’s war with Iran, leaving the region without a U.S. carrier as China increases military activity around Japan and the Philippines. The move comes as prolonged Middle East deployments are straining U.S. warships and crews.

Why It Matters: Trump’s Iran war is draining U.S. military resources so badly that America is leaving the western Pacific without a carrier while China ramps up military activity around U.S. allies. Another gift to Xi.

Source: Associated Press

Far-Right & Russian Influence Watch

Russia builds secret drone bases in striking distance of Nato

What Happened: Russia has built or expanded at least 10 drone bases near Ukraine and Belarus, installing 59 new launch rails for long-range attack drones. Some sites can launch newer Geran drones with ranges of roughly 620 miles, putting NATO territory within reach.

Source: The Telegraph

Economic News

Parents struggle with back-to-school season as tariffs, Iran war drive up costs

What Happened: Back-to-school supplies are up 11% this year as Trump’s tariffs and rising energy costs from the Iran war push prices higher. Nearly half of parents expect to open a new credit card or increase their credit limit to cover school expenses.

Source: MS NOW

Resistance

Check out 50501 for local and nationwide events…

Source: 50501

By the Numbers

• 41 out of 150 million — People charged with election-related crimes after Trump deployed federal agents to hunt for noncitizen voting

• 30+ — U.S. water systems targeted by suspected Iran-linked hackers after Trump gutted CISA

• 172 million barrels — Oil Trump is drawing from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve during his Iran war

• 5.3 million+ — Americans who have lost SNAP benefits since Trump’s cuts

• 2,566 — Measles cases recorded this year, the highest annual total in more than 35 years

• 200+ days — USS Abraham Lincoln has gone without a port call while sustaining Trump’s Iran war

• 10 — Russian drone bases built or expanded near Ukraine and Belarus, some putting NATO territory within striking range

• 11% — Increase in back-to-school supply costs this year

What to Watch Next

Trump gutted federal election security support while his government gains sweeping access to voter data — How will Trump use that data as he tries to gain control over elections?

Trump is steadily expanding the military’s authority to arrest civilians — How much further will his regime push the military into domestic law enforcement?

Trump is weakening America’s military posture in Asia while China and North Korea become more aggressive — How will Beijing or Pyongyang exploit the opening?

Trump’s Iran war is draining U.S. military resources, emergency oil reserves, and alliances — How much more can the U.S. sustain before another crisis leaves America unprepared?

Russia is building long-range drone infrastructure capable of striking NATO territory — How will NATO respond as Moscow builds new facilities capable of attacking the alliance?

Key Takeaways

Rising Costs — Higher oil prices, new tariff threats, and growing trade tensions are pushing up the cost of groceries, school supplies, and other everyday essentials.

Election Power Grab — Trump’s hunt for widespread noncitizen voting found virtually nothing, but gave his government sweeping access to voter data as the midterms approach.

Domestic Militarization — Trump is steadily breaking down the line between the U.S. military and civilian law enforcement.

Iran War Damage — Trump’s war is draining military resources, depleting emergency oil reserves, exhausting troops, and pushing longtime allies to reconsider their relationship with the U.S.

Asia Retreat — Trump is weakening military cooperation with South Korea and leaving the western Pacific without a U.S. carrier while China and North Korea increase military activity.

Families Squeezed — More than 5 million Americans have lost food assistance while tariffs and the Iran war drive up everyday costs.

Call to Action

Document Everything: Document purges, corruption, and power grabs. Share credible information with journalists, watchdogs, and legal experts. Silence enables authoritarianism—see something, say something.

Defend Press Freedom: Support independent journalism by subscribing to and sharing reporting that challenges Trump’s power grab.

Contact Lawmakers: Demand accountability for Trump’s unchecked power and war on oversight.

Mobilize for Action: Organize or join legal efforts and resistance movements to protect democracy and human and civil rights.

Support Whistleblowers: Encourage legal defense funds for government workers facing retaliation for exposing corruption.

Thanks for reading the Trump Tyranny Tracker. Stay tuned for more updates.

Leave a comment

There are few more enthusiastic evangelists for the promise of AI than Kai-Fu Lee. Suave and charming, with a taste for fine wine (and a Ph.D from Carnegie Mellon), Lee founded the Beijing-based Sinovation Ventures, a venture capital giant that is helping to finance some of China’s most innovative tech firms on everything from robotics to advanced facial recognition. But when I recently heard him describe his latest crusade—to incorporate a concept he calls “Boss AI” into the management of large enterprises—he threw me for a loop.

The idea of Boss AI — the subject of the latest book by Lee, a prolific author— is that the superpower of artificial intelligence can be used as a “decision brain” to advise CEOs and “identify anomalies” in their companies. How? By taping every meeting and scouring every email, Boss AI will instantly identify malcontents, under-performers or members of the workforce otherwise less than enthusiastic about the corporate mission. This, he argues, is the key to unlocking profitability and ultimate success in China’s relentless race to dominate the future of technology and perhaps the world.

But as I listened to his pitch as part of a group he had invited to China to tour some of the companies he’s invested in and meet with him at his Beijing conference room, all I could think of was 1984.

“I have to say, listening to this,” I told him, “it has a creepy Orwellian vibe.”

“Welcome to China,” he responded with a smile, as if I had revealed my naiveté by even raising such a subject in a country where surveillance cameras are everywhere.

This is another SpyTalk post without a paywall a few paragraphs in. It’s kind of an experiment: We’ll do more of these if readers will continue to sponsor us with paid subscriptions. We can’t do our wide-ranging reporting without you. And we certainly appreciate your generosity. Thanks.

The members of my group witnessing this exchange were mostly venture capitalists but also a smattering of others, including a former senior U.S. national security official and a journalist (me.) Some also happened to be company managers in their own right, and pushed back on my critique. Don’t firms in the U.S. already own their employees’ emails? Don’t they have an interest in knowing who is not performing up to snuff? What’s the big deal?

Sure, I replied, but it is advances in technology that make all the difference. To pick a relevant analogy, authoritarian governments have always had an interest in crushing political dissent. But in Orwell’s classic, it was the omnipresent telescreen — the two-way video watching your every move in every room—that turned Oceana into a totalitarian dystopia.

Is Boss AI the new Big Brother?

And what happens when, as is inevitable, it migrates to corporate America and beyond — to universities, for example, in order to police academic content in classrooms (a version of which is already taking place in Texas) or, it’s not hard to imagine, a Trump administration ever eager to enhance surveillance of targeted groups or crackdown on government employees who, among other misdeeds, might dare to talk to journalists? Or how about a DOGE 2.0 powered by Boss AI?

Second Thoughts

In any case, it was my exchange with Lee that encapsulates my complicated reaction to a week-long visit to the Heavenly Kingdom —and what it might mean for U.S.-Chinese competition in tech, trade, military hardware and intelligence.

On the one hand, Xi Jinping’s China, for all its recent problems with wage stagnation and youthful unemployment, remains an economic powerhouse. In our travels to Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai, we saw glittering skyscrapers for as long as the eye can see, luxury shopping malls and a robust private sector giving Silicon Valley a run for its money. Our group toured an EV auto factory where 90 percent of the workforce are humanoid robots. We visited a cutting edge research firm where they’re inserting chips into brains to cure patients with spinal cord injuries and other maladies (leaving open the question of what else those chips might ultimately be used for).

We stopped in at luxury malls where wealthy Chinese consumers can buy Louis XIII cognac (for the equivalent of $3,899 a bottle) or Christian Dior handbags. Also ubiquitous were the Huawei stores where the displays and products seemed virtually identical to what you can see at your nearest Apple outlet.

It took a political analyst for a Chinese consulting firm whom we lunched with to remind us that next month Huawei goes on trial in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y. charged with a years long racketeering conspiracy to steal U.S. trade secrets and skirt U.S. sanctions on Iran by using a Hong Kong-based shell company to sell it equipment used for domestic surveillance of political protestors.

That was hardly the only reminder of the dark side of China’s economic progress. Plenty visible were the ubiquitous surveillance cameras catching every public interaction on video, a modern day, real life version of Big Brother’s telescreen. The guide who took me to the Great Wall on his own started pointing them out on every block and street corner. Ostensibly, they are there for crime control and public safety. But unmistakable is the intimidation factor. Unseen was the government’s security software tracking individual’s purchases, financial history and media use, which monitors what people watch, read, post, and share online. The Chinese know they are being watched.

Subscribe now

Over lunch, the political analyst talked about a younger generation of Chinese Communist leaders taking the reins in the country’s provinces. So who, I asked, is in line to replace Xi? Not an issue, nobody’s thinking about that, the analyst maintained. The 73 year old Xi, who took power 16 years ago, is planning to extend his term once again later this year, keeping him on track to rule China into the 2030’s. (The last time Xi extended his term, in 2023, the National People’s Congress—all of whose members are appointed by the Communist Party—ratified the move by a vote of 2,952 to 0.)

Pest that I am, I asked about the prospects of political reform—some loosening of the party’s grip that might allow a few small democratic freedoms? The reply was even more brusque: Not in the cards, the analyst said simply and left it at that. (As if to underscore the point, a few days after I left China, two pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong– who led annual candlelight vigils to commemorate the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square– were convicted of subversion under a national security law. They face up to 10 years in prison.)

Excluded

Perhaps the strongest sign of the all-encompassing intimidation factor that prevails in Chinese society came just before our group was scheduled to have lunch with Kuo Zhang, the president of Alibaba.com, the booming e-commerce division of China’s most iconic company, the Alibaba Group (with annual revenue of $148 billion.) I was politely informed that I and the former U.S. government official in our group, Jon Finer, who served as deputy national security advisor in President Biden’s White House, were banned from the meeting, no doubt for “different reasons,” as Finer put it. In Finer’s case, it might have been for, among other things, the 2022 remark by his boss, President Biden, that the U.S. would defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by China, a comment that in one breath seemed to toss away the U.S. government’s half-century long “strategic ambiguity” understanding with Beijing on that question and was immediately condemned by the Chinese government. In my case, being identified as a contributing editor of a journal called SpyTalk no doubt got their attention as well.

(Following the publication of this story, an organizer of the trip said Isikoff and Finer were excluded because “the final group size exceeded the capacity available for the Alibaba.com meeting room.”)

A more intriguing exclusion targeted the third member of our group, a rather striking and personable Russian yoga instructor who holds yoga retreats all over the world, dividing her time between Moscow, Bali and Switzerland. No explanation was given for keeping her out of the lunch, but Finer and I didn’t hesitate to speculate.

But the more interesting question is why the blacklist in the first place. As we later confirmed with our colleagues, Alibaba’s Zhang, one of China’s most high ranking business executives, had nothing remotely sensitive to say in his luncheon talk. But even such a prominent figure as he was no doubt aware about what a Party minder might report on him consorting with— or simply granting an audience to — suspicious characters like Finer and myself.

And he certainly wouldn’t want to have to answer to Boss AI.

None of Michael Isikoff’s expenses for his trip to China were compensated by any Chinese companies or the Chinese government. He paid for the trip himself.

Thank you for reading this. SpyTalk is an entirely reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the work of all of us here, please consider taking out a paid subscription. We can’t do it without you. Just click below for a no-obligation free trial.

Share

PEN America condemns lawyers using passage from thriller to bolster claim ex-FBI director intended to harm Trump

A leading US free-expression group has hit out at federal prosecutors’ use of a novel written by former FBI director James Comey in their case accusing him of threatening to kill Donald Trump.

“Citing a novel to save an indictment that is constitutionally dubious is a desperate Hail Mary and should be rejected,” said a statement posted on Friday by Mara Gassmann, legal director of PEN America, using a term for a last-second heave in American football.

Share

Welcome to today’s Trump Tyranny Tracker…

Federal agents infiltrating and investigating political groups opposed to Trump, DOJ tools that can be used against his enemies, ICE adding dangerous new weapons, and the mounting costs of Trump’s Iran war were among today’s top stories.

Today at a Glance

• Federal agents infiltrate and investigate left-leaning political groups.

• Pentagon shuts Democrats out of classified defense budget briefings.

• U.S. loses roughly 25% of its Reaper drone fleet in Trump’s Iran war.

What We Need to Pay Attention To

U.S. Investigated Left-Leaning Groups During Minnesota Immigration Crackdown

What Happened: DHS launched an expansive investigation into left-leaning organizations during Trump’s Minnesota immigration crackdown, obtaining years of financial records from unions and advocacy groups and sending undercover agents into meetings, churches, parks, and Signal chats. Many groups were never accused of crimes, yet investigators treated their activities as part of a potential “domestic terrorist financing” operation.

Why It Matters: Federal agents infiltrated political groups, obtained their financial records, and monitored private communications without evidence they had committed crimes. Trump’s government is using counterterrorism powers to investigate political opposition.

Source: New York Times

Corruption

Treasury Scales Back Scrutiny of U.S. Shell Companies

What Happened: The Treasury Department permanently halted requirements for U.S. companies to disclose their true owners under the Corporate Transparency Act, a bipartisan anti-money laundering law Congress passed over Trump’s veto in 2021. The information was intended to help law enforcement track shell companies used for money laundering, sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, and other crimes.

Source: New York Times

Broadband grants paused as critics allege favoritism toward Elon Musk’s Starlink

What Happened: Texas paused billions in federal broadband funding amid an audit and allegations that its grant process favored Elon Musk’s Starlink. State lawmakers found that rules were changed at Gov. Greg Abbott’s direction days before grants were awarded, giving satellite providers different upfront payment terms than other broadband companies.

Why It Matters: Billions in taxpayer money are now frozen amid allegations that government rules were changed to benefit Musk’s company. Once again, a Trump ally is getting special treatment from the government.

Source: Associated Press

Power Consolidation

Trump administration set to spend at least $900 million on White House construction

What Happened: Trump plans to spend at least $927 million on White House construction, with most of the cost covered by taxpayers. Instead of seeking congressional funding, the White House is routing hundreds of millions from other agencies, including $415 million in Secret Service funds, into a little-used White House maintenance account.

Why It Matters: Trump is bypassing Congress’s constitutional power over federal spending to finance his White House construction. After lawmakers refused to give him the money, his regime redirected hundreds of millions appropriated for other purposes instead.

Source: Washington Post

Weaponization of Institutions

Hegseth criticized for locking Democrats out of closed-door defense budget talks

What Happened: Pete Hegseth repeatedly excluded Democratic senators from classified briefings on Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion military budget increase. Republican senators have also objected, with Sen. Mike Rounds saying Pentagon officials cited fears that classified information would leak.

Why It Matters: The Pentagon is denying elected members of Congress access to classified national security briefings simply because they are Democrats. A federal agency does not get to decide that only one political party is entitled to carry out oversight.

Source: The Guardian

Pirro, in rare move, convenes special grand jury in Washington

What Happened: U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro convened a rarely used special grand jury in Washington, overseen by a prosecutor involved in investigations of Trump targets, including former Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Unlike a regular grand jury, it can issue a public report naming people and alleging wrongdoing even when prosecutors lack enough evidence to bring charges.

Why It Matters: Trump’s DOJ is now using another tool to publicly accuse his perceived enemies of wrongdoing even when there isn’t enough evidence to charge them with a crime.

Source: Washington Post

Here’s the Manual for ICE’s Electric Shock Gloves

What Happened: ICE plans to spend tens of millions of dollars on electric shock gloves designed to incapacitate people during arrests and deportation operations. The manufacturer’s own manual warns the devices can cause physiological changes associated with “sudden death” and advises against using them on pregnant women, small children, elderly people, and people with severe disabilities.

Source: 404 Media

Subscribe now

Media Suppression & Authoritarian Tactics

Kennedy Center Board votes again to shut main building down — and add Trump’s name back

What Happened: The Trump-controlled Kennedy Center board voted to put Trump’s name back on the building after a federal judge ruled it had been unlawfully added and an appeals court refused to halt its removal. The board also voted again to close the main building for two years after the same judge blocked the closure, finding board members lacked sufficient information to approve it.

Source: NPR

Human & Civil Rights Abuses

A Third Immigrant Detained at Delaney Hall Dies After Medical Emergency

What Happened: A Guatemalan immigrant who suffered a seizure after being detained at Delaney Hall in Newark has died, becoming the third immigrant to die after being held at the facility. His death comes amid documented problems with medical care and sanitation and an ongoing New Jersey civil rights investigation into conditions at the privately operated detention center.

Why It Matters: Three people have now died after being detained at a facility already under investigation over its horrendous conditions. ICE’s new policy also means deaths occurring after detainees are released from custody no longer have to be investigated or publicly reported.

Source: New York Times

Controversial group wins $158M-contract to represent unaccompanied immigrant children

What Happened: HHS awarded a $158 million no-bid contract to Our Rescue to provide legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children after allowing a contract with nearly 100 experienced legal nonprofits to expire. Our Rescue, formerly Operation Underground Railroad, is led by a former senior ICE official and has no record of providing immigration legal representation.

Source: NPR

In Ohio, Haitians’ American dream shatters as ICE prepares to deport them

What Happened: ICE has ramped up enforcement against Haitians in Ohio after Trump ended Temporary Protected Status for roughly 350,000 Haitians nationwide. In Springfield, Haitians who fled violence and built lives in the community are being summoned to ICE facilities and fitted with ankle monitors as they face possible deportation to Haiti.

Why It Matters: Trump first targeted Springfield’s Haitian community with lies that fueled threats and neo-Nazi activity. Now his regime is stripping their legal protections and preparing to deport them to a country they fled because of extreme violence and instability.

Source: The Guardian

Government Disruption

Sailor went overboard from the USS Abraham Lincoln this month as conditions on the ship prompt lawmakers’ demand for answers

What Happened: The USS Abraham Lincoln has spent more than 250 days deployed and more than 200 consecutive days at sea during Trump’s Iran war, amid reports of supply shortages, plumbing problems, and deteriorating mental health. U.S. officials confirmed that a sailor went overboard August 3 in what the Navy considered a mental health episode and was rescued within an hour.

Why It Matters: More than 5,000 sailors and Marines are paying the price for Trump’s Iran war, all while Hegseth fails to address deteriorating conditions and Trump mocks the troops complaining about them.

Source: CNN

Democrats demand answers about conditions aboard USS Lincoln

What Happened: Senate Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat Richard Blumenthal demanded answers from Pentagon leaders after the USS Abraham Lincoln surpassed 250 days deployed and 200 days without a port call during Trump’s war with Iran.

Source: ABC News

Justice Dept. leaves in place ruling that deregulates silencers, shotguns and certain rifles

What Happened: The DOJ declined to block a federal court ruling allowing some Americans to possess silencers, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns without registering them with the federal government. The ruling followed Trump’s 2025 tax law eliminating the $200 tax that had helped underpin federal regulation of the weapons since 1934.

Source: CBS News

Homeland Security Paid $464 Million for Airplanes. Then It Parked Them.

What Happened: DHS spent $464 million through a no-bid contract to buy 10 used aircraft it said were urgently needed for deportations, but most have barely been used. The contract went to a company whose chairman donated to a political committee supporting Kristi Noem, and three of the aircraft were luxury business jets.

Why It Matters: DHS claimed an emergency to bypass competitive bidding, handed $464 million to a politically connected company, and then barely used the planes it supposedly urgently needed. This is another example of government waste and cronyism.

Source: New York Times

The VA’s Race to Shrink Its Backlog Is Leading to ‘Egregious’ Mistakes

What Happened: The VA has cut its backlog of disability claims from more than 400,000 in March 2024 to roughly 70,000, but veterans, attorneys, and VA employees say the push for faster decisions is producing basic and sometimes “egregious” errors. Pending higher-level reviews of denied claims have doubled since Trump took office.

Source: NOTUS

Imperial & Geopolitical Watch

Tehran says Strait of Hormuz “under Iran’s control” after Trump threatens U.S. might “keep it”

What Happened: Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz “under Iran’s control and management” after Trump claimed the U.S. has “total control” of the critical waterway and said, “I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT.” Most oil shipments through the strait remain blocked as the U.S. threatens further economic pressure against Tehran.

Why It Matters: Months into Trump’s war, Iran still controls access to one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints while Trump claims the U.S. has “total control.” The standoff continues to disrupt oil supplies, drive up gas prices, and risk further regional escalation.

Source: CBS News

U.S. military has lost roughly 25% of its Reaper drones as Iran war depletes arsenal

What Happened: The U.S. military has lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones during Trump’s war with Iran, roughly 25% of its fleet and more than $1.3 billion worth of aircraft. The war has also depleted U.S. stocks of Tomahawk, Patriot, and THAAD missiles, forcing commanders to conserve some weapons.

Why It Matters: Six months of Trump’s war have destroyed a quarter of America’s Reaper fleet and depleted critical missile stockpiles. The U.S. is burning through weapons and capabilities it may need for far more serious conflicts.

Source: Washington Post

Far-Right & Russian Influence Watch

‘Absolutely unacceptable’: Japan condemns visit by Vladimir Putin to disputed Kuril Islands

What Happened: Putin made his first visit to the disputed Kuril Islands, traveling to Iturup, one of four islands seized by the Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II. Japan summoned Russia’s ambassador, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the visit “absolutely unacceptable,” reaffirming Japan’s claim to the islands.

Source: The Guardian

Economic News

GasBuddy: Average gas price reaches record high for this time of year

What Happened: According to GasBuddy, the national average price of gasoline climbed above $4 a gallon. Prices have surged as Trump’s war with Iran and disruption of the Strait of Hormuz have constrained global oil supplies.

Source: The Hill

US budget deficit widens in July on higher outlays, negative tariff receipts

What Happened: The federal budget deficit reached a record $432 billion in July, bringing the fiscal year deficit to $1.8 trillion with two months remaining. Customs receipts were negative for the third straight month as the government refunded tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court. The CBO projects tariff revenue will fall about $250 billion short of earlier estimates.

Source: Reuters

Resistance

Check out 50501 for local and nationwide events…

Source: 50501

By the Numbers

• $927 million — White House construction Trump plans to finance largely with taxpayer money, including $415 million redirected from Secret Service

• $158 million — No-bid contract awarded to a politically connected group with no clear record of providing immigration legal representation

• $464 million — DHS spent on 10 “urgently” needed aircraft that have sat unused

• 250+ days — USS Abraham Lincoln deployment as sailors report deteriorating conditions

• 25% — Share of the U.S. Reaper drone fleet lost during the Iran war

• $1.3 billion+ — Value of Reaper drones lost during the war

• $4+ — National average gas price, a record for this time of year

• $432 billion — Record federal budget deficit in July

• $250 billion — Amount tariff revenue is now projected to fall short of earlier estimates

What to Watch Next

Federal agents are infiltrating political groups — Will Congress investigate DHS’s use of counterterrorism powers to surveil organizations engaged in lawful political opposition?

The Pentagon is excluding Democrats from classified briefings — Will Congress push back against Hegseth deciding which elected lawmakers are allowed to conduct national security oversight?

Trump is bypassing Congress to fund White House construction — Will lawmakers or courts challenge the diversion of hundreds of millions appropriated for other purposes?

Pirro convened a special grand jury — Will DOJ use it to publicly accuse his perceived enemies even when prosecutors lack enough evidence to charge them?

The Iran war is depleting U.S. military resources — How much more equipment and ammunition will be lost as Trump’s war stretches beyond six months?

Key Takeaways

Rising Costs — Higher oil prices, new tariff threats, and growing trade tensions are pushing up the cost of groceries, school supplies, and other everyday essentials.

Surveillance State — Federal agents infiltrated political organizations, obtained financial records, and monitored private communications without evidence of crimes.

Partisan Government — The Pentagon is excluding Democrats from classified briefings while Trump’s DOJ gains another tool capable of publicly targeting his perceived enemies.

Cronyism & Waste — Politically connected organizations and companies are receiving massive no-bid contracts while hundreds of millions in taxpayer money are being redirected or wasted.

War Costs — Trump’s Iran war has destroyed a quarter of the Reaper fleet, pushed a carrier deployment beyond 250 days, and helped drive gasoline again above $4 a gallon.

Call to Action

Document Everything: Document purges, corruption, and power grabs. Share credible information with journalists, watchdogs, and legal experts. Silence enables authoritarianism—see something, say something.

Defend Press Freedom: Support independent journalism by subscribing to and sharing reporting that challenges Trump’s power grab.

Contact Lawmakers: Demand accountability for Trump’s unchecked power and war on oversight.

Mobilize for Action: Organize or join legal efforts and resistance movements to protect democracy and human and civil rights.

Thanks for reading the Trump Tyranny Tracker. Stay tuned for more updates.

Leave a comment