The Steve Schmidt-co-founded dark money group @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social has plastered these posters on a downtown DC construction site.

Before making public denunciations and rejections of AIPAC an early pillar of his primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey, Rep. Seth Moulton spent months seeking a promise that the group would endorse him upon the announcement of his campaign.

NEW: Trump advisers Chris LaCivita, Paul Manafort & Tony Fabrizio were paid a total of nearly $1.7 million over the course of less than 4 months by the party of the Albanian opposition leader Sali Berisha, who is sanctioned by the State Department for "significant corruption."

NEW: Donors to Trump's ballroom are asked by @blumenthal.senate.gov why they chose to shield their identities & "what promises may have been or may yet be made in exchange for what presumably will be substantial contributions."

Trump on Friday characterized a lapse in SNAP funding as a problem that would hurt “largely Democrats.” In fact, though, millions of people who rely on food stamps reside in Republican states & districts, Linda Qiu reports.

Here's Trump arriving at the Great Gatsby-themed party at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night, hours before a lapse in the nation’s largest program to feed the poor.

New @politico.com poll: 24% of American believes that there are some instances where political violence is justified. There was little partisan divide in that belief. But younger Americans were more likely to say violence can be justified.

Quite a lede on this remembrance by Bill Brink about his father's authorship of the iconic @nydailynews.com headline after President Ford denied federal aid to help NYC avoid bankruptcy 50 years ago last week: "My father dropped dead. His headline lives on." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/n...

Trump's approach to getting his way on other things won't help with his fixation on getting into heaven, Peter Wehner tells @peterbakernyt.bsky.social. “Trump can’t weaponize the federal gov't against God … He can’t cut off federal funding to God … or threaten God with a lawsuit.”

Trump's presidency was probably going to help Democrats in Tuesday's elections no matter what. But he's hurt the Republican candidates in Va. & New Jersey even more by slashing federal government jobs (bad for fed-heavy Va.) & terminating funding for the NJ/NY Gateway Tunnel (bad for NJ commuters).

Gus Johnson’s shirt/tie/jacket combo 😵‍💫

NEW: The WH did not disclose several donors to the ballroom who have business before Trump: ▶️Jeff Yass, investor in TikTok parent company: $2.5m+ to ballroom ▶️BlackRock, trying to buy Panama Canal ports: $2.5m+ ▶️Extremity Care, Medicare reimbursement issues: $2.5m ▶️Vantive, Medicare reimbursement

Kelly Oubre’s youngest kid went as a super hero for Halloween, according to Nick Castellanos.

The @nytimes.com obituary of “the last D.J.,” Pierre Robert was deftly & appropriately written by Ali Watkins, who knows how to pronounce “Bala Cynwyd” & why Robert’s “deliciously petty” parochialism endeared him to generations of Philly radio listeners. RIP.

Tom Clare -- the libel lawyer who has threatened media outlets on behalf of clients including the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, the Sackler family, Project Veritas & others -- is now representing the Trump family's crypto company World Liberty Financial.

Another great illustration of why it’s almost always better to conduct initial interviews in person, or at least over the phone. Not only is there more opportunity for back-&-forth & detection of non-verbal cues, but you can also ensure you’re actually talking to the right person!

Tom Clare -- the libel lawyer who has threatened media outlets on behalf of clients including the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, the Sackler family, Project Veritas & others -- is now representing the Trump family's crypto company World Liberty Financial.

If you listened to the radio in Philadelphia for any length of time over the last 45 years, Pierre Robert was likely a familiar voice. I grew up listening to him on WMMR & am sad to learn of his sudden passing.

NEW: The Trump administration quietly lifted sanctions on Wednesday against the Putin-backed Serbian leader Milorad Dodik after an intensive campaign on his behalf by Trump allies including Rudy Giuliani, Mike Flynn, Laura Loomer & high-priced lobbyists.

Ro Khanna announces a bill to prohibit the POTUS, VPOTUS, members of Congress & other pols from issuing, sponsoring or endorsing cryptocurrencies, & to bar foreign investment in crypto issued, promoted, or controlled by politicians' immediate families. khanna.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

Fun talking with @ryangrim.bsky.social & Emily Jashinsky about the evolution of journalism, covering Harrisburg for the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the launch of @politico.com* & my new book. *Ryan & I started at The Capitol Leader (which would become Politico) on the same day in Oct. 2006.

SCOOP: Paul Manafort, who went to jail for crimes related to his work for a pro-Putin autocrat in Ukraine, this year advised a pro-Putin autocrat in the Balkans, Milorad Dodik. I take readers inside Manafort's comeback in this Politico Magazine adaptation from my new book "Devils' Advocates."

That was fast: One week after Trump pardoned Binance founder CZ, & Binance's US subsidiary is promoting trading of a stablecoin issued by Trump's crypto company World Liberty Financial.

Not sure if this is legit, but it would be quite the statement to erect a gold-colored statue near the US Capitol of Binance founder CZ a week after he was pardoned by Trump & as Trump’s crypto company World Liberty Financial profits from a Binance deal. www.cryptopolitan.com/statue-of-cr...

From @kenvogel.bsky.social's new book.

May Mailman left her fulltime White House gig in August to start a consulting firm advising companies on how to navigate the Trump WH, sometimes alongside lobbying firms like Ballard Partners. Yet she is still a special government employee of the Trump administration.

Just posted: the pardon that Trump issued to Binance founder CZ on Tuesday. It wipes away CZ's conviction for failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, which prosecutors said allowed Hamas, Al Qaeda & ISIS to move money using Binance. www.justice.gov/pardon/media...

In 1991, then-NBA Commissioner David Stern testified in favor of a national sports betting ban. He warned the Senate Judiciary Committee that sports betting would cast a cloud of suspicion over the league, & declared: "Gambling threatens the integrity of & public confidence in all sports."

This won’t help allay concerns about the cognitive decline of Eleanor Norton, 88, as she runs for reelection next year. She had $4,400 stolen by scammers claiming to be HVAC repairers. A police report says she has "early stages of dementia." Her office said the officer was unqualified to diagnose

Don Jr. joins the military industrial complex: A company called Unusual Machines that makes drone engines gave Donald Trump Jr 200k shares of its stock (now worth $2.6M) late last year in return for his help as an adviser. The Army announced this month that it would purchase 3,500 of the engines.

Watch @kenvogel.bsky.social on #SpyTalk

“It’s been a helluva week,” said Graham Platner at an event on Wednesday night. “I went from being a communist on Thursday to a Nazi by Monday.”

For nearly a century starting with FDR, Democrats were the party of the working class, while Republicans were known as the party of the rich. Under Trump, that’s flipped. The affluent now mostly vote Dem, while poorer Americans mostly vote GOP. Brody Mullins crunches the numbers behind the shift.

Foreign policy is unusually rife for lobbying compared to other policy arenas, because with a few notable exceptions — military support for Israel or opposition to the Cuban socialist regime — foreign causes mostly lack domestic constituencies.

One of the lobbyists hired to help facilitate the CZ pardon is Ches McDowell, a hunting buddy of Donald Trump Jr. McDowell & DJT Jr. were spotted together at the WH last week talking to the president.

NEW: Trump has pardoned Binance founder CZ, wiping away one of the US’s most significant crackdowns on crypto crime. The pardon is emblematic of Trump’s approach to clemency: CZ hired lawyers & lobbyists with Trump ties, while Binance struck a business deal with the Trump family’s crypto company.

Elliott Broidy is also suing @americanexpress.bsky.social, claiming he was denied him a credit card because of his conviction for illegal foreign lobbying, even though he was pardoned by Trump. AmEx says he was denied because he had previously misused his accounts.

Among the criteria DOJ uses for evaluating clemency applicants is whether they've expressed remorse & are likely to reoffend. Trump has ignored that process. Several of his pardonees have been charged anew, including this Jan. 6 rioter who is charged with threatening to assassinate Hakeem Jeffries

Elliott Broidy, who had sued Qatari lobbyists for allegedly helping to disseminate his hacked emails, is now suing Haaretz for reporting that a company in which he's an investor is working for Qatar.

As Democrats scramble to reach the white working class, a pattern has emerged: Activists fall in love with fresh faced candidates emphasizing blue collar bona fides. After the candidates reap gobs of cash & gauzy press, they’re exposed as not quite what the base had hoped for.

If there are any more Republicans on group chats featuring Nazi themes, you might as well just turn over the archives to @politico.com now, because it seems like the publication will get them eventually…

In an interview in August, Trump signaled his receptivity to the prospect of granting clemency to George Santos, indicating that Santos checked at least one key box for Trump: “He lied like hell. … I didn’t know him, but he was 100% for Trump.”

Out this week: “Devils’ Advocate,” by @kenvogel.bsky.social, the masterful inside story of how Rudy Giuliani, Hunter Biden, Paul Manafort and other insiders have raked in foreign cash from those seeking influence in Washington. politics-prose.com/book/9780063... www.amazon.com/Devils-Advoc...

Here's Trump's commutation of George Santos. As with other clemency grants issued by Trump, it waves all outstanding fines & restitution, meaning that his victims won't be able to collect any of the $373,749.97 he owed, unless they successfully sue him. www.justice.gov/pardon/media...

We speak with @kenvogel.bsky.social about his latest book, Devils' Advocates: The Hidden Story of Rudy Giuliani, Hunter Biden, and the Washington Insiders on the Payrolls of Corrupt Foreign Interests. soundcloud.com/user-8304426...

The New York Times’ @kenvogel.bsky.social reconstructs in detail an influence campaign reaching deep into President #Trump’s inner circle to cast 🇧🇦 Serb leader Milorad #Dodik as a victim of political persecution.

Presidential family members have long reaped paydays from foreign interests seeking to influence US policy, from Billy Carter to Hunter Biden. The Trumps, however, have taken it to a new level. @krystalball.bsky.social, @esaagar.bsky.social & I break it down & discuss my new book on the subject.

Graham Platner, who Democrats have touted as an example of their ability to appeal to rural White Americans, said rural White Americans “actually are” racist & stupid in since-deleted social media posts unearthed by @kfile.bsky.social & @emsteck.bsky.social

Your tax dollars at work: The Department of Homeland Security has spent $51m on ads promoting Trump's mass deportation agenda, including ads featuring Kristi Noem in a series of direct-to-camera videos, reports @axios.com.

This story is adapted from my new book, which came out yesterday: www.amazon.com/Devils-Advoc...