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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 23, 2026

ProPublica Reports the FBI's Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins Over a Defense Contractor's $150,000 to Her Super PAC — Until Trump Returned and the Probe Was Dropped — Collins Calls It "Clearly a Political Hit Job," John Thune Blames "a Left-Wing Outlet," and Her Democratic Opponent Says "This Is Corruption of the Highest Order"

On September 22, 2026, ProPublica reported that an FBI public-corruption squad had been seeking approval by late 2024 to open a wider bribery investigation touching Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), built on previously undisclosed FBI interviews with Martin Kao, the former CEO of Hawaii defense contractor Navatek, who is serving an 87-month sentence after pleading guilty in 2022 to illegal campaign contributions and fraud. Kao told agents that after a November 2019 meeting with the head of the pro-Collins super PAC, who allegedly asked for $500,000, he routed $150,000 to the PAC through a shell company, and that Collins had committed to steering Navy research contracts to the company. According to ProPublica, the inquiry was abandoned after Trump returned to office and FBI Director Kash Patel removed the agents and dismantled the unit handling it. Collins, who faces Democrat Troy Jackson in one of the most competitive Senate races of the midterms, denies any wrongdoing, noting that the Biden Justice Department found none in 2021, and blamed the report on Chuck Schumer. The FBI said the allegations "had already been investigated by the FBI years ago and ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins' campaign." The New York Times separately reported that agents had found little to corroborate Kao's claims.

“[Thune called the report a] political hit job by a left-wing outlet. … I don't think there's ever been any implication that she or her campaign were in any way implicated in that.”
John Thune (R-SD) · Sep 23, 2026

Sep 23, 2026· Updated

A Putin-Allied Russian Oligarch Paid for Donald Trump Jr.'s Island Wedding Celebration — the Couple Call It "an Extraordinarily Generous Wedding Gift From a Friend," the President Says "Not a Big Deal!," and Chris Murphy Tells the Senate "Never Before Has a Foreign Enemy of the United States Paid for the Family Wedding of the President"

On September 14, 2026, ProPublica reported that Umar Kremlev — a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, secretary general of the International Boxing Association, whose boxing operations are financed by the state energy giant Gazprom — paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses for Donald Trump Jr.'s May 2026 wedding festivities in the Bahamas. According to the report, Kremlev's organization rented a private island for the roughly 50-guest post-wedding celebration at about $100,000 a night, paid an estimated $70,000 for a fireworks show and helped plan the event. Kremlev and a Russian delegation attended; so did Jared Kushner, who is helping lead U.S. negotiations with Russia over the war in Ukraine. President Trump did not attend. Hours after the report, Bettina Trump confirmed on Instagram that Kremlev "very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations" as "an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend," writing that "friendship doesn't require a political motive." A spokesperson for Trump Jr. said "Umar is a personal friend of Don." President Trump said he had "no idea who Umar is" and called the party "Not a big deal!" Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) called it "naked corruption in plain view" on the Senate floor that evening. On September 15, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, sent Trump Jr. a letter demanding he preserve all records of his relationship with Kremlev and any White House communications about the celebration, writing that the reporting "may be the most serious allegation against you to date."

“[T]he last Russia hoax cost this country years of progress. We are not doing it again over a private citizen's wedding. … Don Jr. is a businessman, not an administration official. There is no evidence he sold access to the presidency.”
Jim Banks (R-IN) · Sep 23, 2026

The Park Service Has Spent More Than a Year Working to Hand a Quarter-Mile Strip of Yosemite to a Las Vegas Developer — and California’s Two Senators Answer That the Park “Is Not for Sale”

NOTUS reported on August 28, 2026 that since the spring of 2025 the National Park Service has been working, at the direction of Trump political appointees at the Interior Department, to cede a roughly quarter-mile strip of land inside Yosemite National Park to a company controlled through a web of limited-liability companies by Kingsbarn Realty Capital, a Las Vegas-based real-estate and investment firm run by Jeff Pori. The New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Hill matched the reporting the same day. In 2024 Kingsbarn bought 83 acres of undeveloped land immediately outside Yosemite's western boundary, roughly five miles from one of the park's groves of ancient sequoias. The parcel has no direct road connection to Highway 120, the park's main thoroughfare. The exchange under discussion would give Kingsbarn a strip of park land to build that connection; in return the company would buy land of equal value elsewhere in California and turn it over to the Park Service. Interior floated paying for the exchange out of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, money Congress set aside for conservation on public lands. Sen. Jeff Merkley, a member of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, objected and kept the deal off the subcommittee's endorsed project list. Career Park Service staff told NOTUS the directive was unprecedented and that Interior leadership pushed them to move faster. Ceding park land to a private party runs against roughly 150 years of practice in which national park boundaries have expanded, not contracted. Don Neubacher, a former Yosemite superintendent, said the transfer is "basically illegal" and warned that the specific area is habitat for Pacific fishers and great gray owls. Cicely Muldoon, another former superintendent with 40 years in the Park Service, said the agency's "basic purpose in the national parks is to preserve these places unimpaired for future generations." The Interior Department denied the reporting, calling it a story built on "anonymous allegations to manufacture a political narrative." Lanny Davis, a Democratic lawyer who identified himself as counsel to Kingsbarn, confirmed after publication that the company was pursuing the exchange and said he — not Trump — had brought the proposal to Interior, framing it as "a pro-environmental decision." California's two Democratic senators and the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee all came out against the deal within hours. Padilla's office said it was working with Senate Appropriations staff to block it.

“Yosemite is one of California’s natural wonders. The courts struck this project down once, but this administration appears hell-bent on moving forward. We will fight this again.”
Adam Schiff (D-CA) · Aug 28, 2026

Aug 28, 2026· Updated

The Government Has Paid Nearly $4 Billion to Kill Offshore Wind — and $900 Million of the Latest Settlement Goes Straight to a Private Equity Firm Run by a Trump Donor Who Lives Near Mar-a-Lago

On August 6–7, 2026, the Trump administration announced a $1.22 billion settlement with the German utility RWE. In exchange for the money — drawn from a federal fund — RWE gave up offshore wind leases off New York, California and Louisiana, roughly seven gigawatts of planned capacity, and agreed to reinvest the proceeds in oil, gas or nuclear "conventional energy." It was the latest in a series of buyouts, beginning with a roughly $1 billion deal with TotalEnergies in March 2026, that has now cost taxpayers close to $4 billion. On August 27, 2026, reporting revealed where most of the RWE money is going: $900 million of it will buy a stake in a Louisiana LNG project from Stonepeak, the private equity firm co-founded and run by Australian billionaire Michael Dorrell. Dorrell owns a mansion near Mar-a-Lago and gave a combined roughly $1 million to the Trump-Vance inaugural committee after the 2024 election. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, who had already called the settlements "an insane waste of taxpayer funds and a ridiculous charade that seems to be blatantly illegal," said the Stonepeak connection "now adds the stench of corruption," and said he would expand his existing investigation to cover it. The White House called the reporting "a brazen attempt to insinuate a conflict-of-interest that does not exist," and the Interior Department said "no one at the Department directed which company RWE was to invest in." The buyouts were already under scrutiny. In June 2026, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James led a seven-state lawsuit calling the arrangement a "pay-not-to-play scheme." In July 2026, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) led fourteen senators — including Schumer, Schatz, King and Heinrich — in an investigation of the deals. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called the buybacks "an enormous money pump, pulling billions of dollars out of consumers' pockets." Interior Secretary Doug Burgum defended them, saying Americans "deserve an energy system built on common sense, not one dependent on costly subsidies."

“The Trump Administration’s backroom buyout with Golden State Wind to stop offshore wind development in favor of gas and oil drilling is, unfortunately, a classic playbook for them to line the pockets of their Big Oil donors.”
Rob Bonta (D-CA) · Aug 28, 2026

House Judiciary Democrats Widen Their Kushner Probe to a $120 Million Albanian Land Deal Bought From a Suspected Drug Trafficker — and Raskin Tells the President’s Son-in-Law He Started "Another Fraud-Related International Incident All by Yourself"

On Monday, August 24, 2026, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) sent Jared Kushner a letter expanding the committee's investigation into Kushner's foreign business dealings to cover his purchase of more than $120 million of disputed coastal land in Albania for a luxury resort. The seller, Arthur Shehu, is a suspected criminal with a history of drug trafficking; the Albanian government has alleged he used fraudulent documents and forged Ottoman-era land records to claim ownership of large stretches of coastline. Democrats say Kushner bought anyway, after being warned the seller did not own the property, while pursuing a project that has drawn extraordinary concessions from the Albanian government and mass protests inside Albania. Raskin opened the letter by noting Kushner had not responded to the committee's earlier demand for records about his simultaneous work as a U.S. foreign policy official — he is the administration's Middle East envoy and a lead negotiator on the Iran war — and as a private investor funded by foreign governments. The expanded probe asks whether Kushner's conduct warrants scrutiny under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and whether federal bribery, conflict-of-interest and foreign-agent statutes need to be rewritten. Records are due September 7, 2026. The White House dismissed the demand. Spokeswoman Anna Kelly called it "the same, tired narrative" Democrats have pushed for a decade, and the administration has consistently described Kushner — who holds no Senate-confirmed post — as a volunteer whose private business is separate from his diplomacy.

“This is the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade.”
Anna Kelly (R) · Aug 25, 2026

Trump’s Pardon Attorney Ed Martin Leaves the Justice Department to Fight "Legal Battles" for the Midterms — the Same Day House Judiciary Democrats Report That the Clemency Operation He Ran Erased $1.7 Billion Owed to Crime Victims

On Friday, August 21, 2026, President Trump announced on Truth Social that Ed Martin — his U.S. pardon attorney, former head of the Justice Department's "Weaponization Working Group," and former interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia — is leaving the administration to work on election litigation for the November midterms and the 2028 presidential race. Attorney General Todd Blanche called Martin a "patriot who loves this nation"; Martin posted "Proud to serve. Fight Fight Fight." Martin had been one of the most contested figures in the second Trump Justice Department. He replaced career pardon attorney Liz Oyer, who was fired in 2025 and said the office had been politicized. He was named a special attorney on mortgage-fraud investigations into Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James — sending James a letter urging her to resign "as an act of good faith" and posing for photographs outside her Brooklyn home — and the case against James was later dismissed when a judge found the prosecutor who brought it had been illegally appointed. Martin was removed as head of the Weaponization Working Group earlier in 2026 while keeping the pardon attorney title. The same day, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, released a 25-page committee staff report titled "Pardons, Inc.: How Trump and His Clemency-for-Cash Racket Let White-Collar Criminals and International Drug Dealers Walk Free and Dodge Billions in Restitution Owed to Their Victims." The report finds that Trump's clemency grants have wiped out nearly $1.7 billion in restitution, fines and forfeitures owed to victims and taxpayers — up from the committee Democrats' $1.3 billion estimate a year earlier — and argues the White House replaced the DOJ's traditional review criteria with a pay-to-play process running on political contributions, Trump family business ties and MAGA-connected intermediaries. Cases cataloged in the report include Nikola founder Trevor Milton, pardoned after $1.8 million in donations to Trump-aligned committees and released from roughly $700 million in restitution; health care executive Paul Walczak, pardoned weeks after his mother attended a $1 million Mar-a-Lago fundraiser, escaping $4.5 million in stolen payroll taxes; Jason Galanis, who avoided some $84 million in restitution after testifying for Republicans during impeachment proceedings; and Ozy Media's Carlos Watson, whose $37 million in victim restitution was forgiven. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

“I know he will do an outstanding job, ensure Free, Fair, and Honest Elections, and strongly advance our Constitutional Rights.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 21, 2026

Aug 16, 2026· Updated

DOJ Creates $1.7B "Anti-Weaponization Fund"; Trump Drops IRS Lawsuit

The Trump administration's Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" on May 18, 2026, as part of a deal in which President Trump agreed to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. The fund — formally called the "Truth and Justice Commission" — draws from the Treasury's permanent Judgment Fund and requires no new Congressional approval. It would compensate anyone claiming they were targeted by Biden-era "weaponization," including roughly 1,600 individuals charged in connection with the January 6 Capitol attack.

“I've said repeatedly, it's dead. There is no fund, no money went from the Treasury to any account, there were no commissioners established. There is no fund, there will be no fund.”
Todd Blanche (R) · Aug 16, 2026

May 21, 2026· Updated

Government Drops All Tax Claims Against Trump in Expanded IRS Settlement

A one-page settlement document posted to the DOJ website on May 19, 2026 reveals the U.S. government is "forever barred and precluded" from examining or prosecuting President Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization on their current tax issues. The provision dramatically broadens the prior day's IRS lawsuit settlement — going far beyond Trump merely dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS to the government permanently surrendering its own enforcement rights against Trump's taxes. Democrats called it unprecedented self-dealing; one Republican, Sen. Ron Johnson, backed it.

“Now, he is making his sycophants at the Department of Injustice sell out the American people and funnel billions into a slush fund designed to reward violent January 6 insurrectionists and other loyalists. Instead of using taxpayer dollars to make life more affordable and better for the American people, Donald Trump is abusing his power to corruptly enrich himself, his family and his billionaire friends.”
Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) · May 21, 2026

Democrats Introduce Bill to Block Trump From Collecting Federal Settlements

On April 15, 2026, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Rep. Jamie Raskin, and Rep. Dave Min introduced the Ban Presidential Plunder of Taxpayer Funds Act (S.4299), a bill to bar the President, Vice President, and their immediate family members from collecting settlement payments from the federal government while in office. The bill was a direct response to Trump's $10 billion IRS lawsuit and a prior $230 million DOJ settlement demand — and anticipated the deal that would produce the $1.7B Anti-Weaponization Fund a month later. The bill has no path forward with Republicans controlling both chambers.

“While American families are getting flattened by skyrocketing costs, Donald Trump is trying to snatch up billions of taxpayer dollars to line his own pockets and settle personal scores. My bill will close the loopholes that enable this apparent corruption and ban Trump — and all future Presidents and Vice Presidents — from abusing their power and stealing Americans' hard-earned money.”
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) · Apr 15, 2026