Hind Rajab Foundation Asks US to Arrest Ben-Gvir During NY Visit

Ben-Gvir must be prosecuted for war crimes, the foundation said, including crimes against US nationals.

By Shireen Akram-Boshar ,

Truthout

June 29, 2026

A COUPLE OF WAR CRIMINALS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) greets National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, during a media briefing ahead of a vote on the national budget, on May 23, 2023, at the Israeli parliament.Gil Cohen-Magen / AFP


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The Hind Rajab Foundation has called on the U.S. to investigate Israel’s far right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for war crimes ahead of his visit to New York City in early July.

On Saturday, the Belgium-based foundation filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, stating that the U.S. has the jurisdiction and the legal obligation to investigate, arrest, and prosecute Ben-Gvir during his visit to New York City. Ben-Gvir is set to attend the United Nations Chiefs of Police Summit on July 7 and 8 in the city.

Ben-Gvir must be prosecuted for his involvement in war crimes, the foundation stated, including crimes against U.S. nationals. The national security minister has been “one of the chief architects and champions of the genocide against the Palestinian people,” the foundation said.

The foundation explained that Ben-Gvir, as minister of national security, has overseen the transformation of Israel’s prison system into “a network of torture camps” where abuse and sexual violence are routine.

“Since his appointment to the position in late 2022, Ben-Gvir has used his authority to enact a policy of systematic torture, murder, abuse, and forced displacement” of Palestinians, in particular those detained in Israel’s prison system. He has “personally participated in instances of torture and cruel or inhuman treatment” in Israeli prisons, the foundation adds.

Far Right Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir to Attend UNCops Conference in NYC in July
Ben-Gvir has a long history of hostility toward the UN, including smearing UN staff as “terrorist supporters.” By Shireen Akram-Boshar , Truthout June 18, 2026

Ben-Gvir also spearheaded Israel’s death penalty law, which came into effect in May. The national security minister pushed for the death penalty to be mandatory for Palestinians who cause the death of an Israeli citizen “with the aim of denying the existence of the State of Israel,” when the death penalty was previously only permissible in extremely rare cases.

The Hind Rajab Foundation also noted Ben-Gvir’s pattern of inciting violence against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, as well as in Lebanon. Earlier in June, Ben-Gvir stated that “All of Lebanon must burn!”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has previously said that he would direct the New York City Police Department to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits the city, in accordance with the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Netanyahu for war crimes. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has called for the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Ben-Gvir as well.

Protests against Ben-Gvir’s visit are planned for July 7 at the UN.

The Hind Rajab Foundation, founded in 2024, has filed dozens of criminal complaints against Israeli soldiers for their involvement in war crimes. The foundation is named for Hind Rajab, a 5-year-old girl who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Soldiers shot at the car Hind and her family members were in at least 335 times.

Jake Romm, Hind Rajab Foundation’s representative in the U.S., noted that Ben-Gvir has tortured and abused U.S. citizens.

“This moment is a test,” he said. “Is this government more dedicated to Israeli impunity than it is to the rule of law? Is this government more dedicated to protecting war criminal and genocidaire Itamar Ben-Gvir than it is to protecting its own citizens?”

Interview


Protests Over Kushner-Backed Development Threaten to Topple Albanian Government


What began as an effort to protect a coastal ecosystem has become a broad movement against corruption and neoliberalism.

By C.J. Polychroniou ,

Truthout

June 27, 2026

Protestors carry a giant sculpture of a flamingo as they demonstrate in front of the Albanian Prime Minister's Office against the construction on the southern coast of Albania a luxury resort near a protected natural area, in Tirana, Albania, on June 22, 2026.Adnan Beci / AFP via Getty Images

Albania, a country in the southwestern region of the Balkan peninsula, is witnessing one of the biggest waves of anti-government protests since the final end of socialism in 1992. The protests began in late May in opposition to the construction of a multibillion-dollar luxury resort backed by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, in the protected delta area of Vjosa-Narta, but they have now become a common sight in the capital city of Tirana. The protesters, who have faced riot police and water cannons, are demanding the resignation of socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama as activists aim to put an end to politics as usual in a country where corruption and organized crime are prominent features. In the meanwhile, Rama continues to support the luxury resort project linked to Jared Kushner and alleges that the enemies of Albania and Israel are behind the unrest.

In the interview that follows, Albanian activist Ariela Zeneli discusses the aims and goals of the ongoing protests in Albania and highlights possible outcomes. She is a social activist and project coordinator actively involved in student and social movements advocating for youth rights, education, social justice, and democratic participation.

C. J. Polychroniou: Ariela, can you put into political context Albania’s protests over the Kushner-backed resort in the protected delta area of Vjosa-Narta? Why would a luxury resort plan spark massive protests?

Ariela Zeneli: As you mention, the protests began in response to a project planned for the Vjosa–Narta area. The main concern is that what the government presents as a major investment and a development opportunity for Albania would be built in a protected ecosystem with rich biodiversity and significant environmental value.

The protest was initially organized by local residents and environmental activists, including the Movement TOGETHER. The area is known for its untouched natural beauty and its lagoon, which serves as a habitat for migratory birds such as flamingos. Because of its ecological importance, it has protected status. Despite this, the government has continued to push forward with its development plans.


Protests in Albania Grow in Opposition to Kushner’s $4 Billion Luxury Resort
“Don’t defend the oligarchs, these are the citizens’ properties!” protestors shouted.
By Shireen Akram-Boshar , Truthout June 3, 2026

Another issue that fueled the protests was the situation of local residents and their property rights. These are families who have lived in the area for generations and have long-standing claims to their land. However, many residents argue that they have been stripped of those rights through irregular and often fake processes. Tensions escalated on the very first day of the protest, when one demonstrator was dragged away by private security guards while the police stood idly by. The incident sparked outrage and drew even more people to the cause.

Under the slogan “Albania Is Not for Sale,” protesters have called for the cancellation of the Zvërnec project, the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama, and an end to policies that prioritize oligarchs and politically connected investors over the public interest.

What has also angered many people is the lack of transparency surrounding the project. On the one hand, the prime minister has promoted it as a €4 billion investment that will transform the region. On the other hand, he has admitted that there is still no final project and that the company is only in the environmental assessment phase. These statements do not add up. Almost every day, a different explanation is offered, which gives the impression that the government is reacting to public pressure rather than presenting a clear plan. Rama has even called for dialogue and negotiations, but the dominant message from the protests remains: “Resign.”

To me, these protests are much more than a single tourism project. They reflect growing frustration with an economic model that generates profit through the dispossession of local communities while presenting itself as development. The question is not only what is being built, but who benefits from it. Supporters of the project speak about investment and growth, but many local residents see a future in which they lose control over their land and are left with little more than low-paid, seasonal jobs in hotels and resorts. That is why this struggle has resonated so strongly: it is not only about protecting a landscape, but also about defending the right of communities to shape their own future.

Movement TOGETHER, of which you are a member, opposed the luxury resort project from the beginning. Is this a movement of activists or an actual political party, and what does it stand for?

Lëvizja BASHKË (Movement TOGETHER) was founded on December 18, 2022, at the initiative of activists and members of Organizata Politike, a leftist grassroots organization that has been operating in Albania since 2011.

Organizata Politike used the Red Robin (Erithacus Rubecula) as a symbol of freedom and resistance. The robin represents the movement’s organizational and political worldview in what they see as a “frosty Albania,” quickly depopulating due to emigration, especially among the young. To be red robins, the party says, “is to stay here in Albania, to resist, to live vigorously and sing, by working day after day, every day for a fairer and more democratic society.”

Initially, we functioned as a grassroots movement and helped several causes. For example, we helped miners, oil, and construction workers with protests and forming unions. We supported the student cause, which began as an initiative of students and professors in public universities to oppose neoliberal and clientelist reforms in higher education. We helped in various other social causes, ranging from the draft law for the recognition of a guaranteed minimum wage to opposition against the concreting of Tirana and the destruction of the Vjosa River, and from support for public transport to gender equality, among others.

After this first phase, we became a proper political party with a clear left-wing, progressive identity. Lëvizja Bashkë was first elected to the Albanian Parliament in the 2025 Albanian parliamentary elections, with Redi Muçi becoming a member of parliament on September 12, 2025. Previously, the party had participated in the 2023 Albanian local elections in Tirana, where party leader Arlind Qori ran for mayor of Tirana, receiving nearly 5 percent of the vote, and where Mirela Ruko was elected a member of the municipal council. But we do not want to be just another political party. Our slogan has always been “More than a party” because we believe that political change alone is not enough. Our goal is a broader social transformation that goes beyond elections and institutions, addressing the way the economy is organized, how communities function, and how people participate in public life.

For us, politics is not limited to competing in elections and winning seats. It is an ongoing process of collective organizing, nurturing solidarity, and creating the conditions for a more just, democratic, and equal society. That is why we see ourselves as more than a political party: We aim to be part of a wider movement for social change.

The protests, dubbed the “Flamingo Revolution,” have now spread into the capital and people are calling for the prime minister’s resignation. First, do you expect Edi Rama to resign or anticipate moves on the part of his government to repress the protests; and second, is the “Flamingo Revolution” actually about flamingos or an actual revolution in the making?

The expression “Flamingo Revolution” grew out of the central role that flamingos came to play in the protests. As one of the most recognizable inhabitants of the Narta Lagoon, the flamingo symbolizes the ecological richness of an area that hosts hundreds of bird species and represents one of Albania’s most valuable protected ecosystems. As opposition to the Zvërnec project expanded, the flamingo became more than a bird; it became a symbol of a broader struggle over the future of the country. For protesters, it embodies the defense of nature, public resources, and local communities against a model of development driven by large private corporations in pursuit of massive profits and corrupt political interests.

Regarding the issue of Rama’s possible resignation, it is hard to tell whether that is going to happen, as the dynamics of the protest depend on many factors and are therefore unpredictable. Given the reaction of various governments throughout the Balkans towards large protests and demonstrations, to which Albania is similar in terms of governance and the rule of law, one possibility is that repression might ensue in case the protests continue and become more radical. For the time being, this is probably not likely to happen since the protests have been totally peaceful and the European Union is closely monitoring the situation and has expressed concerns over the government’s intention to support the Kushner-linked luxury resort. In fact, the European Parliament is putting pressure on the Rama government by calling for the suspension of all new developments within protected areas.

Another possibility is that if there is enough pressure, the government may indeed end up making concessions in order to appease the protesters.

The best-case scenario is the one which involves the resignation of Rama and his government, i.e., the main demand of Albanian protesters, and the announcement of snap elections. But given the authoritarian nature of the current government and its firm grip on power, the odds of this happening at the present juncture are not that great.

The protests have also expressed a deeper dissatisfaction with the economic and political model that has shaped Albania since the 1990s. For decades, Albanians have been told that prosperity would arrive through privatization, foreign investment, and market-led development. Yet for many, these promises have remained unfulfilled, turning the so-called transition into a prolonged period of uncertainty, inequality, and disappointment.From this perspective, the demands emerging from the protests go far beyond opposition to a single project or even a single government. Many participants see the problem as systemicin nature and scope. They no longer believe that alternating power between the Democratic Party and the Socialist Party can result in meaningful change, as both parties have embraced pretty much the same economic priorities and patterns of governance. As a result, the protests reflect a growing desire not simply for a change of leaders, but for a different political and economic future altogether. This sentiment is captured in one of the movement’s most popular chants: “Rama in jail, Berisha in jail!” — a slogan that rejects both political figures and symbolizes frustration with the entire political establishment. (Edi Rama is the head of the Socialist Party, Sali Berisha is the head of the Democratic Party.)

How popular is the left in Albania? Is there anything resembling a united front that may succeed in creating a “new” Albania?

Although the ruling party presents itself as left-wing and socialist, many of us do not consider it a genuine representative of the left. In practice, it has moved away from the core principles traditionally associated with left-wing politics: social justice, reducing the gap between rich and poor, strengthening public services, protecting workers’ rights, and ensuring that economic development benefits society as a whole rather than a privileged wealthy minority.Instead, over the years, we have witnessed the implementation of policies that have concentrated wealth and power in the hands of a small economic elite, while many Albanians continue to struggle with low wages, precarious employment, rising living costs, and limited opportunities. Rather than addressing social and economic inequalities, the current model has often deepened them. At the same time, the government has faced repeated allegations regarding its proximity to oligarchic interests and its tolerance of networks linked to organized crime.

On the other hand, there has been an absence of alternative left-wing parties in the last decades, due to the negative association, in the public sphere, of the left in general with the communist past, but also because of the neoliberal march carried out by both main parties, which has suffocated every attempt at creating genuine left organizations, parties, and movements.

In this sense, what is emerging is not exactly a united front, but rather a broader social coalition of people who are deeply disappointed with the traditional parties and the political model they represent. After many years, we have managed to rebuild a culture of civic protest, solidarity, and collective action. This is visible during our marches through the capital, where we are greeted with applause from elderly people on their balconies, restaurant and café workers, and drivers who honk their horns in support despite being stuck in traffic. The same spirit is reflected in the solidarity shown to the protests by Albanian diaspora communities in various countries.

The faces of this movement are young workers, students, the elderly, parents, women and men tired of unfulfilled promises, low wages, insecurity, lack of quality health care and education, and the constant pressure to emigrate. It remains to be seen whether this will be a force that can create a “new” Albania. What is clear is that the young generation is no longer satisfied with a choice between the same political elites and is looking for a different societal vision for the future. The hope for a “new” Albania stems from the belief that change can come about not merely through elections but from the growing capacity of ordinary people to organize themselves, to imagine alternatives, and to work together to bring them to life.


This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.

C.J. Polychroniou

C.J. Polychroniou is a political scientist/political economist, author and journalist who has taught and worked in numerous universities and research centers in Europe and the United States. Currently, his main research interests are in U.S. politics and the political economy of the United States, European economic integration, globalization, climate change and environmental economics, and the deconstruction of neoliberalism’s politico-economic project. He is a columnist for Global Policy Journal and a regular contributor to Truthout. He has published scores of books, including Marxist Perspectives on Imperialism: A Theoretical Analysis; Perspectives and Issues in International Political Economy (ed.); and Socialism: Crisis and Renewal (ed.), and over 1,000 articles which have appeared in a variety of journals, magazines, newspapers and popular news websites. Many of his publications have been translated into a multitude of languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. His latest books are Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet (with Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin as primary authors, 2020); The Precipice: Neoliberalism, the Pandemic, and the Urgent Need for Radical Change (an anthology of interviews with Noam Chomsky, 2021); Economics and the Left: Interviews with Progressive Economists (2021); Illegitimate Authority: Facing the Challenges of Our Time (an anthology of interviews with Noam Chomsky, 2023); and A Livable Future Is Possible: Confronting the Threats to Our Survival (an anthology of interviews with Noam Chomsky, 2024).

UN Chief Says Civilians ‘Must Be Protected’ as Pakistani Strikes Kill Dozens of Afghans

Women and children were reportedly among the at least 28 civilians killed and 49 others wounded on Sunday by airstrikes targeting Pakistani Taliban fighters in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar provinces.


Afghan mourners offer funeral prayers for Pakistani airstrike victims at a village in Tsamkani district of Afghanistan’s Paktia province on June 29, 2026.
(Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

Brett Wilkins
Jun 29, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday called for “an immediate cessation of hostilities and the protection of civilians” after Pakistani airstrikes killed and wounded scores of Afghans, including women and children.

Pakistani forces bombed targets in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar provinces and launched a ground invasion of the neighboring nation.

The attacks—which Afghanistan’s Taliban government called “cowardly” and an “atrocity”—reportedly killed at least 28 civilians and wounded 49 others.

“We call on all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and continue to stress that civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times,” Guterres said in a statement read in New York by his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric.

Dujarric also said that the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) “just confirmed that many civilians were killed and injured in these airstrikes carried out by Pakistan,” and that “humanitarian colleagues tell us that the latest attacks have also reportedly triggered displacement, and humanitarian partners on the ground are assessing needs and preparing to provide emergency assistance.”

Paktia elder Adam Khan told Agence France-Presse that those killed in one of the strikes “were innocent civilians, including children, elderly people, and women” sleeping in a house.

Pakistani officials say the military operations are aimed at militant groups that it says operate from Afghan territory and launch attacks into Pakistan, not at Afghanistan’s government. Islamabad accuses Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan—also known as the Pakistani Taliban—and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar of having recently attacked Pakistani security forces and civilians.

Last October, Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to a now-imploded ceasefire after weeks of border clashes that killed dozens of civilians and wounded hundreds more.

The Supreme Court just changed everything about American democracy

Robert Reich

June 29, 2026

COMMON DREAMS


First of all, you should know that I spent five years of my life advising the commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission how they could best protect Americans from monopolies and deceptive corporate practices.

I’m proud of the work the FTC did then, and proud of much of what it’s accomplished since then. When I served there, the chair of the FTC was Michael Pertschuk, an energetic and charismatic trust-buster and consumer advocate. More recently, the FTC has been chaired by Lina Khan, who courageously stood up to some of the biggest and most politically-powerful corporations in America.

Part of the reason the FTC has been so effective is that it is — or was — independent, and therefore immune to the political moves of powerful corporations seeking to stop it from acting for the common good.

The FTC was established in 1914 as part of what’s known as the “progressive era” when the government first sought to rescue the nation from the grip of the robber barons who then ran the railroads, oil, shipping, and much of the rest of the economy — and corrupted the nation’s politics — during the First Gilded Age.

Reformers of that era created an income tax to try to limit the Robber Barons’ incomes, caps on corporate campaign expenditures to limit their political reach, and independent regulatory agencies such as the FTC to limit their power.

That progressive era was followed by the New Deal, when Congress and FDR established other independent regulatory agencies, modeled in part on the FTC, to use their expertise for the benefit of the American people — and not just the wealthiest an most powerful citizens whose unbridled greed had led the nation into the Great Depression.

We’re now in America’s Second Gilded Age, when a new set of robber barons (think Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry and David Ellison) are running much of the economy and corrupting our politics.

Unfortunately, we now have a president and a Supreme Court, three of whose members he appointed, who are in their pockets.

Hence, today’s Supreme Court ruling that a president can utterly disregard the will of Congress and install his own hacks in all independent regulatory agencies (with the odd exception of the Federal Reserve Board).

Today’s ruling is in direct conflict with a 1935 case in which the Court ruled that FDR could not replace an FTC commissioner because Congress had explicitly given FTC commissioners protection against such firing, in a case known as Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. Today marks the culmination of a years-long weakening of that New Deal-era precedent.

Humphrey’s Executor v. United States concerned a federal law that protected commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission, saying they could be removed only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office” — the same language that Congress has since used to protect most other independent commissioners and board members throughout government.

Franklin D. Roosevelt nonetheless fired commissioner William Humphrey, arguing only that Humphrey’s actions were not aligned with the administration’s policy goals. The Supreme Court held that the firing was unlawful and the law establishing the independence of the Federal Trade Commission was constitutional.

But the Roberts Supreme Court doesn’t like independent regulatory agencies. Most of the current justices subscribe to what’s called the “unitary executive” theory, a bonkers notion that the framers intended for a president to have total control over every aspect of the executive branch.

It’s a bonkers theory because the framers didn’t say anything like this. In fact, their biggest fear was that the executive branch would become too powerful.

In 2020, the Roberts Supreme Court laid the groundwork for reversing Humphrey’s Executor in a case involving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The law that created the bureau — again, using language identical to that at issue in Humphrey’s Executor — said the president could remove its director only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.”


In a 5-4 decision, the Roberts Supreme Court struck down that provision, ruling that it violated the separation of powers and that the president could remove the bureau’s director for any reason.

Roberts, writing for the majority, said the presidency requires an “energetic executive.” He continued: “In our constitutional system, the executive power belongs to the president, and that power generally includes the ability to supervise and remove the agents who wield executive power in his stead.”

Two justices — Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch — would have pulled the plug on independent agencies then and there. Thomas wrote: “The decision in Humphrey’s Executor poses a direct threat to our constitutional structure and, as a result, the liberty of the American people. With today’s decision, the court has repudiated almost every aspect of Humphrey’s Executor. In a future case, I would repudiate what is left of this erroneous precedent.”

Justice Elena Kagan, writing for what were then the court’s four liberals, dissented, saying the Constitution did not address the scope of the president’s power to fire subordinates. Congress should therefore be free, she said, to grant agencies “a measure of independence from political pressure.”


That 2020 decision by the majority of the Supreme Court anticipated the Supreme Court’s decision in July of 2024 that granted Trump, then a private citizen, immunity from prosecution for any “official” conduct during his first term.

Of all the things the framers of the Constitution worried about, their biggest worry was that a president would become as powerful as a king. Which is why they created Congress and the judiciary — to check and constrain him.

Congress has by now established 19 independent regulatory agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Office of Special Counsel.

These independent agencies, staffed with experts, have become a major countervailing power to the political clout of large corporations.

But as of today, they’re no longer independent and no longer have any countervailing power.

Today’s ruling overturns the basic idea — part of the fabric of our government for well over a century — that Congress has the power to create independent agencies.

As the nation prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of our independence from a king, the Supreme Court and our current president are doing everything possible to resurrect a king in America.

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/

Supreme Court Hands Trump Major Executive Power Expansion in FTC Firing Case


The ruling “promises to unleash only chaos,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in a dissent to the court’s majority opinion.

By Chris Walker ,

Truthout

June 29, 2026

President Donald Trump speaks during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on June 22, 2026.Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday to allow President Donald Trump to fire a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) without citing due cause, upending decades of precedent that restricted presidents from removing political appointees from independent commission boards.

Commissioners of the FTC Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, both of whom were appointed by Democrats, were fired by Trump early in his second presidential term. Trump did not identify a reason for doing so, stating only that their “continued service on the FTC [was] inconsistent with [his] Administration’s priorities.”

Slaughter sued, arguing her removal violated the Administrative Procedure Act, and that it went against a 1935 Supreme Court ruling called Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. That decision found that presidents are limited from removing political appointees to independent commissions without just cause.

In a 6-3 decision along partisan lines, the conservative-controlled Supreme Court sided with Trump, overturning Humphrey’s findings and ruling that presidents could indeed fire independent commissioners without giving proper reason, even those laid out as necessary by Congress in the establishment of those commissions.

Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion in the ruling, stating that the previous provisions “deviate” from the “model of Presidential supervision” that is supposed to occur under the Constitution.

Our Constitution creates three branches, but only one President. That President is not all powerful — not by any means. But he is not impotent either. He and he alone is vested with ‘[t]he executive Power’ of the United States.

“Subordinates who exercise the President’s power are subject to removal by him,” Roberts wrote.

Dissenting from the majority opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor disagreed with the chief justice’s reasoning, arguing that the ruling upended not only the precedent in Humphrey’s, but the constitutional process altogether.

“For most of this Nation’s history, Congress and the President together have decided that some Government functions should operate at a distance from partisan politics. … Congress has created agencies that in various ways have embodied this goal of independence,” Sotomayor recognized.

“Today, this Court undoes centuries of political practice and concludes that all three branches of Government have been acting in open defiance of the Constitution all this time. Its conclusion is wrong,” Sotomayor wrote.

She added:


The text of the Constitution, along with its history, the longstanding practices of the political branches, and the precedents of this Court, make clear that Congress may limit the causes for which the heads of Commissions like the FTC can be removed by the President. In holding otherwise, the Court gives the President a power unknown even to the English Crown against which the Founders revolted, elevating him above his once coequal branches by transforming a duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed into a license to act in defiance of those very laws.

The ruling from the court “promises to unleash only chaos,” Sotomayor said.

Trump called the ruling a “BIG WIN” for his administration and for future presidents.

“It is such an Honor to be the sitting President who won this Historic and Unprecedented Ruling, one of the most important ever given with respect to Presidential Powers,” he wrote on Truth Social.

With the ruling, the Supreme Court has potentially unleashed the ability for Trump to reshape the makeup of dozens of federal agencies, including many that have been traditionally viewed as meant to operate independently of the president. Those agencies include the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Election Commission, and more.

“As Justice Sotomayor recognized in dissent, today’s decision abandons nearly a century of settled constitutional understanding and replaces it with a loyalty test,” Gary DiBianco, co-founder of Lawyers for Good Government, said in reaction to the ruling.

Inside Trump's most pernicious legacy

Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump pose for a photo before the start of a boat parade celebrating his birthday, which coincides with Flag Day, in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, June 14, 2026. REUTERS/Giorgio Viera

Ralph Nader

June 28, 2026

ALTERNET

Jimmy Carter’s campaign motto in 1976 was “Why Not the Best!” declaring everywhere he went: “I want to see us once again have a nation that’s as good and honest and decent and truthful and competent and compassionate and filled with love as are the American people.”

Dictator Donald Trump wants the opposite and is bringing the worst out of America. Here are a few of his metastasizing initiatives:

1. Championed the worst forms of energy – coal, oil, and gas – and depressing solar energy and wind power with restrictive policies, and even paying ongoing wind project companies nearly a billion dollars in your tax dollars to stop construction! Also, he is using many billions of your tax dollars to subsidize the failing nuclear power companies to build more expensive, unneeded, uninsurable, un-investable (by Wall Street), unsafe, boondoggles while his GOP takes large campaign contributions from fossil fuel and nuclear power corporate welfarists.

2. Encouraged the worst corruption of the Pentagon—more waste, contractor fraud and abuse—led by a foul-mouthed buffoon pushing illegal wars, mass deaths, and racism. Hegseth is despised by many high-ranking officers for his misogynistic firings and incompetence.

3. Brought out the worst from his toady Attorney Generals at the Justice Department—firing prosecutors and other lawyers for perceived vengeance. Trump gives orders directly to DOJ officials, thus ending any traditional arms-length independence at that Department. Trump has gotten his Attorney Generals to dismiss over 100 corporate crime cases, to decline enforcement of laws holding polluters and corporate criminals accountable, and made DOJ his personal law firm.

4. Encouraged the worst from the Environmental Protection Agency, whose puppet director believes that more methane, other greenhouse gases, motor vehicle gases, auto factories, and coal pollution are permissible for America’s children to breathe. EPA Director Lee Zeldin should rename his shattered agency and fired scientists “The Trump Anti-Environment Protection Agency.”

5. Suppressed or cancelled programs of scientific truth-seeking while publicizing pseudo-scientists who go far beyond healthy skepticism to peddle quackery about climate violence, pandemics, and vaccines that lead to distrust and disarray among vulnerable people wanting to protect their families. For Trump, climate catastrophes are “a hoax, a scam” and he is giving corporations the green light on dangerous pesticides (especially deadly to little children) which increase the risk of cancer and other lethal diseases. When you lie every talking hour of the day, as Trump does, the truth and facts have no relevance.

6. Trump is self-servingly wrecking the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Further cutting its tight budget via the GOP in Congress, the IRS has a grossly inadequate number of experts skilled in detecting complex corporate tax schemes and evasions totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in TAX ESCAPES per year.

One of those Escapes is the coerced deal Trump imposed on the IRS to give him and his avaricious family immunity from past and contemporary audits and enforcement, worth a gold mine to the bragging tax dodger-in-chief. He has wrecked public trust in his politicized IRS, on which voluntary compliance by American taxpayers is based.

7. Trump has grievously brought out the worst from the Congress, finishing off what is left of the separation of powers, turning Speaker Mike Johnson into a panting lap dog and Senate Majority Leader John Thune into a more staid but ready heel-clicker. Trump has opposed any public hearings and investigative oversight of the Executive Branch, including an inquiry into his illegal firing of 17 inspector generals required to root out waste and fraud from their departments.

In his first term, Trump defied over 125 Congressional subpoenas – an impeachable offense if ever there was one.

8. Trump brings out the worst from major corporations. His dictates—allowing corporations to cheat, steal, harm, pollute, and violate with impunity almost any federal laws, most of which Trump has shelved by taking the federal cops off the corporate crime beat—could fill a large book.. This is especially the case in lifting controls over poisonous corporate pollution and letting large companies decide for themselves how little or no tax they pay to Uncle Sam from their massive profits. Why not? He preaches what he practices as he amasses an ever-greater personal wealth using the White House as a profiteering office for profiteering.

9. Worsening the architecture of the White House and nearby Washington, D.C., are major preoccupations of this egomaniacal dilettante. He illegally tore down the East Wing and is building, without Congressional permission, a huge, garish ballroom to go along with other planned desecrations, such as the 250-foot-high arch. As architect critic Philip Kennicott of the Washington Post writes, he has turned “the reflecting pool from a serene oasis to a police zone,” bungling millions of dollars.

Day after day, thousands of National Guard soldiers are wondering what they’re doing aimlessly patrolling downtown Washington to fill the whims of Trump’s false claims about their ending street crimes in the national capital.

10. The Trumpeteer has brought out the worst in the mainstream media, giving preferential access to uncritical reporters, and restricting or prohibiting access to reporters who are steadfast and straightforward. Trump maliciously sues to extort money from networks like CBS and ABC, while approving mergers and acquisitions of media properties by Trump funders and flatterers expected to censor in his favor.

11. From the people, he has celebrated vice over virtue, greed over charity, obscenity over decency, violence over peace, police and ICE brutality over more effective standards of prudence and restraint by law enforcers. As an open, brazen liar, a delusionary braggart, and peddler of empty promises, Trump has troubled parents who see their youngsters mimic his abuses and foul talk.

12. He pardons hundreds of convicted violent criminals and other fraudsters and says he will pardon more crooks, even urging them to continue their lawless ways because he will pardon them if they are caught. As a convicted felon himself, he knows a criminal when he sees one. .

13. Trump has violated seven of the Ten Commandments and is almost never seen in Church, yet Trump manages to bring out the most extreme hypocrites from the leadership of organized religion, who support his violent, aggressive wars and alliances of mass murder, larger military budgets, and his waiver of prosecuting corporate crooks, because they like his anti-abortion stance.

Twice, he has assailed Pope Leo, who is insisting that Christianity be a religion of love, compassion, and peace.


14. His most fervent mission is to provoke biases and bigotry against recent immigrants and asylum seekers among millions of his voters who believed his lies about these desperate people, fleeing with their children from oppressive regimes and oligarchies long supported by the U.S. government in Central and South America.

Using words like “invasion,” “rapists,” “criminals,” he succeeded in defaming the overwhelming law-abiding and hard-working people harvesting our crops, caring for our little children and elderly, and cleaning up after us every day to feed their families.

Largely unrebutted by a cowardly Democratic Party, Trump’s fabrications threw his MAGA supporters into a frenzy, which he fed daily, obscuring his own employment of hundreds of low-paid, undocumented construction workers in New York and his servants in New Jersey.

Every society has its cruel, greedy, and bigoted inhabitants. Trump grossly exaggerated troubled conditions in the US to embolden these miscreants, then heralded them, gave them access to the White House and Mar-a-Lago, helped them get media coverage, and sell their books. Trump then intimidated or prosecuted those who exercised their freedom of speech rights to criticize or counter Trump’s depraved and baleful lackeys.


He has regaled Silicon Valley’s corporate digital child molesters, taken their campaign donations, flattery, and investments at the expense of curtailing the daily harm they are directly marketing to tens of millions of vulnerable children.

Presidents of our country, with their “bully pulpit” and vast media coverage, set examples in many ways for families. They can bring out the kindness and idealism of many Americans, as did President John F. Kennedy in 1961 when he and Congress launched the Peace Corps. Or they can exhibit to the world the cruelty and viciousness of the Trump/Musk illegal rampage that started with closing the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). With the rupture of the flow of critical medicines, food, medical supplies, and clean water to those in need, the Trump/Musk Axis sealed the fate abroad of millions, mostly infants, children, and mothers, over the next several years, according to expert estimates. (See USAID shutdown has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths.)

Long after Trump is impeached and removed from office, his hateful, vengeful drive to bring out the worst from our country will linger and fester. Until, that is, the forces behind expanded goodwill and fair play, peace and justice manifest themselves at the polls, the civic and political arenas, and the civic education and experiences within our repurposed elementary and secondary schools.

History repeatedly teaches us that principles of peace, justice, and opportunity always enjoy overwhelming public support when polled compared to ideologies of corruption, violence, and greed.

So, it is entirely in our hands to bring these preferences into the daily reality of the people, their children and grandchildren, and future generations who deserve better.

Fox News analyst says Pope has exposed Trump as 'flailing lame-duck'

Pope Leo XIV leads a prayer vigil, ahead of Pentecost Sunday, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, June 7, 2025. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

Thomas Kika

June 29, 2026

COMMON DREAMS

President Donald Trump is firmly in decline as a "flailing lame-duck," and according to one Fox News analyst, his high-profile feud with Pope Leo XIV has contributed significantly to his loss of support from all but his most devoted base.

Juan Williams is a longtime political analyst for Fox News, serving as one of the highly conservative network's few Democratic voices, and one who is not shy about speaking out critically against Trump. In a Monday morning piece for The Hill, Williams wrote that Trump is "sinking deep into disapproval with voters outside his far-right base," with his numbers sinking into "negative territory on the war in Iran, on the economy, and on immigration."

Amid that decline, Williams argued that there has been "a surprise political player" contributing to Trump's lame-duck downfall: "Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV."

"With the midterms approaching, the first American pope’s defiant opposition to Trump is coming into view as contributing to Trump’s status as a flailing lame-duck," Williams wrote. "Pope Leo is clear in saying Trump is out of step with Christianity’s core teachings: concern for the poor, skepticism of the rich, embrace of the refugees, and love for thy neighbor. These teachings are diametrically opposed to Trump starting war with Iran."

Williams further highlighted an April social media post from the Pope's official X account: “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”

Despite initially attempting to celebrate and take credit for the first-ever American Pope, Trump has since been engaged in a bitter and often one-sided feud with the Catholic leader, taking personal offense to his remarks calling for immigrants to be treated with dignity and opposing war. In response, the Pope has continued to issue statements construed as direct attacks against Trump's rhetoric, while mostly avoiding ever directly referring to the president.

"While Trump slides in the polls, the pope has climbed to be the most popular leader among Americans with a 57 percent favorability, according to Gallup," Williams added. "The Economist-YouGov polling has the pope with a net favorability of plus 32 while Trump has a rating of negative 22. Most Catholics, regardless of religious observance or demographic group, view Pope Leo favorably. That includes Catholics who regularly attend Mass and those who seldom or never do, according to Pew."

He contined: "When asked about Trump’s approach to Pope Leo in a June survey by the Pew Research Center, far more Catholics say Trump has been too critical of Leo (51 percent) than say he hasn’t been critical enough (4 percent). Trump’s response to the pontiff is to share offensive memes on social media suggesting he should be pope. He also falsely claimed that Pope Leo wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon. That’s not true, Mr. President."

Williams concluded with an argument that, in a political age "focused on the high cost of daily life, the rising power of super-rich autocrats and the dominance of artificial intelligence," voters in the U.S. are beginning to yearn for "the pope’s old-school Catholic teachings," as opposed to Trump's way of doing things.

"That hunger is far greater than support for Trump’s new wing on the White House, his bumbling renovation of the reflecting pool or building a golden archway entrance to Washington," he wrote. "Trump seems to have met his judgment day courtesy of the Chicago kid who became pope."

Trump’s 'stunning failure' threatens power of US dollar: Nobel economist

U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 26, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci

Alex Henderson

June 29, 2026 

ALTERNET

During World War 2 in 1944, the Bretton Woods Agreement made the U.S. dollar the world's reserve currency. And 82 years later, it still enjoys that status. But liberal economist Paul Krugman, in a late June Substack column, lays out some problems the U.S. dollar is facing during Donald Trump's second presidency.

"We are now four months into a war that was supposed to last a couple of weeks," Krugman argues. "There is no end in sight as strikes and counterstrikes continue despite Trump's farcical proclamations of American victory and Iranian surrender. Sixteen months into his presidency, Trump has squandered all of America's credibility with the rest of the world. So let me add one more item to the tally of destruction: the supremacy of the dollar, the pre-eminent tool in America's toolbox of global financial power, has been seriously damaged by the rise of alternative payment systems — a rise that was greatly hastened by the Iran war."

Krugman explains exactly what he means when he speaks of the U.S. dollar's "supremacy" being "seriously damaged." And he cites Trump's "stunning failure" with the Iran war as a key factor.

"Let me be clear that I don’t mean that the dollar is close to losing its dominant role in global business," Krugman writes. "And I am definitely not claiming that the dollar's weakened status will make the United States substantially poorer. Instead, what I am talking about is the loss of a non-military tool of coercion — the power to punish that the dominant role of the dollar in international financial transactions gave the United States. That power is now greatly diminished because Trump's Iran war demonstrated to other nations that they can bypass the dollar-centered world payments system — largely thanks to China."

Krugman notes that the U.S. dollar's "importance in international financial transactions far outweighs the U.S. economy's global importance."

"America is by no means a dominant force in world trade or world GDP," Krugman observes. "There are, in fact, three roughly comparable-sized economic superpowers in today’s world: China, the United States, and the European Union. However, the U.S. dollar does play a dominant role in world finance…. Why does everyone use dollars? Because so many other people and businesses use dollars, which makes markets in dollars far more liquid and efficient than markets in any other currency…. What dollar dominance does do…. is give America a powerful economic weapon against other nations."

Krugman continues, "Transactions that involve dollar payments normally require transferring money between U.S. banks — which means that they are visible to and can be blocked by U.S. authorities…. The Iran debacle has demonstrated that using dollars and retaining access to the U.S. banking system, while convenient, aren't necessary. Iran's ability to withstand American pressure has demonstrated that U.S. sanctions are a lot less effective than in the past given that rogue actors can use the yuan and CIPS as a work-around. And as the Gulf States' actions show, even countries that are U.S. allies are now considering signing onto the Chinese payment system."

Donald Trump Is the Biggest Failure in Recent US History

At every turn, Trump has tried to erode US democracy and the good of the people during his second term.


Peter F. Crowley
Jun 30, 2026

Common Dreams


Donald Trump is the biggest failure in recent US presidential history. With the nation’s 250th birthday coming up, here’s a quick comparison to other US leaders.

He single-handedly tanked the economy with high prices resulting from tariffs and the Iran War. Trump’s defunding government agencies and scientific research, along with hyperinflation, has created an impossible job market (the uptick of unemployment nearly one percentage point over the past few years obfuscates the real job market). He has also gone after a national core value, democracy, attacking free speech whether in libraries, education, or protesting on behalf of Palestinian rights. The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool is a clear symbol of his failed leadership: Trump tried to turn it blue for July 4th, but instead it became green with algae.

While LBJ oversaw an immoral, ruthless, and ultimately failed war in Vietnam, at least he passed civil rights legislation and poverty-reducing Great Society policies.

George W. Bush undertook a reckless war against Iraq; although unjust, one of the main objectives—to overthrow Saddam Hussein—was met, even if afterwards creating a liberal democracy failed miserably and, ultimately, led to ISIS ruling across swathes of the Middle East. Domestically, Bush governed during a recession in his first term that resulted from the dot-com bubble bursting, but he did not fundamentally attack the democratic core of United States, although the Patriot Act presaged the Trump era.

Because of Donald Trump’s monumental failure as a wannabe dictator, MAGA is fracturing and progressives are rising.

Joe Biden oversaw the post-Covid period during which inflation costs, which rose under Trump I during the pandemic, continued to rise because of international supply chain bottlenecks and the Ukraine War. He also gave the green light to the Israeli genocide in Gaza, a policy that Trump continued during his second term. However, Biden’s domestic policies and legislation included the forgiveness of student loan debt, a bipartisan infrastructure bill, and the Inflation Reduction Act, the latter of which included the largest investment in clean energy in US history.

Ronald Reagan conducted covert wars against Latin American governments and his neoliberal policies ultimately helped lead to Trump. However, his negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty were instrumental in leading to the end of the Cold War.

Barack Obama, like Reagan, got into his own covert wars, through supporting Islamist factions in the Syrian Civil War and expanding drone strikes. He also was responsible for creating chaos after his “leading from behind” regime change war against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Yet, domestically, he passed Obamacare, which led to an additional 17 million Americans having health insurance. He also helped pull the economy out of the Great Recession.

President Bill Clinton, a scandal-plagued presidency during the pre-9/11 era, oversaw a healthy economy, but represented the Democratic Party’s embrace of neoliberalism and “tough on crime,” “super predator” policies. While flawed and foreshadowing what was to come, he would not be considered a failed president.

Jimmy Carter, a leader during stagflation and the Iran Hostage Crisis, has been perceived as a failed president. While his handling of each problem could have been improved, he did not create stagflation, which came about from a mix of high oil prices and the Fed’s stimulative economic policies. His offering asylum and medical treatment for the last shah of Iran in the US was in line with US imperial policy. Despite his crimes against the Iranian people and the new Iranian government’s demand that he be returned to Iran to receive justice, Carter refused.

Lastly, Richard Nixon, the most corrupt recent American leader before Trump, authorized the burglary to increase his chances of winning reelection and, after a cove-rup, resigned in shame. He also expanded the failed Vietnam War to Cambodia and Laos, though he had campaigned on ending the conflict. Yet, he created the Environmental Protection Agency and reestablished ties with China, though to do so turned a blind eye to Pakistan’s genocide against a nascent Bangladesh. Nixon did attempt to curtail democracy but nowhere near as systematically as Donald Trump has during his second term.

At every turn, Trump has tried to erode US democracy and the good of the people during his second term. While campaigning to end both inflation and the Ukraine War, he has not ended the war and caused prices to skyrocket thanks to his tariffs and his immoral and illegal war against Iran. He has redirected taxpayer money from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the US Agency for International Development (predicted to cause the deaths of 4.5 million children under 5 years old), and scientific and medical research to fund tax cuts for billionaires, expand the brutal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency by a factor of nine, and now seeks $1.5 trillion in Department of Defense funding (that’s $10K a year per taxpayer if divided evenly).

His Iran War caused about 3,500 Iranian deaths and 4,300 Lebanese deaths. While the US and Iran have a ceasefire, Israel isn’t abiding by it. As of this writing, Trump is still threatening the complete destruction of Iran, which is not ideal if you are honestly negotiating for peace.

From a US imperial perspective, the war has failed on every front: The Iranian regime is more powerful than ever; the Iranian population has largely gotten behind its government during the war; Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz now; Iran acts as a check on Israeli use of force in Lebanon; and the US bases, from which American forces retreated from during the fighting, may be closed in the Gulf countries and move to Israel. For those who relish in military victories, it is a loss for America.

Donald Trump may be up there as the biggest loser in history, but for now, it’s safe to say that he is the biggest failure in recent American presidential history.

There is an upside to utter failure though. While establishment Democrats have offered tepid criticism against Trump’s authoritarianism and immoral wars, progressives have made headway whether it’s the Mamdani-backed progressives winning their primaries in New York, Graham Platner winning the primary in Maine, or Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)'s use of “genocide” to describe Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza. Even Tucker Carlson has condemned his past Islamophobia and vociferously condemns the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the decimation of southern Lebanon and Beirut.

Because of Donald Trump’s monumental failure as a wannabe dictator, MAGA is fracturing and progressives are rising. Anti-Trump protests have broken record numbers and anti-ICE demonstrations at places like Delaney Hall are pushing back as strong as ever.

Surely, just before the 250th anniversary of the US, these are things worth celebrating.



Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.


Peter F. Crowley
As a prolific author from the Boston area, Peter F. Crowley writes in various forms, including short fiction, op-eds, poetry, and academic essays. His writing can be found in Pif Magazine, New Verse News, Counterpunch, Middle East Monitor, Galway Review, Digging the Fat, Adelaide’s Short Story and Poetry Award anthologies (finalist in both), and The Opiate. He is the author of the poetry books Those Who Hold Up the Earth and Empire’s End, and the short fiction collection That Night and Other Stories.
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AOC to Johnson and Trump: ‘If You Don’t Want to Be Prosecuted for Crimes, Don’t Do Crimes’

The New York Democrat’s comments came in response to the Republican Speaker of the House telling a group of right-wing supporters he “runs the protection program” for the president.


Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaking with MS-NOW’s Jen Psaki on Friday, June 26, 2026.
(Photo: Screengrab/MS-Now)

Jon Queally
Jun 27, 2026
COMMON DREAMS


Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York ripped into Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on Friday night for saying that Republican control of Congress is the only thing keeping President Donald Trump from being held to account for his numerous scandals and abuses of power during his second term in the White House.

Asked about comments made by the Speaker earlier in the day, Ocasio-Cortez told MS-NOW’s Jen Psaki that Johnson characterized future efforts to investigate or accountability for possible misdeeds or corruption by Trump, his family members, or members of his administration “as though it’s some partisan witch hunt,” she said. “But if you don’t want to be prosecuted for crimes, don’t do crimes.”

Ocasio-Cortez, often referred to by her initials AOC, had been asked about remarks Speaker Johnson made at the annual summit of the right-wing Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group with close ties to Trump and the Christian nationalist movement that supports him.

“If we lose the midterms, heaven forbid, these Democrats—y’all, impeachment isn’t even the real concern,” Johnson told the crowd. “They will turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body, and they’ll go after the president’s family, the Cabinet, his donors, friends, half of you in this room will be targeted.”

The House speaker added, “I run the protection program. We’ll take care of you, OK?”



Johnson’s remarks unsurprisingly sparked a series of critical reactions, including AOC’s.

“Mike Johnson saying the quiet part out loud: protect the powerful. Screw everyone else,” said Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Pa.).

“The Speaker of the House just talked like a guy guarding a operation that can’t survive daylight,” said Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.). “Because that’s exactly what he’s doing.”

“You don’t need a ‘protection program’ for people who did nothing wrong,” Levin continued. “You need one when you’re afraid of what the books would show. Congress is supposed to be a check on power, not the muscle protecting it. Johnson is a total disgrace to the office. November can’t come fast enough.”

What Johnson is “talking about,” explained AOC in her interview with Psaki, is a Republican Party in Congress “running a protection racket” for Trump and his cronies, both in and out of government.

“And we are already seeing that this Trump administration has run what some have called one of the largest pedophile protection programs in American history,” she continued, referencing the scandal surrounding the disgraced convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

“And so when Mike Johnson tells a group of wealthy donors, I’m the only thing standing between you, and a consequence that should rattle at the conscience of every American,” she said. “What he wants to do is create—or rather, not even create, because it’s already been created—but protect a class of impunity in America that says, ‘You can commit whatever crime, and so long as you pay a check to us, we will protect you.’ And that is a model of extortion in American politics. And you know what? That’s their pitch.”

Melanie D’Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, responded to Johnson’s comments by detailing just a few examples of possible corruption by Trump that deserve much more scrutiny and congressional oversight.

“Trump has almost tripled his net worth during this term. His sons bought drone companies and immediately received military contracts right before Trump started another war. Trump threw a crypto contest to see who could buy the most of his meme coin, with the prize being exclusive access to him in his presidential capacity,” D-Arrigo noted.

“His son-in-law is getting billions in business deals from the countries and oligarchs wanting political favors. Large donors are spending millions to get pardons and investigations dropped. Trump is still actively covering up the Epstein files,” she added. “And these are just a handful of the things that were publicly reported on—imagine what we don’t know about yet.”

D’Arrigo called on voters to help “flip the House” away from the Republicans and investigate these examples of grift and corruption as well as others.

‘This Is Corruption’: Trump Bought Stock in Taser Maker Just Before ICE Contract Notice

“There’s a reason why Trump fired the ethics watchdog who oversaw corruption and conflicts of interest in the executive branch,” said one critic.


A federal agent threatens to use his Taser electroshock gun on demonstrators and others during a protest over the Trump administration’s immigration raids, at Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, New Jersey on June 13, 2025.
(Photo by Andres Kudacki/Getty Images)

Brett Wilkins
Jun 29, 2026
COMMON DREAMS


US President Donald Trump bought up to $5 million worth of stock in the corporation that makes Taser electroshock guns, police body cameras, and policing software two weeks before his administration announced the solicitation of a $220 million contract apparently tailored to the company’s product and services, CNBC revealed Monday.

CNBC’s Luke Falcon reported that Trump disclosed the purchase of between $1-5 million in Axon Enterprise stock on February 10. Two weeks later, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced it was seeking a five-year, $220 million deal for 17,800 conductive energy weapons, unlimited cartridges, and support services.

Axon Enterprise stock skyrocketed over 22% immediately following ICE’s announcement, although they’re down more than 25% this year.

According to Falcon:
If finalized, the purchase would more than quadruple ICE’s current Taser arsenal, replacing about 4,300 devices in the field, according to the February notice.

The notice refers to an upgrade to the “T10,” Axon’s “Taser 10” model, to replace ICE’s older “X26P/X2 Tasers,” which are also Axon-made. It also specifies features associated with Taser 10, including a 45-foot range and 10 individually targeted probes—all specifications and capabilities that procurement experts say effectively foreclose other bidders.

“The concern is that [Trump] bought into a company whose business could grow if his own administration expands immigration enforcement,” Jordan Libowitz, vice president for communications at the liberal-leaning watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told CNBC.

Deborah Fleischaker—a former acting ICE chief of staff during the Biden administration who is now a senior immigration policy adviser at the Latino advocacy group UnidosUS—told Falcon that the timing of Trump’s purchase “raises red flags.”

“It is not smart to buy stock in a company that was impacted by the decisions you would be making at the agency,” she said. “I would have stayed far, far away from actual impropriety, or the appearance of impropriety.”

The ICE contract notice came as the agency and other Department of Homeland Security divisions were set to reap tens of billions of dollars in new funding thanks to Republicans’ so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly insisted that “there are no conflicts of interest” and that Trump’s investments are managed by independent third parties.

“But the sequence raises a public integrity question: A president with a newly disclosed financial interest in a law enforcement technology company led an administration expanding immigration enforcement when one of its agencies sought a major purchase of products closely associated with that company,” The Intellectualist contended on Monday.

Campaign for New York Health executive director Melanie D’Arrigo said on social media Monday: “Trump bought up to $5 million in stock of a company seeking an ICE contract that specifies products unique to that company. This is corruption. There’s a reason why Trump fired the ethics watchdog who oversaw corruption and conflicts of interest in the executive branch.”

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee and several watchdog groups have published running lists of dozens of instances of alleged and proven conflicts of interest and other corruption that have enriched Trump and his family by billions of dollars during his second term in office alone.

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that Trump and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reached a billion-dollar agreement with Kazakhstan to develop of one of the world’s largest untapped deposits of tungsten, a key metal used to make missile warheads, fighter jets, computer chips, and other products.

According to the Times, within weeks of the deal taking shape, investors associated with Dominari Securities—a firm partly owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the president’s sons—acquired a 20% stake in an entity connected to the Kazakhstan tungsten project. Lutnick’s sons also reportedly raised capital for one of the project’s investors, a role for which they stand to make millions of dollars.

“The corruption is breathtaking,” former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich said Monday on social media in response to the Times report.