We got some quotes from @wyden.senate.gov about his wild report yesterday about banks withholding suspicious activity reports about Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking empire because they wanted to keep the lucrative relationship. Crazy conduct and Wyden has some good solutions for it.

Sen. Wyden Report: Banks Systematically Ignored Jeffrey Epstein’s Crimes - The American Prospect

The report shows how employees at Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and JPMorgan helped to hide Epstein’s activities because he was a load-bearing part of their ‘wall of cash.’

prospect.org

Thanks to Pecora, public opinion went from being bewildered about what had crashed the economy to accurately blaming the conflicts of interests of the leading bankers. prospect.org?p=141893

Private equity has been scooping up life insurers that provide "permanent capital." Private credit has been financing the AI infrastructure build-out. Those two come together, and the result could be a bailout paid by state taxpaers, according to a fascinating new paper. I talked to the authors:

Private credit companies are key owners of AI-related assets. Many of their parent private equity firms own life insurers that are dumping grounds for bad loans—and subject to state bailouts.

Instead of passing through bankruptcy, insolvent life insurers have all their liabilities—in particular the policyholder claims—paid for by state guaranty funds.

prospect.org

Wild story from @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social about how Amazon and Walmart can detect Made in America fraud but choose not too, with their chatbots explicitly saying that this is a "business calculation." prospect.org/2026/07/30/g...

The Great ‘Made in the USA’ Fraudyssey - The American Prospect

Amazon and Walmart are well equipped to detect deceptive claims about where products are made. Their own AI chatbots describe the choice not to act as a business decision.

prospect.org

I hope everybody reads this outstanding piece @naomibethune.bsky.social wrote about Ida B. Wells for our American Patriots series. I loved it and I bet you will too. Hero!

Ida B. Wells: Brave Woman - The American Prospect

By chronicling the shame of lynching in the South, Ida B. Wells exposed the corruption of white supremacy.

prospect.org

I really, really hope you read the series. We worked on it for months. When we fail to tell our version of history, tyrants fill the void. The story of America is a story of challenging the unjust power of the age. We present in this series the people and movements we must learn from.

David Dayen@ddayen.bsky.social · last wk.

I'm excited to kick off our new summer series for America's 250th anniversary, Prospect Patriots, where we honor those across history who challenged power, took risks, and made our country greater. We had one rule: No elected officials. prospect.org/2026/07/27/a...

GOP confirms Jay Clayton as spy chief

GOP confirms Jay Clayton as spy chief

Clayton’s confirmation as director of national intelligence brings to a close the short tenure of acting Bill Pulte, whose selection enraged Democrats.

dlvr.it

ICYMI: DOJ lawyers ate crow yesterday after a federal judge grilled them for hastily filing subpoenas of NYT journalists. DOJ said it would drop the subpoenas, but the guy who signed off on them is one floor vote away from becoming Director of National Intelligence.

The American Prospect@prospect.org · 2w ago

There's little indication prosecutors followed department regulations in filing the subpoenas. This hasn’t hindered Clayton’s career advancement—but it may limit the tools he’ll have as the nation’s intelligence chief. prospect.org?p=141418

NEW: 54 franchise owners of Kitchen Tune-Up & Bath Tune-Up have submitted FTC complaints over $26.4 million in losses, undisclosed fees, forced payments to useless vendors, & a system that makes it impossible to turn a profit. Franchisees lost homes, marriages. One considered killing herself.

She Bought a Business. It Almost Killed Her. - The American Prospect

Franchisees with Kitchen and Bath Tune-Up say they are going broke due to hidden fees and charges. When they try to exit, even bigger fees pop up.

prospect.org

Breaking News: The Justice Department said it would withdraw subpoenas that sought phone records and grand jury testimony from New York Times journalists.

U.S. to Withdraw Subpoenas Issued to New York Times Journalists

A federal judge raised questions about the government’s handling of the subpoenas, which The Times said were an attempt to intimidate the free press.

nyti.ms

The next in our series of the impact of the Big Beautiful Bill looks at student loans, where massive changes began July 1. People are getting 90-day notices that they have to get out of the most generous repayment plan, which is leading to sustained confusion. More from @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social.

Student Loan Borrowers Beware - The American Prospect

President Trump’s overhaul of the federal student loan system is now underway. It seems to have inadvertently expedited a legal challenge to his alleged shadow repeal of a repayment plan established m...

prospect.org

My colleague @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social has a great piece in @prospect.org today about Trump's student loan changes. I gotta say I did not know that private enders were gloating so much that they met up and drank champaign handed out by a woman in sequins suspended from the ceiling.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has advanced Jay Clayton’s nomination for DNI in a 9-8 party-line vote

The 1997 Flores settlement says children can only be in immigration detention for 20 days. A new legal filing shows that kids at CoreCivic's detention facility in Dilley, TX have been there as long as 323 days, & includes firsthand accounts of the abuse guards are inflicting on children.

Trump Administration Routinely Violating Immigrant Children’s Rights - The American Prospect

The 1997 Flores ruling requires immigrant children be released from detention after 20 days. Trump is keeping some for as long as 323 days, new filings in a lawsuit state.

prospect.org

There's an obscure $40 billion lawsuit against the government, among the largest in history. The plaintiff is a bankrupt satellite company backed by private equity giant Cerberus, whose founder Steven Feinberg is #2 at the Defense Dept—the agency being sued. Feinberg stands to make a mint.

Top Defense Official Could Reap Windfall From DOD Settlement - The American Prospect

Stephen Feinberg founded private equity giant Cerberus. A Cerberus-owned firm is poised to settle one of the largest government lawsuits ever—against the very agency Feinberg now helps lead.

prospect.org

BREAKING MS NOW: The Trump White House hosted about two dozen election denial activists this week ahead of Trump's address where he's expected to spread election lies. The session was convened by conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell — who advised Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 result.

Election denial activists briefed at White House ahead of Trump’s primetime speech

The session, convened by Cleta Mitchell and closed by nondisclosure agreements, presented material one attendee described as recycled from conservative media.

ms.now

“The government is supposed to exhaust alternatives before it would subpoena the press … it’s very hard to believe that that exhaustion requirement could have been met,” FPF's Caitlin Vogus told @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social. Read more in @prospect.org:

Clayton’s Trump Loyalty Becomes a Problem for Warrantless Spying - The American Prospect

Critics say Jay Clayton, fast-tracked to be nomination for director of national intelligence, is poised to run point on election interference for President Trump.

prospect.org

don’t worry we have the receipts

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w ago

Pressed by Wyden on his past comments that there's "one group who is using mail voting dishonestly," Clayton plays dumb: "I would like to see where you're pulling those quotes from. I'd like to see the whole passage."

Have you been affected by Trump's funding cuts? I'd love if you'd share your story here. Any cut counts, including the ones allowing the Cyclospora parasite to sicken thousands of people with explosive diarrhea.

Big Beautiful Disaster: One Year On

Reporters at The American Prospect want to hear from you about how the funding cuts in Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill have affected you since they were enacted a year ago. Please share your stories he...

forms.gle

Jay Clayton's installation as director of national intelligence was meant to give intel community-supporting Democrats an excuse to extend the expired warrantless spying provision in FISA...until Clayton showed he's as willing to do Trump's bidding as Bill Pulte. @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social reports.

Clayton’s Trump Loyalty Becomes a Problem for Warrantless Spying - The American Prospect

Critics say Jay Clayton, fast-tracked to be nomination for director of national intelligence, is poised to run point on election interference for President Trump.

prospect.org

ICE, boosted by $250 billion in funding over the last year, increased spending on small arms by more than 400% in 2025. ICE has also made over 2,000 enforcement deals (known as 287g) with local cops, the most ever. And those cops are also getting surplus military-grade weapons from the military.

Feds and Deputized Cops Stockpiling War Machines for Deportation - The American Prospect

A year after Trump allocated billions for his immigration terror campaign, deportation agents are amassing historic amounts of military weapons.

prospect.org

Here's a story on this absurd attack ad against Will Lawrence, hitting him as a Wall Street investor for having $11,000 in a 401(k). The half-million-dollar ad buy itself cost 48 times more than the value of the retirement account. prospect.org/2026/07/11/s...

Super PAC Attacks Progressive Will Lawrence Over His $11,000 401(k) - The American Prospect

The ad buy costs 48 times more than the T. Rowe Price target fund owned by Lawrence, who leads in a swing-seat House race in Michigan.

prospect.org

Kirsten Gillibrand's son, right out of college, getting a $300 million valuation on his "trade stocks as derivatives" company is a particularly ugly payoff for the Senator's stalwart crypto support, writes our friends at @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social. prospect.org/2026/07/08/n...

Not All Nepo Babies Are Trumps - The American Prospect

DSCC chair’s 22-year-old son strikes it big in pursuit of further gamifying finance.

prospect.org

There's been bipartisan disgust at the Save Our Bacon Act, which attempts to pre-empt state rules to give pigs at least a little room to walk in confinement cages. Yet it's the pork industry's top priority, and it could ruin the farm bill. Good story from Zachary Groz: prospect.org/2026/07/07/m...

The Meat Industry’s Tireless Effort to Keep Live Pigs in Coffins - The American Prospect

The Save Our Bacon Act, which would override hundreds of state food safety laws, has triggered bipartisan revulsion. But the pork industry wants it so they can keep confining pigs.

prospect.org

One reason Trump has been able to rug-pull his supporters is that his administration has ended essentially all crypto regulation. Congress is trying to strip the SEC of crypto oversight but the SEC has done a pretty good job of stripping themselves. Great breakdown from Eleanor Davis-Diver.

The Project Crypto Scheme - The American Prospect

Forget deregulatory legislation; the SEC and CFTC are already working diligently to eliminate regulatory oversight of crypto at the behest of their president.

prospect.org

This is over

Quite a lot in so far in Denver based CO-01 off the bat, and Kiros is narrowly in front. If there's the usual blue shift, she's in great shape.

If Diana DeGette manages to save her seat tonight, it will be in part because of a pop-up dark money Super PAC that had to be badgered into disclosing donors, and then said the money came from ANOTHER dark money Super PAC with undisclosed donors. prospect.org/2026/06/30/p...

Pop-Up Super PAC Plays Dirty in Colorado’s First Congressional District - The American Prospect

The dark money flowing into the Democratic primary pitting entrenched 15-term incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette against progressive insurgent Melat Kiros has helped energize Kiros’s campaign.

prospect.org

The Republican primary for governor of Colorado is today, and the front-runner is a karate-themed pastor who takes vigilante justice missions abroad hunting for potential sex traffickers, runs a multilevel marketing vitamin scheme, and appears to be running guns? Wild stuff.

Onward Christian Soldier - The American Prospect

Victor Marx, who may become the Republican nominee for governor of Colorado today, depicts himself as a karate-chopping, children-saving, hardcore pastor. None of it is reliable.

prospect.org

Media outlets are running with the Kingmaker Mamdani narrative, but progressives also won last night bc hundreds of people organized for months to knock doors and get out the vote. I spoke with @jfrejnyc.bsky.social about why that's important for durable power on the left!

The Machine Breaks Down in New York - The American Prospect

DSA and Mayor Mamdani’s candidates rocked establishment incumbents backed by unions and political bigwigs. In most cases it wasn’t even close.

prospect.org