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Success Academy (originally called Harlem Success Academy) wil open five charter schools in Miami. The board had the paperwork for only one day, but were pressured to make a decision or have the decision made by a special magistrate.
SA is run by Eva Moskowitz, a former New York City Council member. She has nearly 60 charter schools in NYC. The chain is amply funded by billionaires, including several Wall Street titans.
Her debut in Miami is facilitated by a gift of $50 million by billionaire Ken Griffin.
Under a law passed recently, SA is authorized to move into any school with empty classrooms. In NYC, this is called co-location. It inevitably creates bad feelings between the public school and the charter school, because the charter school–especially SA–is better funded than the public school and has better everything.
Moskowitz hopes to enroll 8,000-10,000 in Miami and then expand into other parts of Florida.
Board member Luisa Santos, who represents the district Homestead Senior High is in, expressed concern for what the co-location would mean for students with disabilities.
“ On paper it may look like we have the seats, but in reality, once I started looking at how you implement this year one and year two, at the specific school in my district, the reality would be that you’re doubling and tripling up some of those highest need students into environments that frankly will become very chaotic,” Santos said.
SA is a “no-excuses” charter chain, which has strict rules about student behavior. It retains the power to oust students who don’t conform to its rules.
It has been controversial in NYC for multiple reasons. For high student attrition; for high teacher turnover; for accepting only students with the mildest disabilities; for ousting students who can’t comply or keep up; for bringing students to legislative meetings at the city or state levels to lobby for more funding for charter schools; for Moskowitz’s compensation (close to $1 million a year including bonuses); and for using a powerful, wealthy campaign PAC to support candidates who back charter expansion.
The students who survive 12-13 years of SA get very high test scores.
The best source of news about politics these days is the Meidas Nerwork. The three Meiselas brothers have created print, video, podcast and every other form of media. With their editor-in-chief Ron Filipowski, they are in the know. This is part of their weekend roundup.
This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 357.
APR 26, 2026
… Trump and Republicans have predictably seized upon the shooting incident at last night’s WHCA dinner to push for suppression of free speech and dismissal of the court case that is temporarily halting some of his beloved ballroom construction.
… AP: “Video showed the suspect running past security barricades as Secret Service agents ran toward him. One officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest but was recovering. The gunman was tackled to the ground and was not injured, but was being evaluated at a hospital.”
… CBS reporter Jennifer Jacobs: “The shooting happened on the level above the ballroom where the dinner was. I don’t think people hearing about this – or even those of us in the room – realized how far from the president, VP and other guests this incident was. It was on another floor, up some stairs and several sets of security away.”
… Reese Gorman with NOTUS: “I was talking with a GOP lawmaker at the WHCD last night right after the shooting who was appalled at the lack of security entering the Washington Hilton. There were 0 magnetometer or security checkpoints prior to entering the Washington Hilton. All you needed to do to get in was flash a ticket or a screenshot of an email, there was no actual inspection of what you showed anyone.”
… “In my case they didn’t even check my phone or ticket they let me through because I was with someone who had already flashed their ticket. You didn’t reach your first and only security checkpoint until you went down the escalator and were right outside the ballroom. No ID’s were checked. There’s significantly more security at some Trump rallies I’ve been to. And this dinner had the President, VP and Speaker in attendance.”
… Karoline Leavitt on Fox right before the event started: “This speech tonight will be classic Donald J. Trump. There will be some shots fired tonight in the room, so everyone should tune in.”
… Minutes after the shooting, Dep. WH Chief of Staff and former Trump golf caddie Dan Scavinogot up and tried to lead attendees in a “USA! USA!” chant by screaming it out several times. Not one person joined him and he walked out.
… Trump then held a press conference at the event:
- “When you’re impactful, they go after you. When you’re not impactful, they leave you alone.”
- “This is not a particularly secure building. And I didn’t want to say this, but this is why we have to have all the attributes of what we have planned at the WH. It’s a much larger room and much more secure, it’s got bulletproof glass. That’s why we need the ballroom.
- “I lead a pretty normal life, considering, you know, it’s a dangerous life. I think I’m, I think I handle it as well – as well as it can be handled. To be honest with you, I’m not a basket case.”
- “We’re not going to cancel things because we can’t do that. We wanted to stay tonight, I will tell you, I, I fought like hell to stay, but it was protocol—they said, please, sir.”
- He said he wants the event to be rescheduled because he has a great speech ready: “I was all set to really rip it. I’ll have to save it. I don’t know if I can ever be as rough as I was going to be tonight. I think I’m going to be probably very nice. I’ll be very boring the next time, but we’re going to have a great event.”
… Kash Patel then praised Trump: “Mr. President, you inspire them 24/7, 365 You give them the resources that they need and you know, they know that you have their back, and that is a changing dynamic in this country and that’s why you saw a brave Secret Service agents respond immediately, swiftly, subdue and take down the suspect and safeguard the lives of thousands of individuals at that hotel.”
… Monica Crowley, Chief of Protocol at the WH: “Once again, you witnessed the Hand of God tonight.”
… Franklin Graham posted: “After three assassination attempts, some people say that President Trump is one lucky man. I don’t think luck has anything to do with it – I believe it is the hand of God. What do you think?”
… I think Franklin Graham is a nepo-baby charlatan who weaponizes the Bible to advance his political agenda.
… Immediately after the incident, MAGA supporters received their marching orders and blasted out coordinated propaganda posts on X trying to use it as justification for Trump’s ballroom monstrosity.
… Which also includes Sen. John Fettermanthese days: “We were there front and center. That venue wasn’t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the US govt. After witnessing last night, drop the TDS and build the WH ballroom for events exactly like these.”
… Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) took it a step further and said taxpayers should pay for it: “Any consideration of DHS reconciliation instructions this week and beyond should provide for construction of a secure ballroom on WH grounds.”
… Dep. AG Todd Blanche then sent a letter to the National Trust for Historic Preservationdemanding they dismiss their lawsuit against the ballroom: “You lawsuit puts the lives of the president, his family, and his staff at grave risk. I hope yesterday’s narrow miss will help you finally realize the folly of your lawsuit.”
… Former MAGA influencer and Elon Musk baby-mama Ashley St. Claire: “All of MAGA is paid and they coordinate their messaging in lockstep via groupchats. All of these people came to the conclusion that after what they saw at the WHCD, their first thought was ‘Trump needs his ballroom’? One of the main groupchats in which they coordinate this messaging is literally called ‘Fight, Fight, Fight!’ after the ‘attempt’ on Trump’s life in Butler”
… Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) received quite a bit of ridicule after she suggested that actor Ben Stiller may be involved or complicit when he made this 3-word post: “Got it done.” Mace responded: Got what done?” Her reply was hit with this Community Note: “He was rooting for the Knicks to win their game against the Atlanta Hawks. And they did.”
… Journalist David Shuster: “Last night, CNN, TMZ, CBS and others reported the dinner gunman was ‘confirmed dead.’ In fact, he was alive and had not been shot. (Just shot at). At a dinner honoring WH reporting, the rush to be first instead of being accurate was on full display. Speaks volumes.”
… Daily Mail on the shooter: “On LinkedIn, he describes himself as: ‘A mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth.’ Allen earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the CA Institute of Tech and later a M.S. in Computer Science from a CA State Univ. During his time at Caltech, Allen listed his involvement in the Caltech Christian Fellowship.”
… CA-based elections analyst Rob Pyers on shooter: “Registered as a No Party Preference voter in LA County. FEC records show a single $25 contribution via ActBlue to the Kamala Harrispresidential campaign.”
… From the shooter’s manifesto, which he sent to his family minutes before the incident:
- “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes. (Well, to be completely honest, I was no longer willing a long time ago, but this is the first real opportunity I’ve had to do something about it.)”
- “Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest. In order to minimize casualties I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls)”
- “I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people *chose* to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”
- “Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I’m not the person raped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial. I’m not a schoolkid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this admin. Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”
… Seems a bit odd that he would exclude Patel from his hit list. Wonder what the reason is for that?
… CBS: “Allen’s brother had notified New London PD (CT) of the alleged manifesto he had sent to his family members prior to the incident. Family members told investigators Allen would regularly go to the shooting range to train with his firearms. The official said Allen was part of a group called ‘The Wide Awakes’ and attended a ‘No Kings’ protest in CA.”
… Trump then posted Sunday morning: “What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE. This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the WH!”
… Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) was on CNN. Dana Bash: “You and your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. Do you think twice about that when something like that happens? Raskin: What rhetoric do you have in mind? Bash: That he’s terrible for this country and so on and so forth.”
… Todd Blanche on CBS: Q – “The alleged shooter had multiple weapons. In DC, open carry is not permitted. You just said he traveled from CA across the country by train. How did he do that? Blanche: This isn’t about in my mind changing the law, or making the laws more restrictive around firearms. Host: I’m asking about crossing state lines with firearms. Blanche: I don’t think that’s something we should be focused on.”
… Mehdi Hasan: “They want to use the alleged assassination attempt to build a ballroom (!) and crack down on the left but not touch gun laws, oh no, never that.”
… Peter Doocy on Fox: “We should expect in the coming days to hear about major security improvements – that could include Trump having to wear a bullet-proof vest when he is out in public.”
… When the announcement was made that the dinner was canceled, that started a run on people grabbling bottles of wine and champagne off the tables. Some for takeout later, others decided not to wait.
We make the entire Weekend Bulletin available to everyone who are also able to participate in the comments section below. About the first third of the daily Bulletins during the week are available to free subscribers. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.
This is one of those stories that is hard to believe. But it happened. Experienced FBI agents were purged by the hapless Kash Patel, after Trump put him in charge. This story demonstrates the Patel-ized FBI, which chases crazy rumors but can’t find Savannah Guthrie’s mother.
Will Sommer wrote in The Bulwark:
WHEN THE CONSERVATIVE WEBSITE the Blaze published an article last November accusing a former Capitol Police officer of being the January 6th pipe bomber based on “gait analysis,” most of the public reacted skeptically.
But not the FBI.
Instead, the nation’s foremost law enforcement agency allegedly acted on the information the Blaze had gathered and sent bomb-sniffing dogs, agents in tactical gear, and even a helicopter to that former Capitol Police officer’s home. It was dramatic, terrifying, and wildly unnecessary.
That’s according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the former officer, Shauni Kerkhoff—who had defended Congress from the January 6th rioters and later testified in court against some of them.
Kerkhoff’s lawsuit provides startling new allegations about the government’s frantic and largely futile efforts to try to close a case that had generated a wave of wild speculation on the right and befuddled the leadership of the FBI under Director Kash Patel. It also underscores the degree to which conspiracy theories have influenced official government action, even at the highest levels.
The drama actually began shortly before the Blaze published its now-infamous and since-retracted “gait analysis” article. According to Kerkhoff’s lawsuit, the reporter behind the story, Steve Baker, shared his allegations with staffers for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. His findings were based on supposed similarities between Kerkhoff’s style of walking and the bomber’s. Gabbard’s office subsequently drafted a memo identifying Kerkhoff as a possible suspect, CBS News reported.
On November 6, 2025, two days prior to the publication of the story—though one day after Baker had begun publicly teasing his findings on a podcast with the Blaze’s founder, Glenn Beck—Kerkhoff, who had left her job to work in security at the CIA, alleges that she was called in to an office at her job to meet with two FBI agents saying they were interested in “online chatter” about her role in the attempted bombings. Kerkhoff claims in her lawsuit that she was then put on administrative leave from the CIA and asked by the FBI agents to give permission for a few of them to enter the house she shared with her boyfriend to look for a pair of shoes worn by the bomber.
Kerkhoff claims she and boyfriend did not give permission to the agents, but agreed to meet them at the home.
Soon after Kerkhoff arrived at the house, she claims, a “caravan of FBI vehicles descended on their street.” The group included a bomb-disposal truck and an FBI helicopter flying overhead, as well as agents in “full tactical gear” with their guns drawn. Kerkhoff alleges the agents “swept through the house” with bomb-sniffing dogs, “rifled through drawers” and tossed the couple’s belongings on the floor.
“It suddenly occurred to Ms. Kerkhoff that they were not simply looking for a pair of shoes,” the lawsuit reads.
At one point, Kerkhoff claims, she asked a “senior FBI official” on the scene why “online chatter” had prompted the raid. The official, according to her lawsuit, said he was responding to orders from “higher up.”
A spokesperson for the FBI responded that the agency wouldn’t comment on ongoing litigation.
The hours-long search ended at 8 p.m., according to Kerkhoff’s lawsuit. But the ordeal wasn’t over yet. She claims she was then subjected to an hours-long polygraph test at an FBI office, leaving only in the early hours of November 7. A day later, the Blaze formally published its allegations that she was the bomber, prompting Kerkhoff and her boyfriend to hide in their home for fear of their lives, according to the lawsuit.
Baker’s article was promoted by Republicans members of Congress, and prompted Beck to declare it “the biggest scandal” in a century. Yet it quickly fell apart under scrutiny, and was retracted after the FBI arrested suspect Brian Cole Jr. for the attempted bombing in December. Cole has since confessed to planting the bombs, which did not detonate on the day of the riot. His legal team has since tried to argue for his innocence by noting, among other things, that Baker has not backed off his original reporting.
But the Blaze has backed off, even to the point of firing Baker earlier this month. And while he was set to make a podcast appearance with Megyn Kelly, that too was apparently canceled amid fears of defamation suits. Baker, himself a January 6th defendant, told me that Blaze management is “in the fetal position” over the prospect of Kerkhoff’s lawsuit, saying the potentially massive judgment would amount to an “existential threat” to the site.
Kerkhoff returned to her job at the CIA a few weeks later, after establishing an alibi by showing prosecutors video of her playing with her dog at the time of the attempted bombings, according to the lawsuit.
She is now suing the Blaze and its former reporters for six counts of defamation, saying she suffered “reputational harm” and “emotional distress” over the article and related podcast appearances. Kerkhoff doesn’t specify how much money she’s suing for, asking instead for “actual damages in amounts to be proven at trial.” Kerkhoff is represented by heavyweight defamation firm Clare Locke.
What will Kerkhoff win at a trial for defamation and damages? It should be enough to deter others from making wild accusations without evidence.
Tim Dickinson, senior political writer for The Contrarian, compiled a list of things and places on which Trump has plastered his name: public buildings, our currency, and much more. Before he became President, he sold Trump steaks, Trump airlines, Trump vodka, Trump University, Trump hotels, Trump golf clubs, and much more. His ego is a giant hole that can never be sated.
Dickinson wrote:
Like fragile strongmen everywhere, Donald Trump wants to plaster his name and likeness in as many official places as possible.
Toxic narcissism has led Trump on a crusade to rebrand navy ships, federal buildings, and international airports in his own honor, as well as to splash his face on everything from immigration documents to national park passes to banners draped outside of federal department headquarters. If Trump gets his way, he’ll soon get his face on a gold coin, his signature on U.S. currency, and — who knows — maybe even an NFL stadium named for him.
Below, we survey Trump’s precedent-busting exercise in egocentric excess.
MONUMENTS
Trump has just unveiled plans for a new monument in Washington, D.C. — a 250-foot-tall “Triumphal Arch” that would sit across the Potomac from the Lincoln Memorial. The gaudy, ginormous arch has been pilloried as the Arc de Trump (a play off the Arc de Triomphe in Paris). When asked by a reporter in October who the monument is for, Trump replied simply: “Me.” The arch will reportedly be financed with at least $15 million in taxpayer funds.
BUILDINGS
The Kennedy Center
In December, Trump appended his name to what is now The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Trump’s cronies on the Kennedy Center board approved the clunky name change; and the institution’s signage and website have been updated to reflect the cultural vandalism. (After high profile artists began boycotting the venue, the Tump-Kennedy Center has now shuttered for a two-year, $275 million overhaul.)
The United States Institute of Peace
After initially seeking to dismantle the nation’s peace institute, and sending DOGE goons there to seize the building, Trump decided in December to rebrand the “bloated, useless entity” as the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. Trump took this action shortly before he made a hard pivot to war, launching an unprovoked regime-change strike on Venezuela in January and then an illegal war with Iran in March.
SHIPS
Trump Class Battleships
In a preview of his bellicose streak, Trump announced the development of a new type of guided-missile battleship in December — branded as the “Trump Class” and billed as “the most lethal warship to ever be built.” Plans call for launching as many as two dozen of these ships, which would comprise what Trump touts as a “Golden Fleet.”
PORTS
Palm Beach International Airport
The airport closest to Trump’s compound at Mar a Lago will now be known as President Donald J. Trump International Airport. Florida’s loyalist GOP governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation in March directing the name change to go into effect in July. Separately, a road leading to the airport has also been rebranded President Donald J. Trump Boulevard.
FEDERAL PROGRAMS
Trump Gold Card
Trump wants richer immigrants, and the administration has rolled out a red-carpet path to citizenship — in exchange for a cool $1 million contribution to the Treasury. These immigrants obtain a gilded document known as the Trump Gold Card with Trump’s face and signature on it, and a promise that it will enable holders to “unlock life in America.” (A platinum card is supposedly under development.)
Trump Rx
Seeking to put his brand on healthcare, Trump launched Trump Rx, a discount program that touts “most favored nation” pricing for pharmaceuticals — purporting to make them as cheap as what foreign countries pay. The New York Times has found that when it comes to Trump Rx, “the reality does not match his hyperbole,” and the program has been criticized for pushing brand-name drugs for which cheap generics already exist, while providing little improvement over existing private-sector discount programs like GoodRx.
Trump Accounts
Through his “Big Beautiful Bill,” Trump slapped his name on a new retirement account for infants. With Trump Accounts the federal government will put $1,000 in seed money into an IRA created on behalf of children born from 2025 through 2028.
PARKS
National Parks Pass
If you want to vacation a America’s crown jewel national parks you’ll now have to contend with Trump scowling at you every time you flash your America the Beautiful annual pass. (Trump also announced free admission to parks on his birthday, while revoking free admission on Martin Luther King Jr. day and Juneteenth, because racism.)
CURRENCY
Greenbacks
Trump wants to put his autograph on American currency. In March, the Treasury Department announced a plan to print Trump’s signature on legal U.S. tender. “There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S dollar bills bearing his name,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Gold Coins
Flattering a president whose love for gold has seen him transform the Oval Office into a gilded fever dream, the U.S. Mint has unveiled a design for a gold Trump coin, that features a joyless likeness of Trump looking like he needs more fiber in his diet.
BANNERS
Adding to the official cult of personality around Washington, D.C., banners of Trump’s visage have been hung at the Department of Justice…
… as well as the Department of Labor
BUT WAIT…THERE’S MORE
Trump recently unveiled the design for his skyscraper, the Trump library — billed to be the tallest high-rise in Miami. The “library” may also double as a hotel.
The naming spree may have only just begun. Trump has also lobbied to have the following renamed for his glory:
- New York Penn Station
- Washington Dulles Airport
- The new stadium for the NFL’s Washington Commanders. (That would surely be a beautiful name,” said Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.)
Tim Dickinson is the senior political writer for The Contrarian.
A blog called Home of the Brave has been running a series about “Profiles in Corruption.”
The most recent was about Jared Kushner, husband of Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
If the Democrats win control of the House of Representatives in November, the public can expect a steady stream of investigations about how friends and relatives of Trump cashed in.
This article is Part Three in a series called ‘Profiles in Corruption,’ in which we shine a light on the personal financial interests of people close to the president. Previously, we profiled Don Jr. and JD Vance.
Before Jared Kushner became a billionaire, he was the wealthy son of a New York real estate magnate and paid next to nothing in federal income taxes for several years running. The New York Times reported that between 2009 and 2016, Jared Kushner utilized real estate depreciation rules to avoid cutting checks to Uncle Sam. Kushner’s wealth quintupled from around $64 million in 2008 to $324 million in 2018.
The wealth he has accumulated since 2018 is even more staggering. Leveraging the rolodex he accrued as an advisor in the West Wing, Kushner launched a private equity firm in 2021 called Affinity Partners and quickly secured lucrative investments from abroad. In four years, he turned Affinity Partners into a $4.8 billionenterprise.
When you add up Kushner’s 100 percent ownership stake in Affinity, his 20 percent stakein Kushner Companies (his family’s real estate business), his $105 million dollar home in Florida, and his collection of artwork, cash, and other personal investments, Kushner’s total net worth now exceeds the three comma benchmark. He officially became a billionaire in September 2025.
Before we unpack how Kushner amassed his fortune, let’s ask: Why does this matter?
It’s not illegal for the president’s son-in-law to become rich; we are not alleging that Kushner has committed any crime. But since Kushner became a senior advisor in Trump’s first administration and an unofficial negotiator in the second, his business activity warrants close scrutiny. And his sprawling web of business deals with Middle Eastern governments raises concerns about whether Kushner can negotiate in good faith on behalf of the United States government.
Kushner’s story is part of a pattern: people in Trump’s inner circle are monetizing their proximity to the president and obtaining financial gains that wouldn’t exist without that access. The American people are left wondering whose interest is driving the administration’s policy decisions: the public’s interest, or the personal financial interests of the president’s friends and family.
Before he was part of the Trump family, Kushner was a scion of a different New York City real estate empire. Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, started a real estate development firm in New York in 1985. But in 2005, Charles Kushner was found guilty of federal tax violations and an attempted plan to blackmail his brother-in-law by hiring a prostitute to seduce him, secretly film the encounter, and send the video tape to Kushner’s own sister, the man’s wife. The elder Kushner was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison. (As an aside, Donald Trump pardoned Charles Kushner in 2020. Today, Charles Kushner serves as the United States Ambassador to France and Monaco.)
While Charles Kushner was serving his time in jail, Jared was called up to run the family’s real estate business. At the time, he was a joint law-M.B.A. student at NYU, and he was dating Ivanka Trump. He and Ivanka got married in October 2009
Fast forward to 2017. His personal wealth had grown substantially, in part due to his savvy navigation of federal income tax rules as discussed above. His father-in-law became the President of the United States, and Kushner served as a senior White House advisor and Middle East envoy. This role was unprecedented for someone with no government experience, no Senate confirmation, and no apparent expertise in foreign policy. He was the architect of the Abraham Accords, the 2020 agreements that normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. In the process, he built close personal relationships with the leaders of several Gulf states including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known popularly as MBS.
When Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, US intelligence agencies concluded MBS ordered the killing. Kushner was, according to the New York Times, a key defenderof MBS inside the White House—helping ensure the relationship between Kushner’s country and MBS’s survived. (Kushner also reportedly communicated with MBS through WhatsApp to conduct official business—a breach of protocol that presaged Signalgate.)
The $2 Billion Question
Six months after leaving the White House in January 2021, Kushner secured a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, for Affinity Partners, his newly formed private equity firm.
Here’s what makes that remarkable: Saudi Arabia’s own investment board didn’t want to do it. According to the New York Times, a review panel that screens investment for the main Saudi sovereign wealth fund flagged Affinity Partners for inexperienced management, unsatisfactory due diligence, excessive management fees, and, in their words, “public relations risks” tied to Kushner’s White House role. Despite these concerns, Crown Prince MBS overruled the panel and approved the deal.
Also, interestingly, Kushner was not the only former Trump administration official soliciting investments from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund at the time. Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary during Trump’s first term, was also starting a new fund. Mnuchin, a man with decades of finance experience, received a $1 billion investment from the Saudi Public Investment Fund, setting off alarm bells in Congress. Despite acknowledging the risks and concerns in investing in Kushner’s firm, the Saudis wound up investing twice as much money in Kushner’s firm as they did Mnuchin’s.
The Gulf money kept coming for Jared. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and the Abu-Dhabi based firm Lunate combined to invest $1.5 billion into Affinity Partners in 2024. Today, Affinity manages roughly $4.8 billion in assets—the majority of it from the same Gulf countries whose leadership Kushner courted while serving as a US official.
Congress noticed. In 2024, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Or.) called on then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate Kushner and Affinity Partners for potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. They alleged that Kushner was simultaneously acting as a “political consultant” to Trump and as what they called a “shadow diplomat” for Saudi, Emirati, and Qatari interests—while collecting tens of millions in management fees from those same governments.
After the 2024 election, when Republicans took control of Congress and the White House, the investigation into Kushner fizzled out.
The Bottom Line
Today, Jared Kushner is traveling the world—as an unelected, not-officially-appointed official—actively shaping US government policy. At the same time, he is soliciting funds for his own private equity business. In the Middle East especially, the countries with whom Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, is negotiating are greatly impacted by American foreign policy. Kushner’s participation in nuclear negotiations with Iran is well-documented. At least three separate reports suggest that Kushner told his father-in-law that Iran was using the negotiations to “buy time,” which encouraged Trump to order airstrikes targeting Iran’s senior leadership.
Given his financial interests in the region and his close relationships with senior government officials in Gulf countries, Kushner cannot be trusted to negotiate on the United States’s behalf in good faith. He cannot be relied upon to offer judicious, unbiased advice to his commander-in-chief. And given his proximity to the president, we cannot trust that other countries view their investments in Kushner’s private equity firm purely through a financial lens.
With Kushner, geopolitics, personal financial interests, national security and U.S. foreign policy are inextricably linked. Right now, he is purporting to represent the interests of all Americans as a de-facto diplomat, while so much of his personal wealth is linked to related government policy decisions. That’s a conflict of interest in plain sight. The least he could do is abide by public financial disclosure rules, as executive branch officials and presidential appointees have done for decades. He could attempt to dispel the public’s doubt about potential conflicts of interest. Instead, Kushner insists he’s just a “volunteer” helping out the government; as a result he is exempt from the usual financial disclosure laws.
Still, Kushner continues to hold a murky, unofficial role in Trump’s administration. This allows Kushner to legally negotiate with foreign countries on the president’s behalf while seeking investments from foreign countries’ sovereign wealth funds for his private business. We have to wonder what is guiding Kushner’s actions: his private financial interests or the public interests of the United States? We have to wonder if our government’s foreign policy is being exchanged for private investment into the president’s son-in-law’s private equity firm.
Yesterday, Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote the following to Kushner: “You are now reportedly participating as ‘Special Envoy for Peace’ in negotiations on behalf of the United States government to address the roiling conflicts in the Middle East. At the same time, you are soliciting billions of dollars from Gulf Monarchies for your private business ventures while already managing billions of dollars of their money in your international investment firm … To whom do your professional obligations and fiduciary duties belong?”
It’s a good question. If what’s best for Kushner’s bottom line is at odds with what’s best for the American people, can Kushner be trusted to faithfully defend the interests of the United States and suffer the personal financial hit?
Kushner is trying to have his cake and eat it, too. He is jet-setting around the globe, collecting $5 billion from foreign governments. Meanwhile, Americans are staring into a future where $5 per gallon gas prices are in the realm of possibility. We deserve better.
Home of the Brave exists to show Americans the real-world consequences of this administration’s policies, and to highlight what bravery looks like in defense of American democracy.
Jason Garcia, investigative reporter, explains how giant for-profit charter chain Academica plans to grab a bigger share of local property taxes. Academica long ago figured out the importance of working with the right lobbyists and contributing generously to the right politicians. Their efforts have paid off in bigger profits.
In late February, toward the end of this year’s regular legislative session, Republican leaders in the state Senate introduced a measure to make public school districts across Florida give a bigger share of local property taxes to privately run charter schools.
The idea seemed to catch some senators by surprise when it was presented to the Senate Finance & Tax Committee as part of a larger package of proposed tax cuts and changes. The charter school provision prompted an extended round of sometimes-confused questioning during the hearing; Sen. Ed Hooper, a Republican from Clearwater who is a part of the Senate GOP leadership team, confessed that even he did not fully understand it.
But there was someone who knew about the property tax plan in advance: Academica Corp., the charter school management giant that stands to profit from the change.
Records obtained by Seeking Rents show that the sponsor the Senate tax package shared a draft of the charter school language with a lobbyist for Academica the week before it was filed for the rest of the public to see. An aide to Sen. Bryan Avila (R-Miami Springs) emailed the still-secret tax-sharing scheme to Academica lobbyist Andreina Figueroa with a one-word subject line: “Review.”
Joyce Vance, former federal prosecutor for northern Alabama, sounds the alarm about a looming threat to the integrity of the fall elections. Trump knows he is likely to lose control of the House and possibly even the Senate. His own poll numbers are very low, in the mid-30s. His war on Iran is unpopular. Consumer prices are rising. Everyone feels the pain at the gas pump. The state of the economy is a millstone around his neck. Prominent MAGA boosters have defected, such as Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly.
Trump’s strategy: Eliminate the guardrails and put election deniers in charge, the people who think that Trump won in 2020, despite the fact that his claims were rejected in more than 60 courts, including the Supreme Court. In other words, cheat.
Joyce Vance warns us about what is happening and what we can do.
She writes:
My friends at Fair Fight, the Georgia-based pro-voting and pro-democracy organization reviewed the results of a ProPublica investigation into how Trump is systematically removing election protections, and produced this summary, that brings you up to date and also provides an important suggestion for what you can do.
We’re all responsible for protection the right to vote. So this is important information to take in.
Trump Has Eliminated Election Safeguards and Installed Loyalist Election Deniers in Key Roles
“The election denial movement is now interwoven within the federal government.”
On Monday, ProPublica released a massive new investigation breaking down how Donald Trump has dismantled federal guardrails that stopped him from overturning his 2020 election loss.
The 4,700+ word investigation, based on interviews with about 30 current and former executive branch officials, provides an unprecedented and detailed account of how thoroughly critical election security guardrails have been gutted within the federal government ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Key Findings from ProPublica’s Investigation:
We read the entire piece (twice) to make sure you’re aware of the findings.
- Career officials who protected elections are gone – election deniers have taken over. ProPublica found that at least 75 career officials across several agencies who played key roles in safeguarding the 2020 election have been fired, resigned, or reassigned. They have been replaced by roughly two dozen political appointees Trump has installed in positions that could affect elections. Many are election deniers and ten actively worked to reverse Trump’s 2020 loss.
- Federal programs designed to safeguard elections have been dismantled. Since Trump took office, nearly all federal election protection programs have been eliminated, severely defunded, or had nearly all their staff removed or reassigned:
- CISA election team
- NSC election security group
- ODNI Foreign Malign Influence Center
- DOJ Public Integrity Section
- DOJ Civil Rights Division’s voting section
- FBI Public Corruption Team
- FBI Foreign Influence Task Force
- FBI and DOJ Election Day command posts
- False claims and politicization now drive federal election policy. ProPublica reports that White House election lawyer Kurt Olsen – sanctioned by judges for false 2020 claims – pressured the FBI’s Atlanta chief to seize Fulton County’s 2020 ballots using a discredited report. When the FBI chief examined the evidence and found it didn’t hold up, and was already dismissed by Georgia Republican officials, he was forced out. The raid happened anyway – using a version of the same rejected evidence. Former DOJ Public Integrity lawyers said they likely would have tried to block the investigation.
Trump is “flooding the zone” to distract us. Billionaires are trying to control what you see, buying up media and controlling algorithms. Share this. Help spread the word.
Comment from Lauren Groh-Wargo, Fair Fight Action CEO: “Let’s be clear about what ProPublica has documented – the federal officials who stopped Trump from overturning his 2020 election loss have been systematically removed and replaced by the same people who tried to help him do it. At least eight key election security programs have been gutted since Trump took office. This is a coordinated effort to ensure there are no guardrails left when Americans go to vote in 2026 – everyone must understand what’s at stake.”
This Investigation Builds on a Pattern of Reporting
ProPublica’s investigation is revealing a coordinated effort to interfere with the 2026 midterm elections:
- In February, they revealed that several high-ranking Trump officials – including Kurt Olsen and DHS election integrity official Heather Honey – attended a summit convened by Michael Flynn where election deniers with White House access and influence discussed plans to declare a national emergency to take over the midterms.
- In March, ProPublica reported that David Harvilicz, the DHS official in charge of voting machine security, has called to ban voting machines, questioned the validity of Democratic wins, and pushed for Republicans to overhaul election systems to their advantage. Harvilicz co-founded a technology company an election denier who participated in attempts to seize voting machines and spread false claims which Trump considered using as a basis to declare martial law and seize voting machines in 2020.
- Taken together, the reporting reveals an effort to embed election deniers inside key federal government roles and use government power to reshape the 2026 midterms.
The Election Integrity Network is the Connective Tissue
The Election Integrity Network, founded by Cleta Mitchell after Trump’s 2020 loss, is the organizational thread connecting these appointees. Mitchell played a central role in efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss, she joined Trump’s infamous phone call to “find” votes in Georgia, was later subpoenaed by the House January 6th Committee and recommended to face charges by a Georgia grand jury.
At least 11 Trump officials have ties to Mitchell’s election denial network – they’ve been installed in agencies like DHS, DOJ, and CISA. One key example is Heather Honey, often seen as a protege of Mitchell. Honey falsely claimed more ballots were cast in Pennsylvania than there were voters in 2020, a claim Trump cited on January 6th – now holds a newly created DHS election integrity role and still gives EIN members private briefings from inside the government. Experts warn this coordination would likely have violated ethics rules under previous administrations, including Trump’s first term.
What Can You Do?
It’s becoming increasingly clear that Trump and his allies are trying to put their thumb on the scales ahead of the 2026 midterms. They’ve spread false conspiracy theories about voting machines and voter rolls – and reporting shows those claims are now being used to justify federal action.
Trump’s March 2025 executive order attempted to force the decertification of voting machines used in multiple states. Courts blocked it – but the people who pushed for it are still in charge. False claims assembled by election deniers were used to justify the FBI’s seizure of 2020 ballots in Fulton County and federal power is being used to pressure states into handing over their un-redacted voter rolls containing Americans’ personal, private information.
This isn’t a red state or blue state issue. These efforts can target elections anywhere in the country. Regardless of who you support politically, you should want your vote to be protected and your elections to be fair.
Call your Secretary of State (contact info):
- Tell them: False claims about elections are being used at the highest levels of government to justify seizing ballots and targeting voter rolls.
- Ask them: What are you doing to protect our votes in 2026?
They have a duty to protect the integrity of our elections – make sure they know you expect them to do it.
Speak up. Remain vigilant. Be ready to vote.
Fair Fight Action Team
Paid for by Fair Fight Action.
Rxan Smith writes on his blog about America’s broken prison system. We spend more on prisons than any other nation and have the highest recidivism. Our “get-tough” approach to crime is a failure, and a very costly one.
Here’s an uncomfortable math problem nobody in Washington wants to do out loud:
America spends $182 billion per year locking people up.
That’s billion. With a B. Every year.
Not to rehabilitate. Not to reduce crime. Not to make you safer.
Just to warehouse human beings in a system so thoroughly designed to fail that two out of every three people released from prison are arrested again within three years.
Our country’s criminal justice system does not offer criminal justice, and it’s barely worthy of being called a system at all.
It’s a revolving door — and somebody built that door on purpose, installed it at taxpayer expense, and charges you rent every time it spins.
Uncomfortable Truth About “Tough on Crime”
For fifty years, American politicians — left, right, and everything in between — have campaigned on being “tough on crime.”
You know what “tough on crime” actually produced?
*The largest incarcerated population on earth: over 2 million people
*A recidivism rate of 67% within 3 years of release
*A $182 billion annual price tag that grows every year
*Communities so stripped of working-age adults that poverty compounds across generations
“Tough on crime” didn’t reduce crime. It industrialized it.
It turned human failure into a growth industry — complete with lobbyists, quarterly earnings calls, and a political class that discovered you can always raise money by scaring people.
Meanwhile, Norway — with its functional approach — runs a prison system with a 20% recidivism rate.
Ours is 67%.
Norway’s isn’t radical. It’s just effective. The difference? They decided prisons should actually produce people who don’t go back.
The Numbers Behind the Nightmare
Let’s get specific, because the specifics are infuriating:
The Scale
*United States incarcerates 655 people per 100,000 — highest rate on earth
*Rwanda is second. We beat Rwanda. Let that land.
*43% of inmates are Black Americans, who represent 13% of the population
*Average cost per inmate: $39,000 per year — more than a year at many state universities
The Recidivism Machine
*67% of released prisoners are rearrested within 3 years
*83% are rearrested within 9 years
*People released with less than $50 in their pocket, a bus ticket, and a criminal record that disqualifies them from housing, jobs, and student loans
*Then we act surprised when they come back
The Private Prison Problem
*Private prison companies manage roughly 8% of inmates but spend millions lobbying for longer sentences, mandatory minimums, and policies that ensure full occupancy
*CoreCivic and GEO Group spent over $25 million on lobbying and political donations between 2000-2020
*They are literally paid to make sure prisons stay full…
What We Got Instead of Rehabilitation
The American philosophy of incarceration rests on three pillars, all of which are broken:
Deterrence: The idea that long sentences scare people away from crime.
Reality: Most crimes are not committed by people weighing a rational cost-benefit analysis. They’re committed by desperate, mentally ill, or addicted people who aren’t doing the math. The death penalty states don’t have lower murder rates. The math doesn’t work.
Incapacitation: Lock them up so they can’t hurt anyone.
Reality: The average sentence ends. People come out. If they come out with zero support, no job prospects, and the same addiction or mental illness that got them there — you haven’t solved the problem, you’ve aged it.
Punishment: They did something wrong; they should suffer.
Reality: Fine. But suffering without any change in behavior just produces someone who suffered. If we want public safety, we need to care about what happens after the punishment ends.
We skipped the part where any of this was supposed to work.
What Rehabilitation Actually Looks Like
Other countries figured this out. We just refused to copy the homework.
The Norwegian Model (No, It’s Not Soft. It’s Smart.)
Halden Prison in Norway has a music studio, a jogging trail, a kitchen where inmates learn to cook, and individual cells with windows. Guards eat lunch with inmates. The focus is on preparing people to live normal lives.
Result: 20% recidivism rate.
The cynical American response: “That’s not punishment.”
The functional response: “Their prisons actually work.”
You want punishment or you want results?
Because right now, we have neither.
What a Real Rehabilitation System Looks Like
Open the link to learn what we should be doing instead of the present failed approach.
I sent out a bulletin when I learned that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had reversed lower federal courts and approved the Texas law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
Peter Greene read the opinion and in this post he shows what a lot of malarkey it is. The more than five million children in Texas public schools are attached to many different faiths or to none at all, but the state is promoting only one. The Founding Fatheres would be horrified.
Greene writes:
Texas was one more state passing a law to mandate the display of the state-approved version of the Ten Commandments. That law was challenged, and U.S. District Judge Fred Biery blocked the law; Texas AG Ken Paxton asked the full 17 judges of the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to revisit the case and overturn the decision. This week they found in favor of the law. “It doesn’t violate the First Amendment at all,” declares the court in a ruling that depends heavily on some really special reasoning.
Anyway, the full court went by a slim majority for Paxton, the decision written by Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan.
First the court disposes of the Establishment Clause. And boy do they dispose of that.
If you’ve been following the dismantling of the wall between church and state, you may recall that Kennedy v. Bremerton, the case of the coach who wanted to lead prayers on the 50 yard line– a case that SCOTUS decided by actively ignoring facts— put a final stake through the heart of the Lemon Test, a three-pronged test for whether or not someone was violating the Establishment Clause (legal scholars have assured me that Lemon was not really used, anyway, but let’s move on). This new decision makes it a point to dance on Lemon’s grave and then announce the new test of the clause–
In place of Lemon, courts now ask a question rooted in the past: does the law at issue resemble a founding-era religious establishment?
In other words, is the state trying to “establish” a religion the same way that the King of England established the church of England. Colonies in the 1600s achieved religious uniformity through civil power. If we don’t see “laws compelling attendance at the official church; laws controlling doctrine, worship, and governance; laws punishing dissenters; laws exacting religious taxes; and laws deploying churches for public functions,” then there’s no infringement of the Establishment Clause.
The Texas law doesn’t “tell churches or synagogues or mosques what to believe or how to worship” and it doesn’t punish anyone for rejecting the Ten Commandments. It rejects the plaintiffs’ argument that putting the decalogue up in a classroom is inherently coercive. “Not so,” says the glib-ass judges. The law doesn’t require religious observance. So, no Establishment Clause violation, because this law doesn’t all look like the Church of England in the late 1700s.
The plaintiffs had a go at using the historical argument themselves, saying there’s little evidence that schools had a “tradition” of posting the Ten Commandments. But that, says the court, is a whole other thing. The plaintiffs try to argue that “if a practice does not fit within some historical tradition, it violates the Establishment Clause,” but “that does not follow.” See (stay with me here) if something has a root in 18th century tradition, then it is okay, but just because it doesn’t have a root in tradition, that doesn’t mean it’s not okay– so argues the court.
Meanwhile, in states across the country today, simply allowing students to be exposed to a rainbow on a classroom poster is considered too intrusive and might offend some people’s religious beliefs.
Anyway, that’s the new rule according to this court– the state can endorse, publicize, support, pick religious winners and losers, and expose students to as much religion as it wants, as long as it doesn’t start punishing anyone for disagreeing.
What about the Free Exercise Clause?
The plaintiffs brought up Mahmoud v. Taylor, the SCOTUS case that involved parents who wanted to opt their children out of being exposed to books with gay stuff. The plaintiffs likely felt that Mahmoud’s foundation of “parents should direct the religious upbringing of their own children” applied here, but the District Court gets around that, mostly by misrepresenting Mahmoud.
The case rested on the idea that being exposed to books with gay characters would disrupt the educational instruction of parents (the decision also rested on misrepresentation of those books as well). But the district court sees something far more sinister. “Those materials were deployed by teachers with lesson plans designed to subvert children’s religiously grounded views on marriage and gender.”
But nobody is making the students recite, believe, or “affirm their divine origin” (a phrase that I think assumes a fact not in evidence), the court believes the plaintiffs didn’t prove that the law “substantially burdens their right to religious exercise.”
There’s lots more (Duncan uses a footnote to take issue with Biery’s “creative” opinion). I’m going to just pick a few moments.
In a concurrence, Oldham argues that maybe the plaintiffs don’t even have standing because this is textbook “offended observer” stuff:
From top to bottom, the idea is that the plaintiffs (1) worry that they will one day see a poster; (2) worry that they might find that poster offensive; so (3) they invoke federal jurisdiction for protection from potential, hypothetical future offenses.
This is, I guess, totally different from being offended that somebody might some day ask you to make a cake for a gay wedding.
The dissent pushes back on some of the legal arguments. Kennedy did not throw out Stone or the Lemon test, and it was plenty clear that it “observed” the “heightened concerns with protecting freedom of conscience from subtle coercive pressure in the elementary and secondary public schools.” The case established a concern about exactly the kind of coercion that SB 10 represents. Put a poster of commandments in front of impressionable children (with the directive that the poster be visible from any place in the room) and you have coercion. And it is true that SCOTUS went out of its way (and far from reality) to argue that the praying coach was praying privately and personally and not exerting any coercion on his players, suggesting it would have been coercive otherwise.
Oh, there are pages and pages of legal argle bargle here, papering over a decision that joins some Texas leaders in saying, “We want to promote our brand of Christianity to be the dominant religion in this state.” And as always, I will argue that this kind of stuff is bad for everyone, that religion is not improved when the state tries to edit sacred texts and commandeer and control expressions of faith.
In that spirit, let’s wrap this up with the opening of Judge Leslie Southwick’s separate dissent.
What is not part of my dissent is a rejection of the importance of searching for faith. Religion, though, is a matter of the mind and the heart. Faith cannot flourish when it is forced. A poem voices my concern and, I humbly offer, that of the First Amendment:
The livid lightnings flashed in the clouds;
The leaden thunders crashed.A worshipper raised his arm.
“Hearken! hearken! The voice of God!”
“Not so,” said a man.
“The voice of God whispers in the heart
So softly
That the soul pauses,
Making no noise,
And strives for these melodies,
Distant, sighing, like faintest breath,
And all the being is still to hear.”
Stephen Crane, The Black Riders and Other Lines, Lines xxxix (1895), reprinted in The Collected Poems of Stephen Crane 41, 41 (Wilson Follett ed., 1930). Like any effective poetry, these lines can give different meaning to different readers at different times. In this opinion, they capture for me that government promotion of religion in every classroom is simulated lightning and thunder, compulsorily seen and heard.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
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