Trump Openly Jokes About His Next Corruption Scheme

Donald Trump openly speculated about paying himself millions to build a ballroom in the White House while signing an anti-trans executive order Wednesday.

Trump was signing the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the White House’s East Room and, as he is prone to do, went off on a tangent, remarking how the room was so full that many people couldn’t get in.

“This room is packed. You know, I offered to build a ballroom, I’m very good at building ballrooms. I build beautiful ballrooms, and I actually offered to build a ballroom for the White House. I was going to build it right there,” Trump said, pointing behind him.

“I was going to build a beautiful, beautiful ballroom like I have at Mar-a-Lago, as beautiful as it can be. It was going to cost about a hundred million dollars. I offered to do it, and I never heard back,” Trump added to laughter, noting that he made the offer to the Biden administration. “So, I’m going to try and make the offer to myself, you know, because we could use a bigger room.”

While Trump added that such a project “would cost nothing,” and “I’ll spend the whole thing myself,” he has a reputation for charging the government (and taxpayers, by extension) exorbitant amounts of money.

For example, during his first term, he reportedly charged the Secret Service “300 percent or more above the authorized government per diem” for accommodation at his hotels, and his political work has also resulted in millions of dollars going to his personal coffers. Trump will likely bring up his ballroom idea again, and in all likelihood, it won’t be the last far-fetched, exorbitant project he proposes.

One of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s most devoted cheerleaders, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, may have an ulterior motive for supporting the vaccine skeptic’s nomination to head the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a new report from The American Prospect.

Soon-Shiong has seemingly gone out of his way to boost Kennedy’s bid to head the U.S. health agencies.

In December, Soon-Shiong reportedly blocked the publication of an op-ed criticizing Trump’s Cabinet choices, including Kennedy, TAP reported.

Last week, LA Times contributor Eric Reinhert accused the legacy newspaper of making significant edits to a piece of his that was largely critical of Kennedy, recasting his warning about Trump’s pick to head HHS with a more optimistic tone. The edited version suggested that the virulent anti-vaccine advocate could help assuage the American public’s poor opinion of the health care industry. The New Republic published the original version of Reinhert’s piece here.

When Kennedy’s nomination was narrowly advanced on Tuesday, Soon-Shiong posted on X to cheer him on. “Yay!!!! The transformation of healthcare begins,” he wrote.

But it looks like the billionaire scientist’s support is ultimately self-serving. As Kennedy’s confirmation advances, ImmunityBio, Soon-Shiong’s biotech firm, has three pending drug applications in front of the Food and Drug Administration.

Soon-Shiong founded ImmunityBio in 2014, just four years before he bought the LA Times. The firm’s first commercial drug, Anktiva, which treats a form of bladder cancer, hit the market last April after it was initially rejected the year before. The snafu led Soon-Shiong to infuse an additional $400 million into the company to keep things moving, according to the LA Business Journal.

By ensuring his new buddy secures the position overseeing the FDA, Soon-Shiong can possibly avoid hitting the same expensive snag a second, third, and fourth time.

Soon-Shiong is listed as ImmunityBio’s executive chairman and global chief medical and scientific officer, and in December, his ownership share of the company was around 80 percent.

The far right, including Elon Musk, are pushing a conspiracy theory that the U.S. Agency for International Development secretly funds several mainstream media outlets, including Politico, the Associated Press, and The New York Times.

The conspiracy hatched on Tuesday after a technical glitch prevented Politico’s employees from receiving their paychecks. MAGA influencers, including Benny Johnson, Dana Loesch, and Rob Smith, all saw this as a direct result of Donald Trump suspending USAID’s programs. Johnson fueled the unfounded belief by posting screenshots from USASpending.gov showing that the federal government paid Politico $8.2 million last year, and wrongly assumed that it all came from USAID.

However, in reality, that money appears to come from Politico Pro subscriptions, which are targeted at business executives, lobbyists, and government workers, and cost more than $10,000 each. It also was the total amount of money from all government agencies, not just USAID. The service tracks legislation, votes, and lawsuits, and includes niche reporting and analysis about news from within the federal government.

Right-wing commentators then found what they claimed was evidence that USAID funneled money to the Associated Press, although much of that is due to syndication agreements between the AP and government media outlets such as Voice of America.

Ian Miles Cheong then got in on the conspiracy-mongering, posting screenshots claiming that The New York Times is being funded by the U.S. government, prompting Musk to post, “NYT is government-funded media.” The right-wing panic quickly made its way to the floor of Congress, where Representative Lauren Boebert falsely claimed during a hearing that Politico was laying off staff due to USAID’s funding being cut.

Even the Trump administration weighed in, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters at a briefing that she “can confirm that the more than eight million taxpayer dollars that have gone to essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the American taxpayer’s dime will no longer be happening.”

“The DOGE team is working on canceling those payments now,” Leavitt said.

As ludicrous as this false narrative is, the right is not likely to listen to evidence that goes against its “findings,” especially as media outlets continue to report news from the Trump administration that it dislikes. The expenditures it is decrying are a tiny fraction of the trillions of dollars in the federal budget, and go toward subscriptions and advertising. But all the right sees is an excuse to go after the media outlets that criticize it, even if some conservatives, like Johnson, took money from the Russian government.

After a horrific start to his tenure, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has decided that our aviation system needs Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE’s help.

“Big News–Talked to the DOGE team. They are going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system,” Duffy wrote Wednesday on X.

“With the support of President @realDonaldTrump, the @DOGE team will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system,” Musk replied. “Just a few days ago, the FAA’s primary aircraft safety notification system failed for several hours!”

The United States is now getting aviation safety consultations from the adolescent minions of a man whose cybertruck is a death trap and whose rockets often explode. That’s not to mention the Teslas regularly crashing and erupting in flames.

Duffy faces a populace that is shaken after the devastating crash near Reagan National Airport, thanks in part to an aviation system that is outdated and understaffed. We can only hope, for all of our sakes, that Elon isn’t letting a bunch of recent college graduates handle these “rapid safety upgrades.”

Donald Trump has found the perfect person to say if Elon Musk has conflicts of interest: Elon Musk. 

During a White House press briefing Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked what steps the Trump administration was taking to address the conflicts of interest that arise from the billionaire technocrat serving as a “special government employee” heading the Department of Government Efficiency. 

It seems that it’s up to Musk to decide. 

“The president was already asked, and answered the question this week. He said that if Elon Musk comes across a conflict of interest with the contracts and the funding that DOGE is overseeing, then Elon will excuse himself from those contracts,” Leavitt said. 

Leavitt insisted that Musk had “abided by all applicable laws,” which has become the company line about the unelected bureaucrat currently rifling through the private information of federal employees. 

Based on Leavitt’s non-answer, it seems that Musk’s approach to conflicts of interest will be based solely on the honor system, and he will receive no ethics oversight for his dealings with DOGE. 

Earlier this week, Trump said that Musk was given access “only to letting people go that he thinks that are no good,”  and to get rid of certain “groups” and “numbers,” weaving into his outlandish lie about uncovering government spending on condoms for Gaza. “Elon can’t do, and won’t do anything without our approval,” Trump eventually said. Well, that’s comforting. 

Ethics experts have raised concerns over Musk’s dual status as a federal employee and CEO of SpaceX. As a federal employee, he is legally required to recuse himself from any decision that can benefit his financial interests. Meanwhile, he has raked in billions in unclassified prime revenue from the U.S. government in the last year alone. 

The CIA may have just doxxed itself.

The New York Times is reporting that the Central Intelligence Agency, complying with Trump’s attempts to purge the federal government, sent his administration an unclassified email containing a list of every single person the CIA had hired over the past two years. Security experts everywhere are alarmed at the news, as many of those named closely monitor U.S. adversaries like Russia and China—and could soon become targets because of it.

The list, which was sent to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, contained names of operatives whose identities are typically guarded. It’s not clear how many names were in the email.

“Exposing the identities of officials who do extremely sensitive work would put a direct target on their backs for China,” Democratic Senator Mark Warner wrote on X. “A disastrous national security development.”

A former CIA officer described the email as a “counterintelligence disaster.” This comes as Trump offered CIA employees an unauthorized “buyout” in return for their resignations.

Thousands of Americans are protesting in cities across the United States Wednesday against Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s early attempts to overhaul the federal government.

The protests took place at state capitols across the country, organized online by a movement called 50501, referring to 50 protests in 50 states in one day. Demonstrators gathered in Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana, Delaware, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, according to the r/50501 subreddit and the Associated Press.

In Philadelphia, protesters gathered outside of a federal courthouse holding signs that said “TRUMP + MUSK ARE NOT KINGS” and “RESIST.” In Madison, Wisconsin, demonstrators at the state Capitol held signs objecting to fascism, Elon Musk, and the conservative manifesto Project 2025. In Lansing, Michigan, about 500 people demonstrated outside the state Capitol denouncing Trump’s plans for Gaza, the rollback of transgender rights, and the federal government’s mass deportation efforts under Trump.

One of the organizers at Michigan’s protest only learned about the movement on Sunday night, and helped with coordinating speakers and safety protocols.

“I want to look back at this time and say that I did something and I didn’t just sit back,” Kelsey Brianne told the AP Monday night.

On social media, protesters used the hashtag #50501 to organize and document the protests. Videos were also posted by journalists and media outlets across the country showing local protests.

Another federal judge has blocked Trump’s brutal attack on birthright citizenship.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman filed a preliminary injunction against Trump’s executive order, which was a promise he signed into action his first day in office.

Boardman ruled that Trump’s repeal of birthright citizenship “conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment, contradicts 125-year old binding Supreme Court precedent and runs counter to our nation’s 250-year history of citizenship by birth.”

“No court in the country has ever endorsed the president’s interpretation,” she continued. “This court will not be the first.”

Boardman’s injunction will almost surely be challenged by the Trump administration and head to a federal appeals court, after which it could then head toward the Supreme Court. Boardman is the second federal judge to rule against Trump’s executive order.

The Trump administration argued that the Founding Fathers didn’t mean to “create a loophole to be exploited” by immigrants. Boardman was unconvinced.

Trump has made eliminating birthright citizenship—a basic constitutional tenet—a key part in his war against undocumented immigrants.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s shockingly not-private Venmo account shines a light into the shadowy corners of the supposedly antiestablishment warrior’s completely establishment inner circle—and also illuminates the path forward for Donald Trump’s Defense Department, according to a new report from The American Prospect.

The cast of characters listed under Hegseth’s friends on the mobile payment app, which includes Washington elites, defense contractors, and private health care executives, suggests that he plans to steer the Defense Department toward widespread privatization.

Heavily featured in Hegseth’s list of friends are executives at defense firms Palantir and Anduril, which already get millions off of the Defense Department.

Palantir recently extended an artificial intelligence contract with the U.S. Army that is projected to cost $401 million over four years, with a ceiling of $619 million. In October, Anduril scored a $250 million contract with the Pentagon to develop a drone defense system, in addition to already supplying counter-drone hardware and software to the U.S. Special Operations Command on a 10-year contract, which is worth up to $1 billion.

Hegseth’s list of Venmo buddies also includes Mike Gallagher, a former representative from Wisconsin who, after drumming up a lot of anti-China rhetoric as chair of the Select Committee on the CCP, vacated his seat last year to serve as head of defense at Palantir. His new employer stands to make a killing in AI contracts as a result of a breakdown in U.S. relations with China. Hegseth also had the contact for Christian Brose, chief strategy officer for Anduril.

Hegseth has more ties to Big Tech in the form of former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who leads the anti-antitrust Competitiveness Coalition, as well as Google’s former director of law enforcement and information security Richard Salgado, ​​and Evan Bahr, who served as an adviser to Peter Thiel’s hedge fund, according to TAP’s report. Hegseth’s ties to these sectors indicate that he will likely be open to outsourcing more massive government contracts to Silicon Valley.

Hegseth’s Venmo also revealed ties to several executives of the UnitedHealth Group, including a vice president, a product director, and a public affairs consultant. UnitedHealth is the largest administrator of Medicare Advantage, which is the largest administrator of the private Medicare option.

Hegseth has previously advocated for the privatization of Veterans Affairs, an agency he does not oversee but that manages the health care of the country’s veterans. He lobbied to restrict access to VA health care to only veterans with service-connected disabilities. In his capacity as head of DOD, Hegseth could push to privatize TRICARE, a health care program servicing uniformed military members, and continue to advocate to strip veterans of their government-offered health care option.

Hegseth’s lapse in personal security—a list of all his buddies available for public viewing—is a disturbing feature for the guy in charge of the Pentagon. Last month, Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth warned that Hegseth was potentially “vulnerable to blackmail,” given his shady dealings with a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017.

“What is he going to be willing to do to pay off the next accuser who might show up after he becomes secretary of defense and has access to the nuclear codes, and the location of U.S. troops around the world?” Duckworth said.

Elon Musk’s overnight ascendency to the Executive Branch doesn’t seem to bother his Republican allies who were actually elected.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared nonplussed by the incredible grip that the world’s richest man-turned-bureaucrat has over federal agencies.

“Is there an inconsistency by Republicans on one hand where we for years have not wanted ‘unelected bureaucrats’ downtown and yet ceding Article One powers to the executive branch under Elon Musk?” asked Fox News’s Chad Pergram.

“No, look, I’ve got to challenge the premise of the question, and you know me, I’m a fierce advocate and defender of Article One,” Johnson responded, referring to the Constitutional article that established Congress. “We’re going to vigorously defend that.”

“But I think there’s a gross overreaction in the media to what’s happening,” Johnson continued. “The executive branch of government in our system has the right to evaluate how executive branch agencies are operating and to ensure that not only the intent of Congress in funding mechanisms, but also the stewardship of precious American taxpayer dollars is being handled well. That’s what they’re doing by putting a pause on some of these agencies and by evaluating them, by doing these internal audits.”

The Trump administration’s decision to freeze the distribution of trillions of dollars in congressionally appropriated funds was blocked on Monday by a federal judge who deemed the effort grossly unconstitutional.

Johnson described the freeze and Musk’s other attempts to get government agencies as a “long overdue, much welcome development.” He insisted that the effort is “not a power grab” while claiming that the halted taxpayer funds were being used to fund drag shows in Colombia and atheism camps in Nepal.

“We see this as an active, engaged, committed executive branch authority doing what the executive branch should do,” Johnson said.