Mother Jones Daily: He’s Pete Hegseth’s Wealth Manager. He Also Pushes “Pro-Israel Policies” Like War With Iran., How Lindsey Graham, eager to serve Trump, became a useful idiot for Putin, Trump's energy policies are “fattening the wallets of his cronies” at public expense, A little law gives hope that government can suck less and make people’s lives better, DOJ subpoenas New York Times reporters after Air Force One story, Sam Bankman-Fried recounts FTX’s collapse and why he feels he was wrongly convicted of fraud 13JUL26

 

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July 13, 2026 Lindsey Graham's late-stage evolution from Trump foe to Trump sycophant is well known. But David Corn is here to remind us of another important legacy: Graham's acrobatic flip-flop on the Trump-Russia scandal.  From David: Eventually Graham got on board with Trump’s Russia denialism. He mounted a side investigation that focused not on Putin’s operation but on the FBI’s investigation of the Russian operation and the Steele dossier, the series of memos produced by a former British intelligence official that contained uncorroborated allegations of Trump-Russia collusion. Attacking the FBI probe and the Steele dossier—which was paid for by an opposition research firm retained by a lawyer working for the Clinton campaign—became the Republican’s main tactic to divert attention from Putin’s assault on the 2016 campaign and from Trump’s complicity (that is, his false insistence that there had been no Russian intervention). This isn't just some minor detail. In fact, it is key to understanding what was most important to Graham: the influence gained by willfully serving a demagogue. It is how a man goes from calling Donald Trump a "race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot" to closely trailing God.  —Inae Oh

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He’s Pete Hegseth’s Wealth Manager. He Also Pushes “Pro-Israel Policies” Like War With Iran. How the man working to make the defense secretary richer helped lay the groundwork for Trump's disastrous attack. BY DAN FRIEDMAN AND GLEN STELLMACHER

MOTHER JONES MEMBERSHIP UPDATE SERIOUSLY RELENTLESS JOURNALISM Talk about the dog days of summer! Life slows down when it's 100 degrees outside. Fundraising slows down too. And that can be a real problem for a nonprofit newsroom like ours.   Good thing Mother Jones has been serving up a cold splash of the truth since 1976. Help keep us covering every story and following every lead with a new gift today. A monthly gift on your credit card is even more powerful and helps us plan ahead and invest in the next story. Because journalism doesn’t take a summer break—we can take the heat. Make a New Donation

How Lindsey Graham, eager to serve Trump, became a useful idiot for Putin BY DAVID CORN Trump's energy policies are “fattening the wallets of his cronies” at public expense BY DHARNA NOOR A little law gives hope that government can suck less and make people’s lives better BY SOPHIE HURWITZ DOJ subpoenas New York Times reporters after Air Force One story BY ALEX NGUYEN

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Sam Bankman-Fried recounts FTX’s collapse and why he feels he was wrongly convicted of fraud Through exclusive prison interviews with Sam Bankman-Fried and others, we put fresh eyes on the dramatic collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. BY REVEAL

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The Republican attacks against Lina Khan (Chair of the FTC / Federal Trade Commission) keep coming 21APR23

THE gop / greed over people party, following the lead of House speaker kevin mccarthy rff CA, have begun a propaganda campaign to destroy Lina Khan's ability to manage the FTC. They are attacking her for supporting workers rights, for her antitrust policies, her antimonopoly policies, for her attempts to rein in the greed of the corporate-financial cabal and hold them accountable for upholding their share of the American social contact. Democrats, Independents and non-maga Republicans need to stand up for Lina Khan and support her as Chair of the FTC, her policies and programs. Please add your name to this petition to Congress from Demand Progress  and e mail your representative and senators and demand they support and protect Lina Khan.

I e mailed Rep Jennifer Wexton D VA 10th and Sen Mark Warner D VA and Sen Tim Kaine D VA this

Let Lina Khan take on big corporations

Petition to Congress:

I urge you to allow the Federal Trade Commission to execute its mandate, including strong enforcement of antitrust laws to protect consumers and banning noncompetes to protect workers.

Jim Jordan, the rest of the GOP, and big corporate interests are throwing everything they can at Lina Khan to stop her efforts to empower workers. Corporations and Republicans don’t want Khan, the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to block corporate mega-mergers and get rid of noncompetes. They don’t want the FTC to raise wages and enforce antitrust law.

Republicans are even spuriously accusing Khan of “foreign collusion.”1 We know MAGA Republicans will spread disinformation to serve their extreme agenda.

When Republicans want to stop the Biden administration they go on the all-out attack. When they don’t like a policy proposal, they spread lies and launch nasty disinformation campaigns. We can’t let the GOP and big corporations win this fight over workers and consumer protections.

Lina Khan is taking on the biggest corporations like Amazon, Facebook, and Google with her antitrust and pro-labor work.2 The FTC estimates that wages could collectively go up by $300 billion if noncompetes are successfully banned3 — $300 billion big corporations don’t want to pay.

We can’t let Congress and GOP extremism stand in her way.

Jim Jordan, the rest of the GOP, and big corporate interests are throwing everything they can at Lina Khan to stop her efforts to empower workers. Corporations and Republicans don’t want Khan, the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to block corporate mega-mergers and get rid of noncompetes. They don’t want the FTC to raise wages and enforce antitrust law.

Republicans are even spuriously accusing Khan of “foreign collusion.”¹ We know MAGA Republicans will spread disinformation to serve their extreme agenda.

Sign the petition: Congress must enable the FTC to enforce antitrust law and protect workers to the fullest extent possible.

ADD YOUR NAME

When Republicans want to stop the Biden administration they go on the all-out attack. When they don’t like a policy proposal, they spread lies and launch nasty disinformation campaigns. We can’t let the GOP and big corporations win this fight over workers and consumer protections.

Lina Khan is taking on the biggest corporations like Amazon, Facebook, and Google with her antitrust and pro-labor work.² The FTC estimates that wages could collectively go up by $300 billion if noncompetes are successfully banned³ — $300 billion big corporations don’t want to pay.

Add your name: Congress must protect the FTC so it can do its work for consumers and workers.

Thanks for taking action,

Tihi and the team at Demand Progress

DONATE

Sources:

1. Wall Street Journal, “The FTC Is Working With the EU to Hamstring U.S. Companies,” April 19, 2023.
2. NPR, “Lina Khan is taking swings at Big Tech as FTC chair, and changing how it does business,” March 9, 2023.
3. Huffington Post, “Congressional Democrats Urge FTC To Ban Noncompete Agreements 'Without Delay,'” April 19, 2023.

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PAID FOR BY DEMAND PROGRESS (DemandProgress.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Join our online community on Facebook or Twitter.

REGISTER YOUR PHONES FOR THE DO NOT CALL LIST

I called, it is a registry run by the FTC (Fed Trade Commission). You must call from the phone you want registered. Took less than a minute.

• REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public this month.
• REMINDER..... all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies.... YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS
  
• To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222.
  
• It is the National DO NOT CALL list It will only take a minute of your time.
• It blocks your number for five (5) years.
• You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked.