Conley is facing off against Democrat Beth Davidson in the June 23 primary. The general election is expected to be one of the most expensive and hotly contested races in the country. The incumbent, Congressman Mike Lawler (R-NY), is one of three Republicans who represent a House district won in 2024 by former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Progressive Champions PAC’s ads, which are also running online, claim that Conley is “not progressive” and tie her to President Trump.

A Popular Information investigation, however, reveals that Progressive Champions PAC is tied to the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), the super PAC of the House Republican leadership. Progressive Champions PAC is part of a network of sham “progressive” PACs attempting to influence key Democratic primaries across the country.

Previously, Popular Information reported that Real Change PAC, another sham PAC, sent a message to supporters from a cavalryllc.com email address — the domain of one of DC’s top Republican communication shops. The CLF spent over $10 million in the 2024 cycle buying digital ads through Cavalry LLC.

The FEC’s detailed e-filing records, available through the agency’s API, reveal that Real Change PAC and Progressive Champions PAC were created five minutes apart — Real Change PAC on May 11 at 5:35 PM and Progressive Champions PAC on May 11 at 5:40 PM.

The timing is not the only data point linking the two super PACs. Real Change PAC has been active in New Jersey and Maine. Progressive Champions PAC just booked a major ad buy in New York. But, as Cook Political Report’s Erin Covey noted, both super PACs list Bryant Bank, a small community institution in Alabama, as their bank of record.

According to FEC records, over the last 10 years, Bryant Bank has only been used by a handful of committees, all connected to Alabama. The most prominent political customer of Bryant Bank is Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL). Palmer has used Bryant Bank for his joint fundraising committee, Palmer Victory, since 2016 and also uses Bryant Bank for his main campaign committee, Gary Palmer for Congress, and his leadership PAC, Conservative Promises.

Notably, Gary Palmer co-founded the Alabama Policy Institute in 1989 and served as the organization’s president from its founding until he ran for Congress in 2014. When he left, Palmer turned over the reins to Caleb Crosby, who was working at the Alabama Policy Institute as its CFO. “Caleb has the passion and the knowledge to lead the Alabama Policy Institute and take the organization to the next level,” Palmer said.

Today, Caleb Crosby is the treasurer of the CLF.

Previously, Popular Information linked another sham PAC active this year, Lead Left, to Crosby. Lead Left spent nearly $900,000 supporting Maureen Galindo, a Democratic House candidate in Texas. Galindo, a sex therapist, 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.” Her campaign has raised less than $11,000, of which $4,100 was a contribution from the candidate.

Lead Left listed its address as a Staples in Tallahassee, Florida that had only been used previously by two committees. Both of those committees were connected to the Crosby Ottenhoff Group, the political compliance firm founded by Crosby.

There is another clue linking both Progressive Champions PAC and Real Change PAC to Republican infrastructure. Both super PACs recently filed form F99, changing their filing frequency from quarterly to monthly. When they did so, FEC metadata shows both forms were submitted using Crimson Filer, “the premiere compliance filing software for Republicans.”

One sticking point in the peace negotiations with Iran is the status of $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets. The Trump administration is reportedly pursuing a plan to “use Iranian assets to help U.S. Gulf allies recover from damage caused by Tehran’s regime during the Iran war.” The move highlights Jared Kushner’s conflict of interest as a top negotiator for the Trump administration while also being the private equity manager of billions of dollars in funds from foreign governments.

Polymarket’s CEO once bragged that the prediction market company is a “global truth machine” that is “solving misinformation.” However, Popular Information found this week that Polymarket sponsored X posts from a network of 16 far-right influencers pushing election conspiracy theories. The influencers, who have a collective audience of 13 million, include far-right content creator Benny Johnson and a former InfoWars host who spent time in jail for his role in January 6.

Following Popular Information’s reporting, Polymarket said that the X posts pushing election conspiracy theories violated company marketing guidelines and asked the influencers to remove the “paid partnership” label from their posts. As of Wednesday afternoon, seven posts Popular Information highlighted were deleted entirely and six had the label removed.

The best of the rest

An analysis by the Marshall Project and MS NOW found that under the second Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained “at least 500 babies and toddlers.” Between January 2025 and March 2026, on an average day, ICE held 25 children aged three and under in custody. (The Marshall Project and MS NOW)

A woman is suing a religious hospital after it delayed care for her ectopic pregnancy, which she alleges resulted in her losing her fertility. This happened despite the hospital being in Illinois, where “reproductive rights are enshrined in law and medical providers are required to offer emergency care regardless of religious beliefs.” (The Guardian)

GEO Group, one of the largest private operators of immigration detention centers in the U.S., is suing the state of Colorado to block a recently passed law that requires regular health inspections of its facilities. Lawmakers say they proposed the law after hearing reports that detainees were living in unsafe conditions and receiving inadequate medical care at detention centers in the state. Popular Information has reported on similar conditions in California. (Colorado Public Radio)

Until a few months ago, the Trump administration had been punishing energy companies in India for buying Russian oil. One of the main companies affected by this policy is owned by the Ambani family. A few months after Donald Trump Jr. met with Anant Ambani late last year, the family made a massive investment in a Texas oil refining start-up in which Trump Jr. had secretly acquired a stake. The investment coincided with Trump easing sanctions and allowing the purchase of Russian oil, a major win for the Ambanis. (ProPublica)

Numerical information

4.2%: Inflation reached 4.2% in May, the highest level seen since early 2023.

22%: A report released this week by Social Security’s trustees indicated that Social Security is “on track to become insolvent by the end of 2032,” in which case monthly checks for beneficiaries would be cut 22%.

$250 million: The amount of money spent on bombs dropped on Iran on Wednesday night alone, according to President Trump.

Quote of the week

“The deal could happen in the next week, but the deal could also happen months from now.” — Vice President JD Vance on the timeline for a deal with Iran to end the war

Photo of the week

On Monday, Popular Information revealed that a network of at least 16 online influencers was pushing election misinformation in posts on X sponsored by Polymarket, a popular online prediction market. The posts claimed, without evidence, that the Los Angeles mayoral election was “rigged” against reality TV star Spencer Pratt, a Republican candidate. The influencers pushing these conspiracies — including former InfoWars host Owen Shroyer and far-right content creator Benny Johnson — have a collective audience of 13 million.

Polymarket did not respond to Popular Information’s request for comment for Monday’s story, or to a similar inquiry from Semafor. The company has previously used sensationalism on X as a way to generate engagement and interest.

But, after Monday’s investigation gained traction, Polymarket determined that the X posts violated its policies. “Our existing marketing guidelines explicitly prohibit affiliates from providing misleading or false information, and we will continue to monitor and ensure compliance with our paid contributors,” Polymarket told Popular Information in a Wednesday statement.

Content creators partnering with Polymarket agree to publish a certain number of posts promoting the company each month. Polymarket has informed creators that posts promoting election conspiracies violate their agreement and is requesting the “Paid Partnership” label be removed.

As of Wednesday afternoon, seven of the Polymarket-sponsored X posts flagged by Popular Information had been deleted entirely, six had the “Paid Partnership” label removed, and three had not been changed.

Polymarket declined to comment on whether it was ending its overall partnership with far-right influencers or whether its actions were limited to the specific posts with election misinformation.

Communities across the country are fighting new data center projects due to concerns about environmental impacts, energy usage, and water consumption. But states are not just allowing these data centers to be built. In many cases, they are providing billions of dollars in tax breaks to incentivize data center construction.

Thirty-eight states offer companies some sort of tax incentive for data centers, which house the technological infrastructure that powers AI models, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. States provide a variety of incentives, including waiving sales tax on construction materials or computer equipment.

Many of these tax breaks have been in place for years, but as the AI industry has grown exponentially, the cost of the tax breaks has ballooned. Some states are now forfeiting billions of dollars in tax revenue.

Data centers provide limited long-term economic benefits to communities because they create very few permanent jobs. According to a 2025 Business Insider analysis, while data centers provide job opportunities while they are being constructed, “even the largest data centers generally employ fewer than 150 permanent workers.” In some states, the tax breaks “can amount over time to more than $2 million for every permanent, full-time job.” In Illinois, for example, a Microsoft data center “received more than $38 million in data center sales tax exemptions but created just 20 permanent jobs,” according to CNBC.

Meanwhile, the AI industry is engaging in a furious lobbying campaign to keep these tax breaks in place. Many of the companies involved in the effort, including Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Google, are highly profitable and have market caps of over a trillion dollars.

A 100% sales tax exemption for 40 years in Ohio

At the end of May, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) announced that he was putting a tax break for new data centers on pause after it created a massive hole in the state budget. Ohio projected that the tax exemption would cost $136 million in fiscal year 2025, but it ended up costing over $1.5 billion. Agreements with Amazon, Meta, and Google included 100% sales tax exemptions for up to four decades on any facility built in Ohio.

The data center industry has a heavy lobbying presence in the state. According to the state’s lobbying database, the AI industry employs at least 37 lobbyists in Ohio, with Google (22), Meta (8), and Amazon (7) topping the list. The Data Center Coalition, a trade group whose members include major companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, employs three lobbyists in the state. (Some lobbyists represent multiple companies.) A nonprofit created by the Data Center Coalition called Connected Ohio has spent between $8,600 and $10,298 on Facebook ads promoting data centers since the start of May, according to Signal Ohio.

In 2014, Amazon signed an agreement for a full sales tax exemption under an affiliate, Vadata Inc. The agreement, which could last through 2055, was originally estimated to cost the state “$77 million in uncollected tax revenue,” but “the state could end up foregoing 20 times that much,” Bloomberg reported.

Virginia’s $1.6 billion tax giveaway

In fiscal year 2025, Virginia lost an estimated $1.6 billion due to tax breaks for data centers. The cost of Virginia’s tax breaks for data centers has increased dramatically in recent years. In fiscal year 2017, the tax exemptions cost the state $65 million. In 2023, it was $750 million, according to Good Jobs First. This is “an increase of 1,051% in just six years.” When the tax exemption was approved in 2008, it was estimated to cost the state around $1.5 million per year.

The Virginia state budget is currently held up over disagreements between lawmakers over whether to keep the data center tax breaks in place. They are authorized through 2035, but some lawmakers want to begin to phase them out sooner.

The AI industry has launched an aggressive campaign to keep the tax breaks in place. According to the Virginia Public Access Project database, the Data Center Coalition has donated over $400,000 between 2024 and 2026. Virginia Connects, a group established by the Data Center Coalition, spent “at least $700,000 on digital marketing in the state in fiscal year 2024,” Mother Jones reported.

A lobbying blitz pays off in Wisconsin

Tax exemptions for four data center projects in Wisconsin will cost the state over $2 billion in sales tax revenue, including “$1.5 billion in forgone state sales tax revenue” while the data centers are under construction, and “$369 million annually once the facilities are built.” The companies behind the projects are Microsoft, Oracle, Meta, and Epic.

Wisconsin lawmakers approved a sales tax exemption for data centers in the state’s 2023-25 budget. The tax exemption received over 200 hours of lobbying support from companies and business groups, according to Wisconsin Public Radio, including 41 hours of lobbying from Microsoft. In a statement to Wisconsin Public Radio, Microsoft argued that the “incentive makes the state more competitive with other states trying to attract data centers.”

Between 2023 and 2025, Microsoft spent $244,800 on lobbying in Wisconsin, according to the state’s lobbying database. Amazon also spent $60,000 on lobbying in Wisconsin in 2025. Both companies listed legislation related to data center tax exemptions among their lobbying interests.

A Texas-sized tax break

In fiscal year 2025, tax exemptions for data centers cost Texas over $1 billion.

The tax breaks were originally approved long before the surge in data centers. Between 2014 to 2022, the state lost “between $5 million and $30 million” in revenue per year because of the tax breaks, the Texas Tribune reported. But the state is now projected to lose at least $1.3 billion in the current fiscal year. As recently as 2023, the comptroller’s office estimated that the tax breaks would cost $180 million in the 2027-28 budget.

The Texas legislature will debate the tax exemptions for data centers beginning this summer.

The Data Center Coalition has created a nonprofit, Texas Connects, that has begun an ad campaign advocating for data centers, the Tribune reported. Between the 2023 and 2025 sessions, “[c]ompanies that own, operate or rent from data centers collectively added at least 15 more lobbyists,” according to the Tribune. Google and Meta are both planning new data centers in Texas. According to E&E News, Meta spent $1.3 million on the Texas primary elections and Google has “donated tens of thousands of dollars” to lawmakers in the state over the last two years.

The backlash

Multiple other states are considering altering or repealing tax exemptions for data centers. Last week, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) announced that he is temporarily pausing the processing of new applications for data center tax exemptions starting July 1.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, lawmakers have introduced proposals in at least 28 states to “substantially amend existing tax breaks.” At least seven states, including Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Washington, have considered legislation that would repeal tax exemptions for data centers entirely.

The Iran War is more than 100 days old — and there is no resolution in sight. Although Trump has claimed for weeks that a deal is imminent, the fighting has intensified.

One of the primary sticking points in the peace negotiations is the status of $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets. In a June 5 interview on CNN, Mohsen Rezaei, a top military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said the money was “a test of trust that Iran wants to have with Trump – this is a test that America must pass.” Rezaei described the $24 billion as “our own money, not America’s money.”

According to reports, Iran is seeking the immediate release of $12 billion as part of an interim deal that could set the stage for a long-term agreement. Bloomberg reports that the negotiations, which are co-led by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, have “bogged down“ over the issue.

Now, according to CBS News, the Trump administration is pursuing a plan to “use Iranian assets to help U.S. Gulf allies recover from damage caused by Tehran’s regime during the Iran war.” As a starting point, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is seeking “comprehensive estimates from Gulf allies of the costs associated with repairing damage caused by Iran since the conflict began.” The money could also be used “for rebuilding and repair efforts related to any future damage inflicted by Iran.”

The initiative, Bloomberg reports, “risks further chilling negotiations on a truce extension, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and paving the way for more detailed talks over Iran’s nuclear program.”

The move to divert Iran’s frozen assets to other nations highlights the acute conflict of interest between Kushner’s dual role as a top negotiator for the Trump administration and the private equity manager of $6.2 billion in funds from foreign governments. Many of the potential top recipients of frozen Iranian assets — including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar — are also Kushner’s top investors at his private equity firm, Affinity Partners.

As Kushner navigates these issues, Middle Eastern governments are paying Kushner tens of millions in fees annually. Kushner was also reportedly seeking additional funds from these same governments — although those efforts have purportedly been put on hold. These activities would be illegal, but the Trump administration insists that Kushner is merely acting as a “volunteer” and not an employee of the federal government.

The idea that Kushner can repeatedly represent the United States in high stakes international negotiations and retain his status as a volunteer is not consistent with the Department of Justice’s longstanding interpretation of the law.

Prior to the beginning of Trump’s return to the White House, Kushner seemed to understand this. He pledged not to be involved in a second Trump administration. In February 2024, Axios’ Dan Primack asked Kushner whether accepting billions in investments from public investment funds run by the governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE would make it “very difficult… to do any sort of foreign policy work” in a second Trump administration. “I’m an investor now,” Kushner replied. “I served in government, and I think my track record is pretty impeccable. Now I’m a private investor.”

Ian Brekke, the Chief Legal Officer at Affinity Partners, has defended Kushner’s conduct, saying that Kushner has “complied with ​all applicable laws” and “always operated in the best interests of the United States.” This is unfalsifiable. Kushner does not reveal the substance of his conversations with Middle Eastern leaders, his advice to Trump, or his positions during closed door negotiations with his Iranian counterparts or mediators. The American public has no idea whose interests Kushner is advancing — and that is the problem.

On March 24, the New York Times reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Kushner’s single largest investor, “has been pushing President Trump to continue the war against Iran, arguing that the U.S.-Israeli military campaign presents a ‘historic opportunity’ to remake the Middle East.” More than two months later, with Kushner in a top negotiating role, the war continues.

Coverage of the Trump administration’s plans to transfer Iranian assets in CBS News, Bloomberg, Reuters, Fortune, and CNBC did not include any discussion of Kushner’s dual role. This is part of a broader pattern of the media ignoring or downplaying his historic conflict of interest.

Polymarket, one of the dominant players in the prediction market industry, promotes itself as a source of objective truth. In 2024, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan called his company a “global truth machine“ and bragged the company would be “actually solving misinformation.” After Polymarket became the official prediction market of X, Coplan said the partnership joined together the “two top truth seeking apps on the internet.”

However, as Semafor first reported, in the wake of the California primary election last Tuesday, Polymarket has sponsored posts from far-right influencers on X pushing election conspiracies and disinformation. Popular Information has uncovered a network of at least 16 influencers1, with a collective audience of 13 million, publishing election-related misinformation in posts sponsored by Polymarket.

The conspiracies involve the Los Angeles mayoral primary. Like other California races, all candidates compete in a single primary and the top two candidates advance to the general election. Early returns on election night showed incumbent Karen Bass (D) leading the field and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt (R) in second place. Pratt has gained a following through viral AI-generated videos depicting him as Batman and Bass as the Joker.

But California’s vote-counting process has been slow and later returns have favored another candidate, Nithya Raman (D), over Pratt. Many Californians vote by mail, and these ballots take longer to count. Based on the breakdown of the mail-in ballots, most analysts expect Raman, not Pratt, to advance to the general.

In numerous Polymarket-sponsored posts, far-right influencers, without evidence, claim that Raman’s improving fortunes are evidence of fraud. Former InfoWars correspondent Owen Shroyer, who has over 470,000 followers on X, posted that “California just keeps counting until the Democrat wins.” The post was labeled as a “paid partnership” with Polymarket.

Previously, Shroyer was a named defendant in a defamation lawsuit filed by the family of a child killed at Sandy Hook and was found liable by default. Shroyer was also sentenced to 60 days in jail for his role in the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol. “In the months prior to January 6, Shroyer spread election disinformation paired with violent rhetoric to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of viewers,” prosecutors wrote. “Shroyer helped create January 6.”

Another right-wing content creator, Benny Johnson, wrote in a Polymarket-sponsored post that the declining odds for Pratt reflected people’s belief that “Democrats are going to dramatically rig it.” Johnson, a serial fabulist, has repeatedly pushed false claims about the LA mayoral in recent days, including the claim that California has created a “system of fraud specifically designed to manufacture votes in races you need to win and make the fraud untraceable.” In another post, Johnson said the “election cheat machine in California is so wildly unconstitutional and fraudulent it’s not even funny.” Beyond LA, Johnson asserted that in California, an overwhelmingly Democratic state, it was impossible to believe that Republican “Steve Hilton isn’t in the lead for Governor.”

In other cases, Polymarket sponsored posts by pseudonymous accounts with large followings pushing disinformation about the LA mayoral election. Posts sponsored by Polymarket asserted the LA election officials were “openly cheating,” “SCAMMING Spencer Pratt,” and “rigging it.”

Many of the Polymarket-sponsored influencers also frequently post bigoted content. Kangmin Lee, for example, posts about election conspiracies and disparaging posts about Black Americans. “Everyone is feeling the black fatigue,” Lee posted on June 7.

Polymarket’s sponsorship of election disinformation is consistent with its overall approach of using sensationalism on X to drive interest in its product. Front Office Sports reports that Polymarket and Kalshi “post on social media like they’re troll accounts“ and “are shitposting their way to legitimacy.”

Polymarket did not respond to a request for comment.

Kalshi removes some, but not all, sponsored election misinformation

According to the CEO of Kalshi, Polymarket’s chief competitor, the company is “replacing debate, subjectivity, and talk with markets, accuracy, and truth.” But Kalshi has also been sponsoring posts by right-wing influencers with misinformation about the LA mayoral election.

In one Kalshi-sponsored post, @GuntherEagleman, an account with 1.7 million followers, wrote “They are stealing it, aren’t they?”.

Kalshi told Semafor that these posts violate their “affiliate marketing policies“ and it has asked the creators to remove them. The @GuntherEagleman post, and a couple of similar sponsored posts, have been deleted.

But other posts raising doubts about the California electoral system remain. “We should all fly to LA and vote for Pratt,” @WallStreetMav wrote in a Kalshi-sponsored post on June 2. “Nothing can stop us, they don’t require voter ID.” In a June 5 post, @WallStreetMav asked, “Has anyone found a Democrat statistician or mathematician who can provide a legitimate explanation for how out of 24,000 ballots, Spencer Pratt received ZERO?”

That post is based on a thoroughly debunked rumor. The LA Times explained, “Voting data pushed out by the Associated Press came as two separate updates one minute apart, with Bass’ and Raman’s votes in the first and Pratt’s in the second.”

George Santos under investigation, loses sponsorship deal

Pushing election misinformation is not the only scandal the prediction market industry has been dealing with recently.

Last week, Kalshi reported former Congressman George Santos (R), who was convicted of fraud and then had his sentence commuted by Trump, to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for “suspicious trades“ made ahead of Trump’s February State of the Union address. Santos “boasted he’d be going to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, then bet against his own attendance.” Ultimately Santos did not attend the event, blaming a flight delay.

The Santos case is an example of just how easy it is for insiders to game prediction market bets. On his own podcast in March, Santos called prediction markets “easily manipulable,” but argued “It is not a crime to do prediction market.” According to Santos, “there will always be advantaged players in this game and it’s very hard to understand who they are.”

In response to Santos’ referral to the DOJ, Polymarket announced George Santos would no longer be a paid content creator for the company.

After acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told a House committee on Tuesday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) was “not moving forward” with Trump’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” many major media outlets quickly published headlines citing Blanche’s comments and claiming that the fund was “dead” or had been “scrapped.” But this is not what Blanche said. President Trump has also continued to defend the fund in recent days.

Last week, a Popular Information investigation found that two “progressive” super PACs spending millions attacking Democrats from the left are linked to House Republicans’ fundraising arm, the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF). This week, we connected those super PACs to Republican communications shop Cavalry LLC, further revealing their true political motivations.

Updated Information

As protests against Jared Kushner’s luxury resort in Albania enter their fourth day, the government response has turned violent. Britannia Daily reports Albanian police are deploying “water cannons and tear gas” to disperse the crowd.

The best of the rest

The Trump administration is rapidly transferring ICE detainees. An investigation by the Marshall Project found that the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees “transferred five or more times more than tripled” and the “number of people transferred out of state within 24 hours more than doubled” in Trump’s first year compared to the Biden administration’s last year. This not only makes it difficult for their families to locate them, but also makes it difficult for their lawyers. (The Marshall Project)

The far-right operative catfishing men for content. This week, Politico reported on how a woman connected to right-wing commentator Steven Crowder has posed as a progressive nurse on dating apps and dated men, including at least one working in liberal politics, in order to record their conversations. The woman, Alysia Gamble, is a former QAnon organizer who, with her husband, ran QAnon rallies in Florida. (Politico)

Over 10,000 federal lawyers have left under the Trump administration. An analysis by the New York Times found that over 10,000 lawyers have left the federal government since the beginning of 2025. This amounts to roughly one in every five lawyers who worked for the federal government. (New York Times)

Biden cracked down on gun trafficking. Now Trump is easing up. Data shows that a large proportion of guns used in shootings come from a small group of dealers and that many are sold to purchasers who are not the intended user of the gun. In 2021, the Biden administration enacted a zero tolerance policy that led to a record number of revoked gun dealer licenses. Now, the Trump administration has reduced prosecutions of gun traffickers. Experts warn this could lead to a future increase in gun homicides. (ProPublica)

Numerical information

215-208: On Wednesday, the House passed the Iran war powers resolution, which directs Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the conflict with Iran unless he gets approval from Congress, in a 215-208 vote.

$50 billion: Spending to construct data centers in the U.S. has now passed $50 billion — 2.3% of all construction spending in the country.

207: The total number of people killed by U.S. strikes on boats suspected of trafficking drugs since September, after the Pentagon announced on Wednesday that two people were killed in a strike in the Pacific Ocean.

Quote of the week

“Iran is a big success. Wait until you see... We’re working on a deal. If that happens, fine. If it doesn’t happen that’s okay too. We’ll do it the other way. But, the economy is unbelievable.” — Donald Trump, 6/3/26

Photo of the week

Republican opposition to the fund delayed voting for a reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol. To advance that legislation, the Trump administration wants Republican Senators and the public to believe that the fund is not moving forward.

This effort started Monday, when the Department of Justice (DOJ) posted a statement to X in response to a federal judge’s temporary order preventing the activation of the fund. In the statement, the DOJ wrote that it disagrees with the decision, but “will abide by the Court’s ruling.”

This was paired with a report from Axios citing “two senior administration officials” that said that the Trump administration would “drop its controversial $1.8 billion ‘weaponization’ fund.”

This proved insufficient for Senate Republicans. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said that Republicans would not be satisfied until the administration “shuts it down“ and makes it “very very clear.”

On Tuesday, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told a House committee that the DOJ was “not moving forward” with the fund. Many major media outlets, citing Blanche’s comments, quickly published headlines claiming that the fund was “dead” or had been “scrapped.”

Politico, for example, published an article with the headline, “‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ is dead, acting AG says.” The Washington Post published an article entitled, “Trump administration abandons $1.8 billion payout fund after revolt by GOP.” The Wall Street Journal wrote that the Trump administration was “abandoning” the fund. The Associated Press, TIME, and the Guardian all published articles with headlines claiming the fund was scrapped, while Forbes, CNBC, and NOTUS all wrote headlines stating that Blanche said that the fund was “dead.”

This is not, however, what Blanche said.

The settlement agreement between Trump and the DOJ, which created the weaponization fund, states, “This Settlement Agreement may be modified only with the written agreement of the Parties.” During his testimony, Blanche repeatedly declined to reverse the settlement in writing.

Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY): You and Associate Attorney General Woodward signed earlier documents regarding the settlement and this fund. Would both of you now sign and release documents reversing the DOJ’s position on the fund?

Blanche: We’re not moving forward with the fund. I’m not sure what that means to sign documents reversing. There’s nothing to reverse. We’re not moving forward with the fund.

Later, Meng said, “You established it in writing. So it just makes sense to rescind it in writing.” Blanche responded, “I’m not committing to doing anything in writing.”

During his testimony, Blanche indicated the Trump administration would continue to defend the fund against legal challenges, saying the administration would be “defending our rights and making sure our rights are protected.”

Further, the future of the fund depends on the position of Trump, not Blanche. Trump can replace Blanche, who is only serving in an acting capacity, at any time. Without a written reversal, Blanche could also simply say that the DOJ’s position has changed and the fund will move forward.

In a podcast interview that was taped on Tuesday, Trump was asked by host Miranda Devine if the fund was dropped. “No, a court ruled against it,” Trump said. Trump defended the fund, arguing that “these are people that have been decimated” and “they should be reimbursed for a crooked government.”

When asked Wednesday by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins if the fund was dead or on hold, Trump said, “I don’t know” and said he would have to ask “the lawyers.” When Collins pressed for further clarification, Trump told her to “be quiet.”

“I love it,” Trump said of the anti-weaponization fund. “I think it’s so important.”

$100 million immunity

Another important part of Trump’s settlement with the IRS remains fully intact. Trump, his family members, and their businesses are shielded from any audits or punishments by the IRS related to tax returns that were filed before the settlement became effective last month.

Blanche confirmed that this part of the settlement is still in effect during his appearance in the House on Tuesday. He defended the provision, saying, “It’s nothing that gives any sort of immunity in the future to the president or his family or his organizations.”

The release from all audits of past tax returns, however, could generate massive savings for him and his family — potentially more than $100 million. (Further, like many wealthy people, Trump typically carries deductions forward multiple years. So preventing audits of prior tax returns would likely make auditing future tax returns extremely difficult, if not impossible.)

According to the New York Times, Trump has faced an ongoing audit by the IRS since 2010, when he received a $72.9 million tax refund. The IRS suspected that Trump had written off the same losses on a Chicago hotel tower twice. If the IRS had ruled against him, Trump could have owed more than $100 million.

It is unclear whether the audit was still ongoing when the settlement was reached this year. It is also unknown whether Trump or his family were facing any other audits.

Blanche’s $10 million conflict of interest

Blanche personally signed off on the settlement, even though he served as Trump’s personal defense attorney in the past. In the run-up to the 2024 election, Blanche was paid nearly $10 million by Trump’s Save America PAC to represent Trump in various legal battles.

Blanche represented Trump during the trial over Trump’s hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. Although this trial resulted in Trump being convicted of 34 felonies, Blanche successfully stalled two other cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Both cases, one over Trump’s interference in the 2020 election and the other alleging that Trump illegally stored classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, were delayed until after Trump won reelection. At that point, Smith was left with little choice but to drop the cases.

Jared Kushner’s efforts to negotiate an end to the Iran War are not going well. But he is only moonlighting as one of the Trump administration’s top diplomats. Kushner is also having problems at his day job as the founder of Affinity Partners, a private equity fund bankrolled by Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments.

Along with his wife Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Trump, Kushner is developing a multibillion-dollar resort on Sazan Island in Albania and nearby coastline. In an interview with the David Senra podcast published Sunday, Ivanka Trump described the project dreamily:

It’s an unbelievable, beautiful, 1,400-hectare private island in the middle of the Mediterranean. We were on a friend’s boat and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that’s how we found it. We swam to the island, we went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated, and it stayed with us ever since. And over the course of many years, we developed the opportunity to help realize its potential and transform it, but with a lot of restraint and care because the land is so beautiful that, really, the architecture has to be fully integrated into it, almost rise from it.

Ivanka Trump said the project is “the culmination of all of my experience in real estate, all of my travel, a lot of reflection on how I want to live, how I think people increasingly want to live.”

But the reality of the massive project, which includes 10,000 hotel rooms and is located in one of Europe’s most environmentally sensitive areas, is a lot messier. In 2024, the Albanian government changed the law to allow the area, which was previously part of a protected national park, to be developed. After Trump’s election in November 2024, the Albanian government granted Atlantic Incubation Partners, an LLC linked to Kushner, “strategic investor“ status, clearing the way for permits.

Kushner’s LLC was granted that status “just weeks before the new US president’s inauguration, even without a business plan or feasibility study for the construction of a luxury resort on an uninhabited island once used by the army for shooting practice.”

On Monday, Albania’s Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime, known as SPAK, confirmed it was investigating Kushner’s project. The investigation will probe the changes to the land’s protected status and how Kushner-controlled entities obtained rights.

An investigative report by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) found that the project involved a “network of shady individuals and companies“ including “a businessman accused of links to the Italian mafia, a former judge who resigned due to the vetting process, the daughter of a lawyer accused of forgery, the company of a murdered businessman and individuals linked to one of Albania’s biggest oligarchs, Shefqet Kastrati.”

In January, 41 environmental organizations from 28 countries wrote to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and called for “the immediate suspension of any decisions advancing the project.” The groups said the resort posed “serious risks to the biodiversity and critical habitats of the area,” including “crucial habitats for some of the world’s most endangered marine species.”

Rama, however, has continued to defend the project. “There is not a single chance it will be stopped for as long as I am here,” Rama said at a press conference Tuesday.

“Albania Is Not for Sale”

On Senra’s podcast, Ivanka Trump said she was “just there [in Albania] walking the lands” to “sort of be with it and experience it alongside some of the greatest living architects of our time.” She did not mention that the property has been subject to mass protests.

On April 29, government officials allowed barbed wire fencing to be constructed around the coastal portions of the resort property. This cut off miles of beach from the public. Heavy machinery was brought in to construct access roads.

The actions prompted regular protests by Albanians objecting to handing Kushner a public asset to develop into an ultra-luxury resort. Video captured private security guards dragging a protester across the ground.

After the incident, “authorities revoked the licenses of two private security firms involved in the incident, arrested one guard and stripped the local police chief of his duties.” Fifteen protesters were also charged with crimes.

This week, protests expanded to Tirana, Albania’s capital, with thousands chanting “Albania is not for sale” and demanding Rama’s resignation.

In December, Kushner’s plan to build a Trump tower in Belgrade collapsed after the project became enmeshed in a criminal corruption scandal involving Serbian government officials. Prosecutors allege that government officials forged documents to remove cultural protections from the land where the tower was to be constructed.

Now, in a digital blunder, Real Change PAC directly revealed its real goals and political affiliation. In a post on X, journalist Andrew Solender noted that when someone subscribes to Real Change PAC’s email list, the confirmation email comes from a cavalryllc.com email address. Cavalry LLC is one of DC’s premier Republican communications shops, founded by Josh Holmes, Senator Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) former Chief of Staff.

In Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, for example, Real Change PAC is running a TV ad attacking Democratic candidate Joe Baldacci. “The truth? Joe Baldacci is the only Democrat running for Congress who stands with Trump and opposes implementation of Medicare for all Mainers now,” the ad asserts.

In New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, Real Change PAC is attacking Democratic candidate Rebecca Bennett with mailers accusing her of “STANDING WITH ICE” and “CASHING IN ON TRUMP’S TERROR.”

Cavalry does not work with Democrats and supports President Trump’s agenda. The firm does work extensively, however, with the CLF.

According to FEC filings analyzed by Popular Information, the CLF spent over $10 million in the 2024 cycle buying digital ads through Cavalry. The CLF spent over $5 million with Cavalry in the two previous cycles. (CLF, which spends most of its resources on general election campaigns, has not spent much yet in the 2026 cycle.)

Ironically, Real Change PAC’s anti-Baldacci ad, funded by dark money funneled through sham PACs, also attacks Baldacci for being “the handpicked yes man of dark money DC.”

Cavalry did not respond to a request for comment.

California Blue’s strategy, revealed

Real Change PAC’s agenda is easy to discern. It is attacking Democrats who are perceived to be strong candidates in the general election to help the eventual Republican nominee.

California Blue PAC, a related group active only in California’s 40th Congressional District, has a more complex strategy. The 40th district is strongly tilted toward Republicans. But, due to redistricting, there are two Republican members, Young Kim and Ken Calvert, facing off against each other in the 40th.

Further, California has a “jungle primary,” which means candidates from all parties compete and the top two advance to the general, regardless of party affiliation. In addition to each other, Kim and Calvert are also facing a challenge from a Democratic candidate, Esther Kim Varet. If Kim Varet finishes ahead of Kim or Calvert in the primary tonight, one of the incumbents will be eliminated before November’s general election.

California Blue, which is linked to Republicans, is running ads supporting Kim Varet. What is going on? Is California Blue just trying to avoid an expensive general election? Or are they trying to put their thumb on the scale for one of the Republican candidates?

Cavalry’s involvement reveals the answer.

Both California Blue and Real Change PAC are funneling all their spending through a newly created shell company called Four Ponies Consulting LLC. (No other federal committee has spent a dollar with Four Ponies.) So we know that Cavalry, through Real Change PAC, is connected to California Blue.

It is likely that Four Ponies LLC is paying Cavalry to do work for Real Change PAC and exists to obscure the relationship.

FEC records reveal that Cavalry has also been paid over $200,000 in the last month to run digital ads for California Conservatives PAC. These ads, published on an unlisted YouTube account, attack Kim for being a “backstabbing Republican” who “sponsored a bill to censor and condemn President Trump.”

So Cavalry is connected both to efforts to bolster the Democratic candidate, Kim Varet, and to attack one of the Republicans, Kim. Both of these efforts benefit Calvert.

So who is backing California Conservatives PAC, which was just created on April 15? California Conservatives PAC has received 100% of its funds from Conservative Americans PAC. In turn, Conservative Americans PAC receives 100% of its funds from the American Prosperity Alliance.

The American Prosperity Alliance is a 501(c)(4) dark money organization, run by three lobbyists, that appears to exist primarily to obscure the source of political spending. But we do know one thing: it is tightly connected to the CLF.

In a 2024 filing, the American Action Network, the 501(c)(4) associated with the CLF, granted $5.5 million to the American Prosperity Alliance.

This makes some sense. The CLF is tightly connected to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Republican leadership. It is not surprising that House Republican leaders would favor Calvert, who was first elected in 1992 and chairs the powerful Defense Appropriations subcommittee, over Kim, who was first elected in 2020.

In a follow-up investigation, Popular Information linked two other purportedly progressive super PACs spending millions in primary races to House Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Rents across the United States have skyrocketed in recent years. One contributing factor is the concentration in ownership. According to a new report by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, private equity firms now own “at least 11,800 apartment buildings with almost 3 million units,” or around 13% of apartments in the U.S. This can lead to higher rent costs, aggressive evictions, and lower quality of life for renters.

President Trump has repeatedly promoted Stake, an unregulated online casino that state gambling regulators say is operating illegally, on Truth Social. Trump promoted the company alongside the UFC match being held in June at the White House in posts on April 9, May 8, and twice on May 20. According to new Federal Election Commission filings, the co-owner and co-founder of Stake, Bijan Tehrani, donated $1 million to MAGA Inc., the primary super PAC supporting Trump, on April 27.

Updated information

On May 18, Popular Information reported that Trump purchased between $1 million and $5 million worth of Dell Technologies stock on February 10. 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 continued to pitch Dell products on February 27, March 9, April 16, and May 8.

Then, on May 27, the Pentagon “announced a five-year, roughly $9.7 billion deal with Dell to provide a suite of software to the U.S. military.” The deal has helped propel Dell stock to an all-time high.

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White House intervened in deal for company tied to Trump Jr. Last year, the Pentagon announced a $620 million loan to Vulcan Elements, which has ties to Donald Trump Jr. A ProPublica investigation found that “the request to loan hundreds of millions of dollars to the firm… was made by Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to [Trump] and a friend of Trump Jr.’s.” (ProPublica)

Unprecedented number of ICE detainees are dying by suicide. The Associated Press found that at least 10 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees have died by suicide during the second Trump administration. Public health officials and jail experts said it “is an indication that authorities are failing to properly oversee” Trump’s mass deportation agenda. (Associated Press)

Crypto and prediction market watchdog transformed under Trump. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is supposed to regulate these two sectors, to which the Trump family has significant financial ties. Instead, the agency has cut a significant portion of its workforce and installed leaders sympathetic to crypto and prediction market companies, becoming an ally to the industries it is supposed to keep in check. (The New York Times)

A win for voters in Connecticut. Connecticut caught up to almost every other blue state and several red ones when Governor Ned Lamont signed a bill allowing access to mail-in voting to any voter without justification. Previously, Connecticut required voters to provide a specific reason, like military service, for getting a mail-in ballot. (Bolts)

Numerical information

$250: The office responsible for printing money has been pushed by Trump administration officials to design a $250 bill featuring Trump’s portrait, the Washington Post reported.

3.8%: How much the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, which the Federal Reserve uses to measure inflation, rose in April. That’s the highest rate since May 2023.

107: The number of times, according to Reuters, that Trump has falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen in the last six months — roughly four times per week.

Quote of the week

“Fearless, independent reporting has always been the defining standard at 60 Minutes. Today, CBS management is abandoning that mission, choosing access journalism over accountability and protecting power rather than scrutinizing it. The wall between editorial independence and corporate interest at CBS is being methodically torn down.” — 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who departed the show this week after her contract was not renewed

Photo of the week

On April 24, a super PAC called California Blue registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). According to its bare-bones website, the PAC was created to support candidates who will “fight— really fight— against Donald Trump and the MAGA extremists attacking our communities.”

California Blue’s spending patterns, however, are raising questions about its true intentions. All of its money is being funneled through a mysterious vendor — Four Ponies Consulting LLC, which was incorporated on April 29 in Wyoming. Of the tens of thousands of other committees registered with the FEC, only one other entity, Real Change PAC, has made payments to Four Ponies. California Blue and Real Change have spent over $1.7 million combined and every dollar has gone to Four Ponies. By routing their money through a newly formed LLC, both PACs are able to conceal their political ideology. Most established political vendors work exclusively with one political party.

Real Change, which claims it is “dedicated to electing grassroots candidates who are committed to progressive values,” is suspected to be a clandestine Republican operation. In New Jersey’s 7th District, incumbent Republican Thomas Kean Jr. is at risk of losing in November. Real Change is spending money attacking the Democratic frontrunner, Rebecca Bennett, while promoting her primary opponents. Footage in the Real Change ads attacking Bennett was previously used by the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), the super PAC of the House Republicans.

California Blue’s strategy is a bit subtler. It is only active in California’s 40th Congressional District, which is rated as a “Solid Republican“ district. Due to redistricting, however, two Republican incumbents, Young Kim and Ken Calvert, are both competing in the June 2 primary. Notably, California uses a “jungle primary” system where all candidates compete against each other and the top two advance to the general election, regardless of party. Currently, Kim and Calvert are leading the polls, potentially setting the stage for an expensive all-GOP bloodbath in the general election.

California Blue is running ads supporting Esther Kim Varet, the leading Democratic candidate in the district. If Kim Varet secures one of the two general election spots, the surviving Republican would likely cruise to victory on Election Day.

There appears to be considerable effort taken to obscure California Blue’s true intentions. The treasurer listed on its FEC filings is Paul Primm, an individual with no online political footprint. California Blue lists its address as 3571 Far West Boulevard in Austin, Texas — a mailbox at a shipping facility called Postnet.

Of the approximately 5,500 political committees that have been created during the 2026 cycle, only one other lists 3571 Far West Boulevard as its address, the Stop Talarico PAC. James Talarico is Texas’ Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate.

The treasurer and contact person for the Stop Talarico PAC is Lisa Lisker. Lisa Lisker is a Republican political operative and the treasurer for Mike Johnson’s campaign committee.

Lisker is also connected to the CLF. She is the treasurer of Grow the Majority, one of the CLF’s joint fundraising committees. Johnson uses Grow the Majority to collect large contributions which are then distributed to the CLF and individual House candidates. Popular Information previously connected another purportedly progressive super PAC, Lead Left, to the CLF.

Lisker’s firm, Huckaby Davis Lisker, works for numerous top Republican committees including the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Lisker and Huckaby Davis Lisker did not respond to a request for comment.

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The same mailbox — 3571 Far West Boulevard — was used in the 2024 cycle for a PAC called the Progressive Century Project. The Progressive Century Project spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking, from the left, then-Congressman Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who was running for Senate against Republican Kari Lake,. The group also supported the Green Party candidate, Eduardo Quintana. It was described by one political analyst as a “likely Republican astroturf operation.”

The Progressive Century Project also went to considerable lengths to hide its backers. Again, the listed treasurer, Gary Bacus, had no political footprint. It received all of its funding through a newly created shell organization, Building Our Future Today, LLC. In January 2025, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the FEC alleging that Building Our Future Today “was established and used to funnel money to… super PACs while illegally concealing the identities of the true contributors.”

On April 15, 2026, long after the media scrutiny of the Progressive Century Project had faded, the group appeared to inadvertently reveal its political leanings. It reported a payment of $2,881 to First Street PLLC, a law firm that works exclusively with Republican political organizations.

The firm’s founder, Republican operative Chris Ashby, boasts that he has been “pioneering the use of LLCs and other for-profit corporate forms for political purposes.”

In the last few years, rents across the United States have skyrocketed. According to a Congressional Research Service analysis of data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, more than 22.7 million renter households, or nearly half, were considered “cost burdened” in 2024, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on housing costs.

According to a March 2026 report by Zillow, “rents have increased by 36.2%” since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, the typical asking rent was $1,910, according to Zillow, meaning that a household would have to earn at least $76,400 a year to be able to comfortably afford it.

Rising rents in the U.S. are a complex problem. But one factor contributing to higher costs for renters is the concentration in ownership. According to a new report by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, private equity firms now own “at least 11,800 apartment buildings with almost 3 million units,” or approximately 13% of apartment units in the U.S.

The number of apartments owned by private equity firms has increased dramatically in recent years. Over 1.3 million apartment units have been acquired by private equity firms since just 2021.

In some states and major metro areas, the concentration of apartments owned by private equity firms is even higher. In Georgia, for example, private equity firms own nearly one-third of all apartments and in North Carolina, private equity owns nearly one in four apartments. In many major metro areas, including Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, and Orlando, over 30% of apartment units are owned by private equity.

Many states with high concentrations of apartments owned by private equity have also experienced large increases in the number of renters who are cost burdened. Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Texas, and Florida, for example, all have a high percentage of private equity owned apartments and have had some of the biggest increases in cost burdened renters. This is also true for many large metro areas, including Tampa-St. Petersburg, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, and Charlotte.

Private equity landlords can lead to higher rent prices, aggressive evictions, and lower quality of life, according to the report.

The private equity playbook for rental units

Private equity firms buy apartment buildings to increase their value and then sell them, ultimately providing a return to their investors. In order to maximize this return, private equity firms hike costs for tenants while cutting down on their own costs, such as maintenance.

This leaves tenants paying more to live in a lower-quality apartment.

The report points out several examples of this. In San Diego, after Blackstone purchased dozens of properties with almost 6,000 units in 2021, tenants reported mold, cockroaches, and rats in their buildings. At the same time, their rent was increasing by up to $200 per month. In Arizona and Florida, Starwood Capital raised rents by 30% or more at certain properties while tenants at other low-income properties complained about leaking appliances and mold. In some cases, widespread maintenance issues and rising costs have led to unionization efforts by tenants in private equity-owned properties.

Another profit-maximizing strategy employed by private equity exploits low-income housing. Private equity firms acquire buildings funded by low-income housing tax credits at a low cost while rent restrictions still apply. Then, once those restrictions expire, they increase rents and sell the properties for a large profit. There are half a million units in the U.S. whose rent restrictions will be lifted by the end of the decade. Blackstone, for example, has focused on this tactic, spending over $5 billion on purchasing low-income housing in 2021 alone.

A ProPublica investigation from 2025 found that private equity firms and other wealthy investors frequently exploit a loophole that allows them to get out of the rent restrictions on buildings funded by low-income housing tax credits earlier than they normally would be able to. According to ProPublica, this loophole has remained in place largely due to lobbying by private equity firms and developers.

AI rent collusion

The added fees, maintenance issues, and aggressive evictions that tenants face are compounded by the fact that many of the private equity firms are effectively colluding to raise rental prices.

As Popular Information has reported on previously, many private equity firms use a property management software called RealPage, which offers an AI-optimized algorithm for determining rents.

In January 2025, RealPage and private equity firms including Blackstone, Cortland, and Greystar were sued by the Department of Justice and attorneys general in ten states. The lawsuit alleged that RealPage had created a “cartel” by getting nonpublic information from competing corporate landlords about their rental units and using it to create its price-setting algorithm, which all of the participating landlords then had to use to set their rental rates. Essentially, RealPage allows corporate landlords to collude and inflate their prices through a third party, instead of having to directly exchange information with each other.

RealPage’s algorithm has come at a significant cost to tenants. A report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers from December 2024 found that in 2023, rent inflation caused by RealPage cost American renters more than $3.6 billion. On average, the report found that renters in units whose price was set by RealPage were paying an additional $70 per month, but in some metro areas, that number could exceed $100.

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.