Dave Levinthal

Update: DOE finally said that the incorrect post from Chris Wright about the navy ship was “incorrectly captioned by Department of Energy Staff.”

Here's the original scoop, as first reported by @notus.com, which the @thedailybeast.bsky.social did not credit or link to in its aggregation. www.notus.org/health-scien...

‘Affected By Pests’: Trump’s Chicago Hotel Restaurants Failed Health Inspections In December, city officials flagged flies, faulty dishwashers and wastewater-flooded floors.

Just before Christmas, a city health inspector visited the Trump International Hotel in Chicago.

They didn’t approve of what they saw.

NEW on @notus.com: www.notus.org/health-scien...

📰 As promised, I am, again, updating the public about all work continuing at the Federal Election Commission while we lack a quorum. As of December 2025, there were 190 pending enforcement matters. Now, there are 195. I will continue to share updates in the spirit of our mission to be transparent.

The White House’s Financial Disclosures for Top Officials Are Incomplete Border Czar Tom Homan’s financial disclosure has not been finalized by the federal ethics office.

I’ve spent the last couple of months navigating the murky waters of White House financial disclosures.

One key finding: Border Czar Tom Homan’s disclosure hasn’t been reviewed by the Office of Govt Ethics, which is… odd.

Many more details 👇

‘Affected By Pests’: Trump’s Chicago Hotel Restaurants Failed Health Inspections In December, city officials flagged flies, faulty dishwashers and wastewater-flooded floors.

Another yucky health inspection for a Trump property--

"‘Affected By Pests’: Trump’s Chicago Hotel Restaurants Failed Health Inspections"

@taylorgiorno.bsky.social for @notus.com

www.notus.org/health-scien...

Republicans Try to Craft Their Midterm Pitch Despite Conflicting Iran War Messages House Republicans want to tout tax cuts, but the president’s most recent speech focused on the war in Iran and a voter ID bill.

NEW: Trump and Republicans are not in lockstep on what their 2026 midterm messaging should be

House Rs want to focus on the economy and lowering costs

But Trump is focused on Iran and a voter ID bill

w/ @daniellamicaela.bsky.social @emluetkemeyer.bsky.social
www.notus.org/congress/rep...

The White House’s Financial Disclosures for Top Officials Are Incomplete Border Czar Tom Homan’s financial disclosure has not been finalized by the federal ethics office.

We don't have a complete picture of senior Trump administration officials’ personal finances — and there’s no telling when we will.

Inside the government's tortured ethics process that's leaving the public in the dark.

— w/ @annackramer.bsky.social of @notus.com www.notus.org/trump-white-...

‘Insects, Rodents’: Trump’s New York Golf Club Hit With Health Code Violations Records show officials issued five health code violations against Trump National Golf Club in Westchester, New York, last November.

Trump's Chicago restaurant fail follows @taylorgiorno.bsky.social / @notus.com reporting that the president's golf club in Westchester County, N.Y., received citations for insects, rodents and “dirty surfaces” within “poorly constructed” rooms “in disrepair.” www.notus.org/health-scien...

‘Affected By Pests’: Trump’s Chicago Hotel Restaurants Failed Health Inspections In December, city officials flagged flies, faulty dishwashers and wastewater-flooded floors.

SCOOP: Restaurants at Trump's Chicago hotel received failing grades from city health inspectors, per government records.

From @taylorgiorno.bsky.social of @notus.com:
www.notus.org/health-scien...

RFK Jr.'s MAHA Allies Call to Eliminate All Childhood Vaccine Recommendations Inside the MAHA movement’s Washington meetup.

“The childhood vaccination schedule needs to be eliminated."

“The flu shot has given 1,900,000 Americans Alzheimer’s."

“Vaccines are causing autism."

Inside an afternoon with the MAHA Institute:

House Defense Committee Leaders Don’t Know How AI Is Being Used on Iran “My plate is full already, I’m not looking for detail like that,” the House Armed Services Committee Chair told NOTUS.

How is AI being used in the war with Iran?

Doesn't appear key members of Congress have much of a clue, reports @bueninvierno.bsky.social of @notus.com. www.notus.org/defense/defe...

Noem associate Madison Sheahan bought 2,500 marked vehicles for ICE Despite ICE employees seeking to keep a low profile in public, ICE official Madison Sheahan placed a bulk order for marked vehicles.

Wild story from @washingtonexaminer.bsky.social:
ICE "wasted millions" to buy "thousands of employee vehicles that the agency cannot use to arrest illegal immigrants"

The problem: the vehicles are marked with ICE logo and motto

“ICE has never had marked vehicles,” person familiar said

The National Security Crisis No One in D.C. Is Talking About When the Potomac Interceptor sewer line collapsed, the nation’s capital narrowly avoided a drinking water crisis — again.

NEW: DC has narrowly avoided a national security crisis 3 times in 6 years.

The Pentagon, the White House, the Capitol building: They’re all screwed if something happens to Potomac. It’s an obvious vulnerability.

With no plan to fix it.

‘My Last Chance’: Perennial Candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar Believes He Can Finally Win an Election The California Democrat has strong support in Washington, including from his partner, Rep. Sara Jacobs. But local Democrats have accused him of having “a lack of clear principles.”

NEW: Ammar Campa-Najjar has lost every election he's run in

In 2026, he’s the top Democrat in the #CA48 race, yet one congressman unendorsed him and CA delegates stopped him from getting the Democratic Party endorsement

An inside look at his 4th run for office:
www.notus.org/2026-electio...

Trump Using Iran War to Pad His Political Committee Account A supporter who “stands with President Trump and our brave U. S. troops” should give money to Trump’s Never Surrender Inc. PAC, a new fundraising message states.

In a semi-related matter: www.notus.org/money/donald...

Trump Org Files Trademarks to Put the President’s Name Front and Center at America’s 250th In one filing submitted on Friday, a “Trump 250” image was trademarked to be used on a variety of merchandise.

“Trump Org Files Trademarks to Put the President’s Name Front and Center at America’s 250th”

Amelia Benavides-Colón, @davelevinthal.com for @notus.com

Trump Org Files Trademarks to Put the President’s Name Front and Center at ‘America 250’ In one filing submitted on Friday, a “Trump 250” image was trademarked to be used on a variety of merchandise.

SCOOP: The Trump Org filed previously unreported trademark applications in connection with America’s 250th anniversary celebration, all featuring the president’s name as a centerpiece.

— w/ @ameliacolon.bsky.social of @notus.com
www.notus.org/donald-trump...

Daylight-Saving Changes Are Dead in Congress — For Now Lawmakers and lobbyists acknowledge clock changing will likely continue for the foreseeable future despite public outcry for new laws.

One answer: www.notus.org/policy/dayli...

Presidential Libraries Are Black Boxes — And Not Just Trump’s Funding disclosure for these institutions is sometimes inconsistent, incomplete or inaccurate, leaving the public in the dark.

What you didn't know about Presidential Libraries.
www.notus.org/money/presid...

Binance Fired Staff Who Flagged $1 Billion Moving to Sanctioned Iran Entities Weeks after Trump pardoned Binance’s founder, the company dismantled a probe and suspended the investigators. Binance denied that the inquiry ended or that staff were fired for the concerns.

Periodic reminder: Binance reportedly helped $1.7B flow to Iran-linked entities.

When internal investigators flagged it, Binance fired them.

Balance is a major business partner of Trump’s.

‘Mass Confusion’: Government Texts Reveal Chaotic Response to Shutdown of El Paso Airspace One El Paso airport executive summed up the situation with the image of a cartoon bunny rabbit holding a walkie-talkie and remarking, “WTF.”

We obtained dozens of internal records that detail how local officials in El Paso and New Mexico grappled with the shock shutdown of their airspace last month because of government lasers zapping party balloons.

In @notus.com: www.notus.org/defense/el-p...

Republican Rep. Kevin Hern Appears to Have Tardy Stock Disclosures. His Office Disputes He’s Late. A House Ethics Committee calculation tool indicates that at least $4.2 million worth of the Oklahoma congressman’s personal stock trades were made a few days past a federal deadline.

Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), who's eyeing a Senate run to replace Sen. Markwayne Mullin, appears to have disclosed at least $4.2 million personal stock trades past a federal deadline. His office says he wasn't late.

In @notus.com: www.notus.org/money/kevin-...

Daylight-Saving Changes Are Dead in Congress — For Now Lawmakers and lobbyists acknowledge clock changing will likely continue for the foreseeable future despite public outcry for new laws.

Congress continues to not make progress in ending time changes www.notus.org/policy/dayli...

NSA takes 12 years to send @jasonleopold.bsky.social an UNCLASSIFIED report on how the agency is (or, more accurately, isn't) addressing overclassification. 😬

The report doesn't quantify how much is overclassified, but a former director once quipped that a merry christmas email was top secret.

Virginia moves to forbid schools from teaching that Jan. 6 was peaceful In what appears to be a first in the country, legislation headed to the desk of Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) would prohibit public schools from teaching that the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capit...

Virginia lawmakers have passed a first-of-its-kind bill that prohibits schools from teaching that the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection was a peaceful demonstration or that there was massive fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

A Judge Is Again Ordering FEMA to Restore a Key Disaster-Prevention Program FEMA was hit Friday with a “motion to enforce” a court order after failing to restore a hazard-mitigation and disaster-prevention program mandated by Congress.

NEWS: A judge just ruled that FEMA has been flouting his court order to restore funding for disaster resilience.

The agency has 2-3 weeks to get in line and comply. Ofc, with Kristi Noem out the door, everything is even more chaos than usual.

Daylight-Saving Changes Are Dead in Congress — For Now Lawmakers and lobbyists acknowledge clock changing will likely continue for the foreseeable future despite public outcry for new laws.

Only 12% of Americans favor changing clocks twice a year.

But lawmakers and lobbyists say a bill that would make daylight savings time permanent is basically dead — for now.

NEW in @notus.com: www.notus.org/policy/dayli...

Presidential Libraries Are Black Boxes — And Not Just Trump’s Funding disclosure for these institutions is sometimes inconsistent, incomplete or inaccurate, leaving the public in the dark.

ICYMI: The (very) secret lives of presidential libraries — and the lobbyists who love them. www.notus.org/money/presid...

Daylight-Saving Changes Are Dead in Congress — For Now Lawmakers and lobbyists acknowledge clock changing will likely continue for the foreseeable future despite public outcry for new laws.

Hate springing forward and falling back?

Then hate-read this news from @taylorgiorno.bsky.social of @notus.com.

www.notus.org/policy/dayli...