Trump’s Ballroom ‘Donors’ Have Already Netted Billions

A new report from public watchdog Public Citizen describes the “donations” to Donald Trump’s Marie Antoinette Ballroom as, essentially bribes.

Public Citizen found that 14 out of the 27 donors it knows of (an incomplete list because the secret funding agreement allows them to remain anonymous) “received new or increased government contracts over the last 6 months totaling over $50 billion.”

That taxpayer-funded “windfall” is more than the GDP of some countries, according to The New Republic.

But wait, there’s more! The “donors” have reaped even more benefits.

16 of the 27 just happen to be involved in litigation with the federal government or have had “federal enforcement actions suspended by the Trump administration,” Public Citizen reported. “These include major antitrust actions or merger reviews involving Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, NextEra Energy, Nvidia, T-Mobile, and Union Pacific; labor rights cases involving Amazon, Apple, Caterpillar, Google, Lockheed and Meta; and SEC matters involving Coinbase and Ripple.”

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Is this the dawn of the Tokenpocalypse?

We're likely to see more price increases as the big AI companies plan to go public.

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Lying Trump On No New Wars Promise: 'I Didn't Promise Anything'

Grandpa sundowner with more revisionist history on this Sunday's Meet the Press.

During a hostile ridiculous interview that never should have been aired in the first place because of all of the lies Trump was allowed to spew, host Kristen Welker asked Trump about his promise not to start any new wars, and was treated to this nonsense by Trump:

WELKER: So you're saying you didn't break your promise and yet, Mr. President, in your first term, you held to that promise and it was so fundamental to who you were as a candidate, to a first-term president. What changed, because you insisted "no new wars?”

TRUMP: Well, first of all, I didn’t guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world? I built our military. I inherited a terrible military. We had no equipment. We had nothing. I built a tremendous military. Biden gave a lot of it away, but it’s still a relatively small portion compared to what I built.

WELKER: But you said it over and over again.

TRUMP: Wait a minute. Why would I build a military? Now, I didn't want to use this, but I'm doing you and everybody else a big favor in the midst of the greatest stock market in history, in the midst of the most successful country, because as you know, in the last time we were a dead country, Kristen, I know you, you're a big liberal, a big progressive.

WELKER: No, I'm just a journalist.

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Trump’s Fragile Ego Demanded CBS As A Blood Sacrifice

For almost 100 years, CBS has been one of the most well-known and respected news media brands in the United States.

But since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, the brand and its parent network have lost respect, influence, and esteem as they’ve bent to Trump’s will.

While the right has often lashed out at media that doesn’t parrot the company line, the targeting of CBS has been sustained and politically successful. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump declined to be interviewed on “60 Minutes” simply because the network pressed him on his botched COVID-19 response during his failed 2020 reelection campaign.

After he won in 2024, Trump sued the network, falsely alleging that CBS manipulated former Vice President Kamala Harris’ responses during an interview. The suit was specious, and media law experts said that CBS had a strong case against Trump. But instead, CBS gave in and paid Trump off, effectively bribing him.

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‘The Country Is Not Trump’s To Liquidate’: His Grift Is Costing Us All

The American Economic Liberties Project and Groundwork Collaborative on Wednesday released a joint report detailing how President Donald Trump’s unprecedented corruption is padding his own pockets at the expense of US taxpayers.

The report—titled “The Price of Corruption: How Trump’s Pay-to-Play Administration is Driving Up Costs for Working Families”—explains how Trump isn’t just using the presidency to enrich himself, but leaving ordinary Americans to foot the bill for his corrupt dealings.

The report notes that the TrumpRx website, which purports to offer Americans deep discounts on drugs, is actually a scheme for funneling even more money to large pharmaceutical companies.

“When Trump rolled out TrumpRX earlier this year, the administration claimed it was a way for Americans to access more affordable prescription drugs,” the report states. “Instead, the platform fails to disclose information about less expensive generic alternatives and, in some instances, charges consumers more for products that are available for less elsewhere.”

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OpenAI unveils Lockdown Mode to protect sensitive data from prompt injection attacks

Even with Lockdown Mode, ChatGPT could be still vulnerable to prompt injections, but the goal is to reduce the likelihood that sensitive data gets shared in the process.

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Startup Battlefield 200 applications officially close in 3 days

Applications for Startup Battlefield 200 officially close on June 8, 11:59 p.m. PT. Now’s not the time to wait any longer. Secure your shot at competing on the Disrupt Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 this October at San Francisco's Moscone West.

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