Trump and JD Vance are escalating a national “war on fraud” to justify crackdowns on benefits programs. But one of the groups helping fuel that crusade has a fraud problem of its own. The Lever found its top leaders are facing fraud, corruption and financial misconduct allegations.

As support for Israel becomes more politically risky, pro-Israel donors have found a new trick for funding Democratic candidates. They are moving money through the Better Blue Fund, a new group backed by longtime AIPAC-linked donors that is raising cash for Democrats facing primary challenges.

🚨 HAPPENING NOW: The Lever investigated a $12 million ICE surveillance contract awarded to a company with phantom clients, disappearing executives and a bizarre origin story as a sailboat holding company. Now Congress is demanding answers. This is why independent journalism matters. Pass it on.

New reports say the U.S. is seeking sweeping control over Greenland’s military, infrastructure, and investment deals. That makes our earlier reporting even more urgent: Trump’s Greenland push could benefit tech investors eyeing the island’s vast mineral wealth.

Big Pharma just lost at SCOTUS trying to stop Medicare drug price negotiations. Reminder: taxpayers spent $11.7B helping develop all 10 of the first drugs selected for negotiation. Then drugmakers turned around and charged Americans prices they couldn’t afford.

🚨 NEW analysis from @DavidSirota.com An oligarch-funded think tank is trying to preemptively undermine Medicare For All even before Democrats win back power. Some candidates are rejecting the ploy.

An oligarch-funded think tank is trying to preemptively undermine Medicare For All even before Democrats win back power. Some candidates are rejecting the ploy. www.levernews.com/rejecting-th...

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: New Alzheimer’s blood tests are being sold as a breakthrough. But for cognitively normal people, a positive result can be deeply misleading: In one study, only 18% of people who tested positive went on to develop dementia. So why are drugmakers pushing mass screening?

A Democratic House frontrunner worked as a lobbyist for Oracle — Larry Ellison’s Big Tech giant with ties to ICE — while serving in office. Now crypto is spending $300K to put him in Congress, after he pushed a pro-crypto bill.

🚨 ICE awarded a $12M immigrant-tracking contract to a tiny vendor whose “lead computer scientist” was represented by a stock photo also used by therapy and life-coaching sites. After The Lever asked questions, the executive vanished from its website.

NEW analysis from David Sirota: Democrats keep telling themselves Trump’s rise had nothing to do with the 2008 crash, banker bailouts, and mass foreclosures. That comforting fiction could help create the next Trump — one just as malicious, but far less incompetent.

Graham Platner owns AR-15s. He opposes an assault weapons ban. And he says Democrats are missing the bigger picture on gun violence. “If we really gave a shit about gun deaths… we would be dealing with this in a much more holistic fashion.” youtube.com/shorts/6tLIX...

🚨 HAPPENING NOW: Join our livestream: The Lever’s David Sirota is sitting down with Pa. State Rep. Chris Rabb for an exclusive interview on his run for Congress, AIPAC’s attacks on his campaign, what Obama got wrong during the financial crisis, his recent rally with Hasan Piker, and more.

🚨NEWS: Following a @levernews.com investigation, a federal antitrust case is being filed against the private-equity backed conglomerate taking over America's bowling alleys. The suit accuses Bowlero of perpetrating “the veritable destruction of the decades-old pastime of bowling."

With his presidential library, former President Obama is unveiling an oligarch-funded shrine to himself amid everyone in America being fleeced by oligarchs. www.levernews.com/the-obama-sh...

David Sirota asked Graham Platner about Tucker Carlson telling the NY Times he wants to meet Platner. We asked Platner if he'd appear on Tucker's show - and how he thinks about engaging with conservative media. Full interview will be on The Lever's YouTube page. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_sJ...

The Pentagon gave its first estimate of how much the war in Iran has cost so far during a congressional hearing. How much is it? www.levernews.com/who-broke-in...

🚨 Majority Democrats has assembled a “party within the party” of PACs, wealthy donors, and consultants pushing Democrats to the center — and testing the limits of campaign finance law. The Lever reporter Luke Goldstein investigates ⬇️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiJ2...

DOGE staffers brought in by Trump to hunt “waste” at Treasury got access to Americans’ most sensitive financial data — and mishandled it. A watchdog says basic cybersecurity safeguards weren’t fully in place. One worker even sent names + payments data across the gov. Another got power to edit it.

The Trump admin just moved to block Illinois from limiting swipe fees—protecting the Visa / Mastercard duopoly. After calling fees a “ripoff,” Donald Trump now says federal rules override the state law. 🚨 Banks can ignore it starting July 1.

NEW: A powerful network funded by billionaires is pouring money into Democratic primaries while pushing the boundaries of campaign finance law. Our investigation traces how these groups are reshaping races across the country. Read more 👇 www.levernews.com/the-new-demo...

Political corruption is the crisis creating every other problem. To build a functioning one-person-one-vote system where oligarchs don’t pull the strings, we need to make anti-corruption the central focus of our politics. Watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeO41h4fHb4

For decades, rich and powerful interests and their right-wing political allies have been executing a secret plot to buy our political system — and it may get a whole lot worse. @davidsirota.com reveals the full story of how we got here, and what we can do to get out of it. youtu.be/AeO41h4fHb4?...

The U.S. sold off its emergency helium reserve despite decades of warnings — even as the company buying it urged the government in a 2023 letter to reconsider.

One billionaire funding most of a super PAC — right after a White House appointment.

HAPPENING NOW: David Sirota is live with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer — breaking down his campaign, the fallout from Eric Swalwell’s failed run, and whether Democrats can hold the governor’s seat as Republicans lead in the polls. Tune in now. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjwA...

For decades, experts warned: don’t sell off America’s helium reserve. Washington did it anyway. Now a geopolitical crisis is choking supply, prices are soaring, and the U.S. is more exposed than ever.

Master Plan was just featured in iHeartMedia’s Podcast Picks. If you haven’t listened yet, this is the series on the decades-long effort to expand presidential power — and how we got here. Listen: www.iheart.com/podcast/1319...

Republicans tried to push through a late-night vote to extend warrantless spying powers — and it didn’t go through. Now Congress has bought itself more time to fight over the law that lets the government collect Americans’ data without a warrant. David Sirota talks with Ken Klippenstein ⬇️

Congress banned Big Tech from working with TikTok over national security concerns. Then Apple, Google, and Microsoft went to DOJ and asked for assurances they wouldn’t be prosecuted for… working with TikTok anyway. New docs show they got that protection.

For the first time in six years, not a single environmental shareholder proposal passed. A few years ago, these were actually winning. Then Exxon sued its own shareholders — and since then, support has dropped off and investors have gotten a lot quieter.

A surveillance law that lets the FBI access Americans’ communications without a warrant is about to expire. Or is it? With Congress divided — and the FISA court already moving behind the scenes — we’re going LIVE with Ken Klippenstein at 1:30pm MT to break it all down.

An HBO documentary exposing “dark money” in American politics just earned an Emmy nomination. It cites The Lever’s reporting — and credits us in the film. This is the system we’ve been investigating for years.

ICE just approved a $12M AI tool to monitor immigrants’ movements, routines, and relationships in real time — building “target profiles” from personal data.

Tax Day is tomorrow. But the story behind America’s tax system goes back decades — and it’s still unfolding. TAX REVOLT traces how cutting taxes became a political obsession — from the 1970s to Reagan to Trump. Listen now: the.levernews.com/tax-revolt/

There was a time when this would’ve been called corruption. Now it’s harder to even define. A new Supreme Court move shows just how much the ground has shifted.

Iran-Contra didn’t just break the rules—it rewrote them. A president could sidestep Congress, run foreign policy in secret, and face no real consequences. That precedent still shapes how wars get launched today.

This is why you’ve barely been feeling that raise.

States and localities are hiding how much they’re spending on data center tax breaks, while publicly available information indicates a potential money pit.

Comparing the Bureau of Prisons to the Soviet Gulag, a judge ordered the release of a 36-year-old woman with suspected breast cancer who was denied proper treatment in federal custody. A scathing ruling cites systemic medical neglect.

The Congressional Black Caucus is staying silent on whether it’ll supply the votes to pass a Trump-backed expansion of warrantless spying powers. This is the same law used to surveil BLM activists — and it’s up for renewal this week.

A dark money crypto group with Trump ties is cheering a Senate push for a U.S. Bitcoin reserve and expanded mining. It shares personnel with the Koch network — and helped shape Project 2025.

Parents are being prompted to sign their kids up for a “Trump Account” while filing their taxes. It sounds like free money, but critics warn these accounts could expose kids to market risk, fees, and deepen inequality — all while benefiting Wall Street firms.

If corruption is everywhere… is it still a crime? A new Supreme Court move raises exactly that question.

🚨 NEW PODCAST DROP: Iran-Contra proved something chilling: a president could bypass Congress, break the law—and survive. Decades later, it’s standard practice. Presidents launch military action without approval, while Congress watches from the sidelines.

The SEC filed just 456 enforcement actions in FY2025—the lowest in at least 21 years. Since 2006, there hasn’t been a single year this low. The agency calls it a “reset” to focus on the cases that matter.

How closely were you really paying attention this week? Take our quiz on the stories most outlets didn’t cover. ⬇️ www.levernews.com/whos-behind-...

Trump Accounts' “free money for kids” sounds generous... Until you realize it’s locked in the stock market and works best if you already have money to add. All this does is widen the gap.

Former Palantir engineer Alex Bores helped pass an AI safety law. Now Big Tech is spending $10M+ on attack ads to stop him. That’s the scale of money behind this 👇 youtube.com/shorts/ou4xR...

Meta, Palantir and dozens of others funneled millions to Trump through unreported donations to the White House ballroom. Now a legal complaint says they might have broken the law.