On April 24, a new super PAC called Lead Left quietly filed a Statement of Organization with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). According to the group’s website, “Lead Left PAC stands against MAGA extremists who will infect our country with Donald Trump’s agenda.”

On May 7, Lead Left began spending heavily in Democratic primaries. Since that time, the group has spent over $3 million in support of Democratic House candidates in key races across the country.

But, as Punchbowl News and others have noted, Lead Left’s spending patterns are unusual. It is backing Democratic candidates in competitive districts with major political liabilities. For example, in Texas, Lead Left has spent over $900,000 supporting Maureen Galindo in the Democratic primary. Galindo, a sex therapist, has made a series of antisemitic comments. In an Instagram post, Galindo pledged to transform ICE detention centers into a “prison for American Zionists” and a “castration processing center for pedophiles which will probably be most of the Zionists.” Galindo’s campaign has raised less than $11,000, of which $4,100 was a contribution from the candidate.

Galindo is running in Texas’ 35th District, a seat that was redistricted to favor Republicans. The DCCC has endorsed Galindo’s primary opponent, Johnny Garcia. Lead Left has also intervened in Democratic primaries in swing House districts in Nebraska and Pennsylvania.

Lead Left has gone to great lengths to conceal its identity and backers. It listed its address as a mailbox at a Staples on 2241 North Monroe Street in Tallahassee, Florida. Its treasurer, Tammie Cannon, has no political connections or online footprint. It was also created to maximize the amount of time it could operate without disclosing its donors. Although it has already spent millions, Lead Left will not have to disclose the source of its funds until June 20, after most primaries are over. The money is being funneled to two shell companies that have been formed in the last few weeks.

A Popular Information investigation, however, found that Lead Left is linked to Caleb Crosby, a Republican operative. Crosby is the treasurer of the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), the primary super PAC of the House Republicans. CLF raised over $250 million last cycle. Crosby is also the treasurer of the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC for Senate Republicans.

Several pieces of evidence point to Crosby’s involvement. First, of the roughly 48,500 distinct political committees that have filed with the FEC since 2016, only two others share an address with Lead Left — the Staples at 2241 North Monroe Street in Tallahassee. Both of those committees are connected to the Crosby Ottenhoff Group, the political compliance firm founded by Crosby.

One of the groups located at 2241 North Monroe Street was Fight Right Inc, the super PAC that spent over $14 million supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. The Treasurer for Fight Right Inc was Kaylen Melton, a CPA at Crosby Ottenhoff. Melton lists her Crosby Ottenhoff email as the primary contact for Fight Right Inc.

The other group listed at 2241 North Monroe Street is Justice Truth, a super PAC that was also active during the 2024 cycle. The treasurer of the group is another GOP operative linked to Crosby Ottenhoff, Thomas Datwyler.

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Justice Truth only raised a few thousand dollars but Datwyler gained more notoriety in 2024 for his connection to a super PAC called Roosevelt Society Action. Roosevelt Society Action appeared abruptly and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI). Datwyler’s home address was listed as the address for the Roosevelt Society, which donated $200,000 to the group. (Datwyler refused to reveal the actual source of the funds.) Like Lead Left, Roosevelt Society Action tried to portray itself as left-leaning. Its ads promoted the website of the Roosevelt Institute, an actual progressive organization.

The treasurer of Roosevelt Society Action? Kayla Glaze, a CPA for Crosby Ottenhoff.

There are more clues linking Lead Left to Crosby Ottenhoff and Caleb Crosby. As noted by Nebraska Public Media, the original Lead Left website contained the following snippet of code:

WinRed is a Republican fundraising website. Standing Tall Action is a 501(c)4 non-profit organization. In a 2024 filing with the IRS, the most recent available, Standing Tall Action lists Zac Funderburk as its Treasurer. Funderburk is an employee of Crosby Ottenhoff.

There are also substantive similarities between the messages pushed by Lead Left and those by organizations that are formally linked to CLF.

In Nebraska, the American Action Network, the affiliated non-profit of the CLF, sent mail and ran digital ads seeking to damage House Democratic candidate and John Cavanaugh by linking him to Trump. The digital ads said Cavanaugh was “working to enact Trump’s policy here in Nebraska,” noting that they both had proposed eliminating taxation on tips and overtime. The mailers showed Cavanaugh side-by-side with Trump with the banner “SAME TAX PLAN. SAME AGENDA. MAKING NEBRASKA GREAT AGAIN.”

Before the Democratic primary, Lead Left then ran television advertisements with a nearly identical message. It claimed that Cavanaugh wanted to “exactly mirror” Trump and was “in agreement” with Trump’s policies. “Keep MAGA John Cavanaugh out of Congress. Lead Left PAC is responsible for the content of this ad,” the spot concludes.

On May 12, Cavanaugh lost to his Democratic primary opponent, Denise Powell, by about 1,100 votes.

Crosby and CLF did not respond to a request for comment.

On Truth Social, Trump has repeatedly promoted Stake, an unregulated online casino that, according to state gambling regulators, is operating illegally. Trump publicized Stake alongside the UFC match being held at the White House on his 80th birthday, June 14. He posted AI-generated images featuring himself, UFC CEO Dana White, and the Stake logo on April 9, May 8, and twice on May 20.

Stake is a major sponsor of the UFC, including prominent placement in the UFC octagon.

Stake.us users play traditional casino games like slots and roulette. The company, which is based in Cyprus, claims it is a “safe and free gaming experience.” But gambling regulators across the country say it is an illegal online casino. Stake.us has two types of currency: 1. “Gold Coins” which cannot be converted into real money, and 2. “Stake Cash” which can be converted to crypto currency or gift cards. To obtain “Stake Cash” players buy “Gold Coins” and receive “Stake Cash” for free.

A lawsuit by the Los Angeles City Attorney called this “a ruse” that is indistinguishable from real money gambling. Nevertheless, Stake.us has not obtained or sought gambling licenses from any jurisdiction in the United States.

Why is Trump lending his image — and the White House itself — to this kind of scheme? One possible answer was included in the May 20 FEC filing of MAGA Inc., the primary Super PAC connected to Trump. On April 27, Bijan Tehrani, the co-owner and co-founder of Stake, donated $1 million to MAGA Inc.

Tehrani, a billionaire who resides in Australia, is able to donate to MAGA Inc. because he was born in the United States. Tehrani is a named defendant in the California lawsuit, which alleges Tehrani “created, directed, controlled, knowingly profited from, and otherwise knowingly participated in the illegal conduct.”

Overall, Stake.us is facing more than a dozen lawsuits, including consumer class actions, across the United States. As a result of legislative and regulatory actions in recent years, Stake.us is now blocked in at least 17 states.

Stake pays millions to celebrities to lend legitimacy to its platform. According to a 2023 report from the Financial Times, Drake is paid $100 million annually to promote Stake.

The government contractor loophole

Government contractors are prohibited from making political contributions in the United States, even to Super PACs. But, as the latest MAGA Inc. filing reveals, there are plenty of loopholes.

For example, Intuitive Machines, a space service company, is a significant government contractor. It has been particularly successful in securing government contracts during the second Trump administration. Intuitive Machines has secured at least eight new government contracts since Trump returned to the White House, including a NASA contract valued at $46.8 million on March 25, 2026.

Intuitive Machines cannot donate to MAGA Inc. But Kamal “Kam” Ghaffarian, the founder and chairman of Intuitive Machines, is not prohibited from donating to Super PACs. On April 9, Ghaffarian donated $1 million to MAGA Inc.

Ghaffarian is also founder and chairman of other major government contractors, including Axiom Space, X-energy, and Quantum Space.

The tobacco payoff

On April 30, the tobacco company Reynolds American, through its RAI Services subsidiary, donated $5 million to MAGA Inc.

Two days later, according to reporting by the New York Times, Trump met with Reynolds executives and Brian Ballard, a Reynolds lobbyist and Trump fundraiser, at Trump’s golf club in Juipter, Florida. At the meeting, the executives complained to Trump about the prohibition on fruit-flavored vapes, which have been banned because of their appeal to children.

Trump interrupted the meeting to call FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. Within a week, the FDA had produced new guidance to facilitate Reynolds and other companies to resume selling fruit-flavored vapes. Makary reportedly resigned in protest.

When confronted by a reporter with Popular Information’s reporting about Trump’s stock trades, Vice President JD Vance offered a sarcastic and contradictory response. Vance accused the reporter of not being “objective,” before adding that he and Trump favored banning members of Congress from trading stocks. While Popular Information’s reporting picked up steam, several major outlets ignored Trump’s stock trades altogether or published pieces lacking critical context.

Trump has repeatedly belittled the economic impact of the Iran War on Americans. On Tuesday, Trump compared high gas prices to “peanuts.” But according to the Iran War Energy Cost Tracker from Brown University, Americans have spent an extra $43.6 billion on fuel costs because of the Iran War. Each U.S. household has paid over $330 in additional costs across both gasoline and diesel.

A new report by the California Department of Justice reveals a human rights crisis in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities across the state. The report cited Popular Information’s reporting about the Trump administration’s October decision to stop paying third parties for medical care for detainees. The Cal DOJ concluded that the move “has caused widespread disruption in the provision of appropriate medical care at facilities in California.”

The best of the rest

Memphis community members sue Trump administration officials over immigration operation. Over 2,700 officers are stationed in Memphis, Tennessee, as part of an immigration operation that’s been happening since September. Community members are now suing, arguing that “agents are engaged in a pattern of intimidation and retaliation that hampers their First Amendment rights to record the police.” (Mother Jones)

Election officials are preparing for the possibility of ICE at polling locations. The Trump administration has refused to rule out sending ICE agents to polling locations in the upcoming midterm elections. Election officials told WIRED that they have “major concerns” about the possibility. One said he had “actively planned for a scenario in which he’s arrested.” (WIRED)

The future of nuclear waste clean up is uncertain at some of the country’s most contaminated sites. According to a NOTUS report from this week, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has lost over 50% of its staff that manages nuclear waste — with most of the losses coming after the Trump administration encouraged federal employees to quit. (NOTUS)

What happens when your lawyer tells a judge to rule against you? ProPublica and the Philadelphia Inquirer identified 50 cases since 2018 in which court-appointed lawyers for people seeking to overturn their convictions in Philadelphia told judges that their clients’ cases had no merit — only for their clients to be granted new trials or sentences later on. While these lawyers say they were working with the facts available to them, the clients — whose appeals were sometimes set back years — wonder how closely the lawyers actually looked at their cases. (ProPublica)

Numerical information

$1.776 billion: This week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it was creating a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate Trump’s allies as part of a settlement agreement in Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

$5 million: The amount that big tobacco company Reynolds American donated to Trump’s super PAC just a week before the Trump administration introduced a new policy that would allow Reynolds American and other companies to cash in on selling flavored vapes.

$4.56: The average price of a gallon of gas nationwide as of Thursday, according to AAA.

Quote of the week

“You know who never, ever gets an ounce of sympathy when it comes to disproportionate sentencing? [It] is people who voted for Donald Trump and participated in the January 6 protest.” — J.D. Vance

Photo of the week

As the Iran War drags on, President Trump has repeatedly belittled the economic impact of the conflict on Americans.

Last week, Trump was asked by a reporter to what extent he considers “Americans’ financial situations” while negotiating with Iran. “Not even a little bit,” Trump responded. “The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody.”

Trump doubled down on the comment later last week. In an interview with Fox News, Trump said, “That’s a perfect statement. I’d make it again.” Trump went on to say that it was worth having “to pay a little more, not that much more, a little more for gasoline, for a very short period of time” to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

On Tuesday, Trump said that high gas prices amounted to “peanuts.”

But according to The Iran War Energy Cost Tracker at Brown University, the Iran War has caused Americans to spend an additional $43.6 billion on fuel costs so far.

For that price, Americans could buy 14.5 billion pounds of peanuts, which is more than twice the amount produced annually in the United States.

The tracker, which compares actual prices to an estimate of prices without the war, estimates that each U.S. household has paid an extra $331 across both gasoline and diesel. So the equivalent of each household buying 110 pounds of peanuts.

Americans have spent an additional $184 per U.S. household on just gasoline because of the war, according to the tracker. In some states, the total extra cost is over $250, including Utah ($261.78 per household), Alabama ($274.94 per household), and Wyoming ($258.79 per household).

The higher fuel costs are in addition to the direct cost of the war. A cost estimate of the Iran War conducted by Stephen Semler for Popular Information found that the U.S. spent an estimated $71.8 billion through the first 60 days of the conflict. This cost also ultimately falls to the American taxpayer.

But as the costs continue to climb, there is no end to the Iran War in sight.

11 weeks and no end in sight

Despite comments Trump has made throughout the last several weeks claiming that the war will soon be over, negotiations with Iran remain at a stalemate. Importantly for consumer prices, the Strait of Hormuz remains mostly closed.

Before the war, about 20% of the world’s oil and gas passed through the Strait of Hormuz, making its current closure the biggest disruption to global fuel supply in history. Although Trump has floated some ideas for lowering gas prices for Americans, like pausing the federal gas tax, experts have said that the only sure way to bring fuel costs down is opening the strait.

Trump has frequently claimed to be on the verge of a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. So why hasn’t it happened yet?

On April 7, the U.S. and Iran reached a ceasefire agreement that Trump claimed would open the strait. However, Iran kept it closed, blaming Israeli attacks in Lebanon which it said violated the terms of the agreement. The next week, the U.S. announced a blockade on Iranian ports until Iran gave up its nuclear weapons program and Iran said it would continue to keep the strait closed until the blockade was over.

Since then, Iran and the U.S. seem to have made little progress. In mid-April, Trump claimed that Iran had agreed to end its weapons program indefinitely, but last week he said he would be satisfied with a 20-year moratorium.

Earlier this week, Trump said that the military was ready to launch a “full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice,” but that he had delayed an attack at the request of Emirati, Saudi, and Qatari leaders. Among those leaders was Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (MBS), Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. This raises questions about who is influencing Trump’s conduct in the war. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who has been involved in negotiations with Iran, receives tens of millions of dollars per year from a Saudi investment fund controlled by MBS.

On Wednesday, Trump said he might be willing to sign a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz while leaving nuclear weapons and other priorities for later negotiations. But ultimately, he added, “I’m in no hurry.”

On Monday, Popular Information broke the news that President Trump publicly praised two companies, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Apple, the same day he bought their stock. Trump took a tour of a Thermo Fisher facility and called on large pharmaceutical firms to partner with the company on the same day he bought between $15,000 and $50,000 of Thermo Fisher stock.

In a third example from Popular Information’s report, Trump bought between $50,000 and $100,000 in Micron stock and, the next day, touted Micron as “one of the hottest companies” in an interview on Fox News. Trump also encouraged people to “go out and buy a Dell computer” nine days after buying between $1 million and $5 million worth of Dell stock.

Popular Information’s investigation was based on Trump’s 113-page financial disclosure that was belatedly disclosed on May 14. The filing revealed that Trump had engaged in thousands of stock trades in the first three months of 2026. The hyperactive trading was an egregious violation of the presidential norm to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest. In June 2016, in recognition that a president could not ethically trade individual stocks, Trump liquidated his stock portfolio.

Some major media outlets picked up the story. For example, MS NOW’s Rachel Maddow extensively covered Popular Information’s investigation during her Monday night show. You can watch that clip here:

It was also covered in detail on Morning Joe on Tuesday morning:

By Tuesday afternoon, J.D. Vance, appearing at the White House press briefing, was confronted by journalist Andrew Feinberg with Popular Information’s reporting:

FEINBERG: The president's financial disclosures were released recently, and they showed a lot of stock trades in companies that he has talked up at events, official events… [H]ow can you and your administration argue to Americans that you're cleaning up corruption… when the president seems to be talking up stocks that he owns, selling them and enriching himself?

Vance responded by scolding the reporter for not being “objective.” He then quipped that Trump does not have a “Robinhood account” and it was “absurd” to suggest he was “buying and selling stocks.”

Of course, no one has alleged Trump had an online brokerage account or that he personally executed the trades. Vance’s response was a deflection to avoid the incoherence of his own position.

“I am a big fan of banning members of Congress from trading stocks,” Vance continued, “So is the president of the United States.” Vance did not explain why members of Congress should be banned from trading stocks but not the president.

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Ignoring a major scandal

Other major media outlets have not only failed to report on the damning timing of Trump’s stock trades, but have failed to mention Trump’s May 14 financial disclosure at all. Media outlets who have ignored the story completely include Business Insider, CBS, CNN, Fox News, NPR, PBS, Politico, and Semafor.

The decision of outlets that employ hundreds of journalists to skip coverage is inexplicable. A sitting president trading hundreds of millions of dollars worth of individual stocks is undeniably newsworthy.

The real meaning of “independence”

Even among media outlets that covered Trump’s stock transactions, the coverage lacked critical context.

For example, the most widely distributed article about Trump’s trades was published by the wire service Reuters. The piece notes that Trump “disclosed a flurry of ‌at least $220 million in financial transactions earlier this year in the securities of major U.S. companies.” It also, appropriately, publishes the Trump Organization’s response:

President Trump’s investment holdings are maintained exclusively through fully discretionary accounts independently managed by third-party financial ​institutions with sole and exclusive authority over all investment decisions. Trades are executed and portfolios are balanced through automated investment ‌processes ⁠and systems administered by those institutions.

Neither President Trump, his family, nor The Trump Organization plays any role in selecting, directing, or approving specific investments. They receive no advance notice of trading activity and provide no input regarding investment decisions or portfolio management ​of any kind.

The piece fails to note, however, that the federal government has a formal mechanism to ensure that the assets of public officials are “independently managed.” It is called the Qualified Blind Trust Program.

Under a Qualified Blind Trust (QBT), there is an independent trustee with no prior relationship to the government official. The independence of the trustee must be certified by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE). Once certified, there is no communication permitted between the official and the trustee, except written communication approved in advance by the OGE. And, critically, the official is not informed about the investment decisions of the trustee. That is what makes it blind and avoids conflicts of interest.

Trump did not elect to have a QBT and the management of his assets has nothing in common with a QBT. Trump’s assets are in a revocable trust, managed by his son, Donald Trump Jr., whom he speaks to frequently. Trump Jr. may have selected a “third-party financial institution” to help manage his father’s stocks, but that advisor is not legally independent. The statement says that Trump does not receive “advance notice of trading activity,” but it does not specify whether Trump speaks with Trump Jr. or whomever is trading on his behalf. There is nothing preventing Trump from doing so.

Moreover, nothing about the arrangement prevents conflicts because it is not blind; Trump knows exactly what stocks he owns. As part of his financial disclosure, Trump certified that the listing of his stock trades and current holdings is correct.

That is how you know that Trump continues to be legally in control of his stocks. He is signing this document. If the stocks were really independently managed, the document would be filed by the independent manager and not made public.

In a May 15 post on X, Eric Trump, another Trump son, sought to mislead the public about these facts, claiming that his father’s assets were “in a blind trust” and only invested in “broad market indexes.” Both of these claims are demonstrably untrue.

The Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Hill, and Variety all published stories about Trump’s stock trading without mentioning Trump’s failure to use a blind trust. Forbes published Eric Trump’s claims without noting they were false.

Meanwhile, NOTUS, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Fortune all reported that Trump failed to establish a blind trust.

During the second Trump administration, the population detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ballooned. But little is known about what actually goes on inside ICE detention facilities. The California Department of Justice (Cal DOJ), however, just released a detailed accounting of conditions at ICE facilities in the state. The report, which involved inspections at seven ICE facilities that operate in the state, reveals a human rights crisis, including grossly inadequate access to medical care.

The Cal DOJ review team, citing Popular Information’s reporting, investigated the impact of the Trump administration’s October 2025 decision to stop processing payments for third parties who provide medical care for ICE detainees.

Cal DOJ concluded that decision “has caused widespread disruption in the provision of appropriate medical care at facilities in California.”

The Cal DOJ inspections uncovered numerous examples where ICE detainees were denied critical care from outside providers. During a site visit to the California City Detention Facility (Cal City) in November 2025, a patient “reported needing to see an eye specialist,” but was told that the detention center was “not referring to specialists.” Another detainee sought treatment for pain from a broken elbow, but was told that “no physical therapy or occupational therapy is offered.” A detainee requiring treatment for kidney stones was told that the detention center does not “have that.”

The report also alleges that Cal City began accepting female detainees before being “equipped to provide preventive or acute female health care on site” and was not making “referrals for offsite gynecology care.”

In November 2025, a group of detainees at Cal City filed a class action lawsuit against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In the lawsuit, detainees reported inhumane conditions, including “a lack of medical care.” In February 2026, the court issued a preliminary order requiring ICE to provide detainees adequate access to health care, including “timely approval and access to medical specialists.”

On February 27, 2026, Alberto Gutiérrez Reyes died after being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and “reportedly submitting multiple requests for medical attention” that his family claims were denied. Between September 2025 and March 2026, four people died at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, and “the families of the deceased allege medical care deficiencies” in all four instances, according to Cal DOJ.

Despite the documented issues, as of today, ICE has still not resumed reimbursement for third-party medical providers. The freeze in reimbursements has coincided with a massive spike in detainee deaths across the country.

“Overcrowding, inadequate food, excessive use of force”

The inhumane conditions in California ICE detention centers extend far beyond inadequate medical care. During the investigation, the Cal DOJ found that ICE detainees in seven facilities dealt with “overcrowding, inadequate food, excessive use of force by detention facility guards, and inadequate clothing.”

According to the Cal DOJ, one of the primary complaints shared by detainees across all seven detention centers was about the availability and quality of food. At most of the facilities, detainees reported frequently being given food that was undercooked, frozen, expired, and rotting. Detainees described their meals as “dog food” and in many cases reported having very limited access to servings of fruit and protein.

The Cal DOJ also found that access to clean drinking water has been an issue for detainees. Detainees at various facilities describe the water as murky and metallic-tasting. In some cases, the water appeared to cause illness in detainees, including sore throats and diarrhea.

Overcrowding has been another major issue. One California facility, Otay Mesa, is among the most overcrowded detention centers in the country, with about 25% more detainees than it has capacity for. The report found that housing units in the facility had 20 to 30 more detainees than they were designed for, in some cases leading elderly detainees to sleep on cots on the floor. The crowding overwhelmed the facility’s cleaning schedule, leaving bathrooms and showers covered in mold, feces, and trash.

The Cal DOJ also found that at Otay Mesa, detainees were strip searched after every non-legal contact visit. This practice “has an overwhelming impact on the mental health and dignity of detainees,” the report states. “Female detainees described having to fully undress in front of officers, in some cases including male officers, even when menstruating. Both male and female detainees described feeling ‘violated’ and the experience as ‘humiliating’ and ‘denigrating.’”

Cal City was identified as having particularly poor conditions, despite being the state’s newest detention center. The report says that several Cal City detainees wept during their interviews with California DOJ officials. The detainees described being constantly cold because the facility’s air conditioning was set to a very low temperature, even in cold weather. The detainees were not given any additional clothing or blankets until just prior to the visit from state officials. Detainees who tried to cover air conditioning vents to stay warm were reportedly punished.

On March 11, President Trump took a tour of a manufacturing facility in Reading, Ohio, owned by Thermo Fisher Scientific, a medical supply company. During the tour, Trump lavished praise on Thermo Fisher which uses the facility to manufacture prescription drugs on a contract basis. “It’s a great honor being here. It’s a great company,” Trump said, appearing alongside CEO Marc Casper. “You have done a fantastic job and I’d like to congratulate you.”

Later, Trump asked another Thermo Fisher executive to share “some great information about this incredible company.” The executive talked about how Thermo Fisher is producing drugs for Merck and others at the facility. Trump then explicitly encouraged other pharmaceutical companies to contract with Thermo Fisher to “on-shore” more jobs. He claimed that some pharmaceutical companies were building their own U.S. manufacturing facilities but said “they can get here a lot faster by using this great company.”

Trump did not mention that, the same day of the tour, March 11, he purchased between $15,000 and $50,000 of Thermo Fisher stock. (Federal disclosure rules only require filers to list their transactions in broad ranges.) Trump did not publicly disclose the purchase until May 14. It was listed on page 38 of a 113-page document cataloging Trump’s stock purchases in 2026.

Trump also purchased between $51,000 and $115,000 worth of Thermo Fisher stock about one month before his visit on February 12. He made another purchase of Thermo Fisher valued between $15,000 and $50,000 on March 2. So at the time of Trump’s effusive remarks about Thermo Fisher, he had purchased as much as $215,000 worth of the company’s stock over the previous month.

The fact that Trump visited a Thermo Fisher facility on the same day he purchased the company’s stock — and bought Thermo Fisher stock repeatedly in the weeks before his visit — has not previously been reported.

The disclosures reveal that Trump has been a highly active trader in 2026, executing thousands of transactions — many in individual stocks impacted by his administration’s policies. In response to criticism, a spokesperson for the Trump Organization claimed that the trades were completely separate from Trump’s official duties and managed by an independent outside financial advisor. “President Trump’s investment holdings are maintained exclusively through fully discretionary accounts independently managed by third-party financial institutions with sole and exclusive authority over all investment decisions,” the spokesperson said. “Trades are executed and portfolios are balanced through automated investment processes and systems administered by those institutions.”

The fact that Trump purchased stock in Thermo Fisher the same day that he toured its facility undercuts this claim. Further, the March 11 purchase of Thermo Fisher stock was marked “UNSOLICITED” in the document. An “unsolicited” trade is one that is not recommended by a broker, but initiated by the customer.

If Trump wanted to legally remove himself from investment decisions he could do so by creating a qualified blind trust. Instead, before returning to the White House, Trump transferred his assets in a trust that is managed by his son, Donald Trump Jr. There are no legal or practical barriers preventing Trump from being involved in the management of his assets.

“I say it kiddingly, but I’m actually not kidding.”

Thermo Fisher was not the only company featured in Trump’s official remarks and his investment portfolio that day.

After touring the Thermo Fisher facility in Ohio, Trump traveled to Kentucky and delivered a speech that afternoon. During his remarks, Trump singled out Apple and CEO Tim Cook for praise. “Apple, a great company, $2.5 billion to manufacture 100 percent of the glass for iPhones and Apple Watches right here in Kentucky factories,” Trump declared. “Apple [is] spending $650 billion on new plants all over the United States. Think of that. Who the hell else could have done this, nobody else. Nobody else. I say it kiddingly, but I’m actually not kidding. Nobody else could… he’s done a good job, Tim Cook.”

The same day, March 11, Trump purchased between $250,000 and $500,000 of Apple stock. The entry on the disclosure form is also marked “UNSOLICITED.”

Trump had purchased between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000 of Apple stock in an “UNSOLICITED” purchase on March 2. In total, Trump purchased between $2 million and $7.2 million in Apple stock during the month of March 2026, including five unsolicited purchases. (He sold smaller amounts of Apple stock on March 6 and March 27.)

During the speech, Trump also worked in another plug for Thermo Fisher. “I just came from Thermo Fisher Scientific in Reading, Ohio, right across the way, the great American company that’s investing $2 billion in domestic manufacturing,” Trump told the crowd.

“One of the hottest companies”

On March 25, Trump purchased between $50,000 and $100,000 in Micron stock. The transaction was marked “UNSOLICITED.”

The next day, Trump called in to Fox News’ popular talk show, The Five. In the interview, he said he had recently met with Micron’s top executive and talked up the company’s prospects. “I just left the head of Micron. It’s one of the hottest companies,” Trump said.

Overall, Trump purchased between $217,000 and $530,000 in Micron between March 2 and March 25, including four unsolicited transactions. The fact that Trump touted Micron after building up a large position in its stock has not been previously reported.

“Go out and buy a Dell Computer”

There was also overlap between Trump’s public remarks and his investment in Dell Technologies. On February 10, Trump purchased between $1 million and $5 million worth of Dell Technologies stock.

During an economic speech in Georgia nine days later, Trump told the audience to “go out and buy a Dell computer,” saying the company made “phenomenal products.” Trump praised Dell CEO Michael Dell, and his wife, for financially supporting “Trump Accounts” for newborns. The proximity of Trump’s February 19 speech to his purchase of at least $1 million in Dell stock has not been previously reported.

Trump also purchased between $15,000 and $50,000 of Dell stock on March 2 and again on March 11. Both of those transactions were marked “UNSOLICITED.” He made a final purchase of Dell stock, valued between $1,000 and $15,000 on March 23.

Trump also continued to encourage people to buy Dell computers. He pitched Dell products on February 27, March 9, April 16, and May 8. The May 8 remarks, delivered at a Mother’s Day event, helped propel Dell’s stock to an all-time high.

Other Trump stock purchases appear well timed to take advantage of Trump administration policies. For example, NOTUS reported that Trump “purchased $500,000 to $1 million worth of Nvidia stock on January 6, a week before the Commerce Department officially approved the sale of some Nvidia chips to China.” Similarly, NOTUS found that Trump, on January 6, purchased between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of stock in AMD, another chip-maker that was approved to do business with China on January 13.

By law, Trump was required to report all of these trades within 45 days. He missed that deadline for many of his trades. As a result, Trump was fined $200.

President Trump has repeatedly claimed that major U.S. cities are overrun with crime, specifically targeting Democrat-run cities as “unsafe” and “crime-ridden.” But according to a report by the Major Cities Chiefs Association, violent crime decreased in cities across the country in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year.

In June 2025, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump announced the launch of Trump Mobile, which promised to release “a sleek, gold smartphone” that would be “made in the USA” and available in August 2025 for $499. It has collected $100 deposits for the devices since last summer while quietly dropping its pledge to produce them domestically. As of the beginning of May, no products have been sent to customers. (On May 13, Trump Mobile claimed on X that phones, which resemble a Chinese phone available for $200, would “start shipping this week.”)

This week, acting Pentagon comptroller Jules Hurst told legislators that the Iran War is estimated to have cost $29 billion so far. Other estimates, however, have found that the cost is likely much higher. A Popular Information estimate found that the U.S. spent nearly $72 billion on the war in the first 60 days. Nevertheless, many major media outlets repeated the $29 billion estimate as if it was credible.

The best of the rest

RFK Jr. is quietly pushing anti-vaccine research. Multiple people told the New York Times that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pushing “for government scientists and federal data contractors to examine his long-held theory that vaccines are helping to fuel an epidemic of chronic disease.” (New York Times)

DOJ investigating media leaks after Trump complaint. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche reportedly “vowed to secure subpoenas specifically targeting the records of reporters who have worked on sensitive national security stories” after Trump complained to him about media leaks about the Iran War. The Wall Street Journal received subpoenas for the records of reporters. (Wall Street Journal)

Judges have ruled against ICE detention policies 90% of the time. An analysis by Politico found that federal judges have ruled against the Trump administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention practices around 90% of the time. Judges have ruled over 10,000 times that these practices were illegal. (Politico)

Eric Trump joins Trump on China trip amidst business links. Eric Trump joined Trump on his visit to China this week. At the same time, a company with financial ties to one of the Trump family’s business ventures, World Liberty Financial, is exploring “a deal with a Chinese chipmaker that American lawmakers have warned is connected to the ruling Communist Party.” (Financial Times)

Numerical information

$13.1 million: The amount the Interior Department said it is planning to spend on repairs on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Trump originally said it would cost $1.8 million.

3.8%: The inflation rate in April reached its highest level in almost three years. This means that “prices are now rising faster than wages for the first time since 2023.”

$4.53: The average price of a gallon of gas nationwide as of Thursday, according to AAA.

Quote of the week

Reporter: “When you’re negotiating with Iran, Mr. President, to what extent are Americans’ financial situations motivating you to make a deal?”

Trump: “Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody.”

Photo of the week

Lara Trump, Trump’s daughter-in-law, posted a group photo that included Eric Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Now we think it’s closer to 29 [billion],” Hurst said. “That’s because of updated repair and replacement of equipment costs and also just general operational costs.” There was no explanation of how this figure was calculated or documentation of any kind. The only thing Hurst provided was his brief verbal statement.

Two weeks ago, CBS News reported that the Pentagon’s internal estimate was “closer to $50 billion.” Writing for Popular Information, analyst Stephen Semler estimated the Iran War cost $72 billion in the first 60 days. Semler provided a detailed methodology of his calculations. Other independent estimates are even higher.

Congressman Pete Aguilar (D-CA) asked Hegseth when a “formal accounting on the cost” would be available. Hegseth was non-committal, saying only he would share more information “when it’s relevant and required.”

It was an odd thing for Hegseth to say, since it is explicitly Congress’ job to approve and oversee federal spending. All departments are required to share information about how they spend allocated funds with Congress.

According to a report in the Washington Post, “Iranian airstrikes have damaged or destroyed at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites across the Middle East since the war began, hitting hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft and key radar, communications and air defense equipment.” Under questioning from Congressman Ed Case (D-HI), Hurst acknowledged that none of the damage to military sites was included in his estimate.

“We have a lot of unknowns there,” Hurst said. “We don’t know what our future posture is going to be. We don’t know how to construct those bases.” Semler estimates the cost of military assets damaged or destroyed during the Iran War to be at least $11.9 billion. Hurst also said he would need to “double check” if arms transfers to other countries were included in his cost estimate. According to Semler, arms transfers to Israel, which is waging the war in concert with the U.S., cost about $2.9 billion in the first 60 days.

The biggest flaw with the Pentagon’s estimate is the way it calculates spending for munitions. (Hurst testified that spending on munitions accounted for $24 billion of its $29 billion estimate.) Semler explains:

The cost to fire one SM-2 interceptor is approximately $1.2 million. If 50 are withdrawn from the stockpile and fired, the Pentagon’s ledger would show $60 million in expenses from consuming those munitions… The Pentagon no longer buys SM-2s; the interceptor is being replaced by the more advanced and expensive SM-6. So each time an SM-2 is fired in the ongoing war, the Pentagon’s accounting system registers a cost closer to the SM-2’s $1.2 million unit cost from 2010 than the $6.3 million unit cost budgeted in 2027 for the SM-6 that will replace it. For US taxpayers, the cost of firing 50 SM-2s isn’t $60 million; it’s $315 million.

There are many more examples of expended munitions (or destroyed equipment) that are budgeted to be replaced by much more expensive variants.

Nevertheless, most major media outlets simply repeated the $29 billion estimate as if it was credible.

Popular Information reviewed articles or updates about the new estimate in the New York Times, USA Today, NPR, the Wall Street Journal, NOTUS, Stars and Stripes, New York Post, CNN, Politico, and Reuters. All of these publications put the $29 billion estimate in the headline.

The CNN article notes that a “source previously told CNN that a more accurate estimate is closer to $40-50 billion.” The Politico piece said the $29 billion estimate is “still significantly lower than outside projections.” None of the other publications mentioned that other estimates put the cost of the war much higher than $29 billion. Four of the articles did not even mention that the estimate excluded damage at U.S. bases.

A large network of prominent regional newspapers has posted thousands of low-quality articles promoting gambling and prediction markets — and is pretending it's journalism.

A Popular Information investigation found that Advance Local, which owns The Oregonian, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Star-Ledger, and several other award-winning newspapers, has quietly published more than 17,000 online articles since 2022 pushing promo codes for sports books, online casinos and, more recently, prediction markets.

The Patriot-News, for example, won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for its landmark reporting on the sex crimes of Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky and publishes online at PennLive.com. On May 9, The Patriot-News published an article headlined, “Kalshi promo code PENNLIVE: UFC 328 Preview.” The piece noted that UFC 328, scheduled for that evening, was “an awesome opportunity for new users to grab the Kalshi promo code PENNLIVE and get a $10 bonus when they trade $10+.” Special Correspondent Christopher Feery then detailed the five steps required to “claim the Kalshi promo code and land a bonus in a flash.”

Feery published a nearly identical article about UFC 328 for The Star-Ledger, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 and 2011. He described the bout as “a fantastic time for new users to claim the Kalshi promo code NJCOM and receive a $10 bonus when they trade $10 or more” and outlined the five steps to claim the promotion in “mere minutes.” Another similar version of the UFC 328 piece with Feery’s byline appeared on the website of the The Birmingham News, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 and 2018.

According to the “Gaming Policy“ that appears on all three websites, Feery’s article about Kalshi and UFC 328 meets “the highest journalistic standards.” It was also purportedly “reviewed by an experienced editor for adherence to editorial protocol and accuracy.” Each piece, according to the policy, is “unique“ and “created specifically” for the website where it appears.

The UFC 328 article is one of more than 17,000 pieces published across Advance Local’s network of news websites in less than five years. An analysis of the websites’ archives reveals the promotional articles for sports books began appearing on Advance Local sites in 2022, accelerating dramatically beginning in 2024.

In 2025, the Advance Local network added online casinos and this year, it added promo codes for the prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket. At the current pace, the award-winning outlets in the Advance Local network will publish more than 14,000 pieces of gambling-related slop in 2026.

In response to a request for comment, Advance Local’s Executive Director for Communications, Christine deWit, said that the company considered everyone who produced this gambling-related content a journalist. DeWit also maintained that it was accurate to describe each piece of content as “unique” to each website.

How promo codes translate into dollars

DeWit also said that Advance Local disclosed how it was compensated for promoting the promo codes. At the very bottom of these articles, in small print, is a disclosure: “If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.”

The history of the program reveals more details of how the scheme works. Initially, Advance Local outsourced the production of this content to third parties. A March 2024 news release by Catena Media discloses that the company “published content in collaboration with media partners including Advance Local, owner of NJ.com and other news websites.” Catena Media describes itself as an “affiliate marketing specialist.” The company’s business model, according to its website, is to “attract and deliver players to operators of online casino gaming and sports betting platforms.” Once a player is signed up, Catena is compensated through a flat referral fee or a percentage of how much the player loses on the platform.

Crucially, Catena Media says it attracts players to gambling sites by “leveraging the visibility we gain from… high rankings on popular search engines.” This is why Advance Local is such an attractive partner for this kind of operation. Publications like The Oregonian and The Cleveland Plain Dealer rank very highly in search results because of the authority they have established through decades of producing high-quality journalism. These articles leverage that authority, and high placement in search engines, to attract new bettors.

The strategy is more apparent when you dig into the details of the individual articles. For example, on March 20, 2026, The Post-Standard, a news outlet in the Advance Local network that serves the Syracuse, New York, metro area, published a piece with the headline, “Arkansas DraftKings promo code launches $300 bonus!“ The article, published on The Post-Standard’s website, Syracuse.com, is about a DraftKings code that is available for “new users in Arkansas.”

It doesn’t seem likely that many readers of Syracuse.com live in Arkansas. But because The Post-Standard has been producing legitimate journalism for many years, it has a high Google search rank. Therefore, when an Arkansas resident searches for “DraftKings promo code,” the Syracuse.com article will appear near the top of the results. Articles about the Arkansas DraftKings promo code by the same author appeared in two other Advance Local properties, silive.com (Staten Island, New York) and newyorkupstate.com.

More recently, Advance Local has moved much of its promo code operation in-house. Advance Local now “employs a staff of experienced sports betting and iGaming reporters” who publish across the network. There are two dozen people dedicated to producing this content.

Many of the individuals producing Advance Local’s gambling and prediction market content previously worked for Catena Media or similar operations. One of the writers, Matt Boecker, worked at Catena Media for more than two-and-a-half years before joining Advance Local. While at Catena Media, Boecker “[c]reated SEO-friendly sports betting stories from ideation to publishing across three of Catena Media’s largest media partnership sites (NJ.com, AL.com, and OregonLive.com),” according to his LinkedIn profile. Another writer, Joseph Kata, was employed at Catena Media from November 2018 to August 2024 before joining Advance Local. According to Kata’s LinkedIn profile, while at Catena Media he “[t]ripled traffic on average across the board by tapping into regional authority for each site.”

Lee Enterprises, a competing network of local news sites, has produced a smaller volume of articles that is formatted similarly to Advance Local’s promo code content. But when articles with headlines like “DraftKings promo code: $200 bonus for Chiefs vs. Lions + deposit match up to $1,000“ appeared on Lee Enterprises sites, they included a disclaimer at the top: “If you make a purchase after clicking on links within this article, Lee Enterprises may earn affiliate commissions. The news and editorial departments had no role in the creation or display of this content.”

Most of the gambling slop published by Lee Enterprises was written by employees of Catena Media.

Since his return to the White House, President Trump has repeatedly claimed that major cities across the United States are overrun with crime. Trump has specifically targeted cities run by Democrats, calling them “unsafe” and “crime-ridden.”

“The ones that are run by the radical left Democrats, what they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places and we’re going to straighten them out one by one,” Trump said in a September 2025 speech to military leaders in Virginia. “This is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war too. It’s a war from within.”

Trump has argued that crime in major cities is so bad that the federal government needs to step in to help reduce crime rates. “I mean, honestly, the crime ridden cities are all Democrat run cities… But if they want help, they can ask for it. And they’re gonna need help,” Trump said to reporters in January 2026. In February, Trump said, “Frankly, if these radical left lunatic Democrats would come and say, please help us, please, we’d stop crimes all over the place.”

But contrary to Trump’s claims, violent crime was at a historic low when he was inaugurated. According to a report by the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA), in 2026, violent crime has decreased further in cities across the country, including many of the Democratic cities Trump has targeted.

The report used preliminary data collected from 67 law enforcement agencies in major cities and metro areas across the country. The report found that, from January 1 to March 31, 2026, homicides dropped 17.7%, rape dropped 7.2%, robbery dropped 20.4%, and aggravated assault dropped 4.8% compared to 2025.

Trump has falsely claimed that he inherited “rampant crime” from the Biden administration. But crime rates plummeted while former President Joe Biden was in office. After an increase in crime occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, violent crime decreased in 2023 and 2024, according to FBI data. In 2024, “[e]very category of crime decreased in frequency” and reported violent crime “dropped to levels not seen since the 1960s.”

Nevertheless, Trump has continued to push the narrative that many American cities are “hellholes.” The data tells a much different story.

Baltimore

In September 2025, Trump claimed that “you can’t walk across the street [in Baltimore] without being shot.” Trump has called Baltimore a “hellhole” and a “horrible deathbed” and claimed that it is “one of the most unsafe places anywhere in the world.” Last fall, Trump claimed that Baltimore has “crime that’s at levels that nobody’s ever seen before.” In August 2025, Trump said he would not go for a walk in Baltimore with Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) until they “clean[ed] up” their crime.

But contrary to Trump’s claims, Baltimore has been seeing a historic decline in violent crime. In 2025, Baltimore saw the fewest homicides recorded in “nearly 50 years” and the “largest year-over-year percentage decrease in homicides ever recorded.” According to the MCCA report, robbery is down 21.6% in Baltimore during the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. Homicides in Baltimore are also slightly down, while rape is the same as last year and aggravated assault has gone slightly up, with a 12.9% increase compared to last year.

New York City

Trump has argued multiple times this year that New York should ask the government for help with lowering its crime rates. In May 2026, Trump said that the federal government and the National Guard would “love to help” cities including New York. “We’d get crime numbers down 70 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent in a matter of months,” Trump said.

But according to the MCCA report, crime in New York City is already on the decline. Between January 1 and March 31, 2026, New York City saw a 31.7% drop in homicides compared to the same period in 2025. New York City also saw an 8% decline in robbery, while aggravated assault and rape stayed relatively consistent. On May 4, the New York Police Department (NYPD) announced “the fewest murders in recorded history for the first four months of the year and the month of April.” In 2025, New York City saw a 20.2% decline in murders compared to the year before, according to the NYPD.

Oakland

In August 2025, Trump said that “[w]e don’t even mention [Oakland] anymore” because it is “so far gone.” But according to the MCCA report, Oakland has seen a decline in violent crime in the first quarter of this year, with homicides decreasing 22%, rape decreasing 17.6%, robbery declining 42.7%, and aggravated assault dropping 10.1% compared to the same period last year. Oakland also saw a historic decline in homicides in 2025, reaching the lowest level since 1967.

Los Angeles

Trump has said that “[p]arts of Los Angeles are terrible” and that crime in Los Angeles is “bad.” In March 2026, Trump claimed that Los Angeles “should call and probably will” to ask the federal government for help fighting crime.

But Los Angeles has seen a decline in most violent crimes during the first quarter of 2026, according to the MCCA report. From January 1 to March 31, Los Angeles reported a 23.3% decline in homicides. Los Angeles also saw a decline in rape and robbery, while aggravated assault saw a slight increase. In 2025, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) reported a 19% decrease in homicides compared to the year before, the lowest number of homicides reported since 1966.

Portland

Trump has called Portland, Oregon, a “burning hellhole” and “war ravaged.” In October 2025, Trump said, “There’s a huge problem in Portland. I’ll tell you what the problem is, crime.” Trump has claimed that “Portland’s been on fire for years.” But according to the MCCA report, homicides in Portland have declined 63.6%, rape has decreased 12%, robbery has decreased 16.6%, and aggravated assault has decreased 11.1% during the first quarter of 2026.

On June 16, 2025, President Trump’s two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, announced the launch of Trump Mobile. The new venture’s flagship product was “a sleek, gold smartphone engineered for performance“ called the T1 Phone. The pair announced Trump Mobile at Trump Tower in New York City on the 10th anniversary of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign announcement.

According to the press release, the T1 phone would be “proudly designed and built in the United States” and available in August 2025 for $499. Trump’s sons promised that the new service will feature a “best in class customer service team, based in the United States” that “will be available 24 hours a day to assist.”

The Trump Mobile website, which launched the same day, encouraged customers to deposit $100 to “pre-order” the “MADE IN THE USA ‘T1 Phone.” According to the website, the T1 would be available in September 2025.

A spokesman for Trump Mobile told the Wall Street Journal on launch day that “manufacturing for the new phone will be in Alabama, California and Florida.” Appearing on “The Benny Show,” Trump Jr. said the T1 phone was “American hardware, built in America, without the potential of…[a] backdoor into the hardware that some of our adversaries have installed in there.”

Although Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. announced the phone at Trump Tower and promoted it during media appearances, a disclaimer on the website says that neither the Trump Organization nor any of the Trump family are making or selling the products:

Trump Mobile and all its products and services are not designed, developed, manufactured, distributed, or sold by The Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals. T1 Mobile LLC uses the Trump name and trademark pursuant to the terms of a limited license agreement, which may be terminated or revoked according to its terms.

This is a typical arrangement for The Trump Organization, which remains wholly owned by President Trump. (Although, technically, the company currently is held by a revocable trust run by Trump Jr., the trust has no legal significance.) Trump earns millions of dollars annually from similar agreements.

A reporter from 404 Media, Joseph Cox, pre-ordered the phone on launch day and was initially charged $64.70. Cox was told he would receive a notification when the phone had been shipped but he had not provided a shipping address. In July, Trump Mobile placed two additional charges on Cox’s credit card, one for $100 and another for $64.70, without explanation. When Cox called the customer service number, the representative could not assist him. A Reuters reporter who called the line in June 2025 was greeted with, “Omega Auto Care, how can I help you?“

In July 2025, Pat O’Brien, an executive working on the Trump Mobile venture, said that the company had “gotten a lot of pre-orders“ but would not disclose how many.

A $499 “MADE IN THE USA” phone was always a fantasy. There is only one phone that is currently assembled in the United States, the Liberty Phone. It costs $2000 and “has specs that would have been more impressive a decade ago.” It includes parts made in China and other Asian countries. The T1 promised high-end specs including Android 15, a 50 megapixel camera, a 6.8 inch screen, and 12 gigabytes of RAM.

By June 25, 2025, the description of the T1 changed dramatically. The phone was no longer promoted as “MADE IN THE USA.” Instead it was “Proudly American” and “designed with American values in mind” — two phrases that mean little.

In October 2025, a call center operator told NBC News that the T1 phone would be shipped on November 13, 2025. That did not happen. The reporter was then told the phone would be available in early December. On December 31, 2025, a reporter from Fortune was told the T1 would be available in “mid to late January.” The Trump Mobile representative told Fortune that the phone had been delayed “due to the government shutdown.”

In January 2026, a Trump Mobile representative said that the company was “in the final stages of certification and field testing” and would ship “sometime in Q1 2026,” a window which closed on March 31.

Then, on April 6, 2026, Trump Mobile updated its terms. According to the new terms, the $100 deposit was not actually a pre-order but “a conditional opportunity if Trump Mobile later elects, in its sole discretion, to offer the Device for sale.” Further, the deposit “does not lock in pricing, promotions, service plans, taxes, fees, shipping costs, or other commercial terms.” The terms claim that “[e]stimated ship dates, launch timelines, or anticipated production schedule are non-binding estimates only.” The terms do say customers can receive a refund by making a request to customer service which will “take several business days to process.”

Popular Information called Trump Mobile’s 24-hour customer service number to ask for an updated release date and more information about the refund process. The number played a recorded message saying Trump Mobile was closed and to call back Monday through Friday between 8AM and 5PM Central Standard Time.

As of May 2026, no T1 phones have been sent to customers and the Trump Mobile website currently provides no estimate of when the T1 will be available.

T-Mobile and conflicts of interest

Despite the lengthy delays and the lack of a current timeline, Trump Mobile is showing some signs of life. A ‘T1’ phone from Smart Gadgets Global, LLC — a company whose CEO, Eric Thomas, is a Trump Mobile executive — received FCC clearance in January. That’s necessary before any new phone can be used by consumers.

In February, two Trump Mobile executives showed a Verge reporter a prototype of the phone over video conference. Notably, the phone will not be “Made In the USA,” which was touted by Trump’s sons as its key distinguishing feature. Instead, it will receive “final assembly” in Miami. The Trump Mobile executives would not disclose where the phone is assembled before that final step.

Beyond manufacturing, a critical step for the release of the phone is to get certification from a company that owns a cellular network. In February, the Trump Mobile executives said they were waiting on approval from T-Mobile. Trump Mobile operates as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) that uses the T-Mobile network. So T-Mobile has to review and approve any new devices that Trump Mobile wants to deploy.

This creates a serious conflict of interest. T-Mobile is regulated by the Trump administration and regularly seeks Trump administration approval for key business activities, including acquisition of additional spectrum. Now, the Trump Organization, which is owned by President Trump, is pitching a phone that depends on T-Mobile’s approval. T-Mobile will feel immense political pressure to clear the device for use on its network.

In July 2025, three Democratic Members of Congress — Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY) — sent a letter to T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert highlighting these concerns. The letter states that T-Mobile’s business relationship with Trump Mobile “creates the appearance of significant conflicts of interest between your company and the executive branch, and likely will raise actual conflicts as more details come to light.” The Members of Congress stated that T-Mobile was in a position “to gain favorable regulatory decisions affecting the company—such as spectrum allocations, merger approvals, or enforcement actions—without any regard as to whether those decisions are in the public interest.”

Last week, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told Congress that the cost of the Iran War through the first 60 days was $25 billion. But a cost estimate conducted by Popular Information found that the U.S. spent an estimated $71.8 billion on the Iran War through the first 60 days, or $1.2 billion per day on average.

State Farm markets itself as a reliable company that will always be there for its customers. But the company’s California customers had a different experience during the 2025 wildfires. This week, the California Department of Insurance “announced a major enforcement action against State Farm General Insurance Company after an expedited investigation uncovered significant mishandling of insurance claims filed by survivors of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.”

The best of the rest

Only a small percentage of users take home the majority of the winnings on prediction markets. On Polymarket, the Wall Street Journal found that “67% of profits go to just 0.1% of accounts,” meaning “less than 2,000 accounts netted a total of nearly half a billion dollars.” (Wall Street Journal)

An Air Force facility in Maryland spilled thousands of gallons of jet fuel without informing the state. A Maryland Air Force facility, Joint Base Andrews, was spilling jet fuel into a nearby creek that feeds into the Potomac River for an unknown amount of time. Between December and April, the facility lost around 32,000 gallons of fuel. But despite state regulations requiring the disclosure of leaks, the state of Maryland did not hear about any issues until late March. (NOTUS)

Satellite images show that Iran has damaged more U.S. military sites than previously reported. A Washington Post analysis of satellite imagery found that airstrikes by Iran have caused more damage than what the government has publicly acknowledged. According to the report, airstrikes have “damaged or destroyed at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites across the Middle East since the war began.” (Washington Post)

Soil the Trump administration dumped at golf course tests positive for contaminants. Data released by the National Park Service found that soil at a public golf course in Washington, D.C., “tested positive for lead, chromium and other toxic metals.” The Trump administration used the golf course as a dump site for the debris from the demolition of the White House East Wing. While the level of the contaminants was relatively low, it raises questions about the Trump administration’s decision to bypass environmental laws and dump debris at the golf course. (New York Times)

Numerical information

$1 billion: On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee released a funding package that included $1 billion in Secret Service funding that could cover security measures for President Trump’s ballroom.

$4.55: The average price of a gallon of gas nationwide as of Thursday, according to AAA.

62%: Trump’s disapproval rating reached a new high, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll that surveyed U.S. adults at the end of April.

Quote of the week

Photo of the week

US President Donald Trump shows a rendering of the upcoming “UFC Freedom 250” event as he speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on May 6, 2026, in Washington, DC. The June 14 event has been dubbed “UFC Freedom 250,” in reference to the United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations this summer. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)

In an ad campaign that has blanketed the airwaves this year, State Farm compares itself to a sleazy fictional competitor, Halfway There Insurance. The commercial features two popular comedic actors, Danny McBride and Keegan Michael Key, riffing to the Bon Jovi classic, Livin’ on a Prayer.

“There’s damage to your home on this block,” McBride and Key croon. “We won’t make things right, cuz filing a claim is tough.” The comedy duo stresses that, unlike State Farm, their pretend company will not live up to its promises and does not care about customer satisfaction. “So forget what we told you. It ain’t worth squat. It doesn’t make a difference if you’re happy or not,” they sing.

A website created by State Farm, HalfwayThereInsurance.com, jokes that Halfway There Insurance will just claim that home damage is not their responsibility. For “actual home protection,” the website advises, “we’d say go with State Farm.”

No expense is spared on the campaign, which debuted during the Super Bowl. The ad concludes when Jon Bon Jovi himself, riding in a red convertible with State Farm pitchman “Jake,” offers a disgruntled Halfway There customer, played by actress Hailee Steinfeld, a lift. “Stop living on a prayer and get State Farm,” Jake says.

The Halfway There campaign is one of countless ads with a similar message: State Farm is a relatable and ethical company that will be there to assist you when you need them. “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there,” is the company’s iconic slogan. According to a document filed with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and obtained by Popular Information, State Farm spent an astounding $1.139 billion on advertising in 2025.

According to an enforcement action filed by the California Department of Insurance (CDI) this week, the experience of being a State Farm customer has little in common with the advertising copy. CDI “announced a major enforcement action against State Farm General Insurance Company after an expedited investigation uncovered significant mishandling of insurance claims filed by survivors of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.” According to CDI Commissioner Ricardo Lara, “State Farm delayed, underpaid, and buried policyholders in red tape at the worst moment of their lives.”

As part of the investigation, CDI examiners reviewed a sampling of 220 claims. In more than half the claims (114) CDI determined that State Farm violated state law. In a legal filing known as an “Order to Show Cause,” CDI summarized State Farm’s violations:

The examination showed a troubling pattern of claims handling practices by [State Farm], including: slow and inadequate investigations of claims; underpayment of claims; numerous instances where multiple claims adjusters were assigned, over a short period, causing policyholder confusion; a lack of reasonable standards for prompt investigation and processing of claims, including in regards to smoke damage; and/or, delayed or inadequate communication with policyholders. These practices failed to comply with applicable laws regulating the fair handling of claims and related regulations resulting in unfair and unlawful burden to policyholders during a declared state of emergency.

The CDI is seeking authority to suspend State Farm’s license in California for up to a year. That would mean the company could not write new insurance policies during that time.

State Farm flatly rejected the conclusions of the CDI investigation. “California’s homeowners insurance market is the most dysfunctional in the country, and State Farm has worked to be part of real solutions,” the company said in a statement. “Wildfire survivors deserve real solutions - not a distorted picture of State Farm’s response.”

The investigation revealed a more nuanced picture. State Farm denied fault in some cases but admitted fault in others, “often saying that the problem was due to issues with specific adjusters.”

According to CDI, State Farm could face $2 million or more in penalties. $2 million represents less than one day of State Farm’s annual ad budget.

State Farm aggressively pursued the California home insurance market

In the years before the wildfires, as other insurers were more cautious in California, State Farm blitzed the market, even while being aware of the risks.

A 2025 report from the Wall Street Journal found that, in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic, State Farm “gobbled up market share… by insuring high-value homes in the Pacific Palisades and other Los Angeles neighborhoods that many of its competitors rejected as too vulnerable to wildfires.” In 2023, the company took in “$2.7 billion of home-insurance premiums in the state,” a 70% increase compared to five years earlier.

“State Farm was the only—and I mean the only—big insurer that would take everything” during that time period, an owner of an independent insurance agency told the Journal. One insurance agent said that the only quote that he could get for a high-value home in 2022 was $20,000, until State Farm insured it for $6,000.

State Farm knew about the risks even as it expanded. According to the Journal, consultants told State Farm that there was a high risk of a fire. State Farm also knew it was selling policies that had unsustainably low premiums. But it continued to ask California “for a fraction of the increases that would be needed to bring its rates up to the necessary levels” in 2021 and 2022.

In 2023, that abruptly changed. State Farm began asking the state for much higher increases in home-insurance rates. Shortly after, the company announced that it would no longer be accepting new home-insurance policies in California.

In March 2024, State Farm announced that it would be dropping coverage for a total of 72,000 houses and apartments in the state beginning that summer. A CDI spokesman told CBS that around “1,600 policies in Pacific Palisades were dropped by State Farm in July.” An analysis by CBS News San Francisco found that State Farm dropped over 2,000 policies in two other zip codes in Los Angeles. Customers whose policies were not being renewed were advised to get insurance through California’s Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan, which is used as a last resort and typically offers less coverage for a higher price.

In January 2025, State Farm reversed course and announced that it was offering to renew residential policies that it had intended to drop in Los Angeles County. But the decision only applied to policies that were still held by customers before the Los Angeles fires. Customers whose coverage had already been dropped before the fire are out of luck.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Acting Comptroller Jules Hurst told Congress last week that the Iran War had cost $25 billion through the first 60 days. The next day, CBS reported that officials familiar with the Pentagon’s internal assessments estimated the cost was actually closer to $50 billion — double the amount department leadership had just stated publicly. However, even the figure reported as the war’s “true cost” is at least $22 billion too low.

Popular Information conducted a cost estimate of the Iran War based on officials’ statements, military procurement and operations data, and reporting on deployments and armament use. Through 60 days, the US spent an estimated $71.8 billion on the Iran War, or $1.2 billion per day on average. This includes the cost of operations, munitions, combat losses, and arming co-belligerents. Like the estimates from Pentagon leadership and unnamed officials, this figure refers only to direct war costs — near-term expenses for military operations, munitions, and the like — and not indirect costs, which include broader economic impacts, interest on the national debt and longer-term expenses like veterans’ care.

Why this figure is higher than the Pentagon’s internal estimate

Why is Popular Information’s estimate so much largest than even the Pentagon’s internal figure? Factors include incomplete accounting of damaged or destroyed military assets, the exclusion of costs outside the department (including billions of dollars in State Department-funded military aid to Israel), and a flawed method for tracking munition expenditures. The last is likely the biggest factor.

The Pentagon tracks munition “burn rate” costs by merging operational logistics (what munitions are fired, and in what quantities) with financial values (how much each one costs). The issue lies in how the Pentagon determines unit cost. The war costs that show up on the Pentagon’s ledger — and that media outlets report — are much lower than the costs the US public will ultimately be forced to pay.

For example, the largest categorical munition cost is for interceptors, which are missiles designed to shoot down other missiles. The cost to fire one SM-2 interceptor is approximately $1.2 million. If 50 are withdrawn from the stockpile and fired, the Pentagon’s ledger would show $60 million in expenses from consuming those munitions. The $50 billion cost estimate unnamed officials gave lawmakers likely reflects this accounting method, as it’s the department’s standard.

This accounting can lead to undercounts when a rapidly consumed munition like the SM-2 isn’t planned to be purchased in the future. The Pentagon no longer buys SM-2s; the interceptor is being replaced by the more advanced and expensive SM-6. So each time an SM-2 is fired in the ongoing war, the Pentagon’s accounting system registers a cost closer to the SM-2’s $1.2 million unit cost from 2010 than the $6.3 million unit cost budgeted in 2027 for the SM-6 that will replace it. For US taxpayers, the cost of firing 50 SM-2s isn’t $60 million; it’s $315 million.

There are many more examples of expended munitions (or destroyed equipment) that are budgeted to be replaced by much more expensive variants.

Foreseen consequences

The $25 billion war cost given by Pentagon Secretary Hegseth and acting Comptroller Hurst before Congress was a lie. It was a denial of the Iran War’s spiraling costs, one of several foreseen consequences of the Trump administration’s decision to go to war. The closing of the Strait of Hormuz is another predictable consequence. As nonproliferation expert Joe Cirincione told Popular Information last June:

There’s a whole list of things [Iran] could do, including closing the Straits of Hormuz. By closing the Straits of Hormuz, you cut off one-fifth of the world’s oil supply overnight. That will send stock markets crashing. That could tip the world into a global recession, even a depression.

This is why no previous president has attacked Iran. There’s a reason for it. It’s not because they weren’t courageous enough. It wasn’t because they didn’t have the capabilities. It’s because they understood that the enemy gets a vote. You could have stunning initial tactical success, and you could still end up in a quagmire with global consequences that will sink you.

Now, in May 2026, the US is in the quagmire phase of its war with Iran. The Trump administration’s plan, based on its 2027 budget request with its record $1.5 trillion in military spending, is to throw money at the problem. It will be up to Congress and its power of the purse to decide whether to enable Trump’s doubling down on another endless war.

A detailed methodology for the $72 billion estimate is available HERE.

On October 3, 2025, the Trump administration abruptly stopped paying third-parties for medical care provided to detainees in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Third-party providers are used to provide “medically necessary” care including “dialysis, prenatal care, oncology, [and] chemotherapy,” according to ICE.

A document posted to an official government contracting website by ICE on November 12, described the situation as an “absolute emergency” that needed to be resolved “immediately” to “prevent any further medical complications or loss of life.”

According to the ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC), payments to third parties were supposed to resume on April 30, 2026. ICE has contracted with a private firm, Acentra Health, to process reimbursements.

But when April 30 arrived, payments to third party medical providers did not resume. Instead, Acentra quietly updated its website stating that “[c]laims payment services are estimated to begin during the second quarter of [sic] 2026 calendar year (April — June).”

For decades, routine processing of third party medical reimbursement were processed for ICE by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), through the VA Financial Service Center (VAFSC). This did not divert resources from the VA as it was compensated by ICE for this service. The arrangement was terminated with no notice after the VA’s role was criticized by right-wing activists.

In a statement, a VA spokesperson says the department is ensuring claims are being processed during the transition. “[The Department of Homeland Security] has signed a new contract to process these claims and is currently onboarding the vendor,” VA spokesperson Pete Kasperowicz told KFF Health News in February. “Meanwhile, VA is supporting this transition until May to ensure claims are processed appropriately.”

A source at the VA with direct knowledge told Popular Information that this is false. “No claims are being processed,” the VA source said. “We’ve done zero work to support [ICE] since they couldn’t pay us.” The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Kasperowicz’s claims are also directly contradicted by the IHSC website, which stated in an April 24 update to providers, “[p]lease continue to hold all claim submissions while IHSC works to bring the new system online in the interim.” The IHSC website announced on October 3, 2025, “Do not mail or submit electronic claims to the VAFSC until further notice. All mail will be returned to sender.” All subsequent communications about the VA’s role repeated this guidance.

For more than seven months, third parties have not been able to be reimbursed for medical services provided to ICE. This has coincided with a massive spike in detainee deaths and medical crises.

As ICE cuts off payments for medical care, detainee death skyrocket

The decision to stop reimbursing third parties for the medical care of ICE detainees has coincided with a significant spike in deaths, according to data released by the agency.

From 2018 to 2024, the average number of people who died in ICE custody annually was 8.9. That includes a spike in 2020 related to the onset of the COVID pandemic. In 2025, 33 people died in ICE custody, including 12 after the medical reimbursements stopped.

The trend is accelerating. In the first four months of 2026, 18 people have died in ICE custody. Since ICE stopped medical reimbursements on October 3, 2025, people have been dying in ICE custody at a rate of 51.7 people annually. This is more than five times the death rate before the policy was implemented.

The ICE detainee population has increased since Trump took office in 2025, from about 40,000 to 60,000 people. But even adjusting for the population increase, the current death rate is many times the historical average.

In a few cases, the deaths were attributed to a violent incident at a facility. But most deaths were attributable to a medical condition. Beyond the data, there are numerous examples of individual cases that suggest essential medical care is being denied to ICE detainees.

On December 3, 2025, Francisco Gaspar-Andrés died at the Camp East Montana detention facility in Fort Bliss, Texas of liver failure. According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, for two months before his death Gaspar-Andrés “went to the medical unit nine times, complaining of symptoms including bloody stool and bleeding gums.” But he “was sent back from visits to the medical unit with allergy, heartburn and indigestion medications and diagnosed with influenza despite repeatedly testing negative.” By the time he was finally transported to a hospital on November 16, doctors were unable to save his life.

After touring the Camp East Montana detention facility on April 6, Congressman Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) said that the “conditions that I saw inside the detention facility today are beneath our American values.” Vasquez heard from detainees who said “you practically have to be down on the ground, dying… before you receive medical care.”

On January 27, attorney Eric Lee said that at the Dilly Immigration Processing Center in Texas, one of his clients “had appendicitis, collapsed in the hallway, was vomiting from pain, and the officials told him, take a Tylenol and come back in three days.” Hayam El Gamal, another one of Lee’s clients held at Dilly, “was refused a CT scan by center officials for a lump in her chest.” According to an April 15 federal court filing, El Gamal, a mother of five, “has been pleading for medical attention for the abnormal growth, which has caused severe pain, since February 15.” The court filing alleges ICE is “are systematically denying Ms. El Gamal medical care” and the denial “poses an urgent threat to Ms. El Gamal’s health and potentially her life.”

Andrea Pedro-Francisco, an asylum seeker from Guatemala, was detained by ICE on February 5 and eventually sent to El Paso Service Processing Center. According to Amnesty International, she “has a large ovarian cyst and was scheduled for surgery on February 11.” But since being placed in detention, “she has not received adequate medical care.” There are indications that the cyst has grown considerably and Pedro-Francisco “is experiencing severe abdominal and lower back pain.”

An April 13, 2026, report in The Detroit News suggests that detainees at the North Lake Processing Center, which holds about 1500 people, are not receiving necessary care. Ruth Pujols Beltre, a detainee at the facility with a history of cardiovascular issues, said she has “swollen legs, a tingling sensation in her hands and trouble breathing at times.” When she reported her symptoms to North Lake staff they “only offered her over-the-counter pain relievers like Ibuprofen and acetaminophen.” Ruby Robinson, managing attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said one client detained at the same facility “wasn’t receiving any care for a festering wound that remained after an amputation as a result of diabetes.”

Meanwhile, ICE has defended the standard of medical care provided to detainees. “For many illegal aliens this is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives,” a spokesperson told ABC News.

In an interview with CBS News’ ‘60 Minutes’ on Sunday, Trump said that No Kings protests were to blame for the latest assassination attempt against him. But the No Kings rallies have been one of the most peaceful protest movements in history.

Last week, the Department of Justice indicted Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke for using classified information to turn a $400,000 profit on Polymarket. The prediction market industry claims that the arrest proves the system works, but Van Dyke was caught because of his own hamhandedness, not a robust system protecting against insider trading.

In April, a startup backed by Peter Thiel launched an AI service offering to help people discredit journalists. Objection AI employs former intelligence officials to investigate the journalists and their reporting. Then, the findings are reviewed by an “AI jury” which will decide whether the reporter is in the wrong. While Objection AI claims to be unbiased, Thiel has long campaigned against the media and bankrolled lawsuits against news outlets.

Updated Information

In March, Popular Information reported on the appointment of Kai Schwemmer — a far-right Utah streamer who has supported white nationalist Nick Fuentes — as political director of College Republicans of America.

Now, Schwemmer is running for treasurer of the Utah GOP. Rob Axson, the Utah GOP chair, has called Schwemmer a “valuable candidate.”

The best of the rest

The Trump administration signals willingness to limit contraceptive access. Birth control has long been thought of as politically untouchable. But now, under pressure from different factions of the MAGA base — MAHA wellness influencers, religious conservatives, and pronatalists — the Trump administration has issued new guidance that deemphasizes contraceptives like the birth control pill and prioritizes natural family planning, which is far less effective. (Politico)

The dismantling of the EPA’s research arm. Over 1,500 scientists and other experts at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development “have been laid off, reassigned or pressured to retire.” Only 124 researchers remain. According to an internal memo obtained by the New York Times, if they choose to stay, future research must “align with agency and administration priorities.” (New York Times)

The Trump administration is hiring “deportation judges” with no immigration law experience. The DOJ has fired over 100 immigration judges during Trump’s second term. The Trump administration is now on a hiring spree to replace them, and has appointed over 140 new judges so far. But many of these judges “have no stated experience practicing immigration law” and “are receiving less training than previously offered.” (Washington Post)

American taxpayers are on the hook for the FIFA World Cup, but host cities may not see a return. An investigation by the Houston Chronicle of the contracts between host cities and FIFA revealed that while taxpayers are providing massive subsidies for the tournament, the economic returns are uncertain. Host cities and local organizing committees for the tournament are expected to pay for security, stadium modifications, and fan events. FIFA, meanwhile, is expected to make billions. (Houston Chronicle/Texas Tribune)

Numerical Information

$400 million. This week, a group of Senate Republicans introduced legislation to authorize spending $400 million to build Trump’s ballroom.

$4.30. The average price of a gallon of gas nationwide as of Thursday.

$25 billion: This is the amount that has already been spent on the war in Iran, according to the Pentagon’s acting comptroller Jay Hurst. Other estimates, however, found that the cost could be as high as $50 billion.

Quote of the week

“The Court betrays its duty to faithfully implement the great statute Congress wrote. I dissent because the Court’s decision will set back the foundational right Congress granted of racial equality in electoral opportunity.” — Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, dissenting from a 6-3 ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act

Photo of the week

President Trump photographed with King Charles III during his visit to the White House this week. The photo was posted to X by the official White House account with the caption, “TWO KINGS. 👑”

A Peter Thiel-funded startup launched this month will use an “AI jury” to “subject the media’s claims to systematic investigation and judgment.” That same system of AI adjudication assigns a numerical value — the so-called “Honor Index” score — grading the trustworthiness of individual reporters. And for a starting price of $2,000, anyone can pay for the company to review and adjudicate complaints they may have about a news outlet or reporter.

Objection AI was founded by Aron D’Souza, a lawyer best known for leading the Thiel-funded lawsuit that bankrupted the digital news outlet Gawker in 2016. D’Souza has described Objection as a private arbitration court, which individuals can turn to when they feel they have been unfairly maligned by reporters or pundits. “Your reputation takes years to build and seconds to destroy online,” the company wrote in a recent post on X. “Objection makes adjudication fair, fast, and affordable.”

The company is funded with millions of dollars in funding from Thiel, former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, and other investors.

Although it carries no legal or formal weight, Objection has put significant effort into making its judgments appear authoritative.

Its AI jurors are fed information and evidence gathered by human investigators whose collective work history the company frequently cites as a source of legitimacy. We have “a team of FBI, CIA, former agents, who will investigate the story that’s been written… line by line, sentence by sentence,” D’Souza told a British news show earlier this month.

For those unmoved by spycraft, Objection hypes the purported capabilities and impartiality of its AI jury, which is comprised of models from xAI, Anthrophic, OpenAI, Google, and Mistral.

“Artificial intelligence adjudicates through a scalable, auditable, incentive-free process,” the company states on its website. “Diverse foundational models debate adversarially - advocates build cases, cross-examiners expose flaws, a neutral ensemble verifies with explicit standards and Bayesian reasoning… AI can be trained to exclude emotion, bias, and ideology. Model diversity cancels blind spots. And it never gets tired.”

Objection also leans heavily on judicial trappings to dress up its reviews, including case numbers and official-sounding case names. “Public v The Wall Street Journal,” reads a label that Objection assigned to its pending investigation of a story the paper published on Donald Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

To promote Objection, D’Souza has claimed that leading AI models apply “law consistently 100% of the time,” adding, “It’s become obvious that lawyers are probably the most displaceable profession, but judges are, too.” However, large language models used by lawyers frequently produce factual errors and hallucinations filed in court. Last week, Sullivan & Cromwell, a top Wall Street law firm, had to apologize after it submitted a key filing that contained erroneous case citations generated by AI.

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“AI-assisted dispute resolution for when you speak to the press”

Objection is Thiel’s latest campaign against the press. He previously spent $10 million secretly bankrolling the lawsuit that the late wrestler, whose real name was Terry Bollea, brought against Gawker for publishing a sex tape. Thiel appeared to hold particular animosity toward Gawker due to a 2007 article it published identifying him as gay.

Objection, meanwhile, appears to be a direct response to the Silicon Valley elite’s growing hostility toward reporting on their business, personal, and political exploits.

Elon Musk has repeatedly accused the “legacy media” of lying “relentlessly.” David Sacks, a venture capitalist who recently served as the White House’s AI and crypto czar, has described the “legacy media” as “spokespeople for the Democrat Party.” And Jason Calacanis, a tech investor who hosts a podcast with Sacks, recently fantasized on X about executing an “epic” hostile takeover of the New York Times so that he could force one of the paper’s tech reporters to “pitch me three stories of technology improving people’s lives every Monday at 730am.”

In another post, Calacanis offered a succinct description of his cohort’s feelings about the press. “FOUNDERS: DON’T ENGAGE WITH THE MEDIA,” he wrote. Musk cosigned that advice.

Objection advises potential clients to require that journalists who want to interview them first sign a standardized contract agreeing to have the company arbitrate any “media disputes” that may arise from the exchange. “Fast, fair, AI-assisted dispute resolution for when you speak to the press,” reads ad copy promoting the contract template on Objection’s website.

One example shared by Objection features the founder of an AI company asking a reporter from the New York Tribune (a long-defunct paper) to sign the contract before an interview. “Sure, no problem, signed,” the fictitious reporter replies.

There is also the Honor Index, the aggregate scoring system that Objection uses to grade individual journalists. So far, the company has not publicly assigned grades to any real journalists. But an example template showed that reporters will be docked if they do not participate in the company’s investigations of their reporting.

It is doubtful that any serious reporter would participate in an AI-led judgment of their work. Further, as part of the company’s push to have the media take part in its tribunals, D’Souza has said that journalists would need to upload information identifying anonymous sources they cite in their reporting directly to Objection’s AI systems. “The AI will read that set of data and say, okay, this is high-quality reporting,” D’Souza told TechCrunch in an interview. D’Souza also suggested that Objection could provide journalists who share information about confidential sources “a certificate to say you can use that anonymous source in a certain way, and it’s been independently verified in a fully trustless, open source system.”

This process, according to Objection, is actually a service to the news media, as AI adjudication will free journalists from being “forced to act as judges.”

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“A global AI arbitration court”

Is Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France and a mother of three, “definitely a man?”

Officials at Élysée Palace will be pleased to learn that following weeks of research and computation, one model used by Objection has ruled, with 89% confidence, that Brigitte is not a man.

The case, which stems from a conspiracy theory popularized by right-wing podcaster Candace Owens, is one of numerous claims that Objection is evaluating for “public interest,” rather than an investigation conducted for a paying client seeking to rehabilitate their image. In fact, despite launching more than two weeks ago, every single claim the company has investigated publicly was initiated by one of Objection’s employees.

In addition to its “transvestigation” of Brigitte Macron, Objection has issued rulings on two other cases: That sexual abuse took place at a Christian summer camp in Missouri and that podcaster Joe Rogan did not recommend the use of livestock dewormer to combat COVID-19. Once the company’s AI adjudicators complete their analysis, Objection shares a link to the ruling on X, alongside an AI-generated face-off poster featuring the two opposing parties.

The company is also investigating New York Times reporting on David Sacks using his White House access to augment his investments, a CBS Miami report on abuse faced by detainees at Alligator Alcatraz, and whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.

Objection does not plan to stop at journalism. The company’s goal is to one day become “a global AI arbitration court” capable of resolving “contract conflicts, commercial disagreements, reputational claims, scientific and technical disputes — all adjudicated at dramatically lower cost, far higher speed, and greater accuracy than medieval court systems built for a pre-digital age.”

President Jimmy Carter placed his peanut farm in a blind trust.

And President Barack Obama limited his assets to index funds, treasury bonds, and cash to avoid financial conflicts.

President Trump, on the other hand, has used the nation’s highest office to promote businesses that he and his family own 110 times in the last 16 months, a Popular Information investigation reveals.

Popular Information comprehensively analyzed Trump’s Truth Social posts, public remarks, and event locations during his second term. The investigation found that since taking office for a second term on January 20, 2025, Trump has promoted his family’s business interests 59 times on Truth Social and 30 times while speaking on camera. Further, since January 2025, Trump has held 21 events at properties he owns.

As president, Trump has promoted a diverse array of business interests, including Trump-branded golf courses, crypto tokens, and consumer products.

For example, Trump has publicly promoted his memecoin, $TRUMP, six times as president — including five posts on Truth Social and one event for the top memecoin holders held at his golf course in Virginia.

Trump also uses Truth Social to make official announcements, such as his decision to extend his blockade of Iranian ports. Trump’s use of Truth Social as president promotes his business interests. Truth Social is owned by Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), and Trump is the largest shareholder, owning 53% of the company.

Trump has posted 8,452 times on Truth Social since his inauguration on January 20, 2025. That’s an average of more than 18 posts per day. On December 1, 2025, Trump posted 166 times on Truth Social.

Trump also frequently promotes Trump-owned properties at official events, using the prestige of the presidency to burnish the reputation of his hotels and golf courses. During a White House press conference with the Irish head of government, Micheál Martin, last month, Trump spoke extensively about the quality of the golf course he owns in Ireland:

We have a great -- a great golf complex in Ireland, one of the best in the world, called Doonbeg. It’s in Doonbeg. And it’s been amazing. And Rory McIlroy loves it. They all love it… And it was chosen for the Irish Open, which is a big deal. That’s a big event… [I]t was a great honor to be chosen. They only choose the best courses in the world for the -- you know, for the big opens. That’s one of the big ones, the Irish Open. It’s really become one of the most important tournaments in the world… I think it’s going to be a fantastic success… Very hard course, though.

Trump has also continued to promote his branded consumer products as president, for example, using Truth Social to promote a line of Trump-branded fragrances, Victory 45-47. One bottle of cologne or perfume costs $249.

During his second term, Trump has repeatedly held official events at properties he owns. Even on the rare occasions that he does not explicitly praise the properties, these events are valuable promotional opportunities.

Last month, Trump launched the “Shield of the Americas,” a new organization of Western Hemisphere countries that Trump says will fight drug cartels. The event was held at Trump’s resort and golf course in the Miami area, Trump National Doral.

The Trump administration has aggressively defended Trump’s conduct, denying that he is attempting to profit from the presidency. “The president is abiding by all conflict-of-interest laws that are applicable to the president,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in May 2025. “And I think everybody, the American public, believe it’s absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency. This president was incredibly successful before giving it all up to serve our country publicly.”

Ethics experts do not believe this is true.

“Every other president since the Civil War has divested from business interests that would conflict with official duties. President Trump has done the opposite,” Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, said on December 22, 2025.

Since December 22, Popular Information’s investigation reveals, Trump has promoted his business interests another 43 times.