Presidential relatives: Jared Kushner, Hunter Biden, et al.
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1margd
Jared Kushner Has Big Plans for Delta of Europe’s Last Wild River
Fred Pearce • April 9, 2024
Albania’s Vjosë River is known as Europe’s last wild river, and its pristine delta is a haven for migratory birds.
...The Vjosë delta and its lagoon are under siege. They are set to become the victims of a series of massive coastal tourist developments, partly bankrolled by a company set up by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. {Beginning with Saudi Aria's $2 billion?} The hotels and luxury villas will accommodate up to a million visitors arriving annually at a new international airport currently being built on salt marshes around the lagoon.
Until the fall of the Iron Curtain that walled off communist Eastern Europe from the capitalist West, Albania was the 20th century equivalent of North Korea, a virtual prison state under the control of strongman Enver Hoxha. But today, its government wants to welcome the world and is bent on turning the country’s previously remote southern coastal region into what it calls an Albanian Riviera...
The delta “is one of the most vital sites for biodiversity, not only within Albania but across Europe,” says an environmentalist.
The Albanian parliament approved a measure that allows the prime minister to override existing protections for the delta.
While Western European nations are tearing down barriers to rewild rivers, those in the east are going in the opposite direction.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has accused environmentalists of “raving about the destruction of an imaginary national park.”
...In an address to a political assembly last month, Prime Minister Rama blasted his environmental critics, accusing them of “raving about the destruction of an imaginary national park that has never been a protected area,” of “releasing thunderbolts of accusations and slanders about me,” and of “making Albania seem unfairly ridiculous in the eyes of the world.”
Whatever the critics might say, he lauded the claim of developers that “Albania is the new rising star of tourism in the Mediterranean.”
https://e360.yale.edu/features/jared-kushner-albania-vjose-vjosa-river-hotel
Fred Pearce • April 9, 2024
Albania’s Vjosë River is known as Europe’s last wild river, and its pristine delta is a haven for migratory birds.
...The Vjosë delta and its lagoon are under siege. They are set to become the victims of a series of massive coastal tourist developments, partly bankrolled by a company set up by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. {Beginning with Saudi Aria's $2 billion?} The hotels and luxury villas will accommodate up to a million visitors arriving annually at a new international airport currently being built on salt marshes around the lagoon.
Until the fall of the Iron Curtain that walled off communist Eastern Europe from the capitalist West, Albania was the 20th century equivalent of North Korea, a virtual prison state under the control of strongman Enver Hoxha. But today, its government wants to welcome the world and is bent on turning the country’s previously remote southern coastal region into what it calls an Albanian Riviera...
The delta “is one of the most vital sites for biodiversity, not only within Albania but across Europe,” says an environmentalist.
The Albanian parliament approved a measure that allows the prime minister to override existing protections for the delta.
While Western European nations are tearing down barriers to rewild rivers, those in the east are going in the opposite direction.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has accused environmentalists of “raving about the destruction of an imaginary national park.”
...In an address to a political assembly last month, Prime Minister Rama blasted his environmental critics, accusing them of “raving about the destruction of an imaginary national park that has never been a protected area,” of “releasing thunderbolts of accusations and slanders about me,” and of “making Albania seem unfairly ridiculous in the eyes of the world.”
Whatever the critics might say, he lauded the claim of developers that “Albania is the new rising star of tourism in the Mediterranean.”
https://e360.yale.edu/features/jared-kushner-albania-vjose-vjosa-river-hotel
2margd
Jared Kushner's Real Estate Deal Comes Under Scrutiny
Jordan King | 5 June 2024
...In May, Affinity Partners, Kushner's investment firm, announced it had signed a $500 million deal with the Serbian government to build a luxury hotel in Belgrade, the country's capital.
The hotel is set to go up on the site of the former Defense Ministry, which was bombed in 1999 during the Kosovo War, and the deal includes a pledge to build a "memorial dedicated to all the victims of NATO aggression."
During the war, the U.S. joined forces with NATO to launch airstrikes against the Serbian government under President Slobodan Milosevic, who had unleashed a program of ethnic cleansing against Albanians in Kosovo.
Retired General Wesley Clark, who served as NATO's supreme allied commander at the time, has criticized the planned memorial, ... it is "worse than a reversal" of U.S. policies ... "It's a betrayal of the United States, its policies and the brave diplomats and airmen who did what they could to stop Serb ethnic cleansing" ...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/jared-kushners-real-estate-deal-comes-under...
---------------------------------------------
Jared Kushner’s Latest Real Estate Deal Comes With Shocking Condition
Talia Jane | June 5, 2024
Jared Kushner received a massive real estate deal in Serbia—with some interesting fine print...
https://newrepublic.com/post/182304/jared-kushner-real-estate-deal-serbia-condit...
Jordan King | 5 June 2024
...In May, Affinity Partners, Kushner's investment firm, announced it had signed a $500 million deal with the Serbian government to build a luxury hotel in Belgrade, the country's capital.
The hotel is set to go up on the site of the former Defense Ministry, which was bombed in 1999 during the Kosovo War, and the deal includes a pledge to build a "memorial dedicated to all the victims of NATO aggression."
During the war, the U.S. joined forces with NATO to launch airstrikes against the Serbian government under President Slobodan Milosevic, who had unleashed a program of ethnic cleansing against Albanians in Kosovo.
Retired General Wesley Clark, who served as NATO's supreme allied commander at the time, has criticized the planned memorial, ... it is "worse than a reversal" of U.S. policies ... "It's a betrayal of the United States, its policies and the brave diplomats and airmen who did what they could to stop Serb ethnic cleansing" ...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/jared-kushners-real-estate-deal-comes-under...
---------------------------------------------
Jared Kushner’s Latest Real Estate Deal Comes With Shocking Condition
Talia Jane | June 5, 2024
Jared Kushner received a massive real estate deal in Serbia—with some interesting fine print...
https://newrepublic.com/post/182304/jared-kushner-real-estate-deal-serbia-condit...
3margd
New York Times Pitchbot @DougJBalloon | 8:56 AM · Jun 12, 2024:
Parody. We know the devil. We have shaken him by the hand, embraced him, and thought his stinking breath was fine perfume.
Now that Merrick Garland has convicted Joe Biden’s son while doing absolutely nothing to Donald Trump, Republicans are certain to admit that the DOJ has not been politicized.
_____________________________________
Republicans stick to attacking criminal justice system, echoing Trump, after Hunter Biden conviction
JONATHAN J. COOPER and ERIC TUCKER | June 12, 2024
PHOENIX (AP) — Republicans are responding to Hunter Biden’s conviction on federal gun charges with some version of, “That’s it?”...
https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-conviction-republicans-reaction-trump-eb...
Parody. We know the devil. We have shaken him by the hand, embraced him, and thought his stinking breath was fine perfume.
Now that Merrick Garland has convicted Joe Biden’s son while doing absolutely nothing to Donald Trump, Republicans are certain to admit that the DOJ has not been politicized.
_____________________________________
Republicans stick to attacking criminal justice system, echoing Trump, after Hunter Biden conviction
JONATHAN J. COOPER and ERIC TUCKER | June 12, 2024
PHOENIX (AP) — Republicans are responding to Hunter Biden’s conviction on federal gun charges with some version of, “That’s it?”...
https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-conviction-republicans-reaction-trump-eb...
4John5918
Hunter Biden conviction could boost father against Trump, experts suggest (Guardian)
'Hunter Biden’s story is a story that all too many Americans know' (BBC)
Hunter Biden’s conviction on gun-ownership charges may have handed his father, Joe, a boost in the forthcoming presidential election, analysts say, because it undermines the image of a president weaponising the US justice system to pursue Donald Trump. Trump, the former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has pushed that line relentlessly to explain his conviction last month on charges related to the concealment of hush-money payments to a porn star to help him win the 2016 election. He has made the claim even though his prosecution was brought in a New York state court that is independent of the Department of Justice, which is overseeing 54 other criminal charges against him that have so far not come to trial. Hunter Biden, by contrast, was prosecuted and convicted under the authority of the justice department, which is part of his father’s administration – an inconvenient fact that weakens Republican claims that it has been turned into a political weapon in the president’s hands. The result, some observers say, is that Hunter’s conviction may help the president in a close race, even though the personal cost of his son’s troubles is heavy. That suspicion was further fuelled by a low-key reaction from Republicans that attempted to switch the focus to other supposed crimes they say, but have never proved, that father and son have committed...
'Hunter Biden’s story is a story that all too many Americans know' (BBC)
“Hunter Biden’s story is a story that all too many Americans know intimately”... “It’s a good thing if, at the end of the day, we shift our conversations and our focus away from just piling on, and instead recognise that addiction is a public health crisis and that recovery is possible.” In 2022, nearly 49 million Americans aged 12 and older struggled with a substance abuse disorder in the past year, according to the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health. And about a third of Americans knew someone who died of a drug overdose, according to a study published in medical journal JAMA in March... Biden's case over several days showed not even America’s first family is immune to addiction, and highlighted a battle millions face across the US. “Every family, whether you’re coastal or in the American heartland, probably has a family member or an extended family member who {has} a substance use disorder,” said Dr Lucas Trautman, medical director at a chapter of American Addiction Centers in Mississippi... “We’re constantly trying to destigmatise substance use treatment, so that people come forward,” said Dr Trautman. “Any time we use a public figure who has a substance abuse disorder for political gain and paint them in a nefarious light, it could stigmatise other people suffering from addiction''... Some advocates argue that the brutal depiction unveiled in the high-profile trial could lead to more beneficial conversations around addiction and accountability. “We need to get substance use out in the public, people talking about it, and developing the policies and strategies and tools put in place to holistically help people,” said Pat Aussem, vice president at Partnership to End Addiction who works on programmes for families. There are precedents for America’s first families forever changing - and improving - the conversation around addiction... Patti Davis, daughter of late former president Ronald Reagan... “Families of presidents have struggled with substance use issues forever,” said Mr Moyers, who works with the clinics founded by first lady Betty Ford, who challenged taboos when she came forward about her struggles with substance abuse in the 1970s...
5margd
Report: Jared Kushner’s $2 Billion Saudi Check Appears Even More Comically Corrupt Than Previously Thought
Bess Levin | May 23, 2022
“The reason this smells so bad is that there is all sorts of evidence he did not receive this on the merits.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/05/jared-kushner-affinity-partners-saudi-ar...
Bess Levin | May 23, 2022
“The reason this smells so bad is that there is all sorts of evidence he did not receive this on the merits.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/05/jared-kushner-affinity-partners-saudi-ar...
6margd
The Kushners’ Real Estate Empire Is Now Worth More Than Trump’s
Monica Hunter-Hart | 27 Oct 2024
Forbes
Monica Hunter-Hart | 27 Oct 2024
Forbes
7margd
How a ‘spy sheikh’ bought 49% of the Trump family’s flagship crypto company: ‘We’ve got some pretty meaningful investors’
Ben Weiss | Feb 2, 2026
" Just four days before President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, two lieutenants to a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family signed a contract to funnel $500 million into a Trump family crypto company. The investment into World Liberty Financial was backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, brother of the president of the United Arab Emirates, the Wall Street Journal reported. A spokesperson for the Trump family crypto company confirmed to Fortune that the transaction had occurred.
... 49% in equity in World Liberty Financial. The company was founded in 2024 as a DeFi platform, or business that puts banking activities like lending and borrowing on the blockchain. It’s one of the Trump family’s main crypto businesses.
Meanwhile, the two sheikh lieutenants who signed onto the World Liberty deal also hold top positions at G42, a technology and venture capital firm backed by the Abu Dhabi royal family. When asked by Fortune in May whether G42 backed the Trump family crypto company, Eric Trump, son of the president and cofounder of World Liberty Financial, said: “I’m not going to get to who the investors are, but we’ve got some pretty meaningful investors.”
... The investment comes amid scrutiny over a landmark AI deal that saw the U.S. agree to give access to advanced AI chips to the Abu Dhabi–based G42, which is also a significant investor in AI. Fiacc Larkin, a senior executive at G42, is an advisor to World Liberty Financial...
“Any claim that this deal had anything to do with the administration’s actions on chips is 100% false,” said a spokesperson for World Liberty Financial. “The idea that, when raising capital, a privately held American company should be held to some unique standard that no other similar company would be held is both ridiculous and un-American.”
Anna Kelly, a spokesperson for the White House, said: “President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.”..."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/how-a-spy-sheikh-bought-49-of-the-trump-fa...
Ben Weiss | Feb 2, 2026
" Just four days before President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, two lieutenants to a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family signed a contract to funnel $500 million into a Trump family crypto company. The investment into World Liberty Financial was backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, brother of the president of the United Arab Emirates, the Wall Street Journal reported. A spokesperson for the Trump family crypto company confirmed to Fortune that the transaction had occurred.
... 49% in equity in World Liberty Financial. The company was founded in 2024 as a DeFi platform, or business that puts banking activities like lending and borrowing on the blockchain. It’s one of the Trump family’s main crypto businesses.
Meanwhile, the two sheikh lieutenants who signed onto the World Liberty deal also hold top positions at G42, a technology and venture capital firm backed by the Abu Dhabi royal family. When asked by Fortune in May whether G42 backed the Trump family crypto company, Eric Trump, son of the president and cofounder of World Liberty Financial, said: “I’m not going to get to who the investors are, but we’ve got some pretty meaningful investors.”
... The investment comes amid scrutiny over a landmark AI deal that saw the U.S. agree to give access to advanced AI chips to the Abu Dhabi–based G42, which is also a significant investor in AI. Fiacc Larkin, a senior executive at G42, is an advisor to World Liberty Financial...
“Any claim that this deal had anything to do with the administration’s actions on chips is 100% false,” said a spokesperson for World Liberty Financial. “The idea that, when raising capital, a privately held American company should be held to some unique standard that no other similar company would be held is both ridiculous and un-American.”
Anna Kelly, a spokesperson for the White House, said: “President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.”..."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/how-a-spy-sheikh-bought-49-of-the-trump-fa...
8margd
Trump family scrambles to cut ties to giant gold 'Don Colossus' statue
Laura Esposito | Feb 3, 2026
"The fate of a fifteen-foot-tall statue of Donald Trump made of bronze and finished with gold leaf is hanging in the balance as the first family quietly distances itself from the fawning crypto venture behind it.
... The Trumps ... have pulled in at least $867 million from cryptocurrency ventures—a figure that could be significantly higher. Eric Trump has acknowledged that the family’s crypto earnings likely exceed public estimates ...
... Those gains account for the largest share of the estimated $1.4 billion Trump and his family have raked in since he returned to office a year ago, newly disclosed figures show—raising fresh questions about conflicts of interest and the increasingly blurred line between the presidency and personal profit ..."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-family-scrambles-to-cut-ties-to-gi...
Laura Esposito | Feb 3, 2026
"The fate of a fifteen-foot-tall statue of Donald Trump made of bronze and finished with gold leaf is hanging in the balance as the first family quietly distances itself from the fawning crypto venture behind it.
... The Trumps ... have pulled in at least $867 million from cryptocurrency ventures—a figure that could be significantly higher. Eric Trump has acknowledged that the family’s crypto earnings likely exceed public estimates ...
... Those gains account for the largest share of the estimated $1.4 billion Trump and his family have raked in since he returned to office a year ago, newly disclosed figures show—raising fresh questions about conflicts of interest and the increasingly blurred line between the presidency and personal profit ..."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-family-scrambles-to-cut-ties-to-gi...
9bnielsen
>8 margd: Seen from afar the line is not really blurred any longer. It seems to be all about personal profit.
10kiparsky
Not sure where to put this, but this seems as good a place as any. Apparently, the soundtrack to Bezos' Melania disaster features music stolen from Jonny Greenwood's soundtrack for "The Phantom Thread", which was not authorized by the composer.
This was already a pretty pathetic spectacle - one of the richest men in the world committing what must be the most pathetic act of craven Trump-service ($40 million for the rights, plus whatever he paid Melania for "producing", for a film that anyone could have predicted would take in about 35 cents at the box office). Now ladle on top of that a completely unforced fuckup... wild.
I guess this is more about Bezos than Melania, but let this be a lesson to anyone who thinks that having got lucky in business means that someone has brains. (See also: Elon Musk)
This was already a pretty pathetic spectacle - one of the richest men in the world committing what must be the most pathetic act of craven Trump-service ($40 million for the rights, plus whatever he paid Melania for "producing", for a film that anyone could have predicted would take in about 35 cents at the box office). Now ladle on top of that a completely unforced fuckup... wild.
I guess this is more about Bezos than Melania, but let this be a lesson to anyone who thinks that having got lucky in business means that someone has brains. (See also: Elon Musk)
11margd
>9 bnielsen: Yep. Maybe Trump would be mollified if Gordie Howe International Bridge is renamed for him. Though I doubt Michigan, much less Canada, could stomach THAT!! Maybe dump orange dye (fluoroscein?) in the Detroit River for the bridge's grand opening? Aaargh!
12margd
If airport etc. is ever named for Trump, he is ensuring that any proceeds will go to him, and I assume, his estate. I suspect there are more than a few people who would go to great lengths to travel via a DJT anything.
Heather Cox Richardson | February 16, 2026 (Monday)
{Boston College historian posting on Facebook}
"On February 13 and 14 {2026}, President Donald J. Trump’s representatives filed three applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to trademark his name for future use on an airport. As trademark lawyer Josh Gerben of Gerben IP noted, the application also covers merchandise branded “President Donald J. Trump International Airport,” “Donald J. Trump International Airport,” and “DJT,” including “clothing, handbags, luggage, jewelry, watches, and tie clips.”
Because of the trademark filing, Gerben notes, any airport adopting the Trump name would have to get a license to use the name, potentially paying a licensing fee. Gerben emphasizes that while it is common for public officials to have landmarks named after them, “never in the history of the United States” has “a sitting president’s private company…sought trademark rights” before such a naming.
In October, Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought withheld billions of dollars Congress appropriated for a tunnel between New York and New Jersey under the Hudson River, saying he wanted “to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles.” Trump told Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that he would release the funds if Schumer would agree to name Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C., and New York City’s Penn Station after him.
After a Florida state lawmaker proposed putting Trump’s name on the Palm Beach International Airport, Jason Garcia of Seeking Rents today reported that the Florida legislature is currently pushing through measures to change the name of that airport to the “Donald J. Trump International Airport.” The amount of money proposed in Florida’s budget to make the change is $2,750,000, but Garcia notes this is likely a placeholder: the budget request is for $5.5 million.
The Trump grab for an airport named after him is just the latest grift in a presidential term that experts so far estimate has enriched the Trump family by at least $4 billion. That windfall includes merch, political contributions, and multiple cryptocurrency deals that have led, for example, to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who manages the United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund, buying a 49% stake in the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto company for $500 million days before Trump took office. This deal put $187 million immediately into Trump family entities and at least $31 million into entities owned by the family of Steve Witkoff, whom Trump had just named his Middle East envoy.
“President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public—which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said of the UAE deal. “President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.”
Earlier this month, Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, and the Trump Organization sued the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Treasury Department for $10 billion in damages after an IRS contractor during Trump’s own first term was convicted of leaking their tax information, along with that of thousands of other Americans who are not suing, to news outlets. Trump has control over the IRS, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says he will write whatever check he is told to cut. This move advances Trump’s use of the presidency to enrich himself into the realm of autocratic rulers who move their country’s money to their own accounts ..."
Heather Cox Richardson | February 16, 2026 (Monday)
{Boston College historian posting on Facebook}
"On February 13 and 14 {2026}, President Donald J. Trump’s representatives filed three applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to trademark his name for future use on an airport. As trademark lawyer Josh Gerben of Gerben IP noted, the application also covers merchandise branded “President Donald J. Trump International Airport,” “Donald J. Trump International Airport,” and “DJT,” including “clothing, handbags, luggage, jewelry, watches, and tie clips.”
Because of the trademark filing, Gerben notes, any airport adopting the Trump name would have to get a license to use the name, potentially paying a licensing fee. Gerben emphasizes that while it is common for public officials to have landmarks named after them, “never in the history of the United States” has “a sitting president’s private company…sought trademark rights” before such a naming.
In October, Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought withheld billions of dollars Congress appropriated for a tunnel between New York and New Jersey under the Hudson River, saying he wanted “to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles.” Trump told Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that he would release the funds if Schumer would agree to name Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C., and New York City’s Penn Station after him.
After a Florida state lawmaker proposed putting Trump’s name on the Palm Beach International Airport, Jason Garcia of Seeking Rents today reported that the Florida legislature is currently pushing through measures to change the name of that airport to the “Donald J. Trump International Airport.” The amount of money proposed in Florida’s budget to make the change is $2,750,000, but Garcia notes this is likely a placeholder: the budget request is for $5.5 million.
The Trump grab for an airport named after him is just the latest grift in a presidential term that experts so far estimate has enriched the Trump family by at least $4 billion. That windfall includes merch, political contributions, and multiple cryptocurrency deals that have led, for example, to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who manages the United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund, buying a 49% stake in the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto company for $500 million days before Trump took office. This deal put $187 million immediately into Trump family entities and at least $31 million into entities owned by the family of Steve Witkoff, whom Trump had just named his Middle East envoy.
“President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public—which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said of the UAE deal. “President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.”
Earlier this month, Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, and the Trump Organization sued the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Treasury Department for $10 billion in damages after an IRS contractor during Trump’s own first term was convicted of leaking their tax information, along with that of thousands of other Americans who are not suing, to news outlets. Trump has control over the IRS, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says he will write whatever check he is told to cut. This move advances Trump’s use of the presidency to enrich himself into the realm of autocratic rulers who move their country’s money to their own accounts ..."
13margd
!!!
Justice Department expands Trump settlement to cover his tax audits
Josh Gerstein and Danny Nguyen | 05/19/2026
"Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed a broadly worded addendum that appears to end the president’s long-running disputes with the IRS.
... a one-page document posted on the DOJ website early Tuesday includes a sweeping release under which the IRS is “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing “examinations” of Trump, “related or affiliated individuals,” and related trusts and businesses.
The waiver specifically encompasses “tax returns filed before the effective date” of the settlement, which was Monday.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed the addendum, dated Tuesday. It does not bear the signature of any representative of the IRS or any current Trump lawyers. Metadata attached to the document indicates it was prepared or scanned at 7:50 a.m. Tuesday.
Blanche did not sign the original settlement agreement, which was signed by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, IRS CEO Frank Bisignano and Trump attorney Daniel Epstein ..."
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/19/trump-irs-settlement-tax-returns-009279...
---------------------------------------------
Office of the Attorney General, May 19, 2026
Addendum (1p)
https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1441216/dl
Justice Department expands Trump settlement to cover his tax audits
Josh Gerstein and Danny Nguyen | 05/19/2026
"Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed a broadly worded addendum that appears to end the president’s long-running disputes with the IRS.
... a one-page document posted on the DOJ website early Tuesday includes a sweeping release under which the IRS is “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing “examinations” of Trump, “related or affiliated individuals,” and related trusts and businesses.
The waiver specifically encompasses “tax returns filed before the effective date” of the settlement, which was Monday.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed the addendum, dated Tuesday. It does not bear the signature of any representative of the IRS or any current Trump lawyers. Metadata attached to the document indicates it was prepared or scanned at 7:50 a.m. Tuesday.
Blanche did not sign the original settlement agreement, which was signed by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, IRS CEO Frank Bisignano and Trump attorney Daniel Epstein ..."
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/19/trump-irs-settlement-tax-returns-009279...
---------------------------------------------
Office of the Attorney General, May 19, 2026
Addendum (1p)
https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1441216/dl
14ljbryant
>13 margd: The judge in this case -- Kathleen Williams -- has stated that "there is no settlement of record" and noted issues with the entire procedure used for the dismissal. I suspect that this "settlement" is, at best, quasi-legal, and easily set aside by any future DOJ.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/18/politics/what-to-know-trump-weaponization-fund-fo...
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/18/politics/what-to-know-trump-weaponization-fund-fo...
15margd
The White House Intervened to Get a $620 Million Deal for a Company Tied to Donald Trump Jr.
Robert Faturechi | May 28, 2026
"... the request to loan hundreds of millions of dollars to the firm {Vulcan, a North Carolina rare-earth magnet company launched just two years earlier} linked to Trump Jr. was made by Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to President Donald Trump and a friend of Trump Jr.’s.
Of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was considering funding at the time, Vulcan’s was the only deal initiated by a top aide to the president...
After defense officials got the White House request, they asked Pentagon staff to move at an unusually rapid pace ... The staff worked late nights and with little sleep to get the loan through in a matter of weeks ... “The call came from the White House: We have to get this done” ... "
https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-vulcan-deal-white-house
Robert Faturechi | May 28, 2026
"... the request to loan hundreds of millions of dollars to the firm {Vulcan, a North Carolina rare-earth magnet company launched just two years earlier} linked to Trump Jr. was made by Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to President Donald Trump and a friend of Trump Jr.’s.
Of the dozens of companies the Pentagon was considering funding at the time, Vulcan’s was the only deal initiated by a top aide to the president...
After defense officials got the White House request, they asked Pentagon staff to move at an unusually rapid pace ... The staff worked late nights and with little sleep to get the loan through in a matter of weeks ... “The call came from the White House: We have to get this done” ... "
https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-vulcan-deal-white-house
16margd
Breaking Post 360 {Facebook, June 6, 2026}: "Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, RFK Jr.'s daughter-in-law and a former CIA officer, has stepped away from the Trump administration. Her reason: she could no longer keep signing off on unsupervised movement of money and gold at the CIA.
Her words: "I would have become complicit." .."
-------------------------------------------------
Judge orders detention of ex-CIA official found with $40 million in gold bars
Callie Teitelbaum, Kelly Jones | June 5, 2026
"... U.S. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick said in a detention hearing Friday that David Rush must remain in custody pending trial, determining that he poses a severe flight risk. Fitzpatrick said Rush has the means and motive to flee law enforcement and evade detection.
In May, as FBI investigators were looking into whether Rush had lied about his educational and military background, they searched his home and discovered 303 gold bars, $2 million in cash and more than 30 luxury watches. The government's lawyers alleged he was diversifying funds into commodities that could be traded. They claimed there is "strong evidence" Rush was trying to hide the funds..."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-orders-detention-of-ex-cia-official-40-millio...
Her words: "I would have become complicit." .."
-------------------------------------------------
Judge orders detention of ex-CIA official found with $40 million in gold bars
Callie Teitelbaum, Kelly Jones | June 5, 2026
"... U.S. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick said in a detention hearing Friday that David Rush must remain in custody pending trial, determining that he poses a severe flight risk. Fitzpatrick said Rush has the means and motive to flee law enforcement and evade detection.
In May, as FBI investigators were looking into whether Rush had lied about his educational and military background, they searched his home and discovered 303 gold bars, $2 million in cash and more than 30 luxury watches. The government's lawyers alleged he was diversifying funds into commodities that could be traded. They claimed there is "strong evidence" Rush was trying to hide the funds..."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-orders-detention-of-ex-cia-official-40-millio...
17margd
Mike Levin @MikeLevin | 1:51 PM · Jun 28, 2026
U.S. Representative for CA-49.
https://x.com/MikeLevin/status/2071290309799989427
"Let me tell you what just got reported, because you will not believe it until you see it laid out.
The Trump administration cut a billion-dollar tungsten deal with Kazakhstan. Tungsten is the metal we need for missile warheads, fighter jets, and computer chips. Trump himself got on the phone to close it. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick worked it from the inside, sending letters, leaning on the Kazakh president, lining up as much as $1.6 billion in federal financing.
Within weeks of those negotiations, investors tied to a firm partly owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump took a 20% stake in an entity connected to the very same Kazakhstan project their father was negotiating. Around that same time, Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm run by Lutnick’s own sons, raised $210 million for a partner in the deal and pocketed the fees.
The fathers set the policy. The sons cashed in.
Six days after the Trump sons and their partners moved their money, Lutnick signed the final deal.
The reporting found one or both families have financial ties to at least 14 companies working with the government on critical mining deals.
The total federal funding flowing toward those companies tops $8.9 billion.
This is your tax money.
It is supposed to secure our supply chains and protect our troops, not pad the portfolios of the President’s children and the Commerce Secretary’s children.
This is the most corrupt administration in American history. It is not close.
We must keep digging, and keep asking the questions they do not want asked. Republicans in Congress are unwilling to lift a finger. Mike Johnson is running a protection racket.
Either we will end the corruption, or the corruption will be the end of us.
From nytimes.com"
-----------------------------------------------
Trump Cut a Billion-Dollar Mining Deal. His Sons Stand to Profit.
Paul Sonne and Eric Lipton | June 28 2026
"An agreement between the U.S. and Kazakhstan has given a group of American investors with ties to the president and the commerce secretary access to one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of tungsten
... Mr. Trump and his team won an agreement from the Kazakh leader to give a little-known American company access to one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of tungsten, a metal that the United States desperately needs for the production of missile warheads, fighter jets, computer chips and other critical goods.
Ahead of the deal, the Trump administration approved preliminary applications for as much as $1.6 billion in federal financing for the American company, now called Kaz Resources, which plans to break ground on the project in rural Kazakhstan.
It was not only Mr. Trump and Mr. Lutnick who saw an opportunity.
Their sons were soon doing business with partners in a deal that their fathers were negotiating, continuing a pattern of self-enrichment in the second Trump administration that has few precedents in American history. ..."
{Gift article} https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/28/world/europe/trump-lutnick-sons-kazakhstan.ht...
U.S. Representative for CA-49.
https://x.com/MikeLevin/status/2071290309799989427
"Let me tell you what just got reported, because you will not believe it until you see it laid out.
The Trump administration cut a billion-dollar tungsten deal with Kazakhstan. Tungsten is the metal we need for missile warheads, fighter jets, and computer chips. Trump himself got on the phone to close it. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick worked it from the inside, sending letters, leaning on the Kazakh president, lining up as much as $1.6 billion in federal financing.
Within weeks of those negotiations, investors tied to a firm partly owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump took a 20% stake in an entity connected to the very same Kazakhstan project their father was negotiating. Around that same time, Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm run by Lutnick’s own sons, raised $210 million for a partner in the deal and pocketed the fees.
The fathers set the policy. The sons cashed in.
Six days after the Trump sons and their partners moved their money, Lutnick signed the final deal.
The reporting found one or both families have financial ties to at least 14 companies working with the government on critical mining deals.
The total federal funding flowing toward those companies tops $8.9 billion.
This is your tax money.
It is supposed to secure our supply chains and protect our troops, not pad the portfolios of the President’s children and the Commerce Secretary’s children.
This is the most corrupt administration in American history. It is not close.
We must keep digging, and keep asking the questions they do not want asked. Republicans in Congress are unwilling to lift a finger. Mike Johnson is running a protection racket.
Either we will end the corruption, or the corruption will be the end of us.
From nytimes.com"
-----------------------------------------------
Trump Cut a Billion-Dollar Mining Deal. His Sons Stand to Profit.
Paul Sonne and Eric Lipton | June 28 2026
"An agreement between the U.S. and Kazakhstan has given a group of American investors with ties to the president and the commerce secretary access to one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of tungsten
... Mr. Trump and his team won an agreement from the Kazakh leader to give a little-known American company access to one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of tungsten, a metal that the United States desperately needs for the production of missile warheads, fighter jets, computer chips and other critical goods.
Ahead of the deal, the Trump administration approved preliminary applications for as much as $1.6 billion in federal financing for the American company, now called Kaz Resources, which plans to break ground on the project in rural Kazakhstan.
It was not only Mr. Trump and Mr. Lutnick who saw an opportunity.
Their sons were soon doing business with partners in a deal that their fathers were negotiating, continuing a pattern of self-enrichment in the second Trump administration that has few precedents in American history. ..."
{Gift article} https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/28/world/europe/trump-lutnick-sons-kazakhstan.ht...
18margd
Trump Pulled in at Least $2 Billion After Returning to the White House
Ben Protess, Andrea Fuller, Eric Lipton, and David Yaffe-Bellany | June 30, 2026
"The release of a mandatory financial disclosure for 2025 shows that the Trump family’s holdings, particularly the president’s crypto businesses, were stunningly lucrative.
President Trump reaped a stunning windfall in his first year back in the White House, including about $1.4 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency businesses, a new filing shows.
All told, the president pulled in at least $2.2 billion, a figure that includes other parts of his vast holdings, such as his real estate assets. That compares to a minimum of $622 million his enterprises pulled in for all of 2024, before he returned to the presidency...
One of his biggest hauls in 2025 came when an investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates bought nearly half of the Trump family’s main crypto company, World Liberty Financial, a transaction that blurred the line between foreign policy and private enterprise ..."
"This story is free to read." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/us/politics/trump-financial-disclosure-crypto...
Ben Protess, Andrea Fuller, Eric Lipton, and David Yaffe-Bellany | June 30, 2026
"The release of a mandatory financial disclosure for 2025 shows that the Trump family’s holdings, particularly the president’s crypto businesses, were stunningly lucrative.
President Trump reaped a stunning windfall in his first year back in the White House, including about $1.4 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency businesses, a new filing shows.
All told, the president pulled in at least $2.2 billion, a figure that includes other parts of his vast holdings, such as his real estate assets. That compares to a minimum of $622 million his enterprises pulled in for all of 2024, before he returned to the presidency...
One of his biggest hauls in 2025 came when an investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates bought nearly half of the Trump family’s main crypto company, World Liberty Financial, a transaction that blurred the line between foreign policy and private enterprise ..."
"This story is free to read." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/us/politics/trump-financial-disclosure-crypto...
19margd
Nearly a Million Investors Lost a Total of $3.8 Billion on Trump Crypto Coin
Eric Lipton and David Yaffe-Bellany | July 4, 2026
"A report from a cryptocurrency analytics firm details how those who bought the Trump memecoin have fared, with most retail investors having lost money while sophisticated traders did better..."
{Unlocked article} https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/us/politics/trump-coin-crypto-investors-loss....
Eric Lipton and David Yaffe-Bellany | July 4, 2026
"A report from a cryptocurrency analytics firm details how those who bought the Trump memecoin have fared, with most retail investors having lost money while sophisticated traders did better..."
{Unlocked article} https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/us/politics/trump-coin-crypto-investors-loss....
20margd
Steve Rattner @SteveRattner | 10:54 AM · Jul 8, 2026:
Former head of Obama Auto Task Force. Wall Street financier. Contributing Writer to NY Times Op-Ed. Morning Joe Economic Analyst.
"The Trumps aren’t just using their family name to make money.
Their companies have received almost a billion $$ in federal contracts – a shocking and unprecedented display of corruption.
My @Morning_Joe Chart
Federal Money Flowing to Trump Family-Linked Companies"
https://x.com/SteveRattner/status/2074869850204238038/photo/1
Former head of Obama Auto Task Force. Wall Street financier. Contributing Writer to NY Times Op-Ed. Morning Joe Economic Analyst.
"The Trumps aren’t just using their family name to make money.
Their companies have received almost a billion $$ in federal contracts – a shocking and unprecedented display of corruption.
My @Morning_Joe Chart
Federal Money Flowing to Trump Family-Linked Companies"
https://x.com/SteveRattner/status/2074869850204238038/photo/1
21margd
Steve Rattner @SteveRattner | 2:24 PM · Jul 10, 2026:
Former head of Obama Auto Task Force. Wall Street financier. Contributing Writer to NY Times Op-Ed. Morning Joe Economic Analyst.
"Companies associated with Trump's sons have received $1 billion and counting in government contracts since he returned to office.
We've never seen anything like this coming out of the White House."
📸: @MSNOWNews @Morning_Joe
(0:43) https://x.com/SteveRattner/status/2075647248117936590
Former head of Obama Auto Task Force. Wall Street financier. Contributing Writer to NY Times Op-Ed. Morning Joe Economic Analyst.
"Companies associated with Trump's sons have received $1 billion and counting in government contracts since he returned to office.
We've never seen anything like this coming out of the White House."
📸: @MSNOWNews @Morning_Joe
(0:43) https://x.com/SteveRattner/status/2075647248117936590
22Cardboard_killer
Judge awards Hunter Biden $1.7M in defamation suit against ex-Overstock CEO
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5963916-hunter-biden-awarded-over-1...
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5963916-hunter-biden-awarded-over-1...
23margd
Trump Is Making Three Times As Much In White House As He Did In Business
Dan Alexander | Jul 15, 2026,
"As he returned to office, America’s salesman-in-chief capitalized on the most lucrative pitch of his life. Now Trump is selling something else—the myth that he doesn’t know how he made so much money.
He took in $2.4 billion last year, according to a Forbes analysis, which overlayed his financial disclosure report with bond filings, securities documents and court records to pinpoint a more specific number than the “at least $2.2 billion” widely reported in recent weeks. The $2.4 billion figure, a combination of operating revenue and proceeds from asset sales, dwarfs the estimated $760 million Trump received in 2024. It is also 6,000 times the current U.S. presidential salary of $400,000 ..."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2026/07/15/trump-is-making-three-times...
Dan Alexander | Jul 15, 2026,
"As he returned to office, America’s salesman-in-chief capitalized on the most lucrative pitch of his life. Now Trump is selling something else—the myth that he doesn’t know how he made so much money.
He took in $2.4 billion last year, according to a Forbes analysis, which overlayed his financial disclosure report with bond filings, securities documents and court records to pinpoint a more specific number than the “at least $2.2 billion” widely reported in recent weeks. The $2.4 billion figure, a combination of operating revenue and proceeds from asset sales, dwarfs the estimated $760 million Trump received in 2024. It is also 6,000 times the current U.S. presidential salary of $400,000 ..."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2026/07/15/trump-is-making-three-times...
24margd
US health secretary’s son launches investment fund tied to health movement
Patrick Temple-West | Apr 24 2026
"A son of US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is launching a fund to invest in healthcare companies, touting his ties to his father’s “make America healthy again” movement (Maha) and backing groups that could benefit from it..
William Finbar “Finn” Kennedy is seeking to raise $100mn for the fund, Victura Ventures, targeting early-stage growth companies involved in healthcare AI, consumer health and other health technologies, the document said. The fund is named after a sailboat owned by former President John F Kennedy, his great uncle.
The fund already has about $70mn in commitments. “Healthcare is entering a rare convergence,” it said. “Victura is built to capture this moment.”
Kennedy’s foray into healthcare investing marks the latest example of the cosy relationship between the Trump administration and close associates who have sought to capitalise on it ..."
https://www.ft.com/content/2cf36d19-ebd8-4c99-bb6f-d32abb7e0aba?syn-25a6b1a6=1
-------------------------------------------------------
{No paywall} https://www.newser.com/story/387990/kennedys-son-launches-fund-planning-maha-con...
Patrick Temple-West | Apr 24 2026
"A son of US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is launching a fund to invest in healthcare companies, touting his ties to his father’s “make America healthy again” movement (Maha) and backing groups that could benefit from it..
William Finbar “Finn” Kennedy is seeking to raise $100mn for the fund, Victura Ventures, targeting early-stage growth companies involved in healthcare AI, consumer health and other health technologies, the document said. The fund is named after a sailboat owned by former President John F Kennedy, his great uncle.
The fund already has about $70mn in commitments. “Healthcare is entering a rare convergence,” it said. “Victura is built to capture this moment.”
Kennedy’s foray into healthcare investing marks the latest example of the cosy relationship between the Trump administration and close associates who have sought to capitalise on it ..."
https://www.ft.com/content/2cf36d19-ebd8-4c99-bb6f-d32abb7e0aba?syn-25a6b1a6=1
-------------------------------------------------------
{No paywall} https://www.newser.com/story/387990/kennedys-son-launches-fund-planning-maha-con...
