A full year after making a public pledge to do so, President Trump has disclosed a list of donors who helped pay for his transition to power. The list of 46 individuals, released by the transition team, includes billionaires like Jeff Yass and Paul Singer as well as several supporters who went on to be appointees in the current administration. In total, the transition said it raised slightly more than $14 million, but did not specify how much each donor contributed. It said $13.7 million was spent on the transition effort. “President Trump greatly appreciates his supporters and donors; however, unlike politicians of the past, he is not bought by anyone and does what’s in the best interest of the country,” Danielle Alvarez, a spokeswoman for the Trump transition, said in a statement. “Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.” Among those on the list are Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick, who served as co-chairs of the transition and were subsequently appointed as the secretaries of education and commerce, respectively. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, donated, as did Stanley Woodward Jr., the third-ranking official in the Justice Department. Dominick Gerace II, who was sworn in as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio in August, is also listed as a donor.ImageMr. Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in the Oval Office earlier this year. Mr. Lutnick was one of the dozens of donors to Mr. Trump’s transition, and his family donated to the $300 million White House construction project.Credit...Tierney L. Cross for The New York Times At least three of the entries on the list matched names of Washington lobbyists, but their identities could not be confirmed. Lobbyists with those names did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday evening. Because the list did not include addresses, hometowns or professions, it was not possible to confirm the identity of many other individuals described as donors. Until now, the Trump administration had not released any information about the finances of its transition, the work-intensive project of preparing to take control of the government in the period after a presidential election. Late last year, Mr. Trump’s transition team refused to sign an agreement with the General Services Administration that would have required it to publish the names of its contributors and the amount of money they donated within 30 days of the inauguration in exchange for more than $7 million in federal funding and administrative support. Prior administrations, including Mr. Trump’s in 2016, signed that agreement, which in addition to the disclosure obligation caps individual donations at $5,000 and bars foreign contributions. By declining to sign, the second Trump transition sidestepped those strictures and presumably could accept far larger contributions. Almost exactly one year ago, Susie Wiles, now serving as Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, described the decision not to sign the G.S.A. agreement as a way to “save taxpayers’ hard-earned money.” At the time, she also pledged to disclose the names of donors and to ensure that no noncitizens contributed to the transition. Mr. Trump had reported raising $6.5 million for his first presidential transition, all from private donations under the $5,000 cap. In 2021, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. disclosed $22.1 million in contributions to his transition.ImageEducation Secretary Linda McMahon was a donor for Mr. Trump’s transition and for his inaugural fund.Credit...Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times Watchdog groups had raised alarm about the lack of transparency surrounding the most recent Trump transition, noting that by not revealing who was contributing — and how much they had chipped in — it was nearly impossible for the public to know about potential conflicts of interest or pay-for-play arrangements. “They claimed they were saving taxpayers money, but what they were doing was hiding the ball about who is buying the government,” said Max Stier, the president of the nonpartisan nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, which promotes best practices in the federal government and runs the Center for Presidential Transition. Last week, that group released a report on the Trump transition that criticized it for “significant departures from established norms,” noting that it started late and relied heavily on a handful of outside think tanks, chiefly the Heritage Foundation and the America First Policy Institute, to develop policy and hire personnel for the new administration. The report called on Congress to create laws requiring transitions to disclose the names of donors who give over a threshold amount as well as to publicly account for spending by the transition, which it said would “create public scrutiny that encourages the transition team to police itself tightly against conflicts of interest.” The transition organization, formally known as Trump Vance 2025 Transition Inc., was incorporated in Florida and registered with the I.R.S. as a type of non-charitable nonprofit. As such, it does not have to pay taxes, but cannot give its donors a tax break for their gifts. By law, the nonprofit must file an annual report with the I.R.S. showing what it raised and how it spent its money, although it is not required to disclose the names of donors. That report must be provided to the public upon request. The New York Times requested that report on Tuesday from the nonprofit’s agent, a lawyer in West Palm Beach, Fla. He said it would be released in the coming days.ImageSteve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, with the president in May. Mr. Witkoff was one of Trump’s donors.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times Three of the donors also gave to Mr. Trump’s inaugural fund. Ms. McMahon and Mr. Singer each donated $1 million, while Marlene Ricketts, the wife of the founder of TD Ameritrade, contributed $1.1 million. In total, the incoming president raised a record $250.4 million for his inauguration, more than double the amount raised for his first one. Mr. Lutnick’s family was also a donor to the $300 million White House construction project, according to a list disclosed by the administration last month. Linda McMahon Howard Lutnick Robert Johnson Suzanne Johnson Marlene Ricketts Robert Bishop Samantha George Stephen Plaster Adam Clampitt Jeff Yass Paul Singer Steve Witkoff Robert Bigelow Stanley Woodward Gene Ventura Andrew Cuff Elias Levy Jeff Littlejohn Stephen Dewey Robert Turley James Tuell Michael Desmond Susan Silverie Jonathan Slemrod Thomas Schiavone Marcel Kaminstein Conor Sheehey Wade Eyerly Robert Foran Kenneth Bridger Roy Dominick Gerace Kameel Ali Matthew Iager Robert Newton Anita Winsor Jeremy Isenberg Scott Pillath Harry Jackson Douglas deWysocki Jesus Cuartas Thomas Griffy Frederick Wilson Charles Mccarthy Hector Wong Brigette Frantz Catalina Lamontain

The Boring Company, Elon Musk’s tunneling startup, is reportedly facing significant issues with its new project in Nashville, Tennessee. A key subcontractor has walked off the job, alleging that the company has failed to pay for work completed on the “Music City Loop,” claiming they have received only 5% of what they are owed. We have been following The Boring Company’s expansion efforts closely. After the relative success of the Las Vegas Loop and several projects that failed to materialize, it looked like the company was winding down until a new proposal in Nashville gained some momentum. However, a new report from the Nashville Banner indicates that the project is hitting a major wall. Shane Trucking and Excavating, a local contractor hired to handle preliminary work for the tunnel project, pulled its workers off the site this Monday. William Shane, the owner of the company, told the Banner that The Boring Company has “ghosted” them and failed to pay invoices totaling in the six figures. According to Shane, the payment terms were initially set for every 15 days, then unilaterally switched to 60 days. Now, he claims it has been over 120 days since they broke ground, and his company has received only a fraction of the payment due. “We were really skeptical from the beginning, and then since then, things pretty much just went downhill,” Shane said. The contractor was reportedly responsible for preparing the launch pad for “Prufrock,” The Boring Company’s proprietary tunnel boring machine (TBM). We previously reported on Prufrock’s capabilities, with the company claiming it can dig tunnels significantly faster than conventional machines, supposedly porpoising directly from the surface to avoid digging expensive launch pits. If the launch pad isn’t finished because the excavator wasn’t paid, Prufrock isn’t digging anywhere. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of payment issues involving Musk-led companies. Tesla has been known to not pay its bills, leading to small companies going bankrupt. As The Boring Company was stiffing Shane on the bills, the company tried to poach workers from its own contractor and lied about it: “One of their head guys texts two of my welders, offering them a job for $45 an hour from his work phone,” Shane described, noting that the same TBC employee denied sending the texts when confronted with screenshots. “That’s actually a breach of contract.” On top of the missed payments, Shane alleges serious safety concerns. They made several official complaints to OSHA: “Where we’re digging, we’re so far down, there should be concrete and different structures like that to hold the slope back from falling on you while you’re working. Where most people use concrete, they currently have — I’m not even kidding — they currently have wood. They had us install wood 2x12s.” The Boring Company Vice President David Buss blamed missed payments on “invoicing errors” in a statement to the Banner: “It does look like we had some invoicing errors on that. It was, you know, unfortunately, too common of a thing, but I assured them that we are going to make sure that invoices are wired tomorrow.” He also said that he would look into the poaching allegations, but added that he is not aware of any OSHA complaints. The “Music City Loop” was pitched as a solution to connect downtown Nashville to the airport, a route that is notoriously congested. The Boring Company claims it can complete the project without public money, but there are some obvious issues with its financing. I’ve been willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on the “Loop” concept. While it falls short of the original “autonomous pods” vision or the “Hyperloop” speed dreams, the system in Las Vegas does work to move people, even if it is just Teslas in tunnels driven by humans. There’s just no evidence that it would be more efficient than any other public transit system. When Musk launched The Boring Company’s first test tunnel in LA, I asked him if he had any simulations showing his “loop” system to be more efficient. He said that they were working on that. That was 7 years ago. Therefore, while The Boring Company appears to have achieved marginal improvements in tunnel boring, mainly when it comes to smaller tunnels; it has yet to show clear evidence that its Loop system is a better solution than any other public transit system. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

A lone gunman stepped out from around a corner near the White House and opened fire on two National Guard members, leaving both in critical condition and Washington on edge.

Lawyers for victims of Jeffrey Epstein and many of their clients have supported efforts to release more records relating to Epstein’s crimes. Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg News Dozens of Jeffrey Epstein victims’ names have been exposed in documents that were recently made public by Congress, setting off a legal dispute about the Justice Department’s plans to release more materials about the late sex offender. Lawyers for the women have asked two federal judges who oversaw the prosecutions of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to ensure that the victims’ privacy is protected in any additional document releases by the Justice Department. Judge Richard Berman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday evening ordered the government to provide him a detailed description of its privacy process, including redactions the government seeks to employ, to protect the rights of Epstein victims. He attached a copy of a letter from the victims’ lawyers. Berman handled proceedings in the government’s 2019 case against Epstein, which was cut short when Epstein died in jail. Berman must approve requests to unseal documents from the case. Another federal judge in New York oversaw the prosecution of Maxwell and will decide the fate of sealed documents from that case. The Justice Department is reviewing its records and working on redactions after Congress overwhelmingly passed a law mandating the agency to release documents tied to Epstein. The measure passed over the initial objections of President Trump and top Justice Department officials, who had said earlier this year there were no additional records that warranted public release. Bradley Edwards and Brittany Henderson, lawyers who have represented hundreds of Epstein’s accusers, said in the letter to the court that Epstein’s estate and the Justice Department had failed to redact several of their clients in documents recently made public by the House Oversight Committee. “Given the number of times we have drawn Congress’s attention to this issue, and the fact that victims’ names continue to be produced by DOJ in unredacted form, many of the victims believe this is being done intentionally,” they wrote. A spokeswoman for Republicans on the House Oversight Committee said its subpoena instructs the Justice Department to redact victims’ information. The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. In one document provided by the Justice Department, there were at least 28 names of victims left unredacted, including individuals who were minor children at the time of their abuse, according to the letter. The victims’ lawyers and many of their clients have supported efforts to release more Epstein records. “Our request is simply that the identity of all victims be protected,” the attorneys wrote in the letter. “These women are not political pawns. They are mothers, wives, and daughters.” The Epstein estate exposed the names of some victims as a result of a software error, according to the letter, and the parties are working to ensure the mistake isn’t repeated. Daniel Weiner, a lawyer for one of Epstein’s executors, said the estate has engaged with victims’ lawyers to ensure victims’ names are redacted from documents it provides. He said the estate isn’t using redaction software and is “using attorneys and other professional staff to painstakingly review the documents.” The Justice Department hasn’t disclosed its redaction process and is likely working from an incomplete list of victims, according to Edwards and Henderson. They said that prosecutors in 2007 included victims in Epstein’s nonprosecution agreement without realizing Epstein was funding their lawyers to keep them quiet. They also said the Justice Department’s 2019 investigation didn’t focus on adult women Epstein trafficked after 2008, including many from Europe and Russia. Edwards and Henderson said they have a list of more than 300 victims that could be securely provided to the government to ensure that the women are protected. The issue of redactions created conflict earlier this month when the House Oversight Committee released a batch of Epstein emails. It began when Democrats released a selection of emails from Epstein. In one message, Epstein wrote about Trump spending hours with a woman whose name was redacted by Democrats. Republicans soon released the same email showing the unredacted name was Virginia Giuffre, who previously had said that she never saw Trump participate in any abuse. They also released a cache of more than 20,000 pages. Republicans and the White House said Democrats were selectively leaking information to smear the president. “Oversight Democrats have been careful to not release any information that contains the names of any victims,” said a spokeswoman for the committee’s Democrats. “It’s horrific that Republicans won’t do the same.” A spokeswoman for the committee’s Republicans said, “The American people want full transparency about the Epstein case and we are committed to providing it while protecting victims’ information.” Write to Khadeeja Safdar at [email protected]

As US military activity ramps up in the Caribbean and the Pacific, Colombia’s president alleged the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on Venezuela is more about accessing the South American country’s oil than fighting drug trafficking. “(Oil) is at the heart of the matter,” Gustavo Petro told CNN in an exclusive interview, noting that Venezuela has what are considered the largest oil reserves in the world. “So, that’s a negotiation about oil. I believe that is (US President Donald) Trump’s logic. He’s not thinking about the democratization of Venezuela, let alone the narco-trafficking,” he continued, adding that Venezuela is not considered a major drug producer and that only a relatively small portion of the global drugs trade flows through the country. Petro has been at odds with Trump since he returned to the White House. In the past year, the Colombian leader has harshly criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies, its support for Israel and its military activity around Latin America. On Tuesday, he accused the US of trying to impose its will on its neighbors, comparing its actions to imperialism. “The United States cannot be considered an empire, but one of the nations among others,” the president said. In response to Petro’s comments, a US State Department spokesperson said the Trump administration remains “firm in its counter-drug operations in the Caribbean and its commitment to protecting Americans from the (Venezuelan President Nicolás) Maduro regime’s deadly poison.” CNN has also reached out to the White House for comment. Asked if he had a message to the American people, Petro replied, “My message is the one they give to all members of the United States special forces: Your function, as they say in the oaths, is to fight against oppression. I repeated that on the streets in the United States, and it also cost me,” Petro said. He appeared to be referring to the US State Department revoking his visa at the conclusion of the UN General Assembly in September after he publicly called on American soldiers to disobey Trump and “not to point their rifles at humanity.” It’s one of the many actions the Trump administration has taken against the Colombian leader in recent months. In October, the US Treasury sanctioned Petro, accusing him of playing a “role in the global illicit drug trade,” a claim the Colombian leader has rejected. The sanctions were imposed days after Trump said he would halt all US payments and subsidies to Colombia, claiming Petro “does nothing to stop” the production of drugs in his country. Petro defended his efforts to fight the drug trade, telling CNN that his government had seized more cocaine than any other in history. “So much so that in recent years, I have managed to ensure that the growth in crops, which is stagnating, is far surpassed by the growth in seizures,” he said. Asked why Trump hadn’t acknowledged this, Petro said: “Because of pride. Because he thinks I’m a subversive thug, a terrorist, and things like that, simply because I was a member of the M-19,” a Colombian guerrilla movement active in the 1970s and 1980s. Petro also told CNN that he believes the US is comparing him to Maduro. His comments come a day after the US designated the Cartel de los Soles, an alleged drug trafficking group that the US has claimed Maduro leads, as a foreign terrorist organization. Venezuela has denied the claims, and experts say the phrase is more a description of allegedly corrupt government officials than an organized crime group. While Maduro has a problem with democracy, Petro said he is not that convinced about the Venezuelan president’s drug trafficking links. “The problem of Maduro is called democracy … the lack of democracy,” Petro told CNN, adding that “no Colombian investigation … has shown us a relationship between Colombian drug trafficking and Maduro.” According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Venezuela is not a cocaine-producing country. Of the 3,700 tons of coca produced worldwide, more than 2,500 tons come from Colombia, while Venezuela does not appear on production maps, according to the UNODC, which said: “The majority of Colombian cocaine is being trafficked north along the Pacific coast.” Investigators from the US Drug Enforcement Agency reached similar conclusions, writing in their annual report published in March that 84% of the cocaine seized in the US comes from Colombia. Over the weekend, Colombian news program Noticias Caracol reported alleged links between Colombian officials and dissidents of the now-defunct rebel group FARC. According to the report, senior military and intelligence officials shared sensitive intelligence with the armed groups and advised them about how to secretly acquire weapons and evade military scrutiny. Petro has denied the allegations but acknowledged to CNN on Tuesday that ties between officials and drug traffickers have existed for years, even before he took office. A spokesperson for the US State Department said it is aware of the recent reports and urged Petro and other Colombian institutions to “thoroughly investigate these allegations and take all appropriate actions.” Colombia has long been Washington’s most reliable ally in South America on security and defense. In 2022, the Biden administration designated the Andean country as a “major non-NATO ally.” Despite recent tensions at the top, US-Colombia relations remain intact. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made clear publicly that the administration’s issues are with Petro, not the institutions in Colombia. “Our relationships with the people of Colombia, the economic sector of Colombia, the majority of people in politics in Colombia, and their institutions, in particular their defense institutions, are strong and enduring, and they’re going to be strong and enduring long after this individual is no longer the president there,” Rubio previously said. CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting Bogotá, Colombia — As US military activity ramps up in the Caribbean and the Pacific, Colombia’s president alleged the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on Venezuela is more about accessing the South American country’s oil than fighting drug trafficking. “(Oil) is at the heart of the matter,” Gustavo Petro told CNN in an exclusive interview, noting that Venezuela has what are considered the largest oil reserves in the world. “So, that’s a negotiation about oil. I believe that is (US President Donald) Trump’s logic. He’s not thinking about the democratization of Venezuela, let alone the narco-trafficking,” he continued, adding that Venezuela is not considered a major drug producer and that only a relatively small portion of the global drugs trade flows through the country. Petro has been at odds with Trump since he returned to the White House. In the past year, the Colombian leader has harshly criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies, its support for Israel and its military activity around Latin America. On Tuesday, he accused the US of trying to impose its will on its neighbors, comparing its actions to imperialism. “The United States cannot be considered an empire, but one of the nations among others,” the president said. In response to Petro’s comments, a US State Department spokesperson said the Trump administration remains “firm in its counter-drug operations in the Caribbean and its commitment to protecting Americans from the (Venezuelan President Nicolás) Maduro regime’s deadly poison.” CNN has also reached out to the White House for comment. Asked if he had a message to the American people, Petro replied, “My message is the one they give to all members of the United States special forces: Your function, as they say in the oaths, is to fight against oppression. I repeated that on the streets in the United States, and it also cost me,” Petro said. He appeared to be referring to the US State Department revoking his visa at the conclusion of the UN General Assembly in September after he publicly called on American soldiers to disobey Trump and “not to point their rifles at humanity.” It’s one of the many actions the Trump administration has taken against the Colombian leader in recent months. Related article Colombians caught in fallout of Trump-Petro feud In October, the US Treasury sanctioned Petro, accusing him of playing a “role in the global illicit drug trade,” a claim the Colombian leader has rejected. The sanctions were imposed days after Trump said he would halt all US payments and subsidies to Colombia, claiming Petro “does nothing to stop” the production of drugs in his country. Petro defended his efforts to fight the drug trade, telling CNN that his government had seized more cocaine than any other in history. “So much so that in recent years, I have managed to ensure that the growth in crops, which is stagnating, is far surpassed by the growth in seizures,” he said. Asked why Trump hadn’t acknowledged this, Petro said: “Because of pride. Because he thinks I’m a subversive thug, a terrorist, and things like that, simply because I was a member of the M-19,” a Colombian guerrilla movement active in the 1970s and 1980s. Petro also told CNN that he believes the US is comparing him to Maduro. His comments come a day after the US designated the Cartel de los Soles, an alleged drug trafficking group that the US has claimed Maduro leads, as a foreign terrorist organization. Venezuela has denied the claims, and experts say the phrase is more a description of allegedly corrupt government officials than an organized crime group. While Maduro has a problem with democracy, Petro said he is not that convinced about the Venezuelan president’s drug trafficking links. “The problem of Maduro is called democracy … the lack of democracy,” Petro told CNN, adding that “no Colombian investigation … has shown us a relationship between Colombian drug trafficking and Maduro.” According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Venezuela is not a cocaine-producing country. Of the 3,700 tons of coca produced worldwide, more than 2,500 tons come from Colombia, while Venezuela does not appear on production maps, according to the UNODC, which said: “The majority of Colombian cocaine is being trafficked north along the Pacific coast.” Investigators from the US Drug Enforcement Agency reached similar conclusions, writing in their annual report published in March that 84% of the cocaine seized in the US comes from Colombia. Over the weekend, Colombian news program Noticias Caracol reported alleged links between Colombian officials and dissidents of the now-defunct rebel group FARC. According to the report, senior military and intelligence officials shared sensitive intelligence with the armed groups and advised them about how to secretly acquire weapons and evade military scrutiny. Petro has denied the allegations but acknowledged to CNN on Tuesday that ties between officials and drug traffickers have existed for years, even before he took office. A spokesperson for the US State Department said it is aware of the recent reports and urged Petro and other Colombian institutions to “thoroughly investigate these allegations and take all appropriate actions.” Colombia has long been Washington’s most reliable ally in South America on security and defense. In 2022, the Biden administration designated the Andean country as a “major non-NATO ally.” Despite recent tensions at the top, US-Colombia relations remain intact. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made clear publicly that the administration’s issues are with Petro, not the institutions in Colombia. “Our relationships with the people of Colombia, the economic sector of Colombia, the majority of people in politics in Colombia, and their institutions, in particular their defense institutions, are strong and enduring, and they’re going to be strong and enduring long after this individual is no longer the president there,” Rubio previously said. Read MorePage 2 Lost your password? ← Go to My Daily Grind News

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Many of the problems the agency is facing now are not new, but staff and prisoners fear an exodus of officers could make life behind bars even worse.