Did Trump Help Jared Kushner’s Brother Buy a Basketball Team?

The Los Angeles Lakers may soon be sold for $12 billion—and the Trump administration might have something to do with it. 

ESPN reported Wednesday that Josh Kushner, the brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and ex-Disney CEO Bob Iger have reportedly reached a deal with business executive Mark Walter to buy the NBA team just a year after Walter purchased it for $10 billion. 

The timing is suspicious, as Walter is facing a loan fraud investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, over $16 billion in private credit deals concerning insurance companies he owns. Walter also happened to visit the White House in June to be honored with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which he owns, for winning the World Series. 

Did Trump cut a deal and get his son-in-law’s brother involved to help Walter out with some impending financial trouble? Josh Kushner is said to politically disagree with his brother and Trump. But he still would have been the main investor in the abandoned plan by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who has cozied up to Trump, to sell stakes in the World Cup. Kushner would have to sell his minority stake in the Miami Heat to complete the Lakers deal.

Walter faces a serious threat to his business empire with the federal probes, according to The Wall Street Journal. Trump’s second term has been marked by visible corruption involving business executives and wealthy foreign leaders close to the president, and that appears to be extending to professional sports.  

After a tense month in which she drew the ire of President Trump, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro has called a special grand jury to Washington, D.C.

A special grand jury is a judicial body made up of 23 American citizens that exists to conduct large, sometimes yearlong investigations usually centered on government corruption or organized crime. They can also issue a report regarding the potential “preponderance of evidence” upon the conclusion of their investigation, something a regular jury can’t do. Anyone named in their investigation may later testify in front of them.

Pirro’s move is unprecedented, as a federal special grand jury has never been called in a jurisdiction as small as D.C. And while she has yet to speak on what the body will actually focus on, one doesn’t need to look far to identify why she might be taking aggressive measures like this right now.

Pirro couldn’t get the “DC Sandwich Guy” after charging him with assault for throwing a sandwich at a federal agent during Trump’s takeover. She failed to indict the six congressional Democrats—led by Senator Mark Kelly—who made a video urging federal law enforcement and members of the military not to obey illegal orders in February. And most recently she’s failed to get any kind of prosecutorial motion on the Reflecting Pool drama, getting into screaming matches with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum of all people while Trump publicly rebukes her. The former Fox News host has had her back against the wall for some time now. While this move still might not put any actual bite into her bark, it might be just loud enough for Trump not to fire her.

Conditions have reportedly gotten so bad aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier deployed to the Persian Gulf since November, that some sailors have tried to jump overboard.

The Military Times reported Tuesday night that in multiple instances, some of the 5,000 military personnel on the ship have tried to jump off before being stopped by other crew members. Family members of those stationed on the ship are concerned about the mental health, exhaustion, and safety issues affecting their loved ones.

“He’s scared,” Annabelle Loma told the Times about her husband, who reportedly tried to jump overboard. “He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that. That’s not fair, that’s not right. That’s not what he should be worrying about right now.”

In recent town hall meetings with military leaders, including acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, things have gotten heated, with family members expressing fear and worry over mental health and the risk of self-harm for the ship’s personnel. One spouse reportedly told officials at a meeting Thursday that her husband had messaged her earlier that day saying “he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow.”

One woman at a town hall in San Diego told Cao it was difficult to feel proud of her relative because she believed the military was “killing innocent civilians,” and her relative had expressed guilt about what he was doing, which drew applause from the audience.

Stars and Stripes spoke to several sailors and their family members, who describe declining morale and exhaustion on the Abraham Lincoln, which was only supposed to deploy to the Middle East until May this year. The ship left port in San Diego in November for a deployment to the Pacific Ocean, but was diverted to the Gulf because of Donald Trump’s Iran war. Combat operations have been extended with no return date.

The ship has experienced food shortages, with pictures of meager and tasteless-looking meals going viral. Supplies are also running short, and the ship has experienced water contamination, plumbing problems, and disruptions in mail delivery. All of this is wearing on the discipline and mental health of those aboard as Trump’s pointless war with Iran drags on without end.

Trump, for his part, seems either unaware of how dire things are among servicemembers or simply doesn’t care. He touted the U.S. naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday and bragged about how successful it is.

Rumors of President Trump’s king-making abilities seem to have been greatly exaggerated.

Republican candidates Amir Hassan of Michigan, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Mike Lindell of Minnesota, and Darline Graham of South Carolina were all endorsed by Trump ahead of their primaries. Hassan, Lindell, and Ogles each lost their race, while Graham is nowhere close to the fifty percent she needs to avoid a runoff.

In Michigan, Hassan—possibly doomed by his own base’s bigotry—lost handily to Thomas Smith by over 10,000 votes, even as Smith dropped out of the race last month and ceased all campaigning. Tennessee incumbent Representative Ogles was defeated by Charlie Hatcher after suffering through scandal and redistricting. And Lindell—known mostly as the MyPillow Guy—lost to Minnesota House Speaker Lisa DeMuth by about 11 percentage points and more than 45,000 votes. He refused to concede at the time, in true Trump fashion. And Graham, who was essentially anointed after her brother’s death, is now struggling against Ralph Northam.

These are primary races—in theory the most concentrated MAGA voting bloc in which any candidate endorsed by Trump should expect to have an upper hand (maybe except Hassan). A bigot like Ogles and a crank like Lindell should feel more than welcome in a primary on paper. Instead they—and Trump—have been rejected by Republican voters. This is yet another awful warning sign for the GOP as midterms approach in November.

The masked secret police known for their use of excessive force are planning to spend up to $20 million on a dangerous new accessory.

The Department of Homeland Security published a public notice Monday announcing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would spend between $10 million and $20 million to buy gloves that emit painful electric shocks.

The devices, called G.L.O.V.E, or Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, are manufactured by Compliant Technologies in Kentucky and advertised as a “humane, low-optics, de-escalation solution for many situations facing our men and women in uniform.”

The manufacturer warns against using its device on elderly people, pregnant women, children, and people with severe disabilities—individuals who have not been spared from the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on immigrants.

The company also warns that the devices are not meant to be used against people merely exhibiting “verbal defiance or belligerence.” But federal immigration agents aren’t exactly known for making that distinction—with deadly consequences. Agents have continually threatened or attacked individuals who criticize or monitor their immigration enforcement activities.

A senior DHS official told NBC News Wednesday that all ICE agents would begin wearing the electric gloves by the end of September.

Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Associated Press that federal immigration agents had not demonstrated their capacity to restrain themselves.

“ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do,” she said. “Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public.”

Across the country, ICE agents have practiced excessive force, warrantless searches or arrests, racial profiling, and wrongful detentions. This notice follows the eleventh fatal shooting by federal immigration enforcement during President Donald Trump’s second term.