Ken Vogel

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NEW: After James Blair & Chris LaCivita donated the hundreds of thousands of dollars they were each paid for advising the pro-Russian government of Republika Srpska to the Trump presidential library, Trump said he is no longer concerned about whether their work represented a conflict of interest.

NEW: A firm started late last year by the family of the Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera Velutini offered to pay Alina Habba $10m/year while she was an administration advisor. Weeks after she started at the company, Trump pardoned Herrera Velutini, who had been charged in a bribery case.

SCOOP: Susie Wiles' daughter Katie Wiles traveled to Srpska in August with a Texas energy entrepreneur to explore a gas pipeline deal with the pro-Russian government. The entrepreneur has received support from the Trump administration for another project in which Donald Trump Jr. is an investor.

SCOOP: While Trump was crisscrossing the USA last week trying to help the GOP stave off a midterm washout, two of his top political advisers were in Republika Srpska advising its pro-Russian government on election issues. James Blair & Chris LaCivita were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars each.

Who qualifies as a nepo-baby these days? With rising frustrations over the wealth gap, our collective obsession with unearthing privilege has expanded the meaning of the term to include emerging stars with any kind of advantage or connection to wealth.

Not everyone in the Trump administration is shutting out Politico, CNN & MS NOW. Reporters from those outlets were welcomed at a State Department UNGA kickoff reception at a midtown hotel last night where Marco Rubio delivered off-the-cuff remarks & mingled, per @playbookdc.bsky.social

A custom “White House Rolex” — available only to bona fide (& rich) MAGA insiders & featuring the gold seal of the president on the dial, a star at the 45- & 47-second markers & an engraving of the WH on the back — is one of many markers of status in Trump’s DC clocked by @aidanmcl.bsky.social.

While Sen. Katie Britt was publicly defending Trump's tariffs, she was privately seeking exemptions for 4 companies operating in Alabama that could be hurt by tariffs, according to emails between her staff & Trump's US Trade Representative, obtained via FOIA by @wsj.com. www.wsj.com/opinion/kati...

The TSA is considering allowing PreCheck passengers to bring full water bottles through security at select airports.

NEW @POLITICO.com POLL: 63% of Americans believe AI could destroy humanity one day. Nearly half favor pausing development of more advanced AI models — 48% — compared with 31% who favor continued development. www.politico.com/news/2026/09...

Despite Democratic claims to the contrary, “this is not a MAGA court,” said Donald B. Verrilli Jr., who served as solicitor general under Obama. Justices have rejected Trump initiatives on tariffs, citizenship, the National Guard & now the coming election.

Brett Tolman has ties in Trump’s orbit. He was overheard by @cbsnews.com telling a pardon seeker that he (Tolman) expects to work on "40 or 50" clemency cases in Trump's 2nd term & expects to be successful in more than 2/3 of them.

It’s hard to imagine any other beat in any other US city being covered as obsessively as the Philly sports media covers the Eagles. But is that coverage actually good? And is it good for Philly & its residents? Tom McGrath takes a smart look at those questions at @phillymag.com & isn’t so sure.

The Putin-allied oligarch who helped pay for Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding is heavily involved in a group that is under Ukrainian sanctions for its alleged role in a program that abducts Ukrainian children from occupied territories.

NEW: The Alexander bros, who were convicted in March of running a decades-long sex-trafficking scheme, have paid at least $250k to Alan Dershowitz at least partly to pursue “executive clemency & judicial reversal,” according to records obtained by the @nytimes.com.

Straight into my veins

Sen. Roger Marshall, who was an OBGYN before entering Congress, has highlighted his care of low-income patients. But Marshall filed lawsuits against 700+ patients with outstanding bills, resulting in paychecks & bank account garnishments. Some collections continued during his time in Congress.

Hunter Biden is launching a meme coin called $LAPTOP.

You’ve heard of the revolving door between government & lobbying. How about no door? A senior staffer for Senator Mike Rounds is registered to lobby the South Dakota Legislature on behalf of more than a dozen clients, including Meta, the tobacco giant Altria & Big Ag interests. @politico.com:

NEW: Trump pardoned longtime Jay-Z associate Emory "Vegas" Jones, who had served years for selling crack. It was among several clemency grants for drug offenders. He also commuted the bribery sentence of Philly union boss John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty.

Ball busting among male friends — what anthropologists call “jocular abuse” — is as old as time. It can be about bonding or establishing a pecking order. But insult humor can also be breathtakingly personal & hurtful. When does it go too far?

Oracle, which could face heightened scrutiny from a Dem-controlled Congress, hosted Sen. Susan Collins at a fundraiser in Washington for a dark money group called Stronger America that has spent $11m+ on ads benefiting her campaign, @shanegoldmacher.bsky.social & @teddyschleifer.bsky.social report.

Dem operative’s advice for companies worried their donations to Trump projects will make them Dem subpoena targets: “You’re going to be totally f—ed next year or you’re going to figure it out this year & you’re going to make amends—& amends are going to be much more costly than they were previously”

RFK Jr. walked out of a presser after he was asked about his ties to the maker of a popular kratom drink that this year donated $1m to MAHA PAC & secured a major policy win from HHS & the WH despite serious health risks. @nytimes.com revealed RFK’s kratom ties here: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/u...

Joe Lonsdale, the billionaire co-founder of Palantir, once expressed regret that people hesitated to call the homeless “bums.” He is among the most influential shapers of Trump's homelessness policy.

Wing Bowl was like Mardi Gras meets WrestleMania meets Nathan’s hot dog contest. Except at 6am. It could only happen in Philadelphia — & it did for 26 years. “No One Died: The Wing Bowl Story” captures the event (& the Philly sports ethos) in all its drunken, aggressive, debauched & earnest glory.

Hmmm….

When he finally got Trump on his radio show last week, @michaelcohen212.bsky.social tried (& mostly failed) to get the president to reminisce over the old days, @shawnmccreesh.bsky.social writes. It called to mind Tony Soprano's rebuke of Paulie: “Remember when is the lowest form of conversation.”

Wild @sfchronicle.com story about an (unsuccessful) effort to deploy Trumpian scorched earth tactics to defuse a scandal in California win country.

“We have to create a major scandal & burn down the entire town to save your ass,” the Trump-allied FARA lobbyist Robert Stryk messaged Dominic Foppoli, a Calif. wine country mayor facing sexual assault allegations. "If you waiver (sic) we will lose, which is what I told my Dictators."

NEW: Days after announcing it had received ICE contracts that could pay it $165m/year to detain immigrants, the private prison company the GEO Group donated $1.4m to the Trump-backed MAGA Inc. super PAC.

“The more positive a (Reddit) conversation starts, the more negative it will become — because if the thread starts really positive, the positive comments are all taken at the beginning and you have to go negative.”

The Dicks in Cherry Hill, NJ, has (or had?) LeBron jerseys in stock, but they were kept behind the counter because of "trouble with people stealing them," per @crossingbroad.bsky.social. www.crossingbroad.com/news/sixers/...

There are only 187,000 Holocaust survivors left worldwide. Rizy Horowitz’s Brooklyn-based Nachas Health & Family Network cares for about 280 of them, including a woman who as a child had a gun placed to her forehead by a Nazi. “I will be there as long as they need me,” Horowitz said.

Susie Wiles' son-in-law Bret Worley stands to benefit from a White House-backed pause on an intoxicating hemp ban, notes GOP Rep. Andy Harris: “A senior WH person’s relative makes millions of dollars from selling this product, including products that end up in children’s hands."

When you fly your drone over a wildfire, you might capture spectacular video footage, but you might also prevent firefighters from extinguishing the blaze. It’s a growing problem that is putting lives & property at even greater risk.

“Men are so stupid,” @chuckschumer.com told Annie Karni after she informed him of her pending divorce. “Just so stupid.” How over-sharing — with the likes of Schumer, Steve Bannon, Lauren Boebert, Anna Paulina Luna & Nancy Mace — helped Annie process the end of her marriage.

NEW: Trump is pushing to delay a ban on intoxicating hemp products that experts warn can be dangerous. Among the beneficiaries is Susie Wiles' son-in-law. Bret Worley, who married Caroline Wiles in June, runs a company that sells intoxicating hemp gummies & vapes with names like “Trainwreck.”

What the …

Trump’s nonstop fundraising for his political groups & pet projects is one of the defining themes of his 2nd term. Yet Meredith O’Rourke, the woman behind his fundraising operation, has maintained a low profile. Her role is elucidated here by the @wsj.com

Top U.S. oil & gas executives have sold nearly $400 million worth of stock in their own companies since the Iran war triggered a supply crunch that sent energy prices -- & the share prices of their companies' stocks -- soaring.

Omar Navarro, who pleaded guilty to embezzling $250k from his congressional campaign, says he was told he could get a Trump pardon if he paid $2m-$3m to a law firm. He won't say who told him this, because the person "is pretty powerful in the government … so I’m very scared to even say anything.”

Donald Trump Jr had never managed a venture fund before 1789 Capital. It has bought shares in coveted private companies before many went public, including SpaceX & Anduril, often by leveraging connections to secure a stake or to help boost the sales. 1789's main fund has generated returns of ~200%

SCOOP: After pardoning hundreds of allies over the course of his 1st 18 months back in the White House, Trump this month quietly rejected clemency applications from nearly 6,000 people who mostly lacked connections & had been waiting in a queue at the Justice Department.

Mavis Staples is 87 years old.

18 AIPAC-endorsed lawmakers voted to end U.S. aid to Israel. Now AIPAC has removed the option to donate through its online bundling portal to those lawmakers, @jewishinsider.com reports.

After Michael Castillero was convicted of a $386m fraud, Trump's SDNY U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton praised the verdict. But in seeking a pardon, Castillero's lawyer cast him as a "true MAGA" Trump backer targeted by "the Biden lawfare machine." It hasn't worked.

Most 2nd term presidents stop fundraising for their own groups, & pivot instead to helping their party & its candidates. Not so much for Trump. He has raised $782m since the 2024 election for groups controlled by him & his allies, according a @wsj.com analysis.

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