Unnerved ex-officials uncork stark analogy as Trump spy chief cleans house on 'deep state'

President Donald Trump's controversial new intelligence chief is clearing house, and career officers warn the man swinging the axe doesn't know what he's cutting.Bill Pulte, Trump's loyal acting director of national intelligence, began notifying dozens of intelligence officials of their terminations Thursday, part of a downsizing Trump ordered when he installed Pulte at the office two weeks ago, MS NOW reported Friday. An intelligence official, who spoke anonymously citing fear of reprisal, told the outlet that leadership is targeting workers it believes are "deep state" and accused them of failing to hand up a complete picture of available intelligence.But former officials aren't buying his rationale. Several told MS NOW they had never heard of intelligence officers withholding information from their superiors. "The premise is absurd," one said. Another questioned how Pulte, who ran the federal housing agency and has no intelligence background, could reach such a conclusion within days of arriving.“I have a real question of how he would know this. This isn’t a guy who is familiar with intelligence,” a former official told the outlet. “How is he going to get to the bottom of this and rely on any information with a matter of fidelity? It would be like me taking over a hospital and firing dozens of surgeons in a matter of days.”The cuts follow Pulte's earlier removal of six political appointees who served under his predecessor, Tulsi Gabbard. His arrival has drawn alarm across party lines: he took the post without ever holding a security clearance, and he can stay in the acting role past November's midterms under federal vacancy rules. Critics note his office doesn't collect intelligence of its own, relying instead on the CIA, the NSA and more than a dozen other agencies to supply it.Democrats and some Republicans fear the purge is less about efficiency than about clearing out analysts who might resist Trump's election claims. The ODNI says it is providing "elite, apolitical intelligence that keeps America safe."

America's Grifter-in-Chief strikes again

The Trump administration concluded a recent mineral deal with Kazakhstan that, not surprisingly, enriches not only President Donald Trump’s own family but that of his secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick. Trump’s two eldest sons, part owners of Dominari Securities, are set to profit from the Kazakh tungsten deal. So is Cantor Fitzgerald, the investment firm run by Lutnick’s two sons.As The New York Times pointed out in its investigation of the scheme, “Their sons were soon doing business with partners in a deal that their fathers were negotiating, continuing a pattern of self-enrichment in the second Trump administration that has few precedents in American history.”The phrases “self-enrichment” and “few precedents” are interesting ways of characterizing this latest instance of the administration’s corruption. Isn’t self-enrichment a good thing, in the sense of profiting from your own hard work? By contrast, the article doesn’t mention the word “corruption” at all. Perhaps the Times is worried about getting hit by yet another Trump legal challenge (in October last year, Trump refiled a $15 billion defamation suit against the paper for its coverage of his 2024 presidential campaign).There are indeed several precedents in American history for what Trump is doing. These previous corruption scandals—Credit Mobilier, Whiskey Ring, Teapot Dome—wrecked the reputations of presidents and cast long shadows over American politics. They also helped to produce the kind of safeguards that Trump is now destroying.Foreign policy is a tool by which the administration levies a toll on any entity that has the temerity to be a country other than the United States. As with much of Trump’s disrespect for norms, his corruption has been massive and largely in full view. The two outstanding questions are: Will Trump and company ever be held accountable for their graft and will this corruption have an enduring impact on political institutions in the United States?Tracking the DamageIf scandalous behavior unfolds in full view of everyone, is it still a scandal? “Scandal” suggests something hidden, something whispered about, something revealed. Trump’s actions are full frontal. They are both brazen and matter-of-fact.According to the Trump administration and its extended family, the money skimmed off the top of economic transactions is just smart politics. The administration has endeavored to negotiate every peace deal, trade agreement, investment arrangement, and mineral pact in such a way as to deliver Trump, his family, and their circle of close supporters a good chunk of change.This is Trump’s interpretation of the American dream: Folks would be downright foolish not to profit from their position. All the great tycoons made their money, from railroads to AI, by being in the right place at the right time with the right amount of ruthlessness. In Trump’s case, however, he is using taxpayer money to cover the risk. And most the time, given the terms of the arrangement, there is hardly any risk because Trump is using his presidential power to game the system. That’s what he really means by the “art of the deal.” Trump only deals from a marked deck of cards.The Center for American Progress runs Trump’s Take, which estimates that the president has received a little over $2.6 billion in cash and gifts since he took office in January 2025.The graft is not secret, though sometimes the actual amounts involved are obscured by layers of complex finance. Trump’s recent mandatory financial disclosure offers some details. But thanks to a number of websites, it’s become quite easy to track in real time the growing amount of Trump’s slice of the pie.The Center for American Progress runs Trump’s Take, which estimates that the president has received a little over $2.6 billion in cash and gifts since he took office in January 2025. Much of this money has come from various crypto schemes, including the Trump meme coin, but also such dubious ventures as the documentary about Melania Trump and a number of legal settlements (more colloquially known as shakedowns). Corruption Counter puts the value at $2.2 billion and includes such recent items as the $100 million savings for Trump from the recent effort to bar the Internal Revenue Service from auditing the president. (Courts blocked the overall $1.8 billion “settlement fund,” but the Justice Department is upholding the IRS amnesty.)If you want to keep track just of the crypto deals, the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee maintain the Trump Family Digital Grift Wealth Tracker. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) keeps his own list, which highlights the insider trading around the Iran War and a defense contract with Dell after the president invested in the company. David Kirkpatrick, at The New Yorker, has been keeping a running total of Trump’s ballooning assets. In January, he updated his total to $4 billion, which details, among other things, the Gulf money flowing into Trump pockets.

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No expectant moms at the border: Trump's birthright Plan B

After losing the birthright citizenship case at the Supreme Court, President Trump's aides and MAGA allies quickly pivoted to a new plan: blocking pregnant foreign women from entering the United States.Why it matters: The proposal would open a new immigration battle over pregnancy, travel and citizenship, shifting the conversation from challenging the rights of children born in the U.S. to restricting who can enter the country.State of play: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a Trump executive order that sought to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. whose parents are not citizens was unconstitutional.Immediately after that decision, MAGA figures like Federalist founder Sean Davis suggested the U.S. bar pregnant foreign women from entering the country, an idea also floated by administration figures.Trump advisor Stephen Miller told Jesse Watters Tuesday after that court decision that America must "think very carefully about who you let into your country, even on a temporary basis," because children born to noncitizens can become U.S. citizens and access the social safety net."There's a lot of things we're gonna have to take a hard look at," he said.What they're saying: "President Trump remains totally committed to protecting the value of natural-born American citizenship which is why, following yesterday's ruling, he directed Congress to take immediate action to address this," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Axios in an emailed statement. "The Department of Justice will also prioritize investigations of birth tourism schemes. The Trump Administration has many tools to safeguard American citizenship." Zoom out: So-called birth tourism occurs when visitors come to America specifically to give birth to ensure their child receives U.S. citizenship.The Justice Department released a memo Tuesday that urged prosecutors to investigate the practice.Zoom in: "The criminal laws of the United States already prohibit conduct inherent to so many of these so-called 'birth tourism' schemes," Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald wrote in the memo posted to X. "For example, many such schemes start with a false visa application – with lies about the purpose or duration of one's travel to the United States."McDonald added that many of these cases could be prosecuted under visa fraud, but prosecutors should consider wire fraud, health care fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft charges.By the numbers: The government doesn't track the number of babies born to foreign visitors, but outside estimates put the figure between 20,000 to 26,000 cases per year.For context, 3.6 million babies were born in America in 2025, per the Centers for Disease Control, making birth tourism relatively rare.Worthy of your time: The push comes as the U.S. rallies around its World Cup team, which features several players who would not be eligible to represent America without birthright citizenship.That includes striker Folarin Balogun who scored half the team's goals in its opening game. Trump hasn't directly endorsed banning pregnant visitors, but his first administration actively targeted birthright tourism.He also appeared to reference birth tourism in a Truth Social post Tuesday that sarcastically congratulated Chinese President Xi Jinping after the Supreme Court decision."I would like to congratulate President Xi, and the Great Country of China, on their massive Birthright Citizenship WIN!"Go deeper: Scoop: Trump to target "birth tourism" in new immigration fightEditor's note: This story has been updated with comment from the White House.

Former Spy Chief Behind Russia Collusion Probe Takes Unusual Legal Step

Former CIA Director John Brennan, who helped oversee the intelligence community’s investigation into alleged ties between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, sued the Justice Department on Wednesday before prosecutors have even charged him with a crime. Brennan filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking an order requiring the Trump administration to preserve records related ...

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