Thanks for being here on my birthday. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
Before we jump in, can I ask you a quick favor? Can you hit the ❤️ like button, then restack? That’s the one with two arrows chasing each other in a circle.
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Our paid subscribers make this work possible. We have no billionaires, no sponsors, and no nonsense. On election night, they get a seat in our war room. Join them here:
The Watchdog That Called Kushner’s Bluff
Jared Kushner has sat across from Putin, Zelensky, and Iran’s foreign minister, speaking for Trump. Ask about his money, though, and the regime’s line is that he’s “just a volunteer.” That’s his reason for not filing a single financial disclosure showing where his money comes from since Trump took office in January 2025. He filed them in Trump’s first term, but nothing since.
On October 14, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) took him to federal court. CREW says the law requires those disclosures. It wants a judge to bar Kushner from acting as an envoy—unless the Senate confirms him—and order him to file his disclosures.
Kushner’s lawyer says the suit is “without merit,” but follow the money. Kushner owns a firm sitting on more than $6 billion. About 99% of it comes from foreign investors, including the government funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates—countries that have been at the table in his peace talks. CREW asked the White House and the State Department for his disclosures. Both said they don’t have any.
I’ve watched Trump’s people play games with the paperwork the law requires before. In 2017, I dug into Trump’s first National Security Advisor Mike Flynn’s work for Turkey, then wrote, signed, and submitted a complaint reporting him for failing to register as a foreign agent. That December, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador, and admitted his filings about the Turkey work contained false statements. Then Trump pardoned him.
Flynn couldn’t tell the truth. Kushner hasn’t filed his disclosures at all. Now a judge gets to ask why.
The Nine Agents Patel Couldn’t Silence
In 2022, nine FBI agents and analysts were helping to investigate the classified documents Trump had moved to Mar-a-Lago. One of them had signed the sworn statement to get the search warrant. In February, FBI Director Kash Patel fired all nine of them. On Thursday, they sued him over it.
Their lawsuit lays out a clear timeline. On February 22, video of Patel chugging beer in the Olympic hockey locker room in Milan went viral. Just the next day, an agent from Patel’s own advisory team demanded the Mar-a-Lago case file, saying he needed it for a project for Patel by the end of the day. That file had all nine names in it. Within three days, they were all fired.
One of them was working on dozens of cases involving Iran. Three days after he was let go is when US strikes began.
Patel told Congress the firings happened after “internal investigations” were conducted. But the lawsuit claims there weren’t any. The agents’ own personnel forms say they weren’t fired for cause. Patel even personally thanked some of them for other work. After one high-profile arrest, Patel posed for a photo with one of the nine, later sending him a signed copy. Then he fired him.
They weren’t the first. Last October, Patel fired anti-corruption agent Michelle Ball, whose work included a defense contractor’s claims about GOP Senator Susan Collins. Collins denies those claims.
The nine were fired “because they did their jobs,” their lawyers said. “To this administration, this is an offense. To the rest of us, it is heroic.” Now they want their badges back, and they’re dragging the regime into court to face the paper trail.
The Working-Class Mainer Who Won’t Back Down
Thursday night in Bangor, Maine, at the final Senate debate between Susan Collins and Troy Jackson, a protester started shouting. As security walked him out, Collins pounced. “So, this is obviously one of Troy’s supporters,” she said.
Troy Jackson wasn’t having it. “Oh, shut up,” he said. “I don’t even know that kid.”
Republicans—who have spent a decade shrugging at everything Trump says and does—whined about it. Collins blaming her opponent on live TV for a man he says he’s never met doesn’t bother them one bit.
Then Jackson, who grew up in the same northern Maine county as Collins, asked the question plenty of Mainers have been waiting on: “Is it just me that you look down on, or is it working-class people overall?”
He followed it with the line that sums it up. “100% of the time when Donald Trump goes to Susan Collins for a vote, he gets it.”
The race is still a toss-up. If it flips, Trump loses a vote he counts on—and Collins can keep her infamous “concerns” to herself.
Jon Ossoff Has Trump Rattled
On Friday, Trump flew to Dalton, Georgia, to help Congressman Mike Collins in the race for Jon Ossoff’s Senate seat. He spent a good chunk of the rally attacking Ossoff. He called him “Pee-wee Herman,” and said his 2021 win was “rigged,” more than five years after Georgia certified it. When protesters held up signs, Trump said Ossoff “probably paid them.” Then he called Mike Collins “good-looking” and “all man.”
Saturday night in Cobb County, Ossoff responded. “Maybe you saw Donald Trump was in Dalton yesterday. Oblivious to the collapse of his presidency. A crowd smaller than this one endured two hours of senile babbling while the price of oil hit its five-month high.”
The day of Trump’s rally, the world price of oil hit $110 a barrel for the first time since May. Trump brought delusional insults. Ossoff brought the reality of high gas prices. Georgia families know the difference.
In April, a special election was held in a district that contains Dalton, where Trump won by 37 points in 2024. The Republican won the special by only about 12. And on the first day of early voting this month, more than 188,000 Georgians showed up in person—a midterm record—and 40% more than in 2022. Nobody gets to tell Georgia how this ends. They get to decide. Ossoff’s ahead. Let’s keep it that way.
After a decade of fighting Trump, I’ve never been more grateful for you and everything this community does. You’re the only ones we answer to, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s why, when we win in November, the new majority won’t get a free pass from us either.
Last thing—here’s my birthday ask for you. If you haven’t done it yet, become a paid subscriber and help carry this fight well past the finish line:
Hit the ❤️ like button and restack on your way out. It’s better than a birthday card.
Onward!
Scott
I want to know: what got you into this fight, and what keeps you in it?
Fourteen days left, and four letters that each take about a minute. Pick one, or knock out all four over coffee:
Impeach Chief Justice John Roberts: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-impeach-supreme-court-chief-justice-john-roberts/
Ban Flock’s mass surveillance cameras: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-ban-flock-mass-surveillance-cameras/
Stop Trump’s Yosemite giveaway: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-stop-trumps-yosemite-giveaway
Pass the ban on AI we can’t control: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-pass-the-ban-on-ai-we-cant-control/
Tell me below which ones you sent.
Happy birthday to the one who never stops. Grateful to be in this with you and for all you do!