Oracle Lays Off Up to 30,000 Employees While Petitioning to Hire Over 3,000 H-1B Foreign Workers
Tens of thousands of Oracle employees woke up to an email on Tuesday signaling it was their last work day. The email, signed by “Oracle Leadership,” informed workers that their roles had been eliminated effective immediately. Between 20,000 and 30,000 employees were estimated to be impacted, roughly 18 percent of Oracle’s workforce.
At around the same time, the company petitioned U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to hire roughly 3,126 foreign workers through H-1B worker visas for the fiscal years 2025 and 2026. Oracle is run by billionaire co-founder Larry Ellison, who acts as executive chairman and CTO.
Ellison is the sixth richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of more than $200 billion. Oracle had net operating revenues of more than $57 billion in 2025.
Oracle isn’t the only multi-billion company offloading tens of thousands of domestic jobs to foreign applicants and AI. Amazon slashed 16,000 jobs in January, following a 14,000 mass firing of workers in October. The company also petitioned to hire 2,675 foreign H-1B visa workers between the 2025 and 2026 fiscal periods.
Amazon is one of the most profitable companies in the world, bringing in net revenues of more than $716 billion in 2025. Jeff Bezos, executive chairman and former president and CEO of Amazon, is the fourth richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $239 billion as of 2025.
Meta is also planning sweeping layoffs this year that could impact 15,000 workers, more than 20 percent of the company’s workforce, as the company ramps up AI efforts. Meta, which brought in more than $200 billion in operating revenues in 2025, plans to spend up to $135 billion in 2026 on AI in an effort to replace workers.
Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Meta, is ranked as the fifth wealthiest person in the world with an estimated net worth of more than $220 billion.
An Open Letter from the President of Iran
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has posted a letter to the people of the US on X.
“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
To the people of the United States of America, and to all those who, amid a flood of distortions and manufactured narratives, continue to seek the truth and aspire to a better life Iran—by this very name, character, and identity—s one of the oldest continuous civilizations in human history. Despite its historical and geographical advantages at various times, Iran has never, in its modern history, chosen the path of aggression, expansion, colonialism, or domination.
Even after enduring occupation, invasion, and sustained pressure from global powers-and despite possessing military superiority over many of its neighbors-Iran has never initiated a war. Yet it has resolutely and bravely repelled those who have attacked it. The Iranian people harbor no enmity toward other nations, including the people of America, Europe, or neighboring countries. Even in the face of repeated foreign interventions and pressures throughout their proud history, Iranians have consistently drawn a clear distinction between governments and the peoples they govern.
This is a deeply rooted principle in Iranian culture and collective consciousness—not a temporary political stance. For this reason, portraying Iran as a threat is neither consistent with historical reality nor with present-day observable facts. Such a perception is the product of political and economic whims of the powerful— the need to manufacture an enemy in order to justify pressure, maintain military dominance, sustain the arms industry, and control strategic markets.
In such an environment, if a threat does not exist, it is invented. Within this same framework, the United States has concentrated the largest number of its forces, bases, and military capabilities around Iran-a country that, at least since the founding of the United States, has never initiated a war. Recent American aggressions launched from these very bases have demonstrated how threatening such a military presence truly is.
Naturally, no country confronted with such conditions would forgo strengthening its defensive capabilities. What Iran has done and continues to do-is a measured response grounded in legitimate self-defense, and by no means an initiation of war or aggression. Relations between Iran and the United States were not originally hostile, and early interactions between the Iranian and American people were not marred with hostility or coup d’etat-an illegal American 1953 tension.
The turning point, however, was the intervention aimed at preventing the nationalization of Iran’s own resources. That coup disrupted Iran’s democratic process, reinstated dictatorship, and sowed deep distrust among Iranians toward U.S. policies. This distrust deepened further with America’s support for the Shah’s regime, its backing of Saddam Hussein during the imposed war of 1980s, the imposition of the longest and most comprehensive sanctions in modern the history, and ultimately, unprovoked military aggression-twice, in the midst of negotiations-against Iran.
Yet all these pressures have failed to weaken Iran. On the contrary, the country has grown before the Islamic %30 stronger in many areas: literacy rates have tripled-from roughly today; higher education has expanded dramatically; significant %90 Revolution to over advances have been achieved in modern technology; healthcare services have improved; and infrastructure has developed at a pace and scale incomparable to the past. These are measurable, observable realities that stand independent of fabricated narratives.
At the same time, the destructive and inhumane impact of sanctions, war, and aggression on the lives of the resilient Iranian people must not be underestimated. The continuation of military aggression and recent bombings profoundly affect people’s lives, attitudes, and perspectives. This reflects a fundamental human
truth: when war inflicts irreparable harm on lives, homes, cities, and futures, people will not remain indifferent toward those responsible
This raises a fundamental question: Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war? Was there any objective threat from Iran to justify such behavior? Does the massacre of innocent children, the destruction of cancer-treatment pharmaceutical facilities, or boasting about bombing a country “back to the stone ages” serve any purpose other than further damaging the United States’ global standing
Iran pursued negotiations, reached an agreement, and fulfilled all its commitments. The decision to withdraw from that agreement, escalate toward confrontation, and launch two acts of aggression in the midst of negotiations were destructive choices made by the U.S. government-choices that served the delusions of a foreign aggressor. Attacking Iran’s vital infrastructure-including energy and industrial facilities-directly targets the Iranian people.
Beyond constituting a war crime, such actions carry consequences that extend far beyond Iran’s borders. They generate instability, increase human and economic costs, and perpetuate cycles of tension, planting seeds of resentment that will endure for years. This is not a demonstration of strength; it is a sign of strategic bewilderment and an inability to achieve a sustainable solution.
Is it not also the case that America has entered this aggression as a proxy for Israel, influenced and manipulated by that regime? Is it not true that Israel, by manufacturing an Iranian threat, seeks to divert global attention away from its crimes toward the Palestinians? Is it not evident that Israel now aims to fight
Iran to the last American soldier and the last American taxpayer dollar—shifting the burden of its delusions onto Iran, the region, and the United States itself in pursuit of illegitimate interests?
Is “America First” truly among the priorities of the U.S. government today? I invite you to look beyond the machinery of misinformation —an integral part of this aggression-and instead speak with those who have visited Iran. Observe the many accomplished Iranian immigrants-educated in Iran—who now teach and conduct research at the world’s most prestigious universities, or contribute to the most advanced technology firms in the West. Do these realities align with the distortions you are being told about Iran and its people?
Today, the world stands at crossroads. Continuing along the path of confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before. The choice between confrontation and engagement is both real and consequential; its outcome will shape the future for generations to come. Throughout its millennia of proud history, Iran has outlasted many aggressors. All that remains of them are tarnished in history, while Iran endures-resilient, dignified, and proud.”
Trump Votes By Mail in Florida Special Election as U.S. Voting Rights Remain in Peril
U.S. President Donald Trump voted by mail in a Florida special election being held today, despite calling the method “cheating” as he tries to force Congress to pass a voting law that could potentially block millions of U.S. citizen from voting. The move comes as the Supreme Court weighs the legality of mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day that are received later.
Trump has refused to consider funding measures for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has been defunded for more than a month, until the Senate passes his SAVE America Act. The Act has some of the strictest voting provisions since the Jim Crow measures of the late 1800s that sought to suppress votes based on race. The bill passed the House last month but has failed to garner enough support to pass the Senate.
After a meeting last night, Senate Republicans have now said Trump is backing off on tying DHS funding to the Save Act. According to a Senate source, Trump is willing to separate funding for ICE’s enforcement and removal operations from the DHS appropriations bill to gain enough Democratic support to pass that bill. Republicans would then try to pass additional money for ICE through a separate reconciliation bill.
Republicans may also try to include elements of the Save Act in the ICE bill. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who was confirmed as the new DHS Secretary yesterday, reportedly attended the meeting along with border chief Tom Homan and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
The repeated attempts to lump ICE funding and voting rights restrictions illustrate how important civil rights suppression is to the current administration. As currently written, the SAVE Act would require voters to provide proof of citizenship to register in the form of a birth certificate or passport. It is unclear if those who have changed their legal names since birth but do not possess a passport would be able to register, which could impact a large number of married women, trans people and others.
The SAVE Act would also require states to hand over voter rolls to the DHS, which raises a host of privacy and surveillance concerns and moves toward the federalization of elections. The bill would also essentially eliminate mail-in voter registration and voting, although it is unclear if Trump is aware that he also would not be able to legally mail in his vote.
The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website reveals Trump voted by mail in today’s special election for the Florida state house and mailed in his ballot at least one other time, in 2020.
“Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating,” said Trump yesterday during an appearance in Memphis, TN. “I call it mail-in cheating, and we got to do something about it all.”
Restrictions on U.S. Military Newspaper Signal First Amendment Danger for All Media
This week the Pentagon disinvited the military’s Star & Stripes publication from attending Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s press conference. That may seem like a minor matter as President Donald Trump and Hegseth have issued broad warnings to the U.S. media about what they characterize as “unpatriotic” coverage of the war in Iran. But it signals a turning point for the newspaper, which has been continuously reporting on military matters since World War II.
The move comes after the Pentagon issued a memo to Stars and Stripes in January outlining new restrictions on content in the newspaper, including a requirement to abide by “good order and discipline.” The newspaper is also expected to “modernize its operations” and “refocus its content away from woke distractions that siphon morale.”
“The Pentagon blackballed its own newspaper from covering its own press conference?” wrote Kevin Baron, a Stars & Stripes reporter. “Reminder, Stars & Stripes employees are US Army civilians. Their editorial independence is protected by Congress specifically to prevent political leaders from feeding troops propaganda.”
The censorship of Stars & Stripes follows the Pentagon’s October 2025 issuance of a new policy for all media. Credentialed outlets must agree to a policy that states reporters cannot gather or publish information from the Pentagon that is not specifically authorized, including declassified information and off-the-record conversations.
Most media outlets refused to sign the agreement, leading to ABC News, CBS News, CNN, NBC News, Fox News, the Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and countless other outlets losing their Pentagon press credentials.
As media outlets continue to cover the escalating war in the Middle East, Hegseth has bemoaned much of the coverage as “fake news,” taking particular aim at CNN last week. “Fake news from CNN reports that the Trump administration underestimated the Iran war’s impact on the Strait of Hormuz,” he said during a press conference. “Patently ridiculous, of course. For decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do, hold the strait hostage. CNN doesn’t think we thought of that. It’s a fundamentally unserious report. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”
Hegseth is referring to the billionaire chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance’s buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company, in a $111 billion deal. The deal has been the subject of lawsuits and controversy alleging Ellison’s father Larry Ellison, Oracle founder and one of the richest people in the world, and Trump had finessed the deal away from Netflix.
Even Fox News thinks the media is under fire, referencing Hegseth’s characterization of journalists as “unpatriotic” and “anti-Trump” as they ask questions about the war in Iran. Trump, meanwhile, praised FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s warning about media outlets “correcting course” on their war coverage.
“Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions – also known as the fake news – have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” wrote Carr in a post on X. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.”
Meanwhile the families of U.S. military members killed in Iran have spoken out against claims from Hegseth that bereaved families urged him to “finish” the job in the Middle East. Hegseth told reporters yesterday that he had spoken with the families of all six service members killed in a refueling tanker crash last week.
“What I heard through tears, through hugs, through strength and through unbreakable resolve, was the same from family after family,” said Hegseth. “They said, ‘Finish this. Honor their sacrifice. Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done.”
Charles Simmons, father of Ohio Tech Sgt. Tyler Simmons, 28, who was killed in the crash, denied discussing that with Hegseth. “I can’t speak for the other families,” Simmons told NBC News. “When he spoke to me, that was not something we talked about. I didn’t say anything along those lines.”
Stephan Douglas, cousin of Tyler Simmons, one of the three Ohioans killed in the crash, said the conflict was unnecessary in a weekend interview with Columbus news station WCMH. “This could have been prevented,” said Douglas. “We didn’t need to be in this war. This is uncalled for, and this is what we get.”
“Families are suffering right now,” said Bernice Smith, Simmons’ grandmother. “Just to create a war because you want to create a war is not right.”
Historic U.S. National Deficit Tops $39 Trillion as Iran War Costs Exceed $18 Billion
As the richest men in the US (all multi-billionaires) buy up media and technology companies at a dizzying pace, it’s logical to assume America is a wealthy nation. In reality, the US is broke, tasked with funding an escalating, costly war that lacks an exit strategy while simultaneously funding massive tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest 5 percent of U.S. citizens.
According to the Institution on Taxation and Economic Policy, a combination of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), termination of the Enhanced Premium Tax Credit and tariffs have resulted in increased taxes for all but the top wealthiest five percent of Americans. OBBBA alone is expected to provide $1 trillion in tax cuts for the richest one percent of Americans over the next decade, while cutting Medicaid by almost as much during the same time period.
The US is spending an estimated half a billion dollars each day to fight Israel’s holy war against Iran. And the Pentagon is now asking Congress to approve potentially $200 billion more. The funds would reportedly be used to increase production of munitions that the U.S. and Israel have used to strike thousands of targets since the conflict began.
“It takes money to kill bad guys,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said at a press briefing today about the request. “Today, will be the largest strike package yet, just like yesterday was. Our capabilities continue to build, Iran’s continue to degrade. We’re hunting and striking. Death and destruction from above.”
A chief economist warned this week that a U.S. recession is a “serious threat,” while gas prices have risen by close to $1 a gallon since the war began. Hegseth’s request will now force the U.S. Congress to decide whether they should continue to represent the interests of their Israeli donors or their constituents.
Amid Furor Over Epstein Files, Proposed “Virginia’s Law” to Expand Victim Protection Sits Quietly on the Sidelines
In early February, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced a bill dubbed “Virginia’s Law” that would remove the statute of limitations for adult sex abuse and trafficking survivors bringing federal civil claims, while helping ensure abusers cannot avoid civil liability through jurisdictional loopholes. The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM), chair of the House Democratic Women’s Caucus, has been largely sidelined by the Congressional outrage over the Department of Justice’s handling of the Epstein files under Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Schumer spoke on Monday at the Staten Island Child Advocacy Center to promote the bill, which was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it awaits action. “It will allow survivors to seek accountability whenever they’re ready, when they feel safe enough to do it, and when they want to pursue litigation,” said Schumer. “It makes clear that abusers and those who are enabling them cannot evade responsibility simply because too much time has passed.”
Named after Epstein survivor and trafficking rights advocate Virginia Giuffre, Virginia’s Law would add to a 2022 law that removed the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse. That limit was previously 28-years-old or 10 years after the incident. The removal did not apply to crimes that occurred before 2022, which the new law would address.
Schumer was joined by District Attorney Michael E. McMahon and Safe Horizon CEO Liz Roberts. The nonprofit Safe Horizon calls itself the largest U.S. victim service organization, helping 250,000 people each year. The organization supports victims of physical, sexual and community violence as well as exploitation and abuse.
“We’re in a difficult time because lot of people are in greater fear because we have a tone being set at the top in Washington of disregard for victims of violence,” said Roberts. “We’ve seen that in comments made about domestic violence as well as sexual abuse, and also key appointments of people who have a history of committing those acts.”
Virginia Giuffre allegedly died by suicide in April of 2025.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi Subpoenaed on Same Day Articles of Impeachment Filed
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) filed articles of impeachment against Attorney General Pam Bondi today, while House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) subpoenaed her over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
The impeachment bill alleges a variety of offenses, including perjury in congressional testimony, defiance of federal court orders, abuse of investigatory and prosecutorial authority, defiance of the Epstein Files Transparency Act and defiance of the Oversight Committee’s subpoena to release the full, unredacted Epstein files.
It’s being co-sponsored by Reps. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), Maxine Dexter (D-OR), Valerie Foushee (D-NC), Dave Min (D-CA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
“Pam Bondi is complicit in the most egregious coverup in American history, hiding documents that reveal a young woman reported being sexually assaulted by Donald Trump when she was just a minor and spying on members of Congress performing their constitutional oversight duties,” said Ansari. “Bondi’s actions are not only disgusting and wrong, they are also illegal, in direct violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act and her oath of office. She must be held accountable and impeached immediately.”
“Under the corrupt leadership of Attorney General Bondi, the Department of Justice has lost the trust of the American people,” said Foushee. “Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse –– as well as Renée Nicole Good, Alex Pretti and their families –– deserve justice, and the American people deserve better. Congress must fulfill its constitutional obligation and remove Bondi from her position immediately.”
“The Attorney General of the United States is entrusted with one of the most solemn responsibilities in our democracy: to enforce the law fairly, impartially and without political influence,” said bill author Lee. “Instead, Pam Bondi is breaking the law to protect pedophiles and prosecute Trump’s political opponents. This is about accountability, transparency and justice. We deserve a justice system that serves the people, not one that is weaponized for political gain.”
Comer’s subpoena requires Bondi to appear for a closed-door deposition on April 14.
“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Committee) is reviewing the possible mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell, the circumstances and subsequent investigations of Mr. Epstein’s death, the operation of sex-trafficking rings and ways for the federal government to effectively combat them, the ways in which Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell sought to curry favor and exercise influence to protect their illegal activities and potential violations of ethics rules related to elected officials,” wrote Comer in the subpoena.
“As Attorney General, you are directly responsible for overseeing the Department’s collection, review and determinations regarding the release of files pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the Committee therefore believes that you possess valuable insight into these efforts.”
Israeli Minister’s Daughter Found Dead After Accusing Parents and Brother of Ritualistic Sex Abuse
The daughter of Israeli Minister of Settlements and National Missions Orit Strock was found dead this week, less than a year after she filed a compliant against Strock, her father and her brother complaining of ritualistic sexual abuse beginning at a young age.
Shoshana Strock, 34, filed a complaint with Israeli police last April alleging sexual abuse by her parents and brother. A publication ban was immediately imposed on the case, disallowing Israeli media to publish anything else about it. In January, Strock elaborated on the allegations on Facebook.
She alleged that her father and someone named Rabbi Tao began forcing her to participate in sadistic sex cult rituals as a child as a form of “conversion therapy” to erase her identity as a lesbian. “Starting from age two and a half, my parents took me to pedophile ceremonies in which I was programmed and trained using drugs, hypnosis, and sexual abuse,” said Strock in a video posted last month.
“They pimped me out starting at the age of 13 in Tel Aviv,” wrote Strock. “And in essence, they completely erased my ability to experience healthy sexuality with a woman and made me hate my sexual identity and myself at the most severe levels possible.” Strock wrote that she was threatened if she told anyone the truth.
Israeli journalist Sefi Rachlevsky said he spoke to a friend of Strock’s who claims she was not suicidal but had been very afraid someone might kill her after going public with her claims. Strock was found dead in her home in northern Israel. Police have said an investigation is ongoing, but no official cause of death has been announced yet.
Orit Strock is a member of the far-right Religious Zionist party and has 11 children and 12 grandchildren. In 2007 her son Zviki was convicted of kidnapping and torturing a Palestinian boy who was found unconscious, naked, handcuffed and severely injured. Strock was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
In the wake of Shoshana Strock’s death, Israeli women’s organizations have called for a more expansive investigation into her abuse claims and death. “We cannot give up on her demand; the duty of the state is now clear: to investigate, examine, and uncover the truth,” said women’s organization Bono Alternativa. “How is it possible that the horrifying accounts of severe ritual abuse did not shake the system and the entire country?!”
Pete Hegseth Addressed Rebuilding Third Temple in 2018 Jerusalem Speech, Called NATO “Irrelevant”
“There’s no reason why the miracle of the re-establishment of the temple on the Temple Mount is not possible,” U.S. Secretary of Defense (then a Fox News host) Pete Hegseth said during a 2018 speech at the Arutz Sheva conference in Jerusalem. “I don’t know how it would happen. You don’t know how it would happen, but I know that it could happen.”
The construction of a rebuilt “Third Temple” in Jerusalem is deeply rooted in Jewish and even some evangelical Christian eschatology. Derived from visions in the Book of Ezekiel and other texts, it describes a final, permanent house of worship whose construction is essential to ushering in the Messianic era, a time of peace when the Messiah is expected to return to earth.
The Temple has been suggested as one of the main drivers behind the US-Israeli war with Iran and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson last week argued during his podcast that the Iran War is a “religious war designed to rebuild the Third Temple on the ashes of Al-Aqsa.” “If you’re a Christian preacher calling for the rebuilding of the Third Temple, you kind of missed the whole point,” said Carlson. “That is not Christianity. It’s not even a close facsimile of Christianity. It’s clearly evil.”
The problem with building a Third Temple on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, is that it is home to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine. Located in the Old City of Jerusalem, the mosque compound dates back to nearly 700 CE and is the second oldest mosque in Islam. It was built to replace the Second Jewish Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans and replaced Solomon’s Temple, the First Temple, which existed between the 10th and 6th centuries BCE.
Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam for Sunni and Shia Muslims alike. It is a main focal point in the ongoing war in Gaza. Holy sites in Jerusalem have been closed as the war with Iran ramps up, with the Israeli military alleging an Iranian warhead impacted just a few hundred meters from the Old City on February 28, the first day of the war.
“That’s why going and visiting Judea and Samaria and understanding that sovereignty — the very sovereignty of Israeli soil, Israeli cities, locations — is a critical next step to showing the world that this is the land for Jews and the Land of Israel,” said Hegseth during his 2018 speech. “If you walk the ground today, you understand there is no such thing as the outcome of a two-state solution.“
“Without investment of our partners, NATO is irrelevant,” said Hegseth. “The truth [is] that Europe, as Ken pointed out so aptly, is a museum soon to be drowned out by radical Islam and Islamism should they not address their lack of sovereignty, their demographic problems and their inability to defend their culture.”
Hegseth was referring to speaker Kenneth Abromowitz, co-founder and managing partner of NGN Capital, a global healthcare venture capital fund worth half a billion dollars. He was also managing director and a senior adviser of The Carlyle Group.
“I would submit to you, in light of the support you have in Washington, DC, the support you have amongst patriotic Americans, amongst evangelical Christians, amongst believers, amongst Republicans, even amongst some Democrats who can barely say it anymore in Washington…Do what needs to be done here in Israel, because I truly believe America will have your back.”
How Much Influence Does Israel Have Over U.S. Elected Officials?
As mid-term season ramps up, important primary races are underway in Texas and Illinois. The midterm elections will potentially reshape the U.S. Congress, making it critical to understand how important the outcomes are for Israel and its powerful slate of U.S. lobbying groups.
“We expect to be involved in dozens of races both in primaries and general elections this cycle,” said Patrick Dorton, a spokesman for AIPAC’s affiliated super PAC, the United Democracy Project (UDP).
According to Track AIPAC, there are currently only 21 members of U.S. Congress who have never accepted money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel PAC in the US) or other pro-Israel lobby groups. The remaining 514 sitting members have all accepted varying amounts of fundraising money from pro-Israel lobbyists.
With the Illinois primary just two days away, AIPAC has spent more than $1.9 million on ads to replace retiring Rep. Danny Davis with Melissa Conyears-Ervin, the city treasurer of Chicago. She faces over a dozen other candidates in the upcoming primary. And IL Sen. Dick Durbin is retiring after more than 30 years in office, with three top Democratic candidates vying for his seat.
Durbin received more than $2.7 million in pro-Israel donations over his decades in office. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who accepted more than $1.7 million in pro-Israel donations, is vying for his seat along with Rep. Robin Kelly, the recipient of just over $368,000 from Israeli lobbies and Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton, who has received just over $248,000.
U.S. Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia are also retiring. Schakowsky has received more than $2.5 billion from Israeli lobbyists while Garcia hasn’t received any and rejects AIPAC. Dozens of Democrats are vying for those seats, with AIPAC playing an increasingly bigger role in candidates’ platforms.
Schakowsky, once a staunch supporter of Israel, has increasingly become critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war in Gaza and recently withdrew her support of Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller to succeed her. Miller has pulled in more than $3.3 million in AIPAC-related donations. “Illinois deserves leaders who put voters first, not AIPAC or out-of-state Trump donors,” said Schakowsky. She endorsed Evanston Mayor Daniel Bliss instead, who has received just over $288,000 in pro-Israel funding.
The Texas Senate primaries have yielded tight races for Democrats and Republicans alike, with AIPAC once again playing a key role. James Talarico, who received just over $23,000 from pro-Israel interests, will face an as yet to be determined Republican challenger. Incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, who has accepted more than $2 million from AIPAC and other Israeli interests, is being challenged by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who received just over $53,000 from Israeli lobbyists.
The Republican primary was so close that the two candidates will face a runoff on May 26. Paxton’s success puts President Donald Trump in a sticky position. Trump himself has received more than $230 million from Israeli groups and it was expected he would endorse Israel’s candidate, Cornyn. But Paxton has gained traction within the MAGA movement, and Trump risks alienating his voters by endorsing Cornyn. Talarico’s popularity has been rising with some predicting he may turn one of Texas’s Senate seats blue for the first time in 33 years.
AIPAC and its offshoots began to ramp up spending during the 2022 midterms, shelling out more than $221 million between December of 2021 and January of 2026.
Their strategy has not always paid off though, as was the case in the recent Democratic primary special election in New Jersey. Israeli lobbyists spent more than $378,000 pushing former Rep. Tom Malinowski for a House seat. He was defeated by progressive candidate Analilia Mejia, who has been openly critical of Israel.
To learn if your U.S. representatives better reflect your interests or Israel’s, check Track AIPAC.
Civil Suit Argues NEH Was Complicit in DOGE’s ChatGPT-Fueled $100 Million Slashing of “DEI” Grants and Employee Terminations
Deposition videos and discovery materials released as part of a civil lawsuit related to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) funding cuts reveal the now defunct department used ChatGPT to identify more than $100 million in grants related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) that were later cancelled. The cuts were the largest mass termination of federal grants in the history of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), one of largest funders of humanities programs in the US. DOGE also terminated 65 percent of NEH employees and closed related programs as part of its slashing spree, all with the consent of Michael McDonald, NEH acting chair from March 2025 to January 2026.
The new materials reveal DOGE succeeded in gutting 97 percent of NEH grants in just 22 days. McDonald told deposition lawyers he was the “final decider” for all grant terminations and took responsibility for the decisions. But documents show that DOGE staff terminated grants his team had recommended the agency keep. “As you’ve made clear, it’s your decision on whether to discontinue funding any of the projects on this list,” McDonald wrote to the DOGE team in an email from April 1, 2025.
Two young DOGE employees with no government experience testified that they used OpenAI’s ChatGPT and terms like DEI, DEIA, Equity, Inclusion, BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) and LGBTQ to determine which grants might be cut. Nate Cavanaugh, one of the employees, said he was part of the effort to cut “useless agencies” to reduce the federal deficit.
“Why is a documentary about Holocaust survivors DEI?” an attorney asked DOGE employee Justin Fox. “It’s a gender-based story that’s inherently discriminatory to focus on this specific group,” Fox said of the project, which documents violence against women during the Holocaust.
“Did you ever find it problematic that you were, alongside Nate, short-listing for termination projects that had hits on words like Black, homosexual, LGBTQ+?” an attorney asked Fox.
“We were identifying wasteful spend in the government based on administration direction,” said Fox. “That was the whole reason we were there, was to find savings.”
An attorney asked Cavanaugh if he had any regrets about the ramifications of his actions, including people losing jobs and financial support.
“No,” said Cavanugh. “I think it was more important to reduce the federal deficit from $2 trillion to close to zero.” When asked if DOGE had successfully reduced the federal deficit, Cavaugh responded, “No, we didn’t.”
The lawsuit was filed by the Modern Language Association (MLA), the American Council of Learned Societies and the American Historical Association. It calls the employee terminations “unconstitutional” and claims NEH violated the First Amendment by targeting grants for their viewpoints and perceived political associations.
It also argues that NEH violated the equal protection clause by flagging grant descriptions as “DEI” solely because they included terms such as “BIPOC,” “homosexual,” “LGBTQ” or “Tribal.” The NEH and its leaders are also accused of violating the separation of powers by allowing DOGE to carry out the termination of grants, which was done without Congressional approval.
The lawsuit also reveals DOGE staff drafted and sent termination letters to grantees on McDonald’s behalf that contained factual errors. The notices referred to an executive order as the basis for termination that mandated the NEH “eliminate all non-statutorily required activities and functions.” No executive order exists. McDonald said in the deposition that he did not review the letter “as closely as perhaps I should have.”
Fox sent the termination notices himself, using a Microsoft email account. McDonald testified it was the first time he could recall in his decades at NEH that the agency’s duties were carried out by another part of the federal government.
“The facts in this case have exposed the administration’s total disregard for the democratic process and for the value of the humanities that the NEH exists to promote,” said Paul M. Krebs, executive director of the MLA, in a statement. “Through this lawsuit, we have been able to document in detail the haphazard and unlawful actions of DOGE as these unqualified agents undermined the separation of powers and denied the American people access to vital public programming and research.”
Top U.S. Cabinet Members Living in Publicly-Funded Housing and Spending Taxpayer Dollars on Lobster Tails, Crab Legs, Ribeye Steaks, Grand Pianos and Horse Ads
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, facing threats from drug cartels and over her handling of the Epstein files, has reportedly moved from her Washington, D.C. apartment to a U.S. military base in the area. Threats to Bondi also allegedly ramped up after the questionably legal capture and prosecution of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela in January.
She joins a host of Trump administration officials who have recently relocated to taxpayer-funded military housing, including Stephen Miller, top domestic policy advisor and key architect of the Project 2025 initiative that has provided a blueprint for U.S. immigration policy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and War Secretary Pete Hegseth have also relocated.
And a new analysis from government watchdog Open the Books found that as of September 2025 (the end of the fiscal year), the Pentagon had approved more than $93 billion in spending. In the month of September alone, Hegseth’s War Department spent $6.9 million on lobster tails and $2 million on Alaskan king crab. Additionally in September, the department spent $15.1 million on ribeye steaks, $124,000 for new ice cream machines, and $139,224 on doughnut orders. Other Hegseth splurges include $100,000 on a Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff and $5.3 million on Apple devices, including brand new iPads.
The Pentagon spent $225.6 million in 2025 for furniture, including $12,540 for fruit basket stands and more than $60,000 for recliners from high-end furniture maker Herman Miller. The Pentagon furniture budget was the largest since 2014, when Chuck Hagel was Barrack Obama’s Defense Secretary.
The spending spree news comes on the heels of Noem’s dismissal. Noem is now being investigated by the department’s internal watchdog, the Office of Inspector General, for “systematically” obstructing its work and refusing to cooperate with criminal investigations.
The Office is also investigating Noem’s $220 million in ad spending, funded by taxpayers, in self-promotional spots featuring her on horseback. Noem had no-bid contracts with three businesses, including a $77 million contract awarded to The Strategy Group operated by a former colleague of Noem’s top advisor and alleged boyfriend Corey Lewandowski. The company does not appear on public documents about the contract and the main recipient listed on the contracts is a mysterious Delaware company, created days before the deal was finalized.
Epstein Accountant Names Top Business Associates and Says Pedophile’s Estate Settled with Trump Sex Abuse Accuser
Leon Black, Glenn Dubin, Steven Sinofsky, Les Wexner
Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accountant Richard Kahn testified before the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee yesterday, providing the names of several prominent individuals who conducted business with the late sex trafficker during a closed-door session.
Kahn named Les Wexner, the former CEO of Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch who testified last month, Leon Black, former CEO of Apollo Global Management, Steven Sinofsky, former Microsoft Windows Division president and Glenn Dubin, a prominent hedge fund investor.
The Rothschilds
Rep. James Comer (R-KY) said Khan had also implicated the Rothschilds, one of the oldest and richest banking families on the planet, who show up thousands of times in Epstein’s emails. In a press briefing after the deposition, Comer said there were at least 64 entities related to Epstein that the Committee has discovered, including LLCs and other companies.
“These were the five people that transferred significant sums of money to Epstein,” said Comer.
Ehud Barak
“When I asked about heads of state or elected officials with financial ties to Epstein, Kahn mentioned Ehud Barak,” Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) posted on X yesterday. Barak is a former Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Defense who appears thousands of times in the Epstein files. Subramanyam also confirmed during the briefing that Epstein’s estate had settled with one of President Donald Trump’s sexual abuse accusers, but wouldn’t name the victim.
“One of the things that I think is outrageous, that every American should be outraged about, is the fact that some of the people closest to Epstein, including Mr. Kahn, were never questioned by the FBI, law enforcement, U.S. attorneys,” said Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA) at the briefing. “This is the first time that Mr. Kahn has sat down under oath, outside of civil litigation. The idea that those individuals who received, who made payments to Epstein were not necessarily questioned by the FBI, Mr. Kahn not questioned by the FBI, Mr. Indyke [Epstein’s lawyer and co-executor of his estate with Kahn] not questioned by the FBI, Les Wexner not questioned by the FBI, is absolutely outrageous. They all need to be questioned and if necessary more fully investigated.”
Epstein lawyer Indyke is scheduled to testify before the Committee next week.
Bipartisan Senator Group Asks for Accountability Investigation of U.S. Department of Justice
A letter sent to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) today from a bipartisan group of senators requests a review of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) handling and release of documents related to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. The letter outlines concerns about redactions in the millions of released files and seeks clarity about how the information was reviewed.
Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) signed the letter, which argues the DOJ failed to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The law allows victims’ identities and information to be redacted but does not allow redactions based on embarrassment, reputational harm or political sensitivity.
“Contrary to Congress’s explicit directive to protect victims, these records included email addresses and nude photos in which the names and faces of publicly-identified and non-public victims could be identified,” wrote the senators. “But when it came to information identifying powerful business and politics figures who are alleged co-conspirators or material witnesses, DOJ appears to have heavily redacted those records.”
The review request comes a week after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi as part of its ongoing investigation into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
“There’s over 65,000 documents missing, and we know there are more than 2,000 videos that are out there,” said Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) who introduced the resolution to subpoena Bondi. “They’re not giving Congress all the information or all the documents, and they’re obfuscating. And I’d like to ask questions about that in our deposition.”
Where Are Epstein’s Financial Records?
What’s also missing from the Epstein files are the convicted sex trafficker’s bank records. The U.S. Treasury Department holds an extensive number of financial records, which will undoubtedly provide a road map of his criminal network and activity. The records could help reveal co-conspirators, enablers and unprosecuted financial crimes.
Earlier this month, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking member of the Finance Committee, attempted to pass the Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act, which would compel the Treasury Department to turn over Epstein-related bank records to Congressional investigators. Republicans blocked the proposal.
Last year, Wyden requested the records several times but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has repeatedly refused to turn them over, downplaying their significance.
According to a recorded Senate statement from July of 2025, the Biden administration allowed investigators to look at portions of the files in 2024 in the Treasury Building. They found that, “Treasury’s Epstein file details 4,725 wire transfers — adding up to nearly $1.1 billion flowing in and out of just one of Mr. Epstein’s bank accounts. Hundreds of millions more flowed through other accounts.” The statement added, “The file shows that Mr. Epstein used multiple Russian banks, which are now under sanctions, to process payments related to sex trafficking. A lot of the women and girls he targeted came from Russia, Belarus, Turkiye, and elsewhere.”
It’s worth it to note that the Trump administration has just announced it is easing restrictions on Russian oil exports as the war with Iran creates a global energy crisis. Scott Bessent, who has downplayed the significance of Epstein’s financial dealings, last week issued a 30-day waiver for India to buy Russian oil already at sea.
“We have sanctions on some countries, we are going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out,” said Trump when questioned about the sanctions. “And then who knows, maybe we won’t have to put them on because there will be so much peace.”
The Female Journalists Who Have Been Threatened, Censored and Harassed for Reporting on Epstein and Maxwell’s Victims
Amy Robach
In 2019, ABC News anchor Amy Robach was caught on a hot mic complaining that the network “quashed” her interview with key Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell for two years. “I’ve had the story for three years,” said Robach in the video. “We would not put it on the air. Um, first of all, I was told, ‘Who was Jeffrey Epstein? No one knows who that is. This is a stupid story.’ Then the palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened us a million different ways.”
“I tried for three years to get it out to no avail, and now these new revelations and — I freaking had all of it,” said Robach in the video. “I’m so pissed right now. Like, every day I get more and more pissed, ’cause I’m just like, Oh my God! It was — what we had, was unreal.”
Alan Dershowitz, Epstein’s longtime friend and attorney during his first arrest, supporter of Hillary Clinton and a member of Trump’s legal team during his 2020 impeachment trial, was mentioned in Giuffre’s interview. Dershowitz told NPR that he had called ABC News in 2015 just before the interview was supposed to have been broadcast to dissuade the network from airing Giuffre’s allegations. He said he had mainly called to warn ABC against giving Giuffre a platform. “I did not want to see her credibility enhanced by ABC,” Dershowitz told NPR.
Julie K. Brown
In 2017, Julie K. Brown, a reporter for the Miami Herald, began investigating Epstein. She uncovered 80 potential victims, some of whom were 13 and 14 years old when they were trafficked. She documented eight individuals through a series of reports published in November of 2018.
Brown also extensively covered the secret deal Epstein made with federal attorney Alex Acosta, who would later become U.S. Secretary of Labor during President Trump’s first term. Through a 2008 plea deal with Acosta, Epstein was allowed to plead guilty to only two state-level prostitution offenses. His federal charges disappeared and an FBI probe linking Epstein to dozens of victims was shut down. The deal also granted immunity to any possible co-conspirators.
Epstein’s plea deal came under fire after his 2019 arrest, and amid bipartisan criticism, Acosta resigned as Secretary of State.
Dershowitz wrote an open letter to the Pulitzer Prize committee in 2019, urging them to shut out Brown and the Miami Herald for the “fake news” reporting on the Epstein case. Brown didn’t receive the award.
She later said she had been warned by former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter to expect pushback for her reporting, as other members of the media who had attempted to report on Epstein received. Reiter had said, “Somebody’s going to call your publisher and the next thing you know you are going to be assigned to the obituaries department.”
It wasn’t an idle warning. The Epstein Files reveal that in 2011, Epstein asked private detective William Riley of Riley Kiraly to get information about a Miami reporter and “her boyfriend.” Riley sent Epstein a full report on the target, all redacted in the U.S. Department of Justice’s published files.
Brown herself revealed late last year that the DOJ was monitoring her, as information about a 2019 flight booking is included in the Epstein files. Brown said she expected to see her name in the files because of her extensive reporting on Epstein. “What I didn’t expect to see was an American Airlines flight record from 2019 with my full name on them, including my maiden name, which I don’t use professionally. It’s an unusual name, so it’s clear it’s me.”
“Does somebody at the DOJ want to tell me why my American Airlines booking information and flights in July 2019 are part of the Epstein files (attached to a grand jury subpoena)?” she asked on X.
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Shortly after journalist Lucia Osborne-Crowley met with Epstein and Maxwell victim Carolyn Andriano in 2022, she was approached in a restaurant by a private detective who asked what she was writing about. She said the man offered her drugs, cash and a meeting with one of Epstein’s pilots, then put his hands under her skirt. The restaurant manager asked him to leave and he then waited outside for her, forcing Osborne-Crowley to sneak out through a staff exit.
Andriano, who was trafficked between the ages of 14 and 17, was a key witness in Maxwell’s 2021 trial. Osborne-Crowley had been interviewing survivors for her book on the trial, “The Lasting Harm,” published in 2024. She wondered who was paying the private detective and other people following her and victims who had come forward.
“It could be any of the people who are not yet facing charges,” Osborne-Crowley told The Guardian. “Firstly, they can afford it. The weekend I was in Miami, there was a person following me, a person following a survivor in South Africa who was in my book, and a person following a survivor in the UK. Just so that we all were aware.”
Two women withdrew from “The Lasting Harm” after receiving threats. In November of 2025, 28 victims released a statement alleging many of them had received death threats and asking for police protection. “Ghislaine used to tell them, ‘If you ever tell anyone what’s going on here, no matter how far into the future, we will find you and we will stop you,'” said Osborne-Crowley. “And in a lot of ways, that promise was kept.”
Conchita Sarnoff
Investigative journalist Conchita Sarnoff was in a unique position when she began investigating sex trafficking. Her former husband is the grandson of Brigadier General David Sarnoff, the founder of NBC who also oversaw the construction of Radio Free Europe during World War II. Those connections brought her into the same social orbit as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, whom she met in the 1990s.
When Epstein was arrested in 2008 in Palm Beach, Sarnoff phoned him and then interviewed him at home while he was under house arrest.
“Because I had a social relationship with Epstein and Maxwell, I knew who they were, who their friends were, and more or less how they thought,” said Sarnoff. “This allowed me to expand my investigation.” That reporting turned into a book, “TrafficKing: The Jeffrey Epstein Case,” which Sarnoff completed in 2008.
Twenty-seven publishers turned her down after reading it. She said multiple media outlets scheduled her to discuss the book and her investigation but then rescinded the invitations without explanation.
The book became widely available in 2021, and discusses how Sarnoff risked her life to expose the reality of human trafficking despite bribes to stay silent. It includes witness accounts of Epstein, Maxwell and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Sarnoff is now executive director of the Alliance to Rescue Victims of Trafficking.
Savannah Guthrie
In 2019, Today Show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie interviewed six Epstein/Maxwell victims, including Virginia Giuffre. It was the first television appearance for Giuffre and aired on the NBC’s Today Show and Dateline. The survivors shared their experiences of grooming and abuse, and the Dateline special focused on the failures of the U.S. justice system to protect victims.
The high-profile disappearance of Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, has dominated headlines recently. Guthrie was last seen on January 31, one day after the U.S. DOJ released 3.5 million additional pages of the Epstein files. Nancy Guthrie remains missing and law enforcement has found no ties between her disappearance and her daughter’s reporting.
U.S. Senator Outlines Trump’s Long and Profitable Relationship with Russia
Russia is preparing to make a lot of oil and gas money as conflict in the Middle East threatens the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategic shipping chokepoints. “We are seeing an increase in demand, a substantive increase in demand for Russian energy providers in connection with the war in Iran,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov said during a Friday briefing.
The boon for the Russian economy during the country’s prolonged war with Ukraine is one of the many interesting consequences of President Donald Trump’s longstanding relationship with Russia and President Vladimir Putin. In a 45-minute speech to a largely empty chamber this week, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) outlined Trump’s and his administration’s numerous entanglements with Russia.
He began by mentioning former FBI Director Robert Mueller’s 2019 special report on Russian election interference related to Trump’s first presidential term. Attorney General Bill Barr issued a letter ahead of the report’s release which said the investigation found the Trump campaign did not collude to steal the 2016 election. Trump then referred to the entire investigation as a “Russian hoax.”
By the time Mueller’s report was released a month later, its message had been obscured. “The Mueller report actually concluded that the Trump campaign knew of and welcomed Russian interference and expected to benefit from it,” said Whitehouse. “That conclusion was later echoed and reinforced by an investigation led by then Chairman Marco Rubio’s Senate Intelligence Committee, a bipartisan report.” Rubio is now serving as U.S. Secretary of State.
Whitehouse outlined 10 ways the Trump administration has helped Russia recently, including pausing weapons shipments to Ukraine during key moments in the war with Russia. In July, during Russia’s worst bombing campaign up to that point, Trump paused already funded shipments of Patriot interceptors, designed to protect Ukrainian citizens.
“That same month, Trump’s Treasury Department stopped imposing new sanctions and closing sanctions loopholes, effectively allowing dummy corporations to send funds, ships and military equipment to Russia,” said Whitehouse.
He said leaked phone calls between U.S. real estate investor and Russian envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev reveal they have worked closely behind the scenes on a Ukrainian peace deal that would benefit Russia. He mentioned that soon after Pam Bondi was appointed Attorney General, the U.S. Department of Justice shut down its anti-kleptocracy initiatives, which were focused on seizing assets from corrupt foreign officials and Russian oligarchs.
Finally, Whitehouse accused the Trump administration of paving the way for Russia’s return to global sports competitions, even with knowledge of the country’s state-backed systemic doping programs.
“If Trump were purposefully doing Russia’s bidding, it’s hard to see what he’d be doing differently,” said Whitehouse.
Jeffrey Epstein’s Role
Whitehouse discussed the impact of the Epstein files and how they reveal the breadth of Epstein’s global network, which repeatedly touched Russia. Trump has called the files a “Russian hoax.”
“Epstein’s ties to foreign intelligence may never be fully known,” said Whitehouse. “It’s a murky world. He had links to officials in the United States, Russian and Israeli governments and many others.”
Epstein began his career as a high school math teacher at the elite Dalton School in Manhattan. The outgoing headmaster at the school when he was hired was Donald Barr, a former intelligence officer and Bill Barr’s father. He eventually moved on to work with British defense contractor and arms dealer Doug Leese. It was Leese who allegedly introduced Epstein to Robert Maxwell, father of his eventual girlfriend and partner Ghislaine Maxwell. Robert Maxwell had complex, shifting ties to British, Soviet and Israeli intelligence. He was initially bankrolled by Britain’s MI6 but also accepted payments from the KGB.
In a 2021 article for Rolling Stone, journalist Vicky Ward spoke to convicted fraudster Steven Hoffenberg about his relationship with Epstein. She said Hoffenberg told her that via Maxwell and Leese, Epstein was involved in something that Hoffenberg described as “national security issues.” He told Ward that this involved blackmail, influence trading and trading information at a level that is very serious and dangerous.
“Four separate sources told me on the record that Epstein’s dealings in the arms world in the 1980s had led him to work for multiple governments, including the Israelis,” wrote Ward.
It was during the 1980s that Trump and Epstein began their friendship. “They shared everything,” said author Michael Wolff, who interviewed Epstein extensively about his relationship with Trump. “They shared their airplanes. They shared women between them. They constantly shared business and financial advice.”
As Trump now infamously said in 2002, “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Trump and Epstein publicly fell out shortly after that. While the full story of their breakup is unknown, it was at least in part due to a 2004 bidding war for a Palm Beach mansion. Trump eventually won, purchasing the property for $41.3 million. Four years later, after modest renovations, he turned around and sold it for $95 million to billionaire Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev. At the time it was reported to be the most expensive residential property sale in U.S. history.
The oligarch never moved in.
Epstein had a well-documented history of ties to Russia, including the Russian and Eastern European models he trafficked through his global drug and sex ring. A 2017 FBI report claims Epstein was Putin’s “wealth manager.” He also claimed to have given some insight on Trump to the Russians, meeting many times with Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s UN representative from 2006 until his death in 2017.
In a 2018 email to former Norwegian prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland, who was charged with corruption last month for his ties to the disgraced pedophile, Epstein wrote, “Churkin was great. He understood Trump after our conversations. It is not complex. He must be seen to get something. It’s that simple.”
Jeffrey Epstein Was at Center of 5-Year DEA Probe into Transnational Organized Crime, Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering and Prostitution
New DOJ documents reveal a five-year Drug Enforcement Administration investigation into Jeffrey Epstein based on allegations of money laundering, drug trafficking and the procurement of Eastern European prostitutes for high-profile clients. The investigation was conducted by a secret intelligence and law enforcement unit of the DEA along with a transnational crime-fighting task force.
The investigation began after an informant claimed Epstein was involved in the illicit funding and distribution of ketamine, ecstasy, methamphetamines and other “club drugs.” It includes the names of Epstein’s accountants, attorneys and European women who worked as his assistants or as fashion models. None of the individuals were charged with any offenses as a result of the investigation.
In 2011, the DEA enlisted the help of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), a Reagan-era DOJ division, to investigate the proliferation of drug trafficking in night clubs. OCDETF then launched Operation Chain Reaction and spent the next four years targeting and prosecuting close to a dozen people in New York, including members of the Genovese crime family. Charges included racketeering, loan sharking, drug trafficking and running illegal gambling businesses. One of the informants in that case tipped off authorities about Epstein’s involvement.
The OCDETF was shut down by President Trump’s administration last September as part of their cost-cutting efforts. But the organization was able to amass a huge amount of intelligence and financial data on Epstein and his associates during its investigation, pulling information from seven federal agencies along with the FBI’s National Crime Information Center.
The heavily redacted DOJ document shows that Epstein and 12 other individuals were the subjects of 40 suspicious activity reports involving the movement of nearly $50 million. More than a dozen law enforcement agencies in the US and abroad, including the U.S. Secret Service and its White House Division, ICE and Harvard’s police department queried a national crime database 311 times between 2013 and 2015 seeking information about Epstein.
In April of 2019, a few months before Epstein’s final arrest, the OCDETF launched a separate investigation with the FBI known as Trip Knot. It centered on money laundering and human and drug trafficking tied to Russian organized crime and drew on FBI and DEA probes from 2017 and 2018. Epstein’s name turned up repeatedly in that case as well.
Operation Chain Reaction was officially closed in June of 2023 under the Biden Administration.
Federal Prosecutors Successfully Shut Down the Epstein Zorro Ranch Investigation for Six Years
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez reopened an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous Zorro Ranch last month, more than six years after U.S. federal prosecutors shut it down. The decision was made after Torrez’s office reviewed U.S. Department of Justice information and found that “revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination.”
In July of 2019, NM Attorney General Hector Balderas announced an investigation into Epstein’s 7,600-acre ranch located 30 miles south of Santa Fe. The announcement came a week after Epstein was arrested in New York and charged with federal sex trafficking. Balderas said his office had interviewed possible Epstein victims who had visited Zorro Ranch and that he had been in touch with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.
Federal prosecutors then asked Balderas to halt his office’s investigation into the ranch, which it did. Balderas said New Mexico provided police reports, recorded witness interviews and other investigative records to federal prosecutors in New York. His agency was told prosecutors didn’t want the “risks of parallel investigations creating inconsistent statements” that could potentially be exploited by defense attorneys.
At the time, Balderas said he understood N.Y. prosecutors would share relevant information with his office but frustratingly, cooperation between the two agencies “was a one-way relationship.” “We provided information to them to strengthen their prosecution,” said Balderas. “They were making the representation that they were going to prosecute with a multijurisdictional, multistate focus.”
The New Mexico investigative documents do not appear to be among the Epstein files released by the U.S. Department of Justice. “In light of the recent disclosures, I remain very concerned that they did not disclose or share more information that they had in their possession,” said Balderas of federal investigators, calling prosecutors’ unwillingness to work with state investigators “a tactical mistake.”
In 2020, Balderas’ office also sent a letter to federal prosecutors urging them to seize control of Zorro Ranch to preserve evidence, offering to assist with serving search warrants at the ranch. “We believe that this ranch was used by Epstein and others to facilitate the commission and prolonged concealment of his trafficking of children, such that seizure may be pursued in conjunction with the pending criminal prosecution of Epstein’s associates and co-conspirators,” stated the letter. Balderas said he never received a response and has no reason to believe prosecutors acted on the requests.
Current NM Attorney General Torrez has not received any correspondence from N.Y. federal prosecutors since he took office in January of 2023. That year Epstein’s estate sold the ranch to real estate mogul and current Texas Comptroller candidate Don Huffines for an undisclosed sum.
Zorro Ranch was valued at more than $21 million in 2023, according to Santa Fe County, but Huffines’ San Rafael Ranch LLC, the owner of record, filed a complaint in 2024 arguing for a tax reduction and alleging the property was only worth $9 million. The Santa Fe County Assessor reduced its value to $13.4 million later that year.
The ranch appears thousands of times in the Epstein files and was used to host an elite class of guests including former NM Governor Bill Richardson, Andrew Montbatten-Windsor, Woody Allen, Robert Redford, Reid Hoffman, Joi Ito and Peter Thiel.
In addition to the alleged sex trafficking horrors and eugenics and DNA experiments that took place at the ranch, the Epstein files also reveal that the dead pedophile had petroglyphs moved from areas of the property to the yard surrounding his nearly 30,000-square-foot mansion. The petroglyphs, estimated to be hundreds of years old, are part of a geological formation known as El Creston located on the ranch property.
“The destruction and removal of petroglyphs and cultural sites at Zorro Ranch is deeply troubling, yet not surprising considering what has come to light about Jeffrey Epstein,” said Joey Sanchez, chair of the All Pueblo Council of Governors. “These sites hold profound significance as part of the living history of the Pueblos across the Southwest, reflecting the enduring connection between our people and the land.”
As House Democrats call for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s impeachment over the handling of the Epstein files, it’s important to look at how and why the investigations have gotten so botched. Geoffrey Berman was the U.S. Attorney for the District of Southern New York who prosecuted Epstein. A Republican, Berman was appointed during President Trump’s first term until he was fired by Trump AG Bill Barr in 2020. He was replaced by his deputy, Audrey Strauss, who served into the Biden administration until 2021.
Strauss led the investigation and prosecution of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Damian Williams then took over the position under Biden’s administration, followed by a series of acting directors. Trump appointed Jay Clayton to the position in April of 2025.
It would appear that not one of those federal prosecutors pursued the state of New Mexico’s evidence and reports related to Epstein and Zorro Ranch. Just as bi-partisan U.S. Attorney Generals and FBI directors have also failed to investigate what increasingly appears to be a massive global political coverup of organized crime, money laundering and drug and human trafficking.
More Than 10 Million Americans Will Lose Medicaid Coverage to Fund $45 Billion ICE Buildout
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee sternly questioned U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem this week for the alleged misconduct of her agency, including the ICE killings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Instead of showing a shred of remorse over the unlawful killings of Americans, Noem predictably went on the offensive against the collective “they.”
“Today, they’re defending citizens because they know they shouldn’t be putting illegal aliens in front of citizens,” Noem told the committee. “They’ve changed their method now. They realize that when they’re fighting for people who shouldn’t be in this country to begin with, that that’s a losing statement with the American people.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to make ICE a centerpiece of his second term in office. As of mid-January, 73,000 people were being held in U.S. detention centers, a 75-percent increase since Trump took office.
That scale of mass surveillance, capture and imprisonment comes with a giant price tag. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, signed on July 4 last year, allocated $45 billion for ICE detention. U.S. citizens will ultimately pay that price, with the bill handily cutting close to $1 trillion in Medicaid benefits over a 10-year period. The expected result is that more than 10 million Americans will lose their healthcare coverage.
The Trump administration is aiming to get more than 100,000 detention beds “online” by the end of the year, and is reportedly looking into the purchase of unused commercial warehouses capable of housing thousands of people.
Private prison companies are experiencing a major windfall thanks to the aggressive ICE expansion funded by cuts to U.S. citizens’ healthcare coverage. CoreCivic and GEO Group, the two largest private prison companies in the US, both saw massive revenue increases last year. CoreCivic’s Q4 earnings were up 26 percent over the previous year, while GEO Group’s annual revenues jumped from $2.4 billion in 2024 to $2.6 billion in 2025.
And the Department of Homeland Security is only getting started.
Opinion: Can We Take a Moment to Reflect on Trump’s $400 Million Golden Ballroom?
We’re not at war right now, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson. The U.S. and Israeli governments are not aware of a strike on a girl’s primary school in southern Iran that killed 165 people, most of them girls aged 7 to 12, and wounded close to 100 more. Reports on the deaths of six U.S. troops killed in an Iranian drone attack are just attempts by “fake news” outlets to make President Donald Trump look bad, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Since there’s clearly not much of interest going on right now, perhaps we should turn our collective gaze to the one thing Trump can’t stop talking about: his $400 million, 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom. “I picked those drapes in my first term—I always liked gold,” said Trump at a Medal of Honor ceremony for three Army soldiers earlier this week. “I believe it’s going to be the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world.”
The ballroom will be almost twice the size of the actual White House. It is being built on the site of the demolished White House East Wing and is being funded by Trump himself as well as his good friends at Amazon, Apple, Google, HP, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Meta and Palantir. The Lutnick Family is also a donor. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of the panel’s investigation into his close relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The National Capital Planning Commission released more than 9,000 pages of comments denouncing the project this week. The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the Trump administration in December over the project, claiming the White House had been carrying out the construction unlawfully because Trump hadn’t gotten approval from Congress or submitted his plans to the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts for review.
The Commission of Fine Arts signed off on the project last month and the National Capital Planning Commission is also expected to give their seal of approval.
The gilded ballroom is reminiscent of the Palace of Versailles, built by French “Sun King” Louis XIV. His reign lasted for more than 72 years, the longest of any monarch in history. The inside of the palace was a testament to gold-plated opulence, while the estate’s Royal Menagerie boasted expansive gardens and exotic animals including ostriches and an elephant.
The Sun King eventually made Versailles the de facto capital of France, first using it to promote himself to European nobility through a series of nighttime festivals. It was leveraged to court elites and leaders from around the world, with an Embassy from Iran visiting in 1715. The Palace was a center of diplomacy, lobbying, intrigue, spying and all manner of scandal.
Louis XVI would be the last King of France. It was during his reign that the lower and middle classes rose up, the French Revolution began and the monarchy was abolished. Louis XVI was seen by many as the embodiment of elite tyranny, an example of old money excess that had outrun its course and was standing in the way of the principles of Enlightenment that would usher in a new age of the democratic republic. Louis and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were both famously arrested and executed by guillotine, and Versailles became a public establishment.
Trump’s gold-plated ballroom and its corporate benefactors are a stark reminder of what happens when elite power goes unchecked for too long. That it’s being constructed in the midst of what could become World War III, while an unprecedented global money laundering and sex trafficking scandal is being actively suppressed by his administration, is a disgrace.
Trump views his ballroom as the crowning achievement of his Presidency, a testament to the wealth and influence of his family and close friends, members of an elite billionaires club that don’t need planning permissions to get things done and unequivocally don’t need to respect laws.
We can only hope The Golden Ballroom goes down in history as a symbolic turning point for the United States. A time when citizens realize the two-party system they’ve been yoked under for so long does not represent their interests or their wellbeing. When they realize their federal government is designed to polarize and oppress them while ensuring One Percent of the global population keeps getting richer and more influential while the bottom tier experiences calculated and systemic suffering.
Extreme imbalances of power tend to be great equalizers. Now is the moment to level the playing field.