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The Pardoned Fraudster’s Money Trail
Remember Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist at the heart of one of Washington’s biggest scandals? Adam Kidan was his business partner. Both went to prison for defrauding lenders when they bought a fleet of Florida casino boats, and were ordered to repay about $21.7 million.
The Florida Bulldog news org found “no indication” in Kidan’s court file that he ever paid; his lawyer said in 2023 that he’s complying. Trump pardoned him on July 3 of this year. Weeks later, Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie sent back Kidan’s $2,600 “to avoid even an appearance of impropriety,” NOTUS reported.
Here’s what nobody has covered until now: federal filings put Kidan’s money in the campaigns of eight Republicans on the Senate ballot this November. In March 2025 he gave $25,000 to a fundraising committee John Kennedy shares with other Republicans. Susan Collins in Maine, Roger Marshall in Kansas, and Jon Husted in Ohio each took in $1,600 of it. Kennedy’s committee also passed $1,600 of Kidan’s money to Dan Sullivan in Alaska and Lindsey Graham in South Carolina.
They aren’t the only ones. Michael Whatley in North Carolina got $14,000 from Kidan and his wife, Cris. Ashley Moody in Florida took in $7,000, and Mike Rogers in Michigan received the same amount through his own fundraising committee.
The reports Marshall, Moody, Rogers, and Sullivan filed after the pardon show no refund to Kidan. The other four don’t report again until October 15.
We asked Collins, Husted, Rogers, Sullivan, and Whatley whether they’ll give the money back. None responded by press time.
Mackenzie figured it out in weeks. Five Senate candidates still haven’t answered a yes-or-no question.
Steve Cohen Hands The Next Congress 26 Charges
Dem Rep. Steve Cohen will be leaving the House in January. Tennessee Republicans sliced his Memphis district into pieces. It was all but impossible to win, so he chose not to run again.
Last week, Cohen filed 26 articles of impeachment against Trump. They cover his illegal war against Iran, killing people without trial off the Venezuelan coast, and the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Others include the corrupt use of his pardon power, the destruction of the East Wing, and profiting off of the office.
Cohen didn’t hold back: “Trump is clearly the most impeachable President our country has ever endured.” He was rougher on the House: “That the sycophantic Republican majority in Congress is derelict in its duty does not mean that I must abandon my responsibilities.”
He believes “the 120th Congress will better live up to its duties.” That’s the Congress voters pick in November, sworn in the month Cohen walks out.
The charges are on paper with Trump’s name on them. All that’s missing is a House willing to vote for them. November is how we get there.
The Carpenter Who Beat ICE In Manhattan
On August 8, 2025, Peru-born carpenter Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado showed up for his immigration court date at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan—just like he was supposed to. Immediately after, ICE put him in a holding room in the same building.
Before then, ICE usually held fewer than 10 people in those rooms at a time. That summer it was often more than 100—some days over 150. One man was held there for almost three weeks. People slept sitting up because there was no room to lie down. One detainee called the food “slop.”
So Barco Mercado fought back. The same day he was detained he sued the Trump regime, with the ACLU and New York lawyers behind him. The regime appealed an early ruling, then quietly dropped it. On September 24, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan called the conditions “squalid” and ordered ICE to give anyone held overnight a mat, a pillow, and a blanket, dim the lights at night, and let every detainee call a lawyer within an hour of arriving. These are basic human rights.
A DHS spokesperson summed up the regime’s view: “Being in detention is a choice.” So was suing. He won, and now everyone ICE locks in those rooms gets a phone call to a lawyer and, if they’re there overnight, a place to lie down.
The Iowa Farmers Union Just Picked A Side
The Iowa Farmers Union is no Democratic club. It has backed Republicans for the statehouse before, and it did again this month. But on September 21, it endorsed Democrats in all five races for Congress, starting with Josh Turek for Senate. Union president Aaron Lehman laid it out: “Farmers are facing unprecedented challenges, from unfair trade policies and corporate consolidation to threats to water quality and rural healthcare.”
Three days later, cattlemen in three red states spoke up. ICE had swept through southwest Kansas meatpacking towns that week. The big cattle groups in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas warned the raids were having “a massive chilling effect on the legal, documented, skilled workers that put beef on the table.” They said it “will lead to higher beef prices.” Ground beef already hit a record $6.92 a pound in August.
The regime’s homeland security chief, Markwayne Mullin, insisted ICE wasn’t running worksite operations in Kansas. Last Friday, about 200 people rallied in Dodge City’s Wright Park. Less than an hour later, the city announced ICE had wrapped up and was expected to leave.
Farm country was supposed to be Trump’s for good. The Iowa Senate seat on the ballot is Republican right now, but a new Marist poll has Turek up eight.
Thirty-five days. That’s all that’s left before voters decide who runs Congress.
We are able to print what we found in those campaign filings because nobody here has to ask permission. There’s no sponsor calling to ask us to go easy on a senator, and no owner hoping the next Congress does him a favor. There’s you. When you pay for the work, the work answers to you.
We have 11 more investigations to publish before those 35 days run out, and every one of them starts with somebody reading filings most reporters never open. September closes tomorrow at midnight, and 36 more paid subscribers gets us to our goal. If you’ve been waiting for the right day, I’d love for it to be this one:
On your way out, hit the ❤️ like button and restack this so everyone knows whose money these Republicans took.
Onward!
Scott
Eight Republicans running for Senate took money from Adam Kidan. Should they give it back?
Steve Cohen wrote 26 articles of impeachment. What do you think should be the #1 reason why Trump should be impeached and removed from office?
Letters to send for today! Spread the word!
Demand the Unredacted Epstein Files
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-demand-acting-ag-blanche-release-all-of-the-epstein-files-now/
Force a Floor Vote to Impeach Pete Hegseth
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-impeach-pete-hegseth/
Stop the Yosemite National Park Land Exchange
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-stop-trumps-yosemite-giveaway
Protect 45 Million Acres and the Roadless Rule
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-stop-trump-from-destroying-45-million-acres-of-our-national-forests/
Thirty-five days. That’s not a slogan. That’s a clock. I know some of you opened this tired. I know the last month has felt like shouting into a machine that just keeps producing new outrages.
But they are the ones running out of time, not us. None of this happened because a consultant had a good week. It happened because people refused to treat the ending as finished. Stay in it with me. We did not come this far to get quiet now.