For most of my journalism career, pardons were considered criminal justice or human interest stories.
Now, thanks to Trump's transactional approach, they're part of the lobbying & influence beat.
A look behind the scenes of the @nytimes.com's clemency coverage:
Button fly jeans: why are they back?
So inconvenient & pointless.
Give me a zipper every time.
It’s here! Join me, Jia Lynn Yang + @haleaziz.bsky.social at Politics and Prose TODAY to discuss El Paso and it what this city had to teach us about our nation’s border and immigration battles today. See you at 7 pm at 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW. politics-prose.com/jazmine-ullo...
NEW: Pardon seekers are routinely being asked to pay $1m+ to lobbyists & lawyers claiming access to Trump, often with bonuses if clemency is granted.
I investigated the Trump Pardon Industrial Complex, & detailed the backstory behind 1 interesting pardon.
Another victim of online sleuths who were certain they had cracked the case:
“I feel like someone’s taken my name,” said Dominic Evans, an elementary-school teacher who was accused on social media of being the ski-masked man at Nancy Guthrie’s doorstep.
After Russell Westbrook scored 5 points in a game last week, his wife received an email attacking him, saying he “sucks” & “can’t even get 10 points is pathetic I hope you both die in a car crash.”
She’s received many such messages as sports betting has taken off.
The Pentagon has signed an agreement with Elon Musk’s xAI (the company behind grok) to use its xAI’s artificial intelligence technology.
You don’t need to study the analytics to appreciate that Alysa Liu was a ray of pure sunshine, but the analytics are pretty impressive, too.
SCOOP: Less than 1 month before Trump came out against a new bridge connecting Michigan with Canada, the billionaire owner of an existing bridge donated $1M to the Trump-backed super PAC, MAGA Inc.
with @matinastevis.bsky.social
The EPA plans this week to loosen restrictions on coal-burning power plants, allowing them to emit more hazardous pollutants including mercury, a powerful neurotoxin that can impair babies’ brain development, internal agency documents show.
Trump 2.0 has been a boon for foreign lobbying:
Since November 2024, there have been more than 380 new registrations, according to an analysis by The Free Press
That’s more than all recent presidential terms at this point, except Clinton 1. www.thefp.com/p/foreign-lo...
SCOOP: Trump's ambassadors around the world are raising cash from companies for USA 250th-related celebrations, including a rodeo & a Christmas tree lighting at the US embassy in Singapore.
“I need your money,” the US Ambassador to Singapore told execs at a dinner sponsored partly by Philip Morris.
Adam Silver — who in 2014 became the 1st acting commissioner of a major US sports league to reverse his opposition to sports betting & call for its legalization — now says:
"We need a better handle, no pun intended, on all the different activity that's happening out there." x.com/Sportico/sta...
There are some Internet personalities or bubbles that seem totally bizarre & unappealing until I learn a little bit more about them, & then I’m like: ok, I kind of get it.
Then there’s this…
After a @homelandcbp.bsky.social agent shot an American school teacher 5 times on a Chicago street, the agent's friends & colleagues showered him with praise.
“You are a legend among agents you better f---in know that,” read one text. “Beers on me when I see you at training."
Tom Clare — the libel lawyer who has represented the Sacklers, Oleg Deripaska, Project Veritas & the Trump crypto company — is now representing Kathy Ruemmler, the ex-Obama WH counsel who has been exposed as having a close personal relationship with Epstein, per @cnn.com. www.cnn.com/2026/02/12/p...
Todd Lyons, acting ICE director, refused to apologize to the families of Renee Good & Alex Pretti for the administration labeling them domestic terrorists.
Instead, he said he would “welcome the opportunity to speak to the (Good) family in private.” youtu.be/J1VNpKpEJKk?...
Buried in Trump’s housing executive order is an exemption allowing large investors to build homes for renting out.
It's a growing business for some of the Wall Street landlords Trump has blamed for preventing average Americans from owning their own homes.
How to lobby Trump:
Matthew Moroun, a Detroit billionaire, opposes a new bridge connecting Michigan with Canada that would compete with one that he owns.
On Monday, Moroun met with @HowardLutnick, who then called Trump.
Trump then threatened to stop the opening of the new bridge.
There have been 16 shootings by on-duty federal immigration agents over the past year.
In several (not just the cases of Renee Good & Alex Pretti) the Trump administration rushed to blame the person who was shot for instigating violence.
But in at least 4 such cases, the claims fell apart in court
In the coming days, the Trump administration is expected to revoke the endangerment finding that has underpinned the US government’s fight against global warming since 2009.
It will be a long-sought “total victory” in the Trump team’s effort to dismantle federal climate regulations.
@stephruhle.bsky.social
@lukebroadwater.bsky.social
@lacaldwelldc.bsky.social
@sbg1.bsky.social
@brookeamasters.ft.com
@govandybeshear.bsky.social
@kenvogel.bsky.social
Because the sons of Trump & Witkoff were able to extract real cash from their crypto ventures quickly, they are far less exposed to the current crypto downturn than retail investors who loaded up on digital tokens.
SCOOP: Freedom 250 — the group launched by Trump to oversee projects including the @UFC fight on the WH lawn & his arch overlooking DC — is offering access to him for donors who give $1M.
For $2.5M, donors are being offered the chance to speak at the national July 4 celebration. 🎁🔗
It’s the question that is defining key Democratic congressional primaries & could shape the future of the party:
Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?
Data show that racial & ethnic minorities, immigrants & the underinsured are more likely to present with larger, more advanced sarcoma tumors & have higher mortality rates, according to Dr. Wakenda Tyler, a musculoskeletal oncologist at @columbiacancer.bsky.social
NEW: The Justice Department is seeking to quash a subpoena seeking Susie Wiles' testimony in the FARA case against former Rep. David Rivera over his Venezuela-related work during Trump 1.
Prosecutors write that Wiles "has no apparent connection to any of the allegations."
NEW: The defense contractor Raytheon / RTX donated $500k+ to the Kennedy Center last year, disclosing it as an "honorary expense," & listing the honorees as:
▶️Trump
▶️Pam Bondi
▶️Susie Wiles
▶️Dan Scavino
▶️Ric Grenell
lda.senate.gov/filings/publ...
Credit Suisse (which is now part of UBS) or other Swiss banks that later merged with it held accounts for the German foreign office, which helped deport Jews to concentration camps, & for an officer who managed SS funds, according to new info set to be revealed to a Senate committee today.
