… The federal judge handling the mail-in ballot case has scheduled motion hearings and deadlines to move forward with an eventual ruling on the merits of the case with several states mailing out ballots in coming weeks. Attorney Norm Eisen: “Here we go on rocket docket to STOP the USPS rule. Motions due tomorrow, responses Sept 4, replies Sept 8. The court is moving fast and so are we.”
… WaPo: “The Trump admin’s latest deal to cancel offshore wind projects and boost fossil fuel energy development instead is generating a huge payday for one of the president’s million-dollar donors. Behind the windfall is a settlement stipulating that German energy giant RWE will receive $1.2 billion from a federal fund on the condition that it gives up its offshore wind leases in NY, CA and LA and invests in unspecified oil, gas or nuclear ‘conventional energy’ projects.”
… “Most of the payout - $900 million - will be spent by RWE to buy a stake in a massive LA liquefied natural gas project. The stake is being purchased from a private equity fund run by Australian billionaire Michael Dorrell, who owns a mansion on a private island near Mar-a-Lago and has boasted of socializing with Trump’s inner circle at the club.”
… “Dorrell personally gave $926,300 to the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee two weeks after Trump was elected for a second term in late 2024 and another $73,700 a few weeks later. The link to Dorrell drew the ire of lawmakers who were already working to unwind the payouts to energy companies complicit in what they say is an illegal admin scheme to sink offshore wind.”
… Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee: “These fake ‘settlements’ were already an insane waste of taxpayer funds and a ridiculous charade that seems to be blatantly illegal. This now adds the stench of corruption.”
… “Huffman said he will be expanding an ongoing probe to include use of settlement funds to benefit Dorrell’s company. Dorrell declined to comment.”
… CBS: “Trump’s investment accounts have continued to purchase and sell stock holdings in oil and natural gas companies while he oversees the US war with Iran, according to his financial disclosure filings. As the Iran war continued, paused for a ceasefire and then restarted, Trump has purchased and sold oil and gas stocks.”
… “Trump has a vast portfolio with holdings in all 11 sectors, and a CBS News investigation showed that in the first three months of the year, his accounts executed about 3,600 stock or securities trades, worth a total that ranged between $212 million and $695 million.”
… “Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee estimated this week that the president’s holdings in oil and gas companies have jumped in value from a range of $13-$46 million at the start of this year, to $17-$61 million by mid-Aug. Filers are only required to report ranges of transactions, not specific dollar amounts. The estimates were based on his stock holdings in 2025, and didn’t take into account the trades that he’s made since then.”
… “Energy stocks surged during that period, which encompasses the US operation in Venezuela in early January and the war with Iran.”
… Daily Mail: “3 Secret Service officials, including the agency’s top spokesman, have been marched out of their offices amid an internal misconduct probe. Comms director Anthony Guglielmi and two others in his dept left on Monday. The 3 have been placed on leave, with their security clearances suspended and their work devices seized. The Secret Service declined to comment on the nature of the investigation, which reportedly involves the CIA and the FBI.”
… “It comes amid an ongoing effort by FBI director Kash Patel to hunt down the source of a leak to the media involving Trump’s clandestine plane swap on the tarmac in Turkey, after the NATO summit last month. The report described how the President left Air Force One in a catering cart, leaving several Cabinet members behind while taking only his closest aides, including personal secretary Natalie Harp, amid an Iranian assassination threat.”
… The US Dept of Ed made an insane social media post on X with the caption, “No one does it like us” followed by a tiger emoji, signifying that the Trump Admin was a tiger. The text was accompanied by a mashup of Trump with a clip of the movie Darkest Hour where Winston Churchill referred to Adolph Hitler as a tiger. After a firestorm erupted on social media, they deleted the post.
… Guardian: “Using the bathroom or having a cry is about to become more expensive as the US and Canada enter a full-fledged trade war that threatens to flush away decades of peaceful trading between the two nations. After trade negotiations broke down between the two countries last weekend, Mark Carney vowed to match US tariffs ‘dollar for dollar’ and unveiled a list of nearly 900 American goods that will face 25% to 50% tariffs starting on 8 Sept.”
… “Paper products are among the hardest-hit sectors, with Canada threatening to put tariffs of between 25% and 50% on ‘toilet paper or face tissue stock’ in retaliation for a 50% hike from the US. Though American toilet paper and tissues are often made domestically, they heavily rely on lumber-rich Canada for raw materials.”
… “The US imported $328 million worth of toilet paper from Canada in 2024, making it by far the largest exporter of the product to the US. Retailers including Costco source much of their paper products from the country. The US accounts for more than 20% of global tissue consumption despite having only 4% of the world’s population.”
… Kind of a bizarre statistic.
… Spectrum News: “A couple that runs a cattle farm in KY said that after Trump’s beef import announcement, they lost between $200-$300 per cow on a group of 70 they were ready to sell.”
… Amanda Hall: “The demand is there. But when you have policies that are coming in and undercutting our price, I mean, you’re messing with farmers here who, that’s their only paycheck that they get for the entire year and they were banking on it.”
… “She and her husband, Reid, said it’s usually a 10-year cycle to raise a calf, so the president’s 90-day plan to import discounted foreign beef will not help rebuild herds in the US.”
… Peter Schiff, chief economist with EuroPac: “The US goods trade deficit swelled 18% in July to $118.8 billion, the largest since tariff front-running in March 2025, as imports jumped 3.7% and exports fell 2.9%. Excluding tariff-distorted months, it’s the biggest since COVID reopening demand boosted imports in March 2022.”
… Meanwhile, Trump signed an executive order today in the Oval Office designating Lake Ontario as Lake America: “We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. Effective immediately. It’s going to take place as sign this order. We have a gulf, a lake, now all we need is an ocean. Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and the Pacific.
… My suggestion is to cancel a subscription to any media company who refers to it as Lake America. If any of them actually do it. Besides Fox.
… New TX Public Opinion Research Poll:
US Senate: James Talarico 48%, Ken Paxton 42%.
Governor: Greg Abbott 49%, Gina Hinojosa 42%.
… Tom Weeks, a lifelong TX Republican and Trump voter, on CNN: Q: “Has the data centers issue made you willing to vote for Talarico or is this just about voting against Greg Abbott? Weeks: I would vote for the devil before I voted for Abbott. Abbott’s not going to get my vote. He’s just spewing rhetoric. I’ve been listening to Talarico. I’ve been listening for the first time in my life to a lot of Democrats.”
… Mother Jones: “A heated scene unfolded at the Cuyahoga County family court in Cleveland on Wed, as the key players in a bitter dispute that has grabbed national headlines assembled in one room. The case is one that Mother Jones reporter Abby Vesoulis has been covering for weeks: a custody fight over the two-year-old daughter of Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) and his ex-wife, Emily Moreno—whose father is Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH).”
… “Miller is currently defending himself against Emily’s allegations that he held a gun to her head, shoved her against a wall, and threw scalding water at her—all of which he vehemently denies. Despite these allegations, and at least 6 Republican senators (including his former father-in-law) urging him to drop out, Miller is running for reelection and has vowed to stay in the race.”
… “Abby got a rare chance to question Miller directly, just weeks after uncovering more than 2,000 pages of court and police records detailing the abuse allegations. Miller had initially declined to speak to the press after the hearing, referring all inquiries to his attorney. But while his lawyer was speaking, Miller interrupted to deliver what sounded like a veiled threat against Sen. Moreno.”
“I was a part of that family for a very long time. There are certain things that he would like me to remain quiet about, and I respectfully have - because that’s not my business to share.”
… There have been persistent rumors on social media that Miller has threatened to disclose proof that Bernie Moreno is secretly gay, which have been fueled by an AP report from March 2024 that linked a 2008 AdultFriendFinder profile seeking men for sex to an email address belonging to Bernie Moreno.
… CBS: A state grand jury found the Ron DeSantis admin ‘misappropriated’ taxpayer money when it diverted $10 million from a Medicaid settlement into the Hope Florida Foundation, arguing the transfer was “part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities.” Hope Florida was the charity run by Casey Desantis.
… The grand jury report said the money, which was supposed to be used to provide health insurance for poor children, was instead hastily passed through multiple orgs before eventually landing in the bank accounts of two PACs and the Republican Party of FL. Those funds were then used in 2024 to defeat Amendment 3, the citizen initiative to legalize marijuana in FL.
“Despite our finding that the money was misappropriated, we find insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally. Nobody will take responsibility for deciding the $10 million of taxpayer money would go to Hope Florida, or had any memory of who made it.
We recognize that this would be an impediment to criminal prosecution. While we can’t prove who is responsible, we can plainly see that taxpayer money was misused for political purposes and we would like to see changes made to prevent this from happening again.
We find that James Uthmeier, as the Gov’s Chief of Staff at the time of settlement, was in a position of authority over those involved in settling. Testimony identified him as having involvement in directing the money after it went to Hope Florida. Testimony also revealed that Uthmeier’s Keep Florida Clean, a PAC, was the prime recipient of the majority of the $10 million taxpayer funds.”
… Ironic that the name of the PAC they laundered the money to was called “Keep Florida Clean.”
… The grand jury also concluded that Ashley Moody, who was the AG at the time, was aware of the plans to divert the $10 million to Hope Florida and “authorized” her former chief deputy, John Guard, to sign the settlement agreement. The grand jury noted that Guard signed the settlement “without conducting his due diligence to ensure the proper appropriation of taxpayer funds.”
… Moody, who was then appointed to the US Senate in 2025 by DeSantis, has refused repeated requests for comment about Hope Florida. She is up for election in November.
… Democratic nominee for FL governor David Jolly:
“A bombshell report from CBS Miami revealed a Grand Jury found the DeSantis admin led a ‘sophisticated scheme to fund political activities’ with $10 million in taxpayer money meant for children’s health care.
It’s clear from the Grand Jury report that our current Governor, AG, and US Senator laundered state medicaid funds through the First Lady’s non-profit. Instead of those funds providing healthcare services for FL’s most vulnerable, they were used for the Governor’s political purposes.”
The Grand Jury report demonstrates the scheme was highly orchestrated, intended to mislead, and deliberately covered up. In return, everyone involved was then appointed or promoted by the Governor to positions of greater authority to further insulate anyone from accountability and hide the truth from Floridians.
In fact, the Grand Jury acknowledged that the level of sophistication and lack of cooperation is what hindered their ability to recommend charges. As Governor, I intend to reopen an investigation into the laundering of state Medicaid funds. And I challenge Byron Donalds to do the same.”
… “In an interview with Tucker Carlson, former Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino says the Trump Admin wants him killed: Tucker: “Why did the admin pull your security detail? Bovino: To silence me. Q - To get you killed? That’s what it sounds like. Bovino: Do I think they want me dead? Yes. Every time I go out I’m in a battle. There’s some crazies out there. Do I think they want me killed? Absolutely. Q - Who, the Trump Admin? Bovino. Yes.”
… NYT: “A surge in immigration arrests this summer has swept up thousands of people who had not previously been the focus of Trump’s mass deportation campaign. They included people married to US citizens, people who had entered legally and were pursuing an asylum claim, and others with a temporary legal status that the administration pushed to revoke.”
… “A majority of the immigrants arrested in July were people who were accused of violating civil immigration laws but who had not been charged with or convicted of a crime, an analysis of newly released federal data shows. The share with a past violent criminal conviction fell to less than 4%. Overall, immigration arrests rose to record highs with 43,000 in June and 49,000 in July.”
… Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former senior ICE official: “They have more officers, more money, more detention space, more local partners and better systems. And they’re finally putting all the pieces together to build out this deportation machine.”
… WaPo: “Christian Castro, the ICE agent charged with shooting and injuring a man in Minneapolis, has been released from a jail in TX after a federal judge denied MN’s request to keep him in custody. MN officials filed a lawsuit earlier this month asking a judge to order Gov. Greg Abbott to sign an extradition request so that Castro returns to the state where he faces 4 counts of assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.”
… “But Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., of the Southern District of TX, sided with TX, allowing for Castro’s release and for TX to continue weighing whether to comply with the extradition request. MN officials have expressed concern that Castro will flee to Mexico to evade the justice system if released. Castro is charged with shooting and injuring Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant, and then lying about the circumstances of the shooting.”
On my weekly podcast Uncovered yesterday, we discussed my take on why the CIA Director went to Russia, the Canada trade war, Bessent’s Economic D-Day, Darlene Graham and SC senate race, more midterm problems for the GOP, farmers and ranchers furious at Trump, the SCOTUS mail-in ballot decision, new Reflecting Pool problems and lots more! Link to the show is here.
If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. The midterms can’t get here soon enough. Wiping that smug sanctimonious look off Mike Johnson’s face will be a great start to years of investigations and serious oversight.
… AP: “HHS Secretary RFK Jr. repeatedly told lawmakers who held the key to his confirmation last year that a 2019 visit to Samoa before a deadly measles outbreak had ‘nothing to do with vaccines.’ New documents refute that testimony.”
… “Kennedy, then a prominent anti-vaccine activist, preceded the visit with a letter to the Samoan PM requesting to study the Pacific island nation’s measles, mumps and rubella vaccines after the deaths of 2 children who had received them. In the letter, he
