Hey everybody. Happy Friday. Thanks for being here.
Our top story today. A new book says the Dutch intelligence service hacked Jared Kushner’s phone in 2018. They then watched him log into a bank account in the UAE that had received hundreds of millions of dollars from the Saudis and the Emiratis, routed through Azerbaijan. The author says the Gulf royals put about 2 billion dollars into accounts for Kushner while he was running Middle East policy from the White House, and that four senior Trump officials say they never saw any authorization for it. Kushner calls it insane and says none of it happened. We’ll walk through what’s alleged, what’s denied, and why it matters that the man at the center of it is right now negotiating with Vladimir Putin.
We’ll also get into the State Department asking diplomats who they voted for before deciding on promotions, the Justice Department finally investigating someone in Trump’s circle and why the president now says that’s fine, the architect of MAHA walking out of the administration, and the Olympian who was falsely charged with vandalizing the Reflecting Pool and the watchdog that won’t look into it.
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Let’s get to it.
1. New Bombshell Book Alleges $2 Billion Deals for Kushner
Let me say up front how we’re treating this. These are allegations from a book by Matthew Cole, excerpted in Vanity Fair. They are sourced to anonymous intelligence and government officials. Kushner and everyone named deny all of it. We’ll come back to that. But here’s what the book claims.
In 2017, Dutch military intelligence turned a Russian hacker who was traveling to Britain, and he gave them access to a server in Rostov where Russian military intelligence stored what it had stolen. On that server, the Dutch found screenshots of Jared Kushner’s iPhone. So the Dutch found their own way in, and by early 2018 they could see Kushner’s screen whenever he used it.
What they saw, according to the book, was Kushner logging into an account at First Abu Dhabi Bank, a bank chaired by the brother of the UAE’s ruler. The account had received roughly 750 million dollars, all sent as U.S. dollars from a bank in Azerbaijan, which is how you move money in the Gulf without anyone seeing where it came from. The book says the account belonged to an Emirati charity that doubled as a cover for the UAE’s secret weapons purchases, and that Kushner was made a signatory on the account. Separately, it says the UAE moved about a billion dollars to Israel for Kushner, parked at Israel’s central bank, with Netanyahu requiring notice before any transfer. The author’s sources say it was for his personal benefit and that much of it later went through Cyprus.
The book quotes a source who knew of the arrangement: “Jared was looking for shortcuts in his diplomacy. Jared promised MBZ that he’d push their agenda with Trump if they participated in a fund.” And it says two national security advisers, a White House chief of staff, and a former CIA director were unaware of any presidential authorization for Kushner to access a foreign government’s bank account.
Now the denial. Kushner’s lawyer says he had no knowledge of or connection to the charity or any UAE account, that “there are no accounts and never were,” and that he complied with every legal requirement. Ambassador David Friedman served as Ambassador to Israel from 2017-2021 and says the claims about him are “100 percent false.” Kushner posted that the allegations are “completely insane,” that he gave more than 30 hours of testimony and none of this surfaced, and that the author is “either deeply disturbed or acting with sinister intent.”
Look, Jared Kushner says all of this is false. Fine. He’s entitled to deny it. But think about what’s being alleged: that while he was a senior White House adviser, foreign intelligence watched his phone as he accessed an overseas bank account tied to hundreds of millions of dollars, and that Russian hackers were part of the chain. If that’s true, it’s not just a scandal. A government official has to disclose that kind of thing, and he didn’t. And it’s the same pattern we keep seeing with this crowd: the rules are for everybody else, and family gets a pass. Furthermore, this is the man Trump has negotiating with Vladimir Putin, all while carrying a cloud of scandal and the possibility that other governments know things about him that the American people don’t. You can’t negotiate from strength when you’re that vulnerable. Congress should be asking questions today. And Kushner, through this book, may have just given Democrats all the opportunity they need to do just that.
2. Diplomats Face A Trump Loyalty Test
The Washington Sun reports that foreign service officers up for promotion have been asked who they voted for in the last three elections. Six current and former officials described the unprecedented loyalty test to say it was clear that only diplomats who voted for Trump would get the mid and upper level jobs, and that a donation to a Democrat was disqualifying.
Let me be clear. This isn’t just another norm the administration is trampling on. It’s against the law. Federal law prohibits making decisions like this based on political affiliations. It’s the whole reason these services exist in the first place: to create a class of experienced experts who aren’t getting swapped out every four years.
The State Department wouldn’t comment on the questions. Instead it gave a statement about “fidelity” and that “it is not about partisan behavior but rather about executing the President’s vision for foreign policy.” “Fidelity” has been the word to watch at the department since Rubio took over. Last year, a fidelity section was added to performance reviews, requiring managers to rate employees on how they aligned themselves and their teams to the administration’s goals. It also rewrote the foreign service officer test, which all aspiring American diplomats have to take. One person who just took it said it now includes questions about Reagan’s tax policy and Mike Pompeo’s accomplishments. His words: “it seemed like they weren’t looking for the highest scores but people who answered a certain way on specific questions.” No wonder the department has shed a quarter of its workforce.
A lot of the diplomats that are being questioned have been at the department for decades and served honorably under multiple administrations. Diplomats know that presidents and secretaries come and go when they sign up. Until now, no one has felt the need to question their loyalty or snoop on their voting records.
This inquisition is an affront to the patriots who dedicate their careers to representing the United States abroad. But it’s also just bad policy. The State Department has a rich history of internal dissent, which is part of the reason the US has historically been so successful abroad because the battlefield of ideas is a better domain for all of us than a real battlefield that could result in the loss of American lives. To see what happens when you remove that friction and replace experienced leaders with yes men, all you have to do is look at the White House and the chaos that has ensued.
Democrats on oversight are already looking into it. Let’s hope they can step in before too much damage is done.
3. DOJ Investigates Corey Lewandowski
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Justice Department is reviewing allegations that Corey Lewandowski profited from his job as the top adviser at Homeland Security. The probe comes from a criminal referral by the department’s inspector general, who spent months looking at contracts signed while Kristi Noem was in charge.
Back in July, the same paper reported that Lewandowski may have been involved in improperly awarding contracts, despite the fact that he was a special government employee who wasn’t supposed to be involved in procurement in the first place.
He denies all of the allegations and claims nobody from the DOJ has contacted him.
This is an unusual instance where the DOJ has shown interest in anyone close to the president. Curious about the change in his usual tune and why the administration was finally investigating one of its own, a reporter asked Trump about it.
“If people are not honest, they’re stealing from me as president. They’re stealing from me.”
You heard it here first. Corruption at DHS isn’t bad because it screws over the taxpayer, or defrauds the department that’s supposed to protect the border and guard against terrorism. As always, Donald Trump himself is the real victim.
No wonder this is the one case they’re looking into. Habba’s pardon deal, the Kennedy Center money, and Guilfoyle’s credit card? They’ll handle all of that internally. But the second the boss thinks someone is stealing from him, the big guns come out.
Once again, this administration is like a bad episode of the Sopranos. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sick of watching.
4. MAHA’s Architect Walks Away From Trump
Calley Means resigned yesterday. You may not know his name. But here’s why it matters.
Means has actually played a crucial part in building both the MAGA and MAHA movements. After the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Means helped set up a call between RFK Jr., whose campaign he had been advising, and Trump. He eventually brokered Kennedy’s endorsement, just in time for the 2024 election.
Means then went to work for the administration, becoming one of the leading voices behind MAHA’s food agenda. Vani Hari, a leader in the movement, called him “the architect of MAHA,” adding that “it’s a sad day for the U.S. government to lose him.”
But his departure isn’t surprising. President Trump had promised to make MAHA central to his agenda. Upon its launch, he even said, “it’s going to be a plan that people are really waiting to hear.” But it’s now midterm season and people are still waiting to hear anything. Because Trump seems to have mostly ignored it.
For Means, that became increasingly frustrating. And it soon came to a boiling point. The White House signed an executive order to increase the production of glyphosate, the weed killer his movement had been focused on eliminating. Means called the decision “extremely disappointing.” He reportedly clashed with senior White House officials, who worried about alienating the food industry. But he got nowhere. Eight months later, he’s done.
When Vani Hari reflected on his resignation, she said, “It became very clear in the last few months that no progress was getting made. And when you’re spinning around in circles, you can only take so much.”
Who can really blame him? For better or for worse, Means wanted MAHA to take on the food industry to make people healthier. Instead, RFK Jr. latched onto an anti-vaccine campaign. The White House stalled his agenda the moment it conflicted with corporate profits. And Trump? Well he’s too busy doubling down on deportations, on the Iran War, or on his own profiteering.
When Means resigned, he said the movement was “in the first inning.” But it looks more like it’s in a permanent rain delay.
5. DOJ Watchdog Refuses To Probe Botched Reflecting Pool Case
The Reflecting Pool has been out of the news cycle for a while, so here’s a reminder. In April, Trump handed a no-bid contract to a company that had worked on his properties. Nearly 15 million dollars to repaint the Reflecting Pool “American flag blue” in time for July 4th. Within days, the water bloomed with algae and the coating started peeling.
The president couldn’t admit fault, so he found someone else to blame. Vandals did it, he said. “Sick people.”
David Hearn, a former Olympian, was later indicted by a grand jury. He had stopped at the pool and touched a piece of coating that was already loose. He was hit with a felony. Three others were charged with misdemeanors.
Then the evidence caught up. The government’s own filings blamed a “botched installation” by the contractor. Not vandalism. Every case was dropped.
But Hearn wanted answers. His lawyers, including a former Justice Department inspector general, asked the current inspector general to investigate the bogus charges. They allege witness tampering, obstruction of justice, and false testimony.
The inspector general, a Trump appointee, didn’t. He passed on the investigation, referring it to the Office of Professional Responsibility instead. That office answers to the Attorney General. It doesn’t have to make its findings public. It doesn’t have to report to Congress.
Hearn’s lawyers are realistic about the referral. Sending it there, they wrote, consigns these allegations “to oblivion.”
So the Reflecting Pool saga is over, at least until Democrats possibly take the House. But it captures how Trump uses the Justice Department. First, he turned it on an innocent man to cover for his own failures. Then, when Hearn sought an independent investigation into how he was prosecuted, the watchdog declined to investigate and referred the matter to an internal office with less public accountability.
The inspector general had a chance to show the DOJ still answers to someone, anyone, but President Trump. He still passed. Trump fired roughly 17 inspectors general in his first week back in office. The ones replaced by him seem to have gotten the message.
Trump might try to say that the Reflecting Pool has been a success, which he did as recently as this morning. But what we’ve all seen from this debacle is an administration that has failed from top to bottom, both on renovations and in delivering real justice.
Some other stories that caught my eye:
Texas Republicans like Neil Bush, brother of George W. Bush, and Sid Miller, the Texas Agricultural Commissioner, are backing Democratic candidates in the state this year. Bush announced his endorsement of Senate candidate James Talarico on Facebook. That carries weight in Texas. His brother was the state’s Republican governor, and his father was a Republican congressman from Houston. Bush said his vote came from “deep concern about Ken Paxton’s record.” He addressed Paxton’s impeachment by the Texas House and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. But that’s not all. Bush said he shares a “genuine admiration for [Talarico’s] character and principles,” adding that he “speaks with respect, seeks common ground, and seems genuinely interested in bringing people together.” He’s also not the only Texas Republican crossing over party lines. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller says he had never voted for Democrats, but there were two Republicans he simply could not vote for. Feel free to have a listen:
President Trump launched a $25 million fraud whistleblower program this week, and he says he alone will decide who gets paid. “I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. His first award of $10,000 went to Nick Shirley, a conservative YouTuber who promoted fraud allegations against Minnesota’s Somali community. And he won’t be the last. The White House says the Justice Department will run the program and pay up to $30,000 for tips that lead to a conviction or major enforcement action. Meanwhile, Trump promised tipsters a 1 percent commission on any fraud they uncover, which could mean billion-dollar payouts he approves personally. Existing programs already pay whistleblowers hundreds of millions a year. The False Claims Act program gave whistleblowers more than $330 million last year. And the SEC paid $60 million to 48 people in fiscal year 2025. The courts or the commissions set those awards, not the president. Spokeswoman Lauren Bis said the administration has “zero tolerance for individuals who steal from Americans.” But Trump has also granted clemency to more than 70 allies, donors, and others convicted in fraud cases.
