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Kushner Identified As Target Of 'Highly Classified Whistleblower Complaint'

Kushner Identified As Target Of 'Highly Classified Whistleblower Complaint'

New details are emerging about the whistleblower complaint being withheld from most of Congress. According to a new report, the complaint allegedly involves President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner (who is Ivanka Trump's husband).

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the "highly classified whistleblower complaint" against Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard pertains to an intercepted communication in which Kushner's name came up during a conversation between two foreign nationals. The country the two people being monitored wasn't made clear in the Journal's report, but the two were reportedly discussing Iran.

The National Security Agency (NSA) reportedly intercepted the conversation last year, with the two subjects naming Kushner as the Trump administration's key decision-maker regarding Iran. Kushner has been helping the Trump administration with Middle Eastern policy, with the president tasking his son-in-law with drawing up a plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip in the wake of Israel's years-long military campaign against Hamas, which controls Gaza.

The whistleblower who filed the complaint has accused Gabbard of limiting the sharing of official intelligence for political ends. Gabbard reportedly met with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles last year to discuss the intercepted conversation. Following that conversation, Gabbard limited access to the intelligence itself. The DNI called the allegations "baseless and politically motivated."

In addition to the Gabbard allegations, the whistleblower also accused the NSA's general counsel of failing to report a possible crime — — discussed during the intercepted conversation — to the Department of Justice. The whistleblower also accused the NSA' o failing to report the potential crime for political reasons. Their complaint was then kept in a safe for roughly eight months.

According to the Journal, Kushner is also working closely with Trump administration special envoy Steve Witkoff, who the president put in charge of handling the Russia-Ukraine war. The two are also in charge of devising a plan to eliminate Iran's nuclear program, and the two met recently in Oman with Iranian representatives. Kushner is not an official government employee and is working with his father-in-law's administration on a volunteer basis.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Trump Schumer

Trump: I'll Release Tunnel Funding If Airport And Train Station Are Renamed For Me

President Donald Trump is now saying he'll allow several billion dollars to flow to New York on one condition — that he be able to add his name to major landmarks.

CNN reported Thursday that Trump communicated to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) that he would be willing to lift his hold on $16 billion for a long-planned railway project connecting New York and New Jersey underneath the Hudson River. However, the president said he would only release the money if Washington Dulles International Airport (which is in Virginia) and Penn Station in New York were renamed for him.

Two unnamed sources told CNN that Schumer "swiftly rejected" Trump's demand, and reminded the White House that he lacked the power to unilaterally change the names of both locations. The two reportedly discussed the proposition last month, per CNN's reporting.

"Trump’s offer to Schumer would have represented perhaps his most audacious move yet," CNN's Manu Raju and Adam Cancryn reported. "While some conservative lawmakers have already introduced legislation to rename Dulles as the “Donald J. Trump International Airport,” it’s so far gained little traction."

Both New Jersey and New York are suing the Trump administration over the holdup in funding, which is part of the administration's pattern of withholding Congressionally appropriated money to states that didn't vote for Trump in the 2024 election. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought announced in October the administration was holding up another $8 billion in clean energy projects in 18 blue states.

Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution specifically grants Congress — not the president — the power to appropriate tax dollars. The Trump administration's blockade of federal funding is specifically in violation of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which Congress passed during the Nixon administration to re-assert its constitutional role over the appropriations process.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Is Trump Skipping Super Bowl 2026 Because He Fears Thousands Will Boo Him?

Is Trump Skipping Super Bowl 2026 Because He Fears Thousands Will Boo Him?

President Donald Trump won't be in attendance at the biggest sporting event in the United States this year. And according to a new report, he's skipping out over fears that he may be booed by tens of thousands of people.

On Tuesday, Zeteo's Asawin Suebsaeng and Andrew Perez reported that one unnamed White House official feared Trump would get booed "big league" at Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California (the home stadium of the San Francisco 49ers). Suebsaeng and Perez wrote that Trump's advisors feared a wave of boos at the Super Bowl "would instantly create a wealth of viral video clips and media coverage that administration officials would prefer to avoid."

"[Booing is] another thing we don’t want right now," one Trump advisor anonymously confided to Zeteo.

The president has also reportedly complained that this year's Super Bowl is too "woke." He is particularly upset about Grammy-winning artist Bad Bunny headlining this year's halftime show, and rock band Green Day (whose frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, is an outspoken critic of Trump) also performing.

"There was a time when the Super Bowl was neutral territory for presidents. That line has blurred – even disappeared," former Fox News host Eric Bolling told Zeteo. "In today’s politically polarized America, location can matter more than the event itself. This looks like a strategic decision, not a snub or a controversy."

Suebsaeng and Perez noted that Trump's polling has slid noticeably downward since his mixed reception of cheers and boos at last year's Super Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana. The president was also met with both applause and jeers last month in Miami, Florida when he attended the College Football Playoff championship game between the University of Indiana and the University of Miami. And when Trump attended a regular season NFL game between the Detroit Lions and the Washington Commanders, the crowd could be heard viciously booing him for several minutes.

Trump reportedly being sensitive about negative crowd response may also stem from an appearance last year at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In June of 2025, both the president and First Lady Melania Trump were booed loudly after they made an appearance on opening night of the musical Les Miserables, which is about a populist rebellion against a tyrannical king.

Wall Street Offers Lukewarm Greeting To Melania And Her Movie Grift

Wall Street Offers Lukewarm Greeting To Melania And Her Movie Grift

First Lady Melania Trump had to endure an embarrassing appearance at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) ahead of the opening weekend of her new film.

The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that when the first lady appeared in front of an assembled crowd of traders to ring the opening bell, she stood silently as she was greeted by tepid applause. The weak response from the crowd didn't go unnoticed by NYSE Group President Lynn Martin, who can be seen on video lifting her arms up repeatedly to encourage traders to clap harder for the first lady.

As Melania rang the opening bell to lukewarm cheers, CNBC correspondent David Faber could be heard talking about "the tightrope that many corporate leaders walk" between navigating President Donald Trump's White House and managing expectations of shareholders, employees and customers. Then, as Martin prodded the crowd, the Beast wrote that there was a "noticeable rise in volume" in applause.

In response to the awkward moment, satirist Paul Rudnick quipped: "When Melania rang the opening bell at the NY Stock Exchange today, the crowd barely noticed and had to be forced to applaud by her staff, who reportedly told everyone, 'If you don't clap we'll force you to see her movie.'"

"Abraham Lincoln said watching 'MELANIA' was the worst experience he's ever had in a theatre," tweeted author Craig Tyson Adams.

The first lady's eponymous film is projected to bring in just $1 to $5 million at the box office this coming weekend, according to CNN data analyst Harry Enten. This is despite Amazon paying Melania $40 million for the exclusive rights to the movie last year, and spending an additional $35 million on advertising.

"We don't think that it's going to necessarily be selling out a whole heck of a lot of tickets," Enten told CNN host Erin Burnett on Tuesday.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Melania

Why CNN's Harry Enten Predicts 'Melania' Will Bomb At Box Office Next Weekend

First Lady Melania Trump's eponymous film is slated to be released in theaters this weekend. But the film is likely to bomb at the box office, according to CNN data analyst Harry Enten.

In a Tuesday segment on CNN's OutFront, Enten told host Erin Burnett that there were multiple signs that Melania was going to perform poorly on its opening weekend. He noted that prediction markets show that a majority of bettors believe the documentary will gave a score of less than 20 percent on popular film review site Rotten Tomatoes.

"That's not good, Erin. That's not good, being below 20 percent," Enten said. "... And why is it why do they feel that the odds might not be so hot to trot? Well, it comes back to the fact that's the same reason that we don't think that it's going to necessarily be selling out a whole heck of a lot of tickets. Why? Because what's the projection for opening weekend for Melania? It's just one to five million dollars, which is again, not so great."

Enten compared the box office projection to the first lady's film with that of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the current highest-grossing documentary of all time. Adjusted for inflation, Moore's film topped $41 million in its opening weekend, dwarfing projections for Melania.

The CNN analyst underscored his argument by pointing to Amazon's staggering production costs for the film. When accounting for the $40 million Amazon paid Melania Trump for the exclusive rights to the movie, and the $35 million spent on advertising the film, the Jeff Bezos-owned media giant stands to lose tens of millions of dollars on the project.

"And one would think, given their marketing savvy, perhaps they were aware of that," Burnett quipped, before Enten chimed in and noted that Bezos was still making money hand-over-fist with President Donald Trump back in the White House.

"The film Melania might not be doing so hot to trot come this weekend, but Jeff Bezos is doing quite well," he said. "... His wealth —booyah! — up $35 billion since early November of 2024. I think there are some people who might see a connection between that and the money being spent. I'm not necessarily making that connection, but some people certainly are."

Tears bourbon

Online Grifters Laugh As MAGA Marks 'Keep Falling For The Same Con'

Scammers are taking advantage of President Donald Trump's MAGA base by selling them products without ever actually fulfilling their orders.

That's according to a Wednesday article by Jezebel's Jim Vorel, who wrote that numerous products marketed to pro-Trump conservatives are frequently accused by those same customers of ignoring them after taking their money. Vorel focused mostly on customer reviews for MAGA-branded alcoholic beverages, though he noted that scammers targeting MAGA customers do so through a variety of products.

"Here’s the thing about grifters in this mold: They truly don’t care who they’re stealing from, and the ideology they’re wearing ends the moment the mark is no longer buying, or the ideology is no longer selling," he wrote. "They will steal from anyone, or appropriate any image, personality or movement without permission, in order to move some units."

Vorel observed that one product dubbed "Tears of the Left" — which proclaims to be a Kentucky-made bourbon that sells for $100 complete with a tear-shaped whiskey stone — has a Facebook page that is rife with irate consumer reviews. Some reviewers wrote about their frustrations with the company's customer service, saying they had yet to receive an estimated shipping date despite making their order several weeks prior.

"One of the people lodging their complaint even notes that the company’s tracking information claims that the $100 bottle of what is no doubt cheaply sourced bourbon was already delivered to him, when it never actually was. Would you believe that no one has been responding to his repeated inquiries about that?" Vorel wrote.

"By the end of the post, he’s already settling into exactly the frame of mind that a grifter prizes above all: Annoyance, but resignation. When your political tribe is more important to you than defending your rights as a consumer, that makes you the perfect mark — someone who will lodge a testy complaint, but take it no further than that."

The Jezebel writer asserted that President Donald Trump also participates in the practice of grifting MAGA customers out of their money, pointing to his cryptocurrency "memecoin" that quickly lost most of its value not long after it was publicly introduced in January of last year. While the $TRUMP coin was initially valued at more than $27, it sells for just $4.95 today.

"Even when Trump is stealing directly from his most ardent supporters, they’re all too happy to keep falling for the same con, over and over," Vorel wrote.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Wall Street Deems Trump A Major Risk Factor As Markets Sink

Wall Street Deems Trump A Major Risk Factor As Markets Sink

President Donald Trump frequently justifies his claim that that the United States is the "hottest country in the world" by pointing to the stock market. But markets and investors disagree – and say Trump is the reason.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the S&P 500 Index (which is made up of the 500 largest companies in the U.S.) dipped by more than two percent by the end of trading, marking the biggest one-day drop for the index since October. The Chicago Board Options Exchange's VIX volatility index — which tracks uncertainty in financial markets – also marked its biggest single-day increase since November.

According to the Times, Wall Street executives are increasingly bearish on stocks in the wake of Trump's escalated rhetoric about potentially invading Greenland, even though the autonomous island territory already belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark (a key NATO ally). This is a marked change in how investors are viewing the Trump administration, with the Wall Street Journal reporting earlier this week that some on Wall Street were still betting on Trump to "chicken out" rather than actually act on his threats.

Some institutional investors — like foreign governments and ultra-wealthy individuals – prefer to park their money in the form of U.S. Treasury securities rather than stocks, given that Treasury securities are typically seen as more stable and less likely to fluctuate in value. However, some bondholders are selling their stakes following Trump's bellicose rhetoric, including the Danish fund AkademerPension.

The Times reported that the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield – which moves inversely to price — jumped up this week, meaning it has lost value. A jump in the 10-year yield is often seen as a predictor of recessions, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Some investors are reportedly eager for Trump to take initiative to lower the temperature and back off of his Greenland threats.

"[Trump] has a path to lower rates and less controversial path with Greenland, but the question is will he take it?" said Andrew Brenner, who is the head of international fixed income at the firm National Alliance Securities. He added that he has told investors to expect "major volatility" in response to Trump's Greenland remarks.

The president commemorated the first year of his presidency on Tuesday with a meandering 80-minute speech from the White House Briefing Room. When a reporter asked him what he ultimately plans to do about Greenland, Trump would only say "you'll find out."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Rove's Warning: Latino Voters In Texas Are Fleeing The GOP Before Midterm

Rove's Warning: Latino Voters In Texas Are Fleeing The GOP Before Midterm

Veteran Republican strategist Karl Rove is now warning that his party is bleeding support in a significant Republican stronghold ahead of this fall's midterm elections.

During a recent segment on Fox News' Journal Editorial Report, Rove — who was a top advisor to former President George W. Bush – cautioned that Republicans in Texas can no longer count on the Latino voters who voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 to vote for GOP candidates in the midterms. When host Gerard Baker pointed out that Republicans make significant inroads with Latinos in the last presidential election, Rove agreed that it was a "big" problem for the GOP in keeping its majorities in the House and Senate.

"It’s a problem and we’re going to see it here in Texas," Rove said. "You can just see the support for Republicans in Texas diminishing, despite the fact that initially there was enormous support for the action in securing the border."

Baker observed that despite Republicans' mid-decade gerrymandering of U.S. House districts in Texas – which was designed to give Republicans the edge in five previously Democratic districts – the departure of Latino voters from the Republican coalition could endanger the GOP's midterm hopes in November. Rove agreed, and suggested Republicans may have made their work needlessly harder by spreading the Republican vote too thin in the Lone Star State.

"Take the district that runs from Corpus Christi to Brownsville. Donald Trump carried the district, but he carried it by one point," Rove said. "So if his support is softening among Hispanics, that makes it unlikely that we're gonna knock off an incumbent Democrat."

The GOP strategist further illustrated his point by noting that Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), who Trump pardoned in 2025, refused to change parties. Trump is now actively endorsing Cuellar's likely Republican opponent in the general election, though Rove said those efforts may not be fruitful.

"Henry Cuellar ran ahead of [2024 Democratic nominee] Kamala Harris by nearly 10 points in the district that is centered from Laredo north to San Antonio," Rove said. "That's going to be a difficult district for us to carry, despite the fact that Donald Trump carried the last time around by I think four or five points."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Trump's Labor Secretary Probed For Misconduct As Two Aides Are Suspended

Trump's Labor Secretary Probed For Misconduct As Two Aides Are Suspended

One of President Donald Trump's Cabinet officials is now in hot water over an investigation into alleged alcohol abuse on the job and relations with a subordinate. And on Monday, some of her staffers were put on leave.

That's according to an article in Bloomberg, which reported that two senior staffers in the Department of Labor (DOL) have been suspended in the wake of a DOL inspector general investigation into Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Deremer. One of Bloomberg's sources anonymously confided to the outlet that Chavez-Deremer's chief of staff Jihun Han and deputy chief of staff Rebecca Wright have been officially put on leave.

The New York Post recently reported that DOL staffers were allegedly fabricating work trips on behalf of Chavez-Deremer so she could visit family and friends. The labor secretary reportedly had more than 50 official trips in 2025, visiting 37 states. Chavez-Deremer is also accused of drinking alcohol in her office, and for having an inappropriate relationship with an unnamed male subordinate.

According to the Post, Chavez-Deremer — who is married — has hosted the staffer at her Washington D.C. apartment on multiple occasions, and also invited them to her hotel room during work trips. The Post's sources also referred to the labor secretary as the "boss from hell," accusing her of ordering employees to run personal errands for Chavez-Deremer and perform other mundane tasks unrelated to their jobs.

Chavez-Deremer's alleged inappropriate relationship reportedly involved one episode in which she invited the subordinate to her Las Vegas hotel room, where she was staying to celebrate her niece's 40th birthday in October, when the federal government was shut down. The labor secretary reportedly dismissed her security detail before inviting the man over.

The Post also alleged that when Han asked Chavez-Deremer about a stash of alcohol she kept near her office desk, the labor secretary reportedly told her chief of staff to "leave it alone." The stash reportedly includes champagne, bourbon and Kahlua.

Trump administration spokespeople denied the report. White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers called the accusations "baseless," and insisted that Chavez-Deremer "is an incredible asset to President Trump’s team and she will continue advancing the President’s America First agenda."

"These unsubstantiated allegations are categorically false,” DOL spokesperson Courtney Parella told the Post. “Secretary Chavez-DeRemer has complied with all ethics rules and Department policies and remains fully engaged in carrying out the Department’s work on behalf of this historic Administration. The Secretary is considering all possible avenues, including legal action, to fight these baseless accusations from anonymous sources.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Even Fox News Rejects Noem Claims About ICE Killing Of Minneapolis Mom

Even Fox News Rejects Noem Claims About ICE Killing Of Minneapolis Mom

Even hosts at the conservative Fox News Channel aren't convinced that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem's take on Wednesday's fatal shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota is accurate.

The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that several primetime Fox News hosts cast doubt on Noem's version of events. The DHS secretary initially stated that 37 year-old U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good was attempting to run over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents when she was fatally shot. She added that Good was committing an "act of domestic terrorism."

Noem later doubled down on her initial claims in a Wednesday press conference, saying that Good had "weaponized" her car against ICE agents who were stuck in the snow and that federal agents fired shots out of self-defense. But Fox News host John Roberts said that the DHS secretary's version of events didn't jibe with video evidence.

"I’ve seen the video several times as well — kind of gone through it frame by frame. I don’t want to describe it because you can’t see the entire scene play out," Roberts said.

"There is an area in front of the vehicle that is obscured by the vehicle itself, so we don’t know 100 percent what happened during that incident, but what I saw of it does counteract the narrative that they were trying to push their car out of the snow," he continued. "... That vehicle was clearly in the middle of the street, as it was approached by a couple of federal agents before it sped off."

Fox host Jessica Tarlov — who is a liberal panelist on the show The Five — claimed "ICE just killed that woman" in response to the video. And while conservative panelist Harold Ford Jr. didn't use Tarlov's words, he also doubted Noem's account of events after viewing the video of the shooting.

"I couldn’t understand when she said it was an act of ‘domestic terrorism’ and she said the car was stuck in snow, and the officers—I think her characterization, maybe she got bad information, because her characterization seemed inconsistent with what we are seeing here," Ford said.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Threatening Indiana GOP, Angry Trump Concedes Defeat In Gerrymander Battle

Threatening Indiana GOP, Angry Trump Concedes Defeat In Gerrymander Battle

President Donald Trump may be giving up on redrawing Indiana's U.S. House of Representatives districts to be more favorable to Republicans, according to a new post to his Truth Social account.

On Wednesday evening, Trump wrote a 414-word post to his social media platform in which he appeared to despair over Indiana Republicans not being able to muster enough votes to pass the new 9-0 gerrymandered redistricting map. The president lamented that Indiana Senate president pro tempore Rodric Bray was "the only person in the United States of America who is against Republicans picking up extra seats" and issued a veiled threat to both Bray and other Hoosier State Republicans.

"[Bray] is putting every ounce of his limited strength into asking his soon to be very vulnerable friends to vote with him," Trump wrote. "By doing so, he is putting the Majority in the House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., at risk and, at the same time, putting anybody in Indiana who votes against this Redistricting, likewise, at risk."

"Bray doesn’t care. He’s either a bad guy, or a very stupid one! In any event, he and a couple of his friends will partner with the Radical Left Democrats," Trump wrote in his signature style of oddly placed capital letters. "They found some Republican 'SUCKERS,' and they couldn’t be happier that they did!"

Trump went on to blame several high-profile Indiana Republicans, like former two-term Governor Mitch Daniels (R), who led the state between 2005 and 2013, and GOP consultant Cam Savage. He reiterated his threat to run primary challengers against Indiana Republicans who voted against redistricting, and ended his post by declaring: "One of my favorite States, Indiana, will be the only State in the Union to turn the Republican Party down!"

Trump's post caught the attention of political observers who have been following the Indiana redistricting battle. Politico's Adam Wren tweeted that Trump's Truth Social post "reads like a prewrite obit on the redistricting wars."

"This is flatly unhinged," wrote author Brian Rosenwald. "He’s a mob boss."

"Trump basically admitted the whole game here," Indiana resident Mike Young wrote. "Redistricting, in his words, is about 'contributing to a WIN in the Midterms for the Republicans,' not representing Hoosiers fairly. That is not election integrity. That is rigging the map in advance and calling it patriotism."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

'Donald Trump Is In Hell': Kennedy Center Honors Warped By His Very Weird Vibe

'Donald Trump Is In Hell': Kennedy Center Honors Warped By His Very Weird Vibe

President Donald Trump hosted the first Kennedy Center Honors ceremony of his second term last weekend, and one reporter in attendance described the night as "very weird."

In a Monday article in The Atlantic, writer Alexandra Petri noted that she had always been "obsessed" with the Kennedy Center Honors in the way others may be fascinated by the Oscars or the Grammys, and jumped at the chance to attend the 2025 ceremony. However, she said that this year's ceremony — now that Trump has taken over the vaunted institution by installing himself as chairman and replacing the bulk of the organization's board with his own handpicked associates — felt different [emphasis Petri's].

"Something’s off. The whole evening has the characteristics of a wish made on a monkey’s paw," Petri wrote. "You wanted the Four Seasons, but you got Four Seasons Total Landscaping. Why is a 'content creator' introducing one of the tributes to Gloria Gaynor? Where is Meryl Streep? Why does a night that should be Donald Trump’s greatest triumph feel so much like he revived the Honors from the Pet Sematary?"

At one point, Petri observed that the stage for "I Will Survive" singer Gloria Gaynor featured a giant disco ball "the size of a small boulder" that hung over the disco star and her backup dancers. A tribute video noted that Gaynor has since pivoted to making gospel music. Petri described the jarring transition from disco to gospel, and wondered if the spectacle was what Trump envisioned when he first decided to put himself in charge of the Kennedy Center.

"After a brief disco medley, the lighting changes. The projected nightclub imagery becomes stained-glass windows and gospel musicians enter. The disco ball is still stuck there, awkwardly, casting red and yellow and blue light around the room. Trump bops along dutifully to 'Precious Lord,'" Petri wrote. "Is this what you wished for, Mr. President?"Petri reflected on the 2025 ceremony by wondering if Trump's desire to have an imprint on American culture may have gone awry the more he personally involved himself. She then mused that Trump may feel let down by his own influence, and wondered if he knew that his brand had tarnished what was once considered to be one of the premier artistic honors.

"This could be Donald Trump’s heaven, if only the world would cooperate. But instead everything he touches turns to brass. His pop turns to country; his Broadway turns to Christian rock; his disco turns to gospel. He is so close that he can almost taste it, but he will never get to taste it," she wrote. "Donald Trump is in hell. If only we weren’t trapped there with him."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Kushner And Witkoff Secretly Consulted Kremlin In Drafting Ukraine 'Peace Plan'

Kushner And Witkoff Secretly Consulted Kremlin In Drafting Ukraine 'Peace Plan'

The peace plan that President Donald Trump's administration offered to end the ongoing war in Ukraine has been widely criticized for being overly accommodating to Russia. Now, a new report shows that Russia may have been even more intricately involved in its composition than previously known.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the proposal — which Trump administration special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (who is also the president's son-in-law) — relied heavily on input from a "Kremlin insider." Kushner, Witkoff and the Kremlin advisor huddled behind closed doors in multiple "secret meetings" in Miami, Florida, according to the Journal.

That Kremlin advisor was identified as Kirill Dmitriev, who the Journal described as an envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin who also has ties to Kushner. Witkoff also met Dmitriev during his April trip to Moscow. The 28-point plan has been described as a "framework" to end the war, though multiple senators allege Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio described it as "essentially the wish list of the Russians." (Rubio has denied making that comment)

The three men reportedly met for three days in late October at Witkoff's home in Miami, where Dmitriev communicated multiple items the Kremlin demanded in order to agree to end hostilities with Ukraine. The Journal reported that Dmitriev called for Ukraine to never be allowed to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), pull all troops out of the eastern Donbass region and other territory Russia wanted to control (like the Crimean Peninsula, which it illegally invaded in 2014). The Kremlin also wants Ukraine's military to be capped at a much lower number than its current 900,000-member force.

Dmitriev also specifically called on the Trump administration to engage in multiple economic agreements in the areas of artificial intelligence, energy and other industries. The Journal also reported that the bulk of the plan was written by both Kushner and Witkoff before they even engaged with Russia or Ukraine.

When Witkoff and Kushner attempted to engage senior Ukrainian officials to get their input on the peace plan, one told the two Trump administration envoys that the deal was better for Russia than for Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the two men for working toward ending the war, but also said their plan needed revisions.

Trump administration officials maintain that the final version of the plan will be more accommodating to Ukraine, and suggested amending it to raise the cap on the size of the Ukrainian military beyond what Russia wanted, and that language permanently barring Ukraine's membership in NATO could be removed.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Donald Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell

At Texas Club Fed, Warden Serves Privileged Prisoner Maxwell As 'Private Secretary'

Newly released emails from Ghislaine Maxwell – who was deceased child predator Jeffrey Epstein's chief accomplice — show that the special privileges she's receiving in prison even include "secretarial services" from the facility's highest-ranking official.

The Atlantic's Isaac Stanley-Becker reported Thursday that he pored through dozens of emails that Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee received from a nurse who worked at the minimum security prison camp in Bryan, Texas (northwest of Houston) where Maxwell was transferred earlier this year. While NBC News reported on some excerpts of those emails, Stanley-Becker wrote that the most notable details had "not previously been reported."

According to The Atlantic journalist, Maxwell's emails were "notably free of regret, remorse, shame [and] self-doubt." He wrote that they provide a window into the "relatively comfortable life" of the woman serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping Epstein groom and exploit underage girls. One of Epstein's victims recalled that Maxwell was "more physically abusive" than Epstein.

Among the extensive privileges being exclusively granted to Maxwell include her being allowed to have visits in private in the prison's chapel, rather than in the facility's designated visitation space. She's also been allowed to have an unlimited supply of toilet paper, whereas other inmates are only allowed two rolls per week. She and her legal team are provided with "drinks and snacks" when visiting her. Additionally, prison warden Tanisha Hall has allowed Maxwell to bring in "private electronic equipment."

Stanley-Becker reported that Hall is even providing "secretarial services" to Maxwell. He included an example from September in which there was a "problem with the mail" at the prison, and Hall came up with a "creative solution." Maxwell's attorney was told to scan documents and email them directly to the warden, while the warden would "scan back [Maxwell's] changes."

"The following month, Maxwell was typing away late one Sunday. She was wading through attachments, and she was 'struggling to keep it all together,' she wrote in an email with the subject line 'Commutation Application,' suggesting that her team was preparing a direct appeal to Trump," Stanley-Becker wrote. "As they worked on their argument, Maxwell told her lawyer that she would transmit relevant records 'through the warden.'"

Doug Murphy, who Stanley-Becker described as a "prominent Houston-based attorney," compared Hall's behavior toward Maxwell to a CEO personally performing customer service duties. He suggested the warden acting in such a way is either only because she has a personal relationship with Maxwell, or because her superiors instructed her to go out of her way to accommodate Maxwell.

"It’s way out of the norm," Murphy said.

Click here to read Stanley-Becker's full article in the Atlantic (subscription required).

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Will Epstein Files Vote Become 'Crack In The Dam' That Splits MAGA Apart?

Will Epstein Files Vote Become 'Crack In The Dam' That Splits MAGA Apart?

President Donald Trump's ironclad grip on the Republican Party may be weaker than it's ever been due to the ongoing fallout over deceased child predator Jeffrey Epstein.

That's according to commentator Scott Morefield, who writes for the conservative website Townhall. Morefield told New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg that Trump's handling of the Justice Department's unreleased evidence pertaining to its two Epstein-related investigations has caused widespread disillusionment among the MAGA movement. He particularly focused on Trump's attacks on Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), who have both pressured him to release all of the DOJ's remaining evidence on Epstein.

Trump called Greene a "ranting lunatic" on his Truth Social platform last week, and called Massie a "loser" and remarked that his recent marriage was "quick" (Massie's first wife, Rhonda, died last June). Massie shrugged off Trump's attacks and shared a joke that he and his new wife made at Trump's expense.

"She said, 'I told you we should have invited him to the wedding!'" Massie told reporters on Monday.

"Trump’s denunciations of MTG and especially Thomas Massie last night were unnecessary, over the top, and cruel in a way that should make any human with basic empathy question what kind of human he is," Moreland posted to X. "If anyone is responsible for the fracturing of MAGA, it’s the top dog himself. The buck stops there."

In her Monday essay, Goldberg marveled at how Trump used to dispatch his political opponents within the GOP with relative ease. She pointed to past examples like former Vice President Mike Pence, former Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ). However, she observed that Trump's failure to cow Greene and Massie into submission suggested that "something has changed." When Goldberg asked Moreland how much Trump's movement had split, the conservative writer didn't mince words.

“I think it’s pretty serious,” he said. “Epstein really started it. It was like the crack in the dam, I think.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


ingraham and trump

Trump Burned For Transforming White House Into 'Dollar Store Mar-a-Lago'

President Donald Trump showed off his latest White House project to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday: A presidential "walk of fame" complete with Trump's signature style of gold accents and cursive writing.

As he was escorting Ingraham down the West Wing Colonnade of the White House on Tuesday evening, Trump proudly showed off the 47 portraits of all U.S. presidents, complete with the words "The Presidential Walk of Fame" on the wall. At one point Trump referred to the sign as "half-inch thick bronze," before referring to it as "pure brass" in the same breath.

"Take a look at this, fellas, if you want to see detail," Trump told Ingraham's camera crew. "Most people do a sign and paint it on the wall. So that's half inch thick bronze. Carved. By a very talented person. And it's brass. It's pure brass."

Trump's segment quickly attracted a wave of ridicule from various journalists, commentators and other experts on social media. According to Sequoia Brass & Copper in West Hayward, California, bronze and brass are two different alloys, with bronze being made up of copper and tin, while brass is made up of copper and zinc. Former Jeopardy champion Clinton Reese reminded the president of this fact in all caps: "BRASS IS AN ALLOY. IT CAN'T BE PURE. JFC WHAT A MORON."

"Gotta love a billionaire real estate developer who doesn't know the difference between brass & bronze," TV writer and producer Jill Weinberger posted to Bluesky.

"He’s turning the White House into Dollar Tree Mar-a-Lago," wrote former Obama and Biden White House appointee Andrew Weinstein.

"This is like bad 90s web design brought to life," quipped software developer Andrew Coyle.

Other observers hoped that Trump's mark on the White House wouldn't be permanent. Former Seattle Times reporter Chuck Taylor wrote that the display was "so tacky it's sad. But at least it can be undone."

"It gives me a tiny jolt of pleasure to know that someday-- maybe not for decades, but someday-- we'll have a president who will take the claw-end of hammer to this," anthropologist Jonah Blank wrote.

Trump: Take a look at this if you want to see detail. Most people do a sign and paint it on the wall. So that's half inch thick bronze. Carved. By a very talented person. And it's brass. It's pure brass.

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) November 11, 2025 at 8:01 PM

Reprinted with permission from Alternet



Dozing Don: Trump 'Struggles For 20 Minutes' To Stay Awake At Oval Office Event

Dozing Don: Trump 'Struggles For 20 Minutes' To Stay Awake At Oval Office Event

Before a man fainted in the Oval Office where the administration was announcing price cuts for weight-loss drugs, President Donald Trump struggled to stay awake for 20 minutes in a now-viral photo that the Washington Post has analyzed via video.

"A Washington Post analysis of multiple video feeds found that Trump spent nearly 20 minutes apparently battling to keep his eyes open at the Thursday event," they explain.

"It was a seemingly stark illustration of the strain of the presidency on a 79-year-old who typically keeps a vigorous travel schedule that even his aides say they struggle to keep up with — and who has reveled in calling his predecessor 'Sleepy Joe' Biden," the Post adds.

Trump, they write, "displayed a constellation of movements familiar to anyone who has attempted to stay awake during a work meeting. He closed his eyes. He put his hand to his temple. He slouched in his chair."

Meanwhile, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was speaking, saying, “People can sleep again, because they can breathe when they go to bed."

Trump woke up when the man behind him fainted, in a now much-mocked and scorned viral photo that shows the president standing frozen at his desk, unmoved by the man on the floor behind him.

Moments after that, however, Trump was again nodding off. The White House denied that Trump was sleeping, while Democrats blasted the alleged hypocrisy of a man who dubbed his fellow elderly predecessor "Sleepy Joe."

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) snapped back at Trump's Biden moniker with a few of his own: "Dozy Don" and "The Nodfather."

“The national media would have had multiple strokes if Joe Biden was sleeping/passed out in his chair in the Oval Office,” Neera Tanden, who served as Biden’s top domestic policy aide, posted on social media.