Israel has sold a record amount of debt in the US since its Gaza war erupted on October 7, 2023, according to a report by Bloomberg on Friday.
The government of Israel’s US-based bond broker, Israel Bonds, says it has sold $5bn worth of debt in the last twenty months. The level of bond issuance is more than double that raised by Israel Bonds, in similar time periods previously.
Israel’s war on Gaza started after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel killed around 1,200 people. Israel responded by pummeling the Gaza Strip and invading it. A reported more than 54,000 people, mainly women and children, have been killed in the Israeli attacks, and the population is facing “imminent famine”, the United Nations says.
Israel Bonds is affiliated with Israel’s finance ministry and sells bonds inside the US to both retail and institutional investors. The starting price for non-tradable retail Israeli bonds is as low as $36.
A five-year Israeli bond has a yield between 4.86 percent and 5.44 percent, according to the Bloomberg report.
Along with its war on Gaza, Israel fought a devastating war with Hezbollah in Lebanon and launched widespread strikes on Syria. In 2024, it engaged in two rounds of direct missile and drone attacks with Iran. Israel’s financing needs have soared as it looks to fund its military.
Local Israeli creditors, including deep-pocketed institutional ones, account for about 80 percent of the government’s lending overall. That leaves just twenty percent to come from international debt sales and what Israel Bonds sells in the US.
According to the group, local US governments at the state and county level are big buyers in places like New York, Texas, Ohio, and Illinois.
Palm Beach County in Florida became one of the world’s largest investors in Israeli Bonds in 2024, with about $700m of its $4.67bn portfolio invested there.
Israel has faced widespread criticism for its war on Gaza. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes. Meanwhile, public opinion on Israel has turned sharply negative from France to Japan.
However, in March 2024, Israel saw strong demand for its debt among international investors. It sold $8bn in international bonds. Israel enjoys investment-grade ratings from major credit ratings agencies.
Texas Yanks Major Perk From Illegal Aliens – After Pioneering It 24 Years Ago
Twenty-four years after being the first in the nation to roll it out, a major perk for illegal aliens in Texas has vanished after the Trump administration filed a federal lawsuit to stop it and the Lone Star State’s attorney general quickly agreed with the White House stance. Specifically, illegals will no longer be charged the in-state rate for college tuition.
The end came quite suddenly. Within hours of the US Department of Justice filing a complaint in the Northern District of Texas, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion asking Judge Reed O’Connor to rule in favor of the DOJ and declare in-state tuition for illegals unconstitutional. On the same day, O’Connor issued an order declaring that discounts favoring illegal aliens over non-Texan American citizens — in contradiction of federal law — violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, and permanently blocking Texas from giving such discounts.
“Today, I entered a joint motion along with the Trump Administration opposing a law that unconstitutionally and unlawfully gave benefits to illegal aliens that were not available to American citizens. Ending this discriminatory and un-American provision is a major victory for Texas.”
In 2001, Texas became the first state to offer in-state tuition to illegals. Back then, Democrats had a slim majority in the state House, but the “Texas Dream Act” had bipartisan support, with only four of 181 legislators voting against it. Republicans bought into the idea that better-educated illegals would bolster the state’s labor force and its economy, and then-Governor Rick Perry gave full support — a stance he had to defend at a Republican debate during his failed 2012 presidential campaign. While this clip stops short, the audience answered with a mix of vigorous applause and hearty boos:
2011: Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry says on a national debate stage if you don’t support discounted tuition for illegal aliens, you don’t have a heart.
2025: President Donald Trump’s DOJ sues Texas for giving discounted tuition to illegal aliens.
Since then, more than 20 other states created their own such rules. The tide is now clearly turning. In February, Florida’s legislature eliminated a 10-year-old law granting in-state tuition to illegals who attended a Florida high school for three consecutive years before graduating. A bill that would have repealed the practice made it out of a Texas Senate committee earlier this year, but didn’t have enough strength to be brought to the full Senate vote. That’s all moot now.
For the 2024-25 academic year, in-state tuition discount saved a student attending Texas A&M University in College Station $27,894 a year, and the discount at the University of Texas at Austin was worth $33,220 a year, to take just two examples from the state’s sprawling higher education system.
“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” said US Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement. “The Justice Department will relentlessly fight to vindicate federal law and ensure that U.S. citizens are not treated like second-class citizens anywhere in the country.”
While the rules vary depending on the student’s exact circumstances and status under DACA, about 30 states provide some level of in-state-tuition access for illegals. According to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal, the most freewheeling states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
FBI Director Kash Patel sat down with Joe Rogan in Austin, Texas, where he dropped a series of revelations about the Bureau’s ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, including a promise to release jail cell surveillance footage and newly uncovered evidence that could implicate Anthony Fauci.
Kash Patel didn’t waste any time. He opened with a stat that most Americans have probably never heard—and it was a big one.
During Trump’s first term, Patel was in charge of counterterrorism for the White House and National Security Council. In that role, he helped lead one of the administration’s most overlooked achievements.
“Hostages, we can talk about that forever too,” Patel said. “Counterterrorism was a big portfolio, I ran it for the White House and National Security Council in the first Trump administration.”
Then he dropped the number: “We brought home—people don’t know this—President Trump in his first term, brought home and rescued over 50 hostages and detainees from around the world.” He added, “That’s more than every president before him combined.”
Rogan looked stunned. “Wow,” he said.
Patel explained that hardly anyone knows these rescues even happened. The missions weren’t covered in the headlines, and the stories of families being reunited after dangerous operations in places like Africa and the Middle East were mostly ignored.
“Did you hear about the successes of reuniting families with lost loved ones from Africa or the Middle East?” he asked.
He then described how Trump personally signed off on high-risk missions—sending elite forces into hostile territory to bring people home. “These operations, that the president was courageous enough to green light to go into places like Afghanistan and do these hostage rescue ops, and use Seal Team Six and Delta,” he said.
Kash Patel didn’t waste time.
Sitting down with Joe Rogan, he opened with a jaw-dropping stat—one few Americans have ever heard.
During Trump’s first term, Patel ran counterterrorism operations for the White House and National Security Council.
From there, the conversation shifted to a very different kind of crisis—one playing out right here in the U.S. and claiming tens of thousands of lives: fentanyl.
Patel didn’t mince words about who’s behind it. “So where’s the root of the problem? The CCP,” he said, pointing directly at the Chinese Communist Party.
This part of the discussion took a darker turn.
Patel explained that while China isn’t producing the fentanyl itself, it’s playing a central role by supplying the raw chemical ingredients used to manufacture it. “The fentanyl precursors, the stuff you need to make fentanyl comes from mainland China. That’s it.”
He said there are hundreds of Chinese companies involved—mass-producing and exporting these precursors around the world. Most of them land in Mexico, where cartels convert the chemicals into fentanyl and smuggle it across the border.
“They’re like ‘we don’t make fentanyl.’ They’re right, they don’t,” Patel said. “They just give you all the ingredients for it and ship it to Mexico.”
In an attempt to polish their global image, Patel said the CCP announced a ban on one specific precursor. But it was a sleight of hand.
“To trick the world, they came out and said: ‘Hey, we’re going to not sell precursor X.’ The problem is, there’s 14 other precursors you can use to make fentanyl and they’re still shipping all of those.”
So while overdose deaths in America continue to soar, China manages to keep its fingerprints off the crisis—at least on paper.
From there, the conversation turned to an entirely different kind of crisis—one claiming tens of thousands of lives on American soil, fentanyl.
Patel didn’t hesitate to name the culprit: the Chinese Communist Party.
The next revelation sounded like it came straight out of a spy thriller.
When Patel arrived at the FBI, he discovered a secret data room hidden inside the Hoover Building—a room he claimed was deliberately concealed during James Comey’s time at the Bureau.
“Me as the Director of the FBI—when I first got to the Bureau, found a room that Comey and others hid from the world in the Hoover Building, full of documents and computer hard drives that no one had ever seen or heard of.”
Patel described a secure room, locked away and buried deep, with access so tightly controlled that even its existence was unknown to most.
“Locked the key and hid access, and just said, no one’s ever going to find this place.”
Rogan again: “Whaaaaaaat?!”
Patel continued, “Yeah, so my guys are going through that right now.”
Rogan asked: “What’s in there?”
Patel answred. “A lot of stuff.”
The next revelation sounded like something out of a spy novel.
When Patel arrived at the FBI, he uncovered a hidden data room buried inside the Hoover Building—a room, he said, that had been concealed during the James Comey era.
Next up was what Patel described as Biden’s border bloodbath.
It’s a crisis that many have brushed off as a result of poor management—but Patel said it’s far more deliberate than that.
Rogan asked the question outright: “Is this [open border] pure incompetence? Or is it malice?”
Patel didn’t hesitate. “No, it’s intentional.”
He explained that the Biden administration made a clear and conscious policy decision—one that opened the floodgates to millions of illegal entrants, fully aware of the consequences.
“When you’re going to let in, what is it, 9 million people? A lot of them are going to be criminals.”
For Patel, the results weren’t just predictable—they were inevitable.
Next on the docket was Biden’s border bloodbath.
Patel confirmed what many in the media have dismissed as a conspiracy theory.
Was the crisis at the southern border just incompetence, or something more calculated?
Eventually, the conversation turned to one of the most hotly debated topics of the last decade: Jeffrey Epstein.
Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino had recently made waves by stating unequivocally that Epstein died by suicide—an explanation many Americans still don’t accept.
The public has been demanding answers for years. Where are the files? Is there any footage? Were the powerful protected?
Rogan pushed Patel for clarity.
Patel promised transparency, but with a clear boundary. “We’re going to give you everything that we can and people have to remember, we’re not going to revictimize women,” he said. “We’re not going to put that shit back out there.”
Then came the question everyone was waiting for: “Is there video from the island?” Rogan asked.
Patel was direct. “Not of what you want… If I had it, I’d be the first guy to bring this case hard and fast.”
He emphasized that he and his team combed through every file they were legally allowed to access—and what they found didn’t support the popular narrative. “I got here 100 days ago. I can’t be held to account for 20 years of failures,” he said.
And if any damning evidence ever did exist, Patel admitted it’s entirely possible it was wiped out long ago.
Eventually, Epstein came up.
Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino had made headlines recently by saying definitively that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide—something many Americans still question.
The public has long demanded answers: Where are the files? Is there any video?… pic.twitter.com/MRkpl2GxZW
But the most explosive moment of the interview came when Patel shifted his focus to Dr. Anthony Fauci.
This was the bombshell.
After years of stonewalling, vanishing records, and unanswered questions, a major breakthrough had finally arrived: Fauci’s COVID-era phones and hard drives—once thought to be missing—had been found.
“We just had a great breakthrough this week on Fauci,” Patel revealed.
The FBI had been investigating the origins of COVID, but a key problem remained: Fauci’s communications during the most pivotal months of the pandemic were nowhere to be found.
“And nobody had found it… till two days ago.”
Now, the original hard drives are in hand. And Patel made the mission clear: “Did that guy lie? Did he intentionally mislead the world and cause countless deaths?”
He stressed that this isn’t about politics—it’s about accountability. “The best evidence is always the people’s evidence,” he said.
“We’re going to exploit those hard drives… We’re not done. We’re on the case.”
If there’s evidence Fauci manipulated data, covered up dissent, or shaped the narrative to fit a political agenda, Patel believes it could be sitting right there on those devices.
And this time, he says, the truth won’t be buried.
But the most explosive moment of the interview came when Patel turned to Fauci.
This was a bombshell.
After years of delays, excuses, and missing records—his COVID-era phones and devices were finally found.
Before wrapping up, Patel shared one final surprise—and this time, it was good news.
According to the latest data, the U.S. is on track to hit its lowest murder rate in decades.
Rogan, clearly surprised, asked how that could be possible.
Patel credited a simple but effective shift in leadership: giving law enforcement the room and resources to do their jobs without political interference.
“Let good cops be cops,” he said. “I’m gonna let you, the agents, the police officers, the sheriffs, go out there and do the work you so badly want to do. And I’m gonna give you the resources you need to do it. And I’m gonna take away the politicization and weaponization… and that’s what we’ve done.”
Sometimes, real change doesn’t come from reinventing the system, but from removing the roadblocks and letting professionals do what they were trained to do.
Before wrapping, Patel offered one more surprise—but this time, it was good news.
According to current data, America is on track for its lowest murder rate in decades.
Iran Purchases Enough Fuel Materials From China For Up To 800 Ballistic Missiles
This week a report in The Wall Street Journal said Iran ordered large quantities of ammonium perchlorate—a key component for solid-fuel ballistic missiles—from China, despite the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program being under Western scrutiny amid ongoing sensitive nuclear negotiations with the US.
The material could be used to produce up to 800 missiles and was placed by Pishgaman Tejarat Rafi Novin Co. from Lion Commodities Holdings Ltd. in Hong Kong. The report indicated the parts are to arrive in the coming months.
The WSJ raises the likelihood that some or much of the material could be transferred to Iran-backed proxy groups in the Mideast region, foremost among them Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have been launching repeat ballistic missile attacks directly on Israel, even threatening cities as far away as Tel Aviv.
The deal with the Chinese company was likely finalized before Trump’s offer to restart nuclear talks, which was kick-started in March.
China’s Foreign Ministry has rejected the allegations, or is at least saying China is not aware of the transfer.
“The Chinese side has always exercised strict control over dual-use items in accordance with China’s export control laws and regulations and its international obligations,” a spokesperson said.
Iran has been looking for ways to rebuild its so-called Axis of Resistance network of militias after Israel pummeled Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza and the Assad regime fell in Syria. U.S. and Israeli strikes on the Houthis damaged the group’s capabilities, though they still threaten Israel.
Iran recently transferred ballistic missiles to Shia militia groups in Iraq, who could target Israel and U.S. forces in the region they have previously attacked, the people confirmed. The missile transfers were previously reported by the Times of London.
It goes without saying that the fall of Assad’s Syria was a huge blow to the ‘Axis of Resistance’ which previously linked Iran, Iraq, and Hezbollah in Lebanon via crucial Syrian logistics.
Israel has meanwhile resumed its aerial attacks on southern Beirut suburbs, where Hezbollah is a dominant faction, while Lebanese civilians suffer…
The owner of two buildings destroyed by Israel last night in Beirut’s southern suburb said on television that the structures, which are quite old, were rented from the Maronite Church and that his family lives there.
Syria under the Jolani (Sharaa) regime will now be Sunni Islamist in orientation, and is already doing deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey. Iranian troops have been completely booted from Syria, and pro-Iranian militias in Western Iraq have been relatively quiet of late, also as the Pentagon has drawn down some key bases in northeast Syria (though the US occupation will remain for now).
‘Very Disrespectful’: Trump ‘Assumes’ Musk Relationship Is Over
Update (1720ET): Here’s the latest in the Trump-Musk feud.
Trump told NBC News that there would be “serious consequences” if Musk turns around and backs Democratic candidates to run against Republicans who support the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ (no doubt a loaded question from NBC).
“If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” Trump told the outlet. “He’ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that.”
When asked if he had a desire to repair the relationship, Trump said “No,” and he “would assume” it’s over between the two.
“I’m too busy doing other things,” Trump said, adding “I have no intention of speaking to him.”
Trump was also frank, accusing Musk of being ‘very disrespectful,’ saying
“I think it’s a very bad thing, because he’s very disrespectful. You could not disrespect the office of the President.”
Musk, meanwhile, was a mix of de-escalation and pushing his ‘America Party’ – described as his “vision to dismantle the establishment.
While continuing to express concern over US debt levels.
It was a turbulent week in American politics as the Trump–Musk feuderupted over the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ – shattering their alliance with little indication of reconciliation in the near term, though both men appear to have simmered down.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 6, 2025
That said, he also reiterated a threat to ‘look at everything’ in regards to Musk’s government contracts.
🚨 President Trump on canceling Elon Musk’s contracts:
“We’ll take a look at everything. He’s got a lot of money. He gets a lot of subsidy, so we’ll take a look at that only if it’s fair for him and for the country. I would certainly think about it yeah but it has to be fair.” pic.twitter.com/KPBtVJB8PY
Vice President JD Vance weighed in on “This Past Weekend w/Theo Von”
“I’m always going to be loyal to the president and I hope that eventually Elon kind of comes back into the fold,” said Vance, adding “Maybe that’s not possible now because he’s gone so nuclear, but I hope it is.”
JD Vance on the Elon – Trump feud:
President Trump took a bullet for this country. He is doing more than anyone to bring the American Dream back & this bill is a big part of the agenda he promised. War between them isn’t good for America pic.twitter.com/QZH550Oc8Z
Vance also gave credit to DOGE for rooting out waste, fraud and abuse (which the BBB does nothing about):
🚨 JD Vance says DOGE found that for “every dollar we were spending on humanitarian assistance, $0.12 was actually making it to people who needed it.” pic.twitter.com/2J2Reu6DWs
In the overnight hours, Jerry Dunleavy, chief investigative reporter at Just The News, cited now-deleted X posts from Elon Musk, in which Musk said he would “apologize” to the president for mean tweets “as soon as there is a full dump of the Epstein files.”
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) June 7, 2025
It was unclear on Saturday morning whether a genuine détente had developed between Musk and the president, who had feuded throughout the day on Thursday.
Thursday morning, Trump was asked about Musk’s opposition to the bill, telling reporters on Thursday that he’s ‘very disappointed in Elon,’ and that Musk only opposes the bill because they eliminated electric vehicle tax credits from it.
Trump then suggested he might pull government funding from Musk’s companies such as SpaceX, which owns the only operational US spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” -President Donald Trump via Truth Social
Musk went ballistic – announcing he would ‘immediately‘ decommission the Dragon program (which he later walked back Thursday night), proposed a new political party (that’s still his pinned post on X), endorsed another Trump impeachment, and said in a now-deleted post Trump is ‘in the Epstein files,’ which is why they haven’t been released.
The optics of what happened last week between Musk and the president are wild, with Musk standing up for MAGA ideals that Trump campaigned on, and Trump peddling the Big Beautiful Bill Act (BBB) that came from the swamp.
Musk’s key issue is that BBB raises the debt ceiling by another $5 trillion, while – and this part is in contention – the bill either raises the deficit by $2.4 trillion or lowers it by $1.4 trillion, depending on who you believe. We note that it also makes little to no effort to address the waste, fraud, or abuse identified by DOGE.
What’s very concerning about some in the MAGA Republican team is the failure to codify DOGE spending cuts in a way that safeguards taxpayer dollars from wasteful and fraudulent spending. MAGA campaigned on this and has yet to act.
Musk appears to be set on breaking away from the two-party duopoly and creating a new party.
We’re guessing the BBB will still pass – no doubt with some modifications.
For better or worse, the BBB will pass. Instead of clashing over what is autopilot spending to satisfy legacy obligations, focus on how to generate the biggest GDP growth https://t.co/bw6DQ4pBVa
Walmart is set to launch its drone delivery service in five more U.S. cities: Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, and Tampa, the company said in a June 5 statement.
The retailer already operates drone delivery services in the Dallas–Fort Worth area and northwest Arkansas. With the addition of the new cities, Walmart said it will become “the first retailer to scale drone delivery across five states: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas.”
The expansion will cover 100 stores across the five cities, with millions of customers receiving their orders in minutes, the company said.
“We’re pushing the boundaries of convenience to better serve our customers, making shopping faster and easier than ever before,” said Greg Cathey, senior vice president of Walmart U.S. Transformation and Innovation.
The service is being offered through an agreement with Wing, a drone company owned by Google’s parent, Alphabet.
When a customer places an order, Wing’s system automatically chooses a safe and efficient route to deliver the package while avoiding obstacles such as aircraft, according to the Wing website.
Drones are overseen by pilots from a central location who monitor air traffic and weather to ensure safety. The drones are “built to operate in a wide range of weather conditions, including windy days and moderate rain.”
When the drone reaches its destination, it initially checks for obstacles in the delivery zone, steers to avoid them, and eventually lands to deliver items.
The drone flies at 65 miles per hour and has a range of 6 miles one-way or 12 miles on a round trip.
Commenting on Walmart’s latest expansion, Wing CEO Adam Woodworth said this was “real drone delivery at scale.”
“People all around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex have made drone delivery part of their normal shopping habits over the past year,” he said. “Now we’re excited to share this ultra-fast delivery experience with millions more people across many more U.S. cities.”
In Dallas-Fort Worth, Walmart uses Wing drones to service customers from 18 of its facilities. More stores are expected to get drone delivery service, Wing said in a June 5 statement.
The company said Walmart’s announcement of adding more cities was the “world’s largest drone delivery expansion.” Wing and Walmart launched drone delivery in 2023.
According to Wing, Walmart currently completes thousands of deliveries each week using the drone system, with an average fulfillment time of less than 19 minutes.
“The popularity of drone delivery in [Dallas-Fort Worth] is a testament not just to its convenience, but to the way this technology quickly becomes a part of everyday life,” Woodworth said.
In addition to Walmart, Wing has partnered with other companies to deliver items via drones.
In March last year, online food ordering company DoorDash announced it was launching drone delivery in Christiansburg, Virginia, through Wing’s services.
On May 14, Wing said that its drone delivery for DoorDash was expanding into Charlotte, North Carolina.
Amazon also operates drone delivery. The service launched in 2022.
Amazon currently delivers products in the Phoenix Metro Area in Arizona and College Station in Texas.
Iran Furious At ‘Racist’ US Travel Ban Targeting Muslim Nations
At a moment both sides are still engaged in highly sensitive nuclear negotiations, Iran has strongly condemned US President Donald Trump’s new travel ban, blasting it as “racist” and indicative of Washington’s deep hostility toward Iranians and Muslims.
The executive order restricts travel from 19 countries, primarily in Africa and the Middle East, in a new ‘Muslim travel ban’ of sorts – given it mirrors similar policies from Trump’s first term in office, and will take effect Monday. There are outright bans imposed on a dozen of the nations.
Hashemi-Raja argued that the policy breaches international legal norms and denies millions the basic right to travel, based solely on nationality or faith. He said the ban would “entail international responsibility for the US government”, without elaborating.
The ban heavily features Mideast and North African countries like Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, and others – but is not limited to countries with Muslim majority populations.
Among the countries listed are also Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti. There are ‘partial bans’ and some new visa restrictions for Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
President Trump had explained this week in a statement posted to the White House: “The United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security.”
And further:
I directed the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, to identify countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a full or partial suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries pursuant to section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1182(f). After completing that process, the Secretary of State determined that a number of countries remain deficient with regards to screening and vetting. Many of these countries have also taken advantage of the United States in their exploitation of our visa system and their historic failure to accept back their removable nationals.
Interestingly, Syria was on the controversial ban during Trump’s first term, but is notably absent this time around – despite the fact that the decade-plus long proxy war saw foreign jihadists flow there from around the world. There are even foreign jihadists who hold government positions in the Jolani (Sharaa) regime, in the wake of Assad’s December ouster.
President Donald Trump signed executive orders on June 6 to deregulate and open research and development into flying cars and supersonic aviation technology.
Trump signed the two orders alongside others on Friday that target American drone capabilities, technology, and regulations.
One order instructs the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to begin testing flying cars, also known as electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL), according to a senior White House official.
Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the order will establish a pilot program working in conjunction with both public and private stakeholders.
“Flying cars are not just for the Jetsons, they are also for the American people in the near term,” he said during a White House press call.
Kratsios said, “eVTOL promises to revolutionize transportation as well as cargo delivery and logistics … blazing a trail to new frontiers as part of the golden age of American innovation.”
Regarding supersonic flight, Trump’s order repeals regulations that hindered the technology’s development while instructing the FAA to create a standard for supersonic aircraft noise certification, a senior White House official said.
The order also advances research coordination between the FAA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and promotes international engagement through the FAA and other agencies to “align global supersonic regulations and bilateral agreements for international operations.”
“Together, these executive orders will accelerate American innovation in drones, flying cars, and supersonic aircraft, and chart the future of America’s skies for years to come,” Kratsios said.
He said Trump is looking to revolutionize supersonic aviation in the United States after years of regulations that have prevented airlines from using the technology for commercial air travel.
“The reality is that Americans should be able to fly from New York to L.A. in under four hours,” Kratsios said, adding that recent advances in aerospace engineering, material science, and noise reduction have made domestic supersonic flight safe, sustainable, and commercially viable.
“But for the last 50 years, outdated and overly restricted regulations grounded supersonic passenger flight and weakened our global competitiveness in aviation,” he added.
“The market is here and the technology is here.”
The government has already begun issuing contracts and agreements with major commercial airlines, which have agreed to purchase supersonic jets, to push the industry forward.
“Our message is simple: American innovation belongs in American aerospace,” Kratsios said.
Sebastian Gorka, who serves as both deputy assistant to the president and senior director of counterterrorism at the National Security Council, said Trump’s June 6 executive orders are about “restoring sovereign control of our airspace.”
Consumer Debt Surges In April As Student Debt Soars
At a time when conventional media “wisdom” claims that US consumers are panicking ahead of a looming recession and aggressively reducing their spending, moments ago we got the latest consumer credit data from the Fed which confirmed none of that. In fact, one month after consumer credit came in line with expectations, the latest update of the Fed’s G 98 statement showed that in April, consumer credit growth more than doubled, from a revised $8.6 billion to $17.9 billion, the single biggest monthly increase of 2025 and the second highest going back to November 2023. In other words, far from being concerned about a recession, the US consumer is doing what they do best: spend.
The composition was familiar: revolving credit (i.e., credit card debt) rose by $7.6BN, much more than the $1.7BN increase in March and the highest since December.
Meanwhile, non-revolving credit jumped by $8.3 billion, the second highest monthly increase since June 2023.
Why? Well, the answer is rather bizarre because while auto loans shrank by $10 billion in Q1, the biggest quarterly decline in a decade, it was student debt, that debt which is now causing widespread defaults as millions can not afford to pay it as the moratorium is over, that unexpectedly surged by $22BN in Q1 to $1,797 billion, a new all time high.
And as an aside, for those asking whether the recent Fed rate cuts have translated into lower interest APRs on credit cards, the answer is in the next chart. Unfortunately, the answer is no, because as we said back in September while the Fed is slashing rates, none of this is translating into lower rates on consumer liabilities.
So how realistic is it that in a time when millions of former “students” are about to start defaulting en masse, that it is student loans which are again propelling consumer spending, we keep a close eye on this series because while many expect that the student loan bubble bursting will accelerate the recession, we may be getting just the opposite as Trump takes another page from the Biden playbook and starts firehosing “student” loans to anyone with a pulse who can fog a mirror.
Two years after the U.S. Secret Service discovered a bag of cocaine in the White House in July, 2023, documents showing orders for its destruction within 24 hours after the agency closed the case are raising new questions about the scrupulousness of the investigation.
A U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency document titled “Destruction” states that the bag of cocaine was sent to the Metropolitan Police Department for incineration. That document, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, doesn’t display a date for the destruction. But other internal Secret Service records show that the cocaine was tested by the Secret Service, the D.C. Fire Department hazmat technicians, and the FBI before being sent back to the Secret Service for storage on July 12. Two days later, it was transferred to the D.C. police department for destruction. The Secret Service shut down the cocaine investigation 11 days after discovering it.
The destruction of narcotics evidence must comply with environmental and safety regulations, and the D.C. police department has an Environmental Protection Agency-approved incinerator that federal agencies often use to destroy narcotics that are not involved in active legal cases.
D.C. police officials referred all questions about the cocaine’s apparent destruction to the FBI. There’s no entry or date for the cocaine’s actual destruction.
Early last week, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced that he was re-opening the investigation into the cocaine found in the White House, as well as the leak of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade and the discovery of a pipe bomb at the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Jan. 6, 2021.
Bongino reiterated his commitment to getting to the bottom of those cases in a Wednesday night interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
“Well, I get a kick out of it on social media,” Bongino said. “People say, ‘This case isn’t a big deal. I don’t care.’ Well, I care. … You don’t care that a [potentially] hazardous substance made its way into the White House? We didn’t know what it was, and we don’t seem to have answers? Well, we’re going to get them. I’ve got a great team on it.”
While the cocaine bag found in the White House appears to have been destroyed, internal Secret Service documents show that the agency retained and stored a second piece of evidence, an envelope of three tubes of DNA that the FBI attained from the plastic bag of cocaine. It’s unclear how much DNA those tubes contain, though the Secret Service has stood by its statements that the FBI found insufficient DNA to pursue any investigative leads.
When the Secret Service closed its investigation into who left the cocaine in the White House on July 13, the agency issued a statement explaining its decision. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi asserted that camera surveillance footage didn’t provide any “investigative leads or any other means for investigators to identify who may have deposited” the cocaine in the White House, adding that FBI laboratory results “did not develop latent fingerprints and insufficient evidence was present for investigative comparisons.”
But neither the FBI nor the Secret Service has publicly released the FBI laboratory results, and DNA experts say the only fool-proof way to demonstrate whether sufficient DNA existed on the baggie now to run against hits in national and state criminal DNA databases is to test it again.
“The only way to really tell, is to test it again and see what happens,” Gary Clayton Harmor, chief forensic DNA analyst at the Serological Research Institute in Richmond, California, told RCP. “Some labs will test anything, and others are more reluctant if they think it’s not a good enough sample to [test against national DNA databases]. The FBI, knowing them, they’re probably very conservative, and it may be that they said, ‘Nope, there’s not enough here to do anything meaningful with.’ It really depends on who’s doing the testing and how they did it.”
RealClearPolitics over the last week submitted a FOIA request for the FBI laboratory findings on the cocaine bag to the FBI and the Secret Service, but so far, the Secret Service FOIA office has denied RCP’s request for expedited service and the FBI’s counterpart has yet to respond.
Two sources tell RCP that Secret Service surveillance video clearly shows all the White House staff and other individuals who entered through the West Wing entrance, where the agency says the cocaine was found inside a locker in a vestibule leading to a lobby area down the hall from the Situation Room. The Secret Service, however, never interviewed that group of individuals, citing the FBI’s alleged inability to find sufficient DNA evidence to link the cocaine to anyone.
There are strict narcotics evidence retention policies for many federal law enforcement agencies. Department of Justice agencies, including the DEA and the FBI, must retain the narcotics evidence for two months before destroying it unless it is deemed abandoned or no longer needed as evidence.
The Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Secret Service, has no specific publicly documented policy for destroying abandoned narcotics. The Secret Service also did not respond to a request for any written policy it followed when it sent the cocaine bag to D.C. police for destruction.
The push to quickly destroy the cocaine factors into allegations RCP reported last fall in which three sources alleged that former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and others in top agency leadership positions wanted to destroy the cocaine quickly but faced internal resistance from the Secret Service Uniformed Division and the Forensics Services Division.
The Uniformed Division, which is charged with protecting the facilities and venues for presidents, was a key player in the decision-making because one of its officers had discovered the cocaine on July 2, 2023, a quiet Sunday when President Biden and his family were at Camp David in Maryland. On Sunday night, after Secret Service Technical Services Division officers couldn’t identify the white substance, the Uniformed Division locked down the White House and called in the D.C. Fire Department hazmat teams to ensure that it wasn’t anthrax or ricin.
The discovery of the bag of cocaine posed a problem for Cheatle, who resigned in the face of bipartisan pressure after the July 13 assassination attempt against Donald Trump.
Hunter Biden had a well-documented addiction to cocaine, crack cocaine, and other substances for many years but repeatedly claimed to be sober since 2021, an assertion that had prompted former President Biden to often proclaim how “proud” he is of his son. While neither Joe nor Hunter Biden were at the executive mansion when the cocaine was found, it was discovered after a period when Hunter had been staying there.
Cheatle became close to the Biden family while serving on Vice President Joe Biden’s protective detail – so close that Biden tapped Cheatle for the director job in 2022, in part because of her close relationship to first lady Jill Biden.
During the feverish speculation in the days and weeks after the cocaine’s discovery, the White House refused to answer whether the cocaine came from a Biden family member and labeled as “irresponsible” reporters who asked about a possible link to Hunter or another Biden family member.
It’s unclear exactly when Cheatle and other top officials tried to persuade the Forensics Services Division to destroy the evidence. At some point during the brief investigation, Matt White, the vault supervisor, received a call from Cheatle or someone speaking on her behalf asking him to destroy the bag of cocaine because agency leaders wanted to close the case, according to two sources in the Secret Service community.
White’s boss, Glenn Dennis, head of the Forensics Services Division, then conferred with the Uniformed Division, which first discovered the cocaine.
At some point, Cheatle appears to have overruled Richard Macauley, who appears to have paid a price in his Secret Service career – at least temporarily – for standing his ground.
At the time of the cocaine’s discovery, Macauley was serving as the acting chief of the Uniformed Division after the recent retirement of Alfonso Dyson Sr., a 29-year veteran of the agency. When Dyson left his position, Macauley, who is black, and was named the Secret Services Uniformed Division Officer of the Year in 2018, became acting director. Despite Cheatle’s push to hire and promote minority men and women, Macauley was passed over for the job of Uniformed Division chief in what some in the agency suspected was an act of retaliation for supporting those who refused to dispose of the cocaine. Cheatle brought in Mike Buck, an agent who was in retirement, to serve in the top U.D. role instead of Macauley.
After Trump chose Sean Curran to lead the agency, however, Buck left, and Curran tapped Macauley to replace him.
Shifting Secret Service public statements, overly redacted documents, and media misinterpretations have contributed to an avalanche of lingering questions about the cocaine. Several major media outlets initially reported that the Secret Service had discovered the drug in the White House library, citing a D.C. Fire EMS dispatch call that appeared to state that the substance was found there. This information was based on early communications from a firefighter on the hazardous materials team who radioed into headquarters about a “yellow bar saying cocaine hydrochloride” and another statement about “no match found in the library” during the response to the incident.
Several hazmat experts tell RCP that the reference to the “library” was not a physical location in the White House but a reference to the chemical library from a handheld device known as a “Gemini” that fire departments and others use to identify substances.
Mike Parsons, a product manager for Thermo Fisher Scientific, the company that manufactures the Gemini handheld device, said the term “library” is used to identify the collection of chemical spectra that the Gemini can identify and display on its screen.
“The library is built on known samples and substances,” Parsons said in an interview. “It’s going to compare the spectra collected in the field to the spectra in the library and make an identification match.”
After correcting mistaken reports that the cocaine was found in the White House library, media reports then cited a Guglielmi statement that the cocaine was found in a “West Wing workspace.” Days later, Guglielmi clarified further that it was found in a small locker in a vestibule near the West Executive Avenue entrance to the West Wing, a heavily trafficked area where visitors and lower-level staff store electronics before VIP tours.
A FOIA-released internal Secret Service document further muddied the waters by claiming that the cocaine was found in the “[redacted] lobby floor,” creating even more suspicion surrounding the location where the cocaine was first discovered. Sources familiar with the statement in a Secret Service Protective Division document said it was not a reference to the physical floor of a room, but the lobby level of the West Wing where the lockers were located in a vestibule leading into it.
The Secret Service has confirmed that “locker 50,” where the cocaine was allegedly left, has a missing key.
Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ national political correspondent.
