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.

 Three-year-old boy pulled living from the rubble as Venezuela quake toll nears 2,000

The confirmed death toll from the twin earthquakes that rocked Venezuela has reached nearly 2,000, National Assembly president Jorge Rodriguez said Tuesday. While some 50,000 people remain unaccounted for, Jordanian rescue teams pulled a three-year-old boy from the rubble, where he'd managed to survive six days since the catastrophe.

Modified: 30/06/2026 
FRANCE 24

The UN said food and shelter is needed urgently in Venezuela. © Federico Parra, AFP


Tens of thousands of people urgently need food and shelter in Venezuela after the two devastating earthquakes that killed nearly 2,000, the UN said on Tuesday, as doctors warned of outbreaks of disease with survivors sleeping in the streets.

Last week's 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude shocks – one of the worst earthquake disasters in Latin America – collapsed whole residential complexes, left tens of thousands unaccounted for and prompted frantic search-and-rescue operations for survivors trapped in the rubble.

The UN refugee agency said "food shortages are widespread, basic services have broken down and connectivity has been largely severed" in the port city of La Guaira – the worst hit area north of the capital Caracas.

"They give out supplies here, but sometimes people nearly kill each other for food ... it's like a cockfight," said Daniela Armas, 18, a vendor in La Guaira who was injured falling from a motorbike during the quakes.

Venezuela: Mother and baby among earthquake survivors as rescue time runs out

Cover image: Vignette rescue 2 © France 24, Reuters
01:13

In a daily update, Venezuela's National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said deaths had risen to 1,943, with more than 10,500 injured in the twin quakes.

He said nearly 6,500 people had been rescued from the rubble in La Guaira, but that number was likely closer to 20,000 including those who escaped or were helped out by family.

Jordanian rescue teams pulled a three-year-old boy from the rubble on Tuesday, Jordan's civil defence said, six days after the devastating earthquakes.

Rescue workers cheered with joy upon discovering the child, who had survived. The boy received first aid and was immediately taken to hospital, the Jordanian civil defence said in a statement.

Many Venezuelans have expressed anger at the government's slow response to the disaster in a country already struggling with years of crippling US sanctions and deepening economic crisis that has weakened infrastructure and health services.

The UN agency said it needed some $14.85 million to scale up aid and temporary shelter for 30,000 people over six months.

"Community tensions are rising as access to assistance remains constrained," UNHCR spokesperson Carlotta Wolf said.

The quakes likely damaged or destroyed 58,870 buildings, according to a preliminary assessment of satellite data published by NASA.

World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said health services in Venezuela were overstretched and under "extreme pressure".

Tens of thousands of people are unaccounted for © Miguel Medina, POOL/AFP

"There's an increased risk now of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases" such as measles and diphtheria, due to low pre-earthquake vaccination coverage, he said.
Bare hands

With international rescue teams from the US, Mexico and dozens of other countries scrambling with trained dogs and heavy equipment to dig out survivors, Venezuelans began burying the dead they could find.

Others were frantically searching by hand for missing loved ones in the rubble, but also in hospitals and morgues.

"It's harder not knowing because you ask yourself, 'What do I do? Where do I look for her?" said Rosanna Luna, looking for her sister Soraida in the wreckage of her home.

AFP journalists on Monday saw black body bags containing victims of the quake lined up near a makeshift morgue at the dock in La Guaira, where many people came for news or to identify remains.

A temporary morgue has been set up at the port in La Guaira, north of Caracas. © Federico Parra, AFP

Darvin Silva, 37, described how he battled to reach his mother, who died under a pillar in a collapsed building.

"The effort it took me to get her out of there with my bare hands, with sledgehammers, with pickaxes ... you can't even begin to imagine," he said.

"I hope that I can now offer her the rest she deserves," he said.

The critical 72-hour window during which survivors were still likely to be found closed on Saturday evening.

But rescuers in hard hats and high-visibility vests were still picking through the twisted metal and shattered concrete.

Around 50,000 people are still listed as missing, according to the UN.
Body bags

Some seven million people in Venezuela would be affected by the disaster, the UN has said, with the quakes knocking a $6.7-billion hole in the economy – or six percent of Venezuela's GDP.

A total of 27 countries have mobilised nearly 40 search-and-rescue teams. They include more than 2,000 troops and personnel, along with more than 160 dogs, according to Gianluca Rampolla, the UN coordinator in Venezuela.

The world body is providing 10,000 body bags, though it hopes the final toll will be lower.

At the makeshift morgue at La Guaira's port, many are still waiting for the remains of their loved ones who are presumed dead.

"My family is there – I'm told my sister and her children are there, as well as the children of my brother," Wilker Molalla told AFP as he waited to identify the remains.

"There were 11 people in my household," he said. "Only two of us survived because we were at work."

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Death toll from Venezuela earthquakes climbs to 1,943

Copyright Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

By Nathan Rennolds

Published on 30/06/2026 - EURONEWS

UNICEF has estimated that around 1.8 million people, including 680,000 children, require humanitarian assistance following the quakes.

The death toll from two devastating earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela last week has risen to 1,943, authorities said on Tuesday.

A further 10,571 people have been injured and 28,380 are receiving care in hospitals or temporary camps following the quakes, according to Jorge Rodríguez, the president of the country's National Assembly.

Back-to-back 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude tremors hit Venezuela on the evening of 24 June, causing widespread destruction and leaving tens of thousands of people missing. A strong aftershock also rattled the region on Friday, sending people fleeing into the streets as the ground shook once again.

Emergency crews and volunteers have since been racing to rescue those trapped under collapsed buildings, with rescuers from around the world joining local crews to dig through the rubble. The first 72 hours are said to be the most crucial for successful rescues. It has been almost a week since the quakes hit.

Video footage on social media shows emergency responders navigating small, unstable crawl spaces as they attempt to get to survivors.

Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, said on Monday that 3,681 rescuers from 30 countries had joined the search efforts. The international community has also provided over 1,000 tons of supplies, 27 vehicles, and 118 search dogs, she added.

More than 6,450 people have been found alive as of Tuesday, with a further 13,500 able to escape by themselves, per Venezuela's government.

UNICEF has estimated that around 1.8 million people, including 680,000 children, require humanitarian assistance following the quakes.

A preliminary estimate from the United Nations Development Programme has put the cost of direct physical damage caused by the tremors at $6.7 billion.

Venezuela Earthquake Death Toll Surpasses 1,700 As UN Scales Up Aid

Rescue workers evaluate damage in Palos Grandes, Caracas, following the June 24th earthquakes in Venezuela. Photo Credit: Victoria Fermín, UN News

June 30, 2026 
By UN News


Five days after powerful earthquakes struck central-northern Venezuela, the death toll continues to climb along with the intense rescue operation and the UN coordinates humanitarian assistance, warning that recovery “is going to take time.”

Venezuelan authorities confirmed on Monday that at least 1,719 people have died following the earthquakes of 24 June, with some 5,000 more injured. Around 12,000 people have been displaced, and officials have yet to confirm a figure for the missing.
Survivors still emerging

In a press briefing for correspondents in New York, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Venezuela, Gianluca Rampolla, said that seven people were pulled alive from the rubble on Sunday as search efforts continue.

He also reported that the UN and Venezuelan authorities had agreed to procure 10,000 body bags in anticipation of the death toll rising further.

Seven states have been affected, but the greatest concentration of casualties is in La Guaira state and the Distrito Capital of Caracas. Around 2,500 structures were damaged, many of which have collapsed entirely.

Conditions on the ground remain hazardous. Approximately 500 aftershocks have been recorded since the initial earthquakes, including a magnitude 5.2 tremor in the early hours of Monday morning, while a tropical wave is threatening to bring heavy rains to affected areas.

“We continue to operate in a high-risk environment,” Mr. Rampolla said.
Over 2,000 rescuers on the ground

More than 2,000 rescue workers from 27 countries – along with over 160 search dogs – are currently deployed across more than 40 teams.

Although search and rescue operations typically focus on the first 72 hours, teams have extended their work after continuing to receive signs of life from beneath the rubble and locating survivors beyond that window.

“Together with the search and rescue operations, we are focusing, together with the Government, on providing emergency healthcare, shelter, food assistance, water and sanitation, and logistical support to ensure not only the storage but also the distribution of all the supplies arriving in the country, as well as protection,” Mr. Rampolla said, adding that the UN is working on a new emergency appeal to supplement its existing humanitarian plan.

‘There are people who need a hug’

The UN is preparing three assistance centres in La Guaira for families who have lost their homes, offering medical care, food, water, sanitation, protection and psychosocial support.

Vanessa May, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Venezuela, told UN News that many people had lost all sense of stability. “Moving from having a house, from having a home, to being in a shelter or temporary accommodation is not going to be easy,” she said.

Ms. May stressed that emotional support would be as essential as food, water or medical care. “There are people who need a hug,” she said, describing families waiting for news of loved ones, and others who already know their relatives remain buried under the debris.
‘This is going to take time’

Once search operations conclude, the UN and its partners will carry out rapid assessments to identify needs, including those of older people and persons with disabilities.

Debris removal and early recovery will follow, with particular attention to damage to schools and hospitals.

Ms. May said the reconstruction phase would require working with authorities to determine where displaced families can be resettled and conducting soil surveys before any relocation. “This is going to take time,” she said.

She attributed the speed of the initial UN response to the humanitarian architecture established in Venezuela since 2019, which brought together UN agencies, national and international NGOs, the Red Cross and other actors. Coordinating the surge in public donations – with many individuals and organisations arriving spontaneously at affected areas – has been among the key logistical challenges.

“Don’t let that solidarity stop,” Ms. May said, urging that attention on Venezuela be sustained well beyond the initial weeks of disaster recovery.

Venezuelans Just Deported by Trump Among Tens of Thousands Missing After Earthquakes

As the death toll continued to rise, the US Department of Homeland Security said that “when an individual is no longer in ICE custody, ICE is no longer responsible for them.”


Rescuers continue to search for victims at a collapsed building after a pair of earthquakes on June 28, 2026 in Carabellada, La Guaira, Venezuela.
(Photo by Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)

Jessica Corbett
Jun 29, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

Tens of thousands of people still haven’t been found after a pair of devastating earthquakes in Venezuela last week—including some Venezuelans who had just been deported from the United States as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push and were being held in a hotel when the temblors hit, The Associated Press revealed Monday.

There were 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, on a deportation flight that arrived just hours before the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes, the AP reported, citing a Human Rights First initiative that has tracked thousands of such flights under Trump. They were brought to Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira, which collapsed because of the quakes.



Thousands Feared Dead After Back-to-Back Earthquakes Devastate Venezuela



Advocates Renew Call for End to US Sanctions After Devastating Venezuela Earthquakes

“Lisbeth Portillo, 58, said she escaped the rubble from the hotel with about 20 other deportees who walked the streets looking for help. They saw people running, some naked and others barefoot as they emerged from the rubble of the building,” according to the outlet.

Another deportee who survived, 24-year-old Jenny Rodriguez, told Telemundo: “I was trapped under the rubble. A colleague who had been on the same flight came by; I managed to free my hand from the debris, grabbed him by the trousers, and begged for help... Thanks to God—and to him—I was able to get out of there.”

Oswadeliz Núñez Ramírez is still “frantically searching for her son,” 28-year-old Daniel Alejandro Núñez Ramírez, who was also on the deportation flight and at the hotel, the Miami Herald reported Monday. A member of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service who called himself “Jonathan” told her that he had pulled her son from the rubble, but, “skeptical of the official account, his mother has searched every hospital, clinic, and sector of La Guaira and Caracas without success.”

While US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to the AP’s request for comment, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, told the Herald: “This flight safely reached Venezuela, and all illegal aliens on board were returned home. When an individual is no longer in ICE custody, ICE is no longer responsible for them.”

Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said Monday that the earthquake has left at least 1,719 dead, 5,034 injured, and 15,866 displaced from their homes.

UN News noted Monday that the ongoing search and rescue effort involves more than 2,000 workers from over two dozen countries, plus over 160 dogs, and Gianluca Rampolla, the United Nations resident coordinator in Venezuela, “reported that the UN and Venezuelan authorities had agreed to procure 10,000 body bags in anticipation of the death toll rising further.”

Rampolla said that “together with the search and rescue operations, we are focusing, together with the government, on providing emergency healthcare, shelter, food assistance, water and sanitation, and logistical support to ensure not only the storage but also the distribution of all the supplies arriving in the country, as well as protection.”

As of Monday evening, more than 44,000 people remained missing, according to a reunion website for families. As NBC News detailed Monday:
Even as the chances of finding survivors diminished with every passing hour, Venezuelans continued using shovels, ropes, and their bare hands as they dug through mountains of collapsed concrete.

They were joined by a growing number of international rescue teams, who pulled multiple survivors from the wreckage, offering desperate families a rare glimmer of hope.

Among the rescues, teams from the United States, France, and Venezuela pulled a man and his son from the ruins Sunday morning after they had spent four days trapped beneath the rubble.

Organizations including US-based peace group CodePink and the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Washington, DC-based think tank, have called on the US and allied countries to lift all sanctions against Venezuela in the wake of the earthquakes.

Trump earlier this year directed an illegal invasion of Venezuela, during which US forces killed scores of people and abducted President Nicolás Maduro, then seized control of the South American country’s nationalized oil industry.

Progressive Caucus Leader Backs Amendment to Cut Off Billions in US Military Aid to Israel

“The Israeli government committed war crimes in Gaza and helped drag America into war with Iran,” said Rep. Greg Casar. “Americans should not be financing more weapons for Netanyahu.”


Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) speaks on Capitol Grounds in front of a memorial of 168 pairs of shoes representing those killed in the US strike on an Iranian school on March 18, 2026 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Win Without War)

Jake Johnson
Jun 30, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

The chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Monday expressed support for an amendment that would cut off $3.3 billion in US military assistance to Israel, pointing to atrocities in Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in pushing the Trump administration to launch an illegal war against Iran.

“Soon, the House will vote on an amendment to block taxpayer funding to Israel’s military. I will vote yes,” Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) wrote on social media. “The Israeli government committed war crimes in Gaza and helped drag America into war with Iran. Americans should not be financing more weapons for Netanyahu.”

The amendment, led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), is expected to get a floor vote as soon as this week as part of debate over an annual appropriations bill for national security and the US State Department. The amendment states that “none of the funds made available under this act shall be obligated or expended for Israel.”

“The amount otherwise made available by this act for ‘Foreign Military Financing Program’ is hereby reduced by $3,300,000,000,” the amendment adds. Under current law, Israel is set to receive $3.3 billion in annual Foreign Military Financing Program funding through 2028.

The looming vote on the amendment, which will force lawmakers on the record on continued US aid to Israel, has sparked an AIPAC lobbying campaign and significant consternation within the House Democratic caucus. During a virtual caucus call over the weekend, according to Punchbowl, “leadership-aligned Democrats panned the Massie amendment as sloppily drafted.”

“Members of the center-left New Democrat Coalition, as well as Jewish lawmakers, said they were opposed,” the outlet reported. “Several members alleged that Republicans allowed Massie’s amendment to reach the floor because they hoped to divide Democrats on such a contentious issue.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said Democratic lawmakers will meet in person on Tuesday to discuss the amendment.

“Congress continues to treat military funding for Israel as automatic, even as public support for unconditional aid collapses across the country.”

Recent polling has found that Democratic voters overwhelmingly oppose continued US military support for Israel, which has used American weaponry to commit grave war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories. A United Nations report published last week found that the Israeli military has deliberately targeted children in Gaza and “wiped out entire families across two or three or even four generations.”

In his social media post on Monday, Casar acknowledged concerns voiced by some of his Democratic colleagues that the Massie amendment, as written, “may cut off both military weapons (~$3.3 billion) and some diplomatic funding (~$50 million).”

“While I would prefer to vote on an amendment that stripped just military funding,” Casar wrote, “I think opposing the billions in military funding is what’s most important here.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who sits on the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ executive board, told Drop Site on Monday that she would support Massie’s amendment.

“In my community, in my district, the conclusion is pretty clear,” said Ocasio-Cortez, who is leading a separate amendment to the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that would bar the transfer of any US weaponry to other nations absent “congressional authorization and written presidential assurances that the recipient country is not restricting the transport or delivery of humanitarian assistance and is complying with international law.”

🔸Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) tells Drop Site she will vote for Rep. Thomas Massie’s amendment to the FY2027 State Department appropriations bill that would prohibit funds under the bill from being spent on Israel and eliminate the $3.3 billion Foreign Military Financing… https://t.co/kpfeYYPJ55 pic.twitter.com/WHSkJKV8DT
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) June 30, 2026

Urging House lawmakers to vote yes, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said the Massie amendment provides an opportunity for “a rare recorded vote on whether members of Congress will continue sending billions of US taxpayer dollars to the Israeli military, or finally begin ending America’s role in funding Israel’s genocides in Palestine and Lebanon, and endless aggressions in Yemen, Syria, Iran, and beyond.”

“For years, Americans have watched US weapons, US tax dollars, and US diplomatic cover enable Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians, its attacks on neighboring countries, and its efforts to drag the United States into Israel’s forever wars,” the group said. “Yet Congress continues to treat military funding for Israel as automatic, even as public support for unconditional aid collapses across the country.”

Trump using 'unusual arrangement' to secretly funnel $500 million to his ballroom: report

Tom Boggioni
June 30, 2026 

RAW STORY


Demolition of the East Wing of the White House continues where U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed ballroom will be built, in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 23, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

President Donald Trump has orchestrated yet another massive no-bid contract, this time channeling $500 million in taxpayer funds through a loophole to pay for his East Wing ballroom in secret, a report says.

According to Washington Post reporting, White House officials used back channels and awarded the half-billion-dollar contract to Clark Construction last year in what the outlet described as a deliberately "unusual arrangement" designed to circumvent standard cost-control procedures and public disclosure requirements.

The scheme exploited a legal gray area. By routing the contract through the Executive Residence—an office "typically responsible for routine mansion repairs and furniture purchases" —the White House once again "sidestepped" federal rules.

Confidential documents obtained by the Post reveal Trump "personally negotiated" certain costs for the East Wing project, suggesting direct presidential involvement in structuring the deal to avoid scrutiny.

The ballroom contract represents just one chapter in Trump's broader strategy of awarding no-bid deals to handpicked contractors reshaping Washington according to his personal vision. The administration has similarly bypassed competitive bidding for Lafayette Square upgrades and the controversial Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovations, which have become a public relations disaster for the administration.


Experts warned the approach has deprived taxpayers of potential savings. "I would certainly expect them to compete a project of this size and complexity," Anthony Costa, a former General Services Administration official with decades of experience overseeing complex federal real estate projects across multiple presidential administrations, told the Post.

While the Executive Residence technically operates under exemptions from standard competitive bidding rules, experts noted that soliciting bids would have ensured the "best pricing for taxpayers"—particularly crucial given the extraordinary scale and cost of the East Wing project.

The true vandal of DC caught red-handed

Nick Anderson.

 Raw Story
June 22, 2026 


Nick Anderson/Raw Story

Nick Anderson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.

Trump just named himself one of the worst people in human history

Jason Miciak
June 21, 2026 

RAW STORY

In one of his most astonishingly oblivious moments, President Donald Trump may have revealed more about himself — his honest, true beliefs regarding his “talents” and place in history — than at any point in his public life. During an interview with Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman for their forthcoming book, Trump proudly offered what he called an “expert historian’s” impression of his raw fortitude. As you might guess, Trump bragged he topped a list of history’s most powerful rulers.

Now, that cringe you already feel is more than warranted. Presidents and other leaders are rarely measured by raw power alone. Nixon was an extremely powerful president in many ways, and you know how that played out. But everyone understands that this particular president sees power for power’s sake as the gold standard — the measure of the job. Prepare for that cringe to evolve into rage upon learning of the leaders he “trumps,” so to speak. “Our” president believes he tops a list that includes Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Stalin, Mao, and Hitler.

Sweet Jesus.

With the possible exception, and only to a degree, of Napoleon, every other ruler on that list accrued power by killing people in the sole furtherance of “more power,” and thus killed even more people as both a means of expanding and keeping it. Looked at another way, Trump excitedly showed Swan and Haberman a list he believes puts him atop history’s greatest monsters.

Well, that fits. And it is scary AF.

Because there is nothing wrong with seeking power if it’s in the pursuit of something worthy. Martin Luther King Jr. surely sought every ounce of authority that his gentle hands could hold, but made non-violence his most powerful ally to accrue, well, power. To the extent that the United States even approaches racial equality, at least in written law, we owe it in large part to MLK Jr., who sacrificed his life for it, and that’s pretty damned powerful, especially given his influence extended far beyond this nation’s boundaries. King’s words and message are remembered today at least as much as any American president’s — the most “powerful man in the world.” Gandhi is cut from the same cloth, to use an apt metaphor, and took on an entire empire and subcontinent.

The West defeated Soviet Communism without firing a direct shot, a pretty impressive power move. And yes, part of the “fall” owed itself to an American President in Ronald Reagan, whose main tactic was to militarily spend the U.S.S.R. into oblivion — the Soviets unable to keep up. But Reagan couldn’t have succeeded without the real power of a fairly humble but stubborn and infinitely brave Polish shipyard worker named Lech Wałęsa, and an even more humble Polish Pope in John Paul II, who both stood up to communism on moral grounds, smothering a communist empire unable to keep up.

There is also power over our day-to-day lives that we all but take for granted now. Alan Turing ushered in the idea of “computation,” but Steve Jobs gave the average person the desire to even have one at home, and that was just the first act; he then changed how the world does nearly anything, bringing about the smartphone. Ideally, Steve Jobs’ “power” will infinitely impact your life more than anything Donald Trump ever does… ideally, no guarantee. Elvis Presley forever altered the role music plays in our lives.

Power comes in many forms. Whoever came up with high definition television deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, but I digress.


Given we’re sure that Trump is talking about national leaders, we can circle back to that category and ably come up with many who managed to accrue far more power with far less brutal killing. George Washington founded this nation by fighting a king who wouldn’t peaceably deal with the colonies. Abraham Lincoln almost personally kept this nation together for four years, certainly killing a lot of people in a war that he would have given up everything to avoid except for continued slavery. And FDR not only kept this nation’s head above water during the worst worldwide depression since the Dark Ages, but he also invented modern economic liberalism in America, and then went on to rally a nation to defeat Hitler. That is a pretty powerful guy.


The story gets even Trumpier. He told Swan and Haberman that he got the list at a golf benefit with Gary Player, handed to him as a paper put together by a noted historian. But when Swan and Haberman investigated the matter further, the “report” had been put together by golfer Gary Player’s caddy. But the list's scholarly authority couldn’t matter less. It’s Trump’s reaction to having his name among those names that takes one’s breath away.

We weren’t in the room and thus can’t know how the conversation went, but wouldn’t it have been wonderful to hear Trump’s response to a follow-up: “Mr. President, why would you even want to be on this list? This is essentially a list of ‘worst people in human history.’”


Pity. Because it’s tough to predict how Trump would’ve talked himself around that one, probably something along the lines of, “But see? I’m more powerful than them, and I’m one of the most loved men in…”

It should go without saying that a president should enter that office committed to doing the best he or she can for the American people — do that, and the power takes care of itself. Lincoln saved the Union. FDR brought us Social Security and led us through World War II. Lyndon B. Johnson made us a greater society by bringing in Medicare and Medicaid and signing the Civil Rights Act (and yes, got a lot of Americans killed in Vietnam, duly noted). Ronald Reagan did open up a real dialogue with the U.S.S.R. that helped lead to communism’s downfall (I don’t need a primer on all the horrid things Reagan also did). George W. Bush — for all his innumerable faults — got this nation through the first month after 9/11 with bravery, resolve, and love toward American Muslims, not a single act of vigilantism. Barack Obama made universal healthcare an expected right, perhaps saving millions of lives. Pretty powerful.

If one really wants to get cynical, look to Mitch McConnell, who engineered the process by which we have a Supreme Court that managed to give Trump a free pass with respect to criminality, steal a woman’s right to control her body, and disenfranchise Black Americans in the South. Pretty powerful.


Donald Trump effected the first violent transfer of power in American history, and perhaps therein lies a clue to his “formidability.” Like Khan, Stalin, and Hitler, Donald Trump is out to get all he can personally get in his name as American president, whether it is semi-invading Venezuela, dropping billions in bombs in Iran (killing a school full of little girls), threatening war over Greenland, and this new “thing” with Cuba — and that’s just on the international scale. At home, Trump has organized masked stormtroopers marching around the country, rounding up brown people, changed the structure of Congress, put his name and face on money, and strongly considered suspending habeas corpus to do it, avoiding courts altogether. If there is a secret sauce to Trump’s power, it is that he is constrained only by balancing what he can get away with at no personal cost.

And, to be sure, if you have the most powerful military force ever amassed on the planet and the personal fealty of nearly every Republican in government to back domestic efforts, that affords someone an enormous amount of power. But if Trump has proven anything, it is that he seeks power to improve his fortunes, and only his fortunes. In that respect, he most certainly is right at home with Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Hitler, etc.

Last, to the extent one ever needed more concrete evidence as to the danger in mixing self-glorification within a uniquely undereducated man, the fact that Trump is proud to head up this list is Exhibit “A,” and all that would ever be needed to demonstrate that he lacks the emotional IQ to even understand the position he holds. The fact that it didn’t occur to Trump, “What if fifty years from now, someone reads a list about history’s most powerful leaders, and Donald Trump is alongside Stalin, Hitler, and Genghis Khan — is that bad branding?” should scare us all. Not that we weren’t already scared.


Nor are we surprised.

Check that. Some of us are indeed surprised, surprised only in the way Trump continues to find astonishingly original ways to evidence his true weakness. Leaders who seek power as the goal in and of itself are, by definition, some of the most dangerous figures in history. Leaders who dare to dream so powerfully of all that good that can be done if one only had the power are some of history’s most revered leaders, as they selflessly work to get it done. MLK Jr., Nelson Mandela, Susan B. Anthony, Cesar Chavez, Isaac Newton, Carl Jung, St. Francis of Assisi, Shakespeare… The list of history’s most powerful people who never sought “power” itself, merely propounded ideas so powerful they still impact us today, is a list to which one should aspire.

It is doubtful that anyone, even the most hardened MAGA, is surprised by the slot into which Trump most comfortably slid himself. The only somewhat surprising — and worrying thing is his obliviousness as to what it says about him, near and long term.


Indeed, history will have a lot of powerful things to say about Donald J. Trump and, perhaps topping the list, will be that from day one, he sought evermore personal power as both goal and measure.

Pretty weak.

Jason Miciak is a Rawstory Columnist, former editor at Occupy Democrats, political consultant, author, attorney, and single parent girldad, please follow on Bluesky and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com

‘Good News for Clean Air’ as Court Rejects Trump EPA Bid to Ditch Coal Plant Soot Rule

“The court’s rejection of the Trump administration’s attempt to eliminate our national health standards for soot will mean healthier, longer lives for people across the country,” said one advocate.

The Cardinal Power Station, a coal-fired energy plant in Brilliant, Ohio, is shown in this undated photo.
(Photo by Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Brett Wilkins
Jun 26, 2026
COMMON DREAMS\

A federal appeals court on Friday rejected the US Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to scrap a Biden-era rule tightening limits on harmful soot pollution spewed from coal-fired power plants and other sources.

In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dealt a blow to President Donald Trump’s deregulatory agenda by leaving intact a national soot standard enacted in 2024 that lowers the amount of fine particulate matter from power plants, factories, and vehicles from 12 to 9 micrograms per cubic meter.

“Soot, made up of tiny toxic particles that lodge deep in the lungs, results in severe health harms, including premature death, and comes from sources like vehicle exhaust pipes, power plants, and factories,” the legal advocacy group Earthjustice explained.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Administrator Lee Zeldin last year asked the appellate court to invalidate the soot rule, claiming that the Biden administration exceeded its authority and failed to take into account the economic cost of implementing the policy.

“Clean air is not a luxury. We are thrilled these vital air quality standards have been upheld by a federal court,” said Patrice Simms, vice president of Healthy Communities at Earthjustice. “The 2024 soot standard is a critical advancement for public health, projected to save thousands of lives every year. Lee Zeldin’s EPA must stop catering to polluters and must instead fulfill its mission to protect public health. The time for implementing the 2024 soot standard is now.”

Clean Air Task Force senior director of legal advocacy Shaun Goho also welcomed the ruling, saying: “Fine particulate matter standards provide critical public health protections. The court correctly rejected EPA’s about-face on the need for a stronger standard.”

Katie Huffing, executive director of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, called Friday’s decision “a win for public health.”

“Every day in practice, nurses witness and treat conditions made worse by soot pollution,” she said. “From asthma exacerbations and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to heart disease and preterm birth, nurses see the real-world health implications of toxic air pollution.”

“The science shows stronger limits to reduce dangerous soot pollution provide significant health benefits for Americans, especially for those most vulnerable and those exposed to higher levels of particulate matter pollution,” Huffing added. “We now urge EPA to fully implement the strengthened standard to ensure those health benefits are realized.”

Noha Haggag, senior attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund, said that “today’s federal court decision is good news for clean air in America and for the millions of people harmed by deadly soot.”

“Soot can cause asthma attacks, lung cancer, and premature deaths,” Haggag added. “The court’s rejection of the Trump administration’s attempt to eliminate our national health standards for soot will mean healthier, longer lives for people across the country.”

‘Newsom Does Not Want to Tax Billionaires,’ Say Campaigners, ‘But Wants You to Think He Does’

“Pretending to propose his own national solution is clearly a cynical smoke screen to let California billionaires off the hook,” argues the Billionaire Tax Now campaign as it seeks to counter “5 tricks” being deployed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and his allies.


California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference at the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport on February 2, 2026 in San Diego, CA.
(Photo by K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)

Jon Queally
Jun 27, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

Campaigners behind the one-time 5% billionaires wealth tax in California are calling out what they describe as trickery and deception by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who on Friday released a proposal for a national billionaire’s income tax even as he actively opposes the effort to tax the wealth of billionaires in the state that he and his party currently control.

“Newsom does not want to tax billionaires,” said the Billionaire Tax Now campaign in a statement, “but he wants you to think he does.”

As Common Dreams reported Friday, critics of Newsom warn that the governor thinks “he can fool everyone” with his proposal for a national tax on the income of billionaires while simultaneously opposing a wealth tax headed for a referendum vote in November designed to fill a massive healthcare funding gap in the state created by the budget bill passed by Republicans and signed by President Donald Trump last year.

While the so-called “One, Big Beautiful Bill” offered another windfall tax giveaway to super-wealthy individuals and corporations, it eviscerated funding for healthcare and other key social programs nationwide.

The Friday statement from the coalition behind the campaign, headed by SEIU—United Health Wealth, details “5 tricks” that Newsom has already deployed in order to fool voters about the wealth tax in California while concealing what they say are “his real motivations: to continue giving billionaires tax breaks at the expense of working people.”

According to the group:
TRICK 1: Pretend to take on billionaires while really giving them a pass.
Over his many months of plainly attempting to sink the California billionaire tax, Governor Newsom has made it clear that he is more interested in protecting billionaires than working people. A federal billionaire tax has already been proposed by US Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ro Khanna—and while you don’t need to be a political insider to know it would require a profound reshaping of Congress to pass that bill, Newsom has nonetheless failed to endorse it.

TRICK 2: Conveniently say that a federal, not state-based solution is the best way forward on this issue—despite having supported state-based policy solutions in the past.
Pretending to propose his own national solution is clearly a cynical smoke screen to let California billionaires off the hook. It’s just a PR tactic to give himself more cover to oppose the California Billionaire Tax. The Governor has supported state-based solutions to federally-created policy problems in the past—just conveniently not this state-based solution, which would involve a 5% tax on about 200 Californian billionaires who hold $2.2 trillion in wealth to save lives and keep hospitals open.

TRICK 3: Attempt to divide support by saying the California Billionaire Tax is bad policy for not fixing every problem in the state.
It’s pretty simple: the California Billionaire Tax is a direct response to the healthcare cuts facing our state, so the funding goes to healthcare. 90% of funds will prevent ER and hospital closures, and 10% will go toward food assistance and public education.

No, the funding will not go toward housing, 911 operators, and other public services the Governor listed out to try to generate additional opposition—just the massive $100 billion healthcare crisis that is putting patient lives at risk. The fact that this measure doesn’t fix every problem in the Governor’s budget is a problem for the Governor, not a problem with the proposal itself.

TRICK 4: Spread misinformation about the California Billionaire Tax’s impact on Planned Parenthood.
The Governor is hoping you don’t know that the massive federal healthcare cuts in Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” gutted funding for California’s Planned Parenthood clinics and that the California Billionaire Tax is the only viable way to generate the funding needed to save this critical reproductive healthcare. Luckily, frontline healthcare workers, including those who work at Planned Parenthood clinics, along with actual Planned Parenthood patients have been hard at work spreading the truth to voters across the state.

TRICK 5: Falsely claim that “one stakeholder” is driving the California Billionaire Tax.
Governor Newsom continues desperately trying to make the California Billionaire Tax sound fringe, when in fact voters consistently support the tax by double-digit margins. The Billionaire Tax Now coalition has a growing army of more than 5,000 volunteers, and submitted over 1.6 million signatures—more than double the number needed to qualify for the ballot. The tax is supported by elected officials including US Senator Bernie Sanders Representative Ro Khanna, and Senator Chris Murphy, and community and labor groups including Teamsters California, AFSCME California, CIR, UNITE HERE Local 11 and Local 30, AFT Local 1521, Oxfam America, Our Revolution, CA, Color of Change, and Democratic Socialists of America–CA. Does that sound like “one stakeholder”?


The launch of Newsom’s proposal for a national income tax, his team acknowledged, comes as the governor considers a run for president in 2028.

Citing the threat of capital flight and billionaires fleeing California for states with friendlier tax codes, Newsom argues that the fight for a tax on the super-rich “belongs at the federal level, where this broken system was created in the first place.”

However, as the campaign behind the state-level tax points out and studies have shown, the mythical threat of the wealthy packing their bags has been shown to be largely that—threats and a myth.

Nadia Rahman, an activist and organizer in San Francisco, was among those urging people not to be duped by the Newsom’s position on the California ballot initiative.

“Do not be fooled,” Rahman warned. “Newsom is an avowed incrementalist pitching a ”national billionaires tax“ to have something to deflect to when he runs for president and is questioned about why he worked so hard to kill the wealth tax in his home state of California in his final act as Governor.”