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Leon Black’s check to Dan Sullivan made the news this month. What that story missed: his wife’s check in the same filing, the couple’s checks to Mitch McConnell’s PAC last year, and the money Susan Collins, Tom Cotton, and two future Trump officials took in once the Times exposed his Epstein payments.
You made that digging possible—thank you. If you want to help even more, become a founding member or send a gift subscription to someone who should be reading this.
A Billionaire Paid Epstein $158 Million. These Republicans Kept His Checks.
Also: an Alabama builder wins round one against ICE, California adds a buffer, and a judge refuses to let Rubio put 43,000 visa applicants back on hold.
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Thanks so much for joining me today. We have some great news that’s terrible for Trump, and an exclusive investigation Republicans would rather you didn’t see.
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Republicans Kept Checks From Epstein’s
Billionaire Client
A review ordered by billionaire Leon Black’s own firm found he paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 million. Black says it was for tax and estate advice. On September 16, the House held him in contempt for defying its Epstein subpoenas.
Republicans kept taking his family’s money anyway. On October 12, 2020, the Times exposed Black’s payments to Epstein. That same day, David Perdue’s Senate campaign took in $2,800 from him. Two months later, Kelly Loeffler’s campaign received $1,400. Both now work for Trump. Tom Cotton’s campaign got Black’s money in 2022, and last year Leon and his wife, Debra, each gave $2,500 to Mitch McConnell’s PAC.
Here’s what the headlines about his checks missed: Debra Black’s checks to two senators on this fall’s ballot. Three days after the Times story, Susan Collins’s campaign took $2,800 from Leon and $2,800 from Debra. In December 2025, Debra gave Collins $7,000 more. The Alaska Current found Leon’s $2,800 to Dan Sullivan, but they didn’t report how the same filing shows $2,800 from Debra just eight days earlier.
We searched federal refund records, and none of these Republicans has reported returning a dime. Sullivan’s Senate office sent us to his campaign, which didn’t return two calls, and no one else answered our questions before we published. Collins, Cotton, and Sullivan face voters in 34 days. Those voters deserve to know whose money they kept.
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The Alabama Builder Who Stood Up To ICE
Leo Garcia Venegas was born in Florida and builds houses in Baldwin County, Alabama. His lawsuit says that in May 2025, five armed agents—three in masks—jumped the fence at his job site, ran past the non-Latino workers, and went straight for his all-Latino crew. They tackled Leo while he yelled that he was a citizen.
The suit says an agent pulled out his Alabama REAL ID and called it fake, then they handcuffed and held him in a car for over an hour. Three weeks later, they marched him off another job. He says agents grabbed him again this May in his own front yard.
Leo fought back in court. On September 21, Trump appointee and Chief Judge Jeffrey Beaverstock froze the three policies behind it. That included the one that let agents keep holding people after they showed proof of citizenship or lawful status.
The regime told the court those policies didn’t exist. DHS said it couldn’t even find a record of Leo’s June stop, but insisted it had good reason for doing so. Beaverstock wasn’t having it: “The Court is simply not inclined to take the Government’s word for it.”
Garcia Venegas put it plainly: “For the first time in a long time, I will be able to go to work without worrying that I will be arrested for no reason.” They picked the wrong man to push around.
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California Clears The Path To Every Front Door
Last December, protesters snuck into an event at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, shouting antisemitic slurs and smashing a vase. On September 25, Gov. Gavin Newsom went to that same temple and signed two laws to keep people safe where they worship and gather.
The first adds a 100-foot safety zone around the doors of every church, synagogue, and mosque in California. Inside that zone, nobody can come within eight feet of a person entering or leaving to hand them a flyer or show them a sign without their consent. It mirrors a Colorado clinic law that was upheld by the Supreme Court.
The second opens the state’s security grants to offsite events like Pride celebrations, marches, and religious festivals. California has paid for security at more than 1,600 nonprofits and houses of worship since 2015, and this year’s budget locked it in at $80 million a year.
FEMA, under this regime, is only putting up $300 million this year for the entire country. One state just put up more than a quarter of that on its own.
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The Judge Who Wouldn’t Let Rubio Stall
Cesar Aguirre is an American citizen on Long Island. His wife had her visa interview in Guatemala on January 21, the day Trump’s ban on immigrant visas from 75 countries kicked in. She was refused. She and their 2-year-old daughter, who has Turner syndrome, were stuck there for months. By late summer, the little girl had missed more than seven months of visits with her heart doctor in New York, Cesar told the court.
In August, Judge Jeannette Vargas threw the ban out. We told you about that ruling then. She also ordered the regime to report back, and on September 8 it admitted more than 43,000 applications were affected, with “no fixed date” to finish reconsidering them.
Two days later it appealed—and asked her to freeze her ruling until its officers got more training.
On September 25, Vargas said no. Many applicants, she wrote, “have been separated from family and loved ones, including spouses and minor children.” The regime also complained that re-reviewing tens of thousands of cases was too much work. Vargas had an answer for that: “[T]hose burdens arise from policy decisions independently made by the Executive Branch.” Translation: you made this mess.
All 43,000 applications now have to be reconsidered. The regime’s last report to the court gave no date. Somewhere in that pile is a mother whose 2-year-old has been waiting eight months to see her heart doctor.
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Eight GOP Seats Are In Play
Republicans hold the Senate 53 to 47. Thirty-four days out, the map has moved toward Democrats, and the playing field is bigger than it looked this summer.
The Math. Democrats need a net gain of four seats, and Cook Political Report rates seven races toss-ups, five of them Republican seats. Cook’s Jessica Taylor puts the range at Democrats netting one to five.
Alaska. Mary Peltola beat Sen. Dan Sullivan 49.5% to 41.4% in the August primary, and two polls have her winning once ranked-choice votes are counted. Two Republican-leaning firms have Sullivan up one to three.
Georgia. Democrats have to hold this one, and they’re on track: Jon Ossoff leads Rep. Mike Collins 51% to 41% in YouGov’s poll. Cook moved the race to Likely Democratic on September 23.
Iowa. Marist has Josh Turek up eight on Rep. Ashley Hinson for Sen. Joni Ernst’s open seat. Emerson had Hinson up five at the start of the month, and most other September polls have it within two points.
Kansas. Pastor Adam Hamilton led Sen. Roger Marshall 45% to 43% in Emerson’s poll, though the Republican firm co/efficient had Marshall up five. Cook now rates it only Lean Republican.
Maine. InsiderAdvantage has Susan Collins and Troy Jackson tied at 46%. Siena had Collins up three, mostly before ProPublica’s report on the FBI probe involving her, and UNH has Jackson up four.
Michigan. Democrats have to hold this open seat, and Abdul El-Sayed leads Mike Rogers in most September polls.
Nebraska. Democrats stepped aside for independent Dan Osborn, and September polls split: SurveyUSA had him up four on Sen. Pete Ricketts, while Wedgewood had Ricketts up four. An Osborn win still takes a seat from Republicans.
New Hampshire. Another Democratic hold: Chris Pappas went from two points down in August to eight points up on John E. Sununu in UNH’s poll last week.
North Carolina. Democrats’ most likely pickup. Every September poll we found has Roy Cooper ahead of Michael Whatley by 5 to 15 points, and the 15-point lead came from Harper Polling, a Republican firm.
Ohio. Marist’s new poll, out this week, has Sherrod Brown up eight on Sen. Jon Husted, 51% to 43%.
Texas. Republican primary voters dumped Sen. John Cornyn for Ken Paxton, and James Talarico has led eight of the nine public polls since early August. Texas hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1988.
The Bottom Line: North Carolina leans Democratic and seven more Republican seats are within reach, as long as Georgia, Michigan, and New Hampshire hold. Voters settle it November 3.
We have 34 days left. That’s all that stands between us and a Congress that could finally start to hold this regime accountable for their horrendous acts.
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Onward!
Scott
Should Republicans give back the Black family’s money?
Which Senate race are you watching closest?
The regime told a judge it has “no fixed date” to finish reconsidering 43,000 visa cases. What would you say to Marco Rubio?
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They rely on public exhaustion to push through dirty deals and bury misconduct in the dark. Don't let them off the hook—hit Capitol Hill on these four fronts today:
Force the Full Release of the Unredacted Epstein Files
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-demand-acting-ag-blanche-release-all-of-the-epstein-files-now/
Kill the Yosemite Luxury Land Giveaway
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-stop-trumps-yosemite-giveaway
Stop the 45 Million-Acre Forest Clearcut Rule
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-stop-trump-from-destroying-45-million-acres-of-our-national-forests/
Force a Recorded Vote to Impeach Pete Hegseth
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-impeach-pete-hegseth/
JUST A FEW OF MANY COMMENTS:
That “no fixed date” line made me put my phone down. A toddler doesn’t have a spare year. Rubio does.
Don’t donate your outrage to the algorithm and leave. Pick one race from the map section and tell one person who actually lives there.
Scott can dig the filing. We have to carry it. That’s the deal.
"A toddler doesn’t have a spare year. Rubio does." That line hits like a ton of bricks, Ms. Jonington. Carrying the work out into real conversations in target districts is the whole game. Thank you for always reminding everyone what the actual assignment is!
Thank you so much!
Rubio belongs in prison with the rest of the orange blight's regime! Not reviewing their cases after the judge ordered their deportations or arrests illegal is just another way of the regime targeting and oppressing immigrants.
Dragging their feet and claiming "no fixed date" while families remain separated in legal limbo is intentional cruelty, Carol. Court orders are mandatory, not optional suggestions, and accountability for these stalling tactics is essential.
Yep, Liddle Marco is as smarmy and corrupt as the rest of them. They feed off one another.
The complicity runs deep across the entire leadership circle, Judy. Holding every single one of them accountable at the ballot box is how we break the cycle.
Little Marco can be Micro Rubio.
ha ha!!! good one... tx for the chuckles
I'm exceedingly disappointed that Collin's overt corruption hasn't gotten more play in Maine media markets. it's effing OUTRAGEOUS that it isn't a frontpage headline and top of the news story every single day. I keep hearing "but, but, but...Senator Collins does SO much for Maine."
Well, no--she actually does not. She votes with her party 96% of the time; Susie only votes against her party when it doesn't affect the outcome. She does lots of photo ops, giving funds and grants for hospitals and fire departments and then, when we aren't paying attention, supports Trump when he rips away major funding for SNAP and Medicaid. She started out this campaign season still bragging about a sea wall that she helped find funds to repair ELEVEN YEARS AGO.
Susie hasn't held a town hall or any kind of public forum in 25 years. She visits Maine when she's up for re-election...otherwise she stays in Washington DC and she is completely out of touch with the real lives of Mainers. Her ads brag about her "humble beginnings" in The County (Aroostook County, for those not from Maine) where her parents were small business owners and "she picked potatoes" (just as every kid in The County did during the harvest) Well...BFD. that was 50+ years ago and things have changed just "a trifle", Susie. It wouldn't kill you to try holding a town hall and REALLY listen to your constituents, complaints and all...and, oh yeah, stop taking tainted money and making "pay-to-play" deals with worthless companies, how about???
T L, thank you for detailing the on-the-ground reality in Maine so thoroughly. Touting decade-old seawall grants and childhood harvest stories while quietly enabling devastating cuts to Medicaid and SNAP shows the massive gulf between rhetoric and votes. Mainers deserve genuine public town halls and real accountability!
T L, thank you for detailing the on-the-ground reality in Maine so thoroughly. Touting decade-old seawall grants and childhood harvest stories while quietly enabling devastating cuts to Medicaid and SNAP shows the massive gulf between rhetoric and votes. Mainers deserve genuine public town halls and real accountability!
Jack Smith standing firm on the rule of law and constitutional duty is a masterclass in public integrity, Old Man with a Dog. And cheering on Talarico in Texas—every bit of grassroots energy counts!
It’s so sad: Jack is an ethical, honest, Constitution-loving public servant doing his job very well. Republicans just can’t handle it, so they make up shit, insult and debase him and want to hang him.
REPUBLICANS. ARE. SHAMELESS. AND. SHAMEFUL. Each and every one of them should be investigated - they’re hiding something they’re scared will come out. So they attack mercilessly. Inexcusable and embarrassing - I’m so glad not to be one.
Jack’s permanently on my hero list.
Wis, I so agree with you. Republicans are cowards, desperate, stupid and without decency. Jack Smith is a hero to me too.
He’s so together, too! Calm when falsely confronted. He KNOWS he has the law and the evidence on his side. Come November, hopefully he will get the airtime, respect and accolades he deserves!!
I so agree with you about Jack Smith! So smart, honorable, and unintimidated. I believe he is on the cusp of being able to see all of his diligence and hard work come to fruition.
🙏 VOTE BLUE and we’ll celebrate his ass, like he deserves!
Jack Smith is the most honest and courageous person in Washington DC right now.
JACK SMITH was chosen for his experience and integrity!
When the first MAGA GOP BOOB can't even figure out what GAME he went to, that defines STUPIDITY!
IF REPUBLICANS DIDN'T LIE, NO ONE WOULD ELECT THEM!
These witch hunts define them whether it's BENGHAZI or DAFFY COMER'S 'Biden impeachment' when he couldn't find a 'witness' who fled the country to avoid prosecution or the other who was in prison for his LIES.
It's a pathetic commentary that at the time, THE GUARDIAN researched the tRump connections to funding the disinformation - the chronology never matched.
This is AMERICAN MEDIA FAILING!
Each day, I think of the absolute stress and fear people of color face under this regime. Every day life is stressful enough without having to worry if you are going to be brutalized by ICE.
This part about the Leo Garcia Venegas story really struck me: "DHS said it couldn’t even find a record of Leo’s June stop, but insisted it had good reason for doing so." Are they kidding??? So DHS denies detaining him but then says they had good reason to do so, despite just saying they never detained him. Do they really think people are not astute enough to see the bald face lying (and quite idiotic) response here?
We need to make abolishing ICE and holding all, including DHS and the for-profit concentration camps, accountable and a priority.
Should Republicans give back the Black family’s money?
Of course they should but we all know they won't - they apparently like "dirty" money.
Which Senate race are you watching closest?
Michigan, Florida, Texas and Maine
The regime told a judge it has “no fixed date” to finish reconsidering 43,000 visa cases. What would you say to Marco Rubio?
Get out while the getting's good, Lil Marco.
Keeping dirty money in campaign coffers speaks volumes, Colleen. Watching Michigan, Texas, Florida, and Maine will define the balance of power—let's make sure they hear us!
Yes it does and I hope everyone is hearing it loud and clear! I also wish I had money to give to all of these candidates and you too, Scott, your reporting goes the extra step that tells us a lot!!! "The REST of the story!" Thank you!
Each day, I think of the absolute stress and fear people of color face under this regime. Every day life is stressful enough without having to worry if you are going to be brutalized by ICE.
This part about the Leo Garcia Venegas story really struck me: "DHS said it couldn’t even find a record of Leo’s June stop, but insisted it had good reason for doing so." Are they kidding??? So DHS denies detaining him but then says they had good reason to do so, despite just saying they never detained him. Do they really think people are not astute enough to see the bald face lying (and quite idiotic) response here?
We need to make abolishing ICE and holding all, including DHS and the for-profit concentration camps, accountable and a priority.
Claiming they have no record of detaining him while simultaneously insisting they had good reason to do so is the pinnacle of bad-faith absurdity, Julie. Holding DHS and private detention operators strictly accountable is an urgent priority.
Any candidate that takes money from a crook should give the money back. However, the GOP candidate will never give the Black money back, because they are all crooks.
The race I am watching is the 3rd District in Washington state. It pits the Democratic incumbent, Marie Glusencamp- Perez against her GOP opponent, John Braun, in a very conservative southwest, Wahington state. Trump carried by 10% in 2024. However, his support is waning there, as his endorsement of Braun is considered the kiss of death.
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s race in WA-03 is a massive bellwether! When toxic endorsements backfire in traditionally conservative strongholds, it proves voters are prioritizing local results over national extremism.
I love this: it summarizes so much of trump’s complaining that it’s just too many individuals to treat like individuals… so ICE, the DOJ, all of the regime just puts all brown people into one category: undesirable, inhuman and deportable. It is literally criminal: ““[T]hose burdens arise from policy decisions independently made by the Executive Branch.” Translation: you made this mess.”
And what a mess it is.
That quote exposes the entire game, Wis: "Those burdens arise from policy decisions independently made by the Executive Branch." You cannot break the system on purpose and then claim compliance is too hard. Great breakdown!
My heart goes out to the children in Texas who were separated from their families. They are all going before a judge (shame on that judge) alone with no one to help them. The judge is deciding on deporting these poor innocents. This is cruel and evil. Is there no one in Texas who can help these innocent children? They are being held before immigration judges in Harlingen, Texas. The judges are cruel and evil, showing no compassion for these children who have been separated from their families.
Forcing separated children to appear in immigration court without legal counsel or family representation is a moral atrocity, Sylvia. Basic human dignity demands legal advocacy and compassionate care for innocent children.
I pray that someone will come to the aide of these children. Some of them are 2 years old.
HERE IS THE LINK TO THIS HORRIFIC STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/28/politics/texas-immigration-court-minors