Today’s notice: Quorum-busting Texans talk to NOTUS. An ad in the Virginia governor’s race is confused about the bio of the candidate it’s supporting. RFK Jr.’s SNAP project has bipartisan support. And: Air Bresnahan.
THE LATEST
Texas Democrats on FBI threat: “They have no authority to come and hunt us down. They just don’t,” state Rep. Armando Walle told reporters on a video call Thursday after Sen. John Cornyn said Kash Patel had agreed to use FBI resources to find Democrats who fled the state.
Behind the stoicism, the Republican pressure is taking its toll. Walle wouldn’t disclose his location — or the details from a security briefing he and his colleagues had just been given.
“I’m terrified that the rhetoric coming from both my colleagues, the governor, the attorney general and the president is putting a dangerous target on our backs,” state Rep. Mary González told us. “When you’re saying, ‘Hunt them down, here’s our location, go get them,’ what do they think is going to happen?”
We don’t really know what the FBI is doing. The bureau has not issued any public statements since Cornyn’s announcement.
A lot has changed: The last time Texas Republicans asked the FBI to do this during a 2003 redistricting fight, the idea of bureau involvement was scandalous.
“It runs counter to everything really the FBI stands for,” J.J. Klaver, a former FBI supervisory special agent, told NOTUS’ Jose Pagliery. “There’s no federal crime here.”
Where the White House’s pressure might not be working: JD Vance traveled to Indiana on Thursday to push its Republican trifecta to redistrict. The state’s top GOP leaders sound noncommittal: “It is unusual to do it outside a census,” Gov. Mike Braun told Fox News on Thursday morning.
Open Tabs: WH economic adviser Stephen Miran nominated to Fed (CNBC); Netanyahu says Israel plans to take over all of Gaza (AP); Social Security offices lost 20% of staff this year (Axios); Federal Judge Halts Construction on ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ (NOTUS) Trump orders federal law enforcement to patrol DC (The Hill)
From the campaign trail
A new wrinkle in the Virginia governor’s race: “She fought for our freedom overseas,” says the narrator in a radio ad from the Glenn Youngkin-tied Spirit of Virginia PAC backing the Republican nominee, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
Earle-Sears served in the Marine Corps as a diesel mechanic in the 1980s, but NOTUS’ John T. Seward reports that there’s no evidence she ever deployed during her service.
From her 2023 book: “I don’t claim to have been on any foreign battlefields. Stolen valor is no joke among Marines.” The PAC and Earle-Sears’ campaign did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
From the White House
Still not sweating price hikes: “The Administration has consistently maintained that the cost of tariffs will be paid by foreign exporters who rely on access to the American economy,” White House spox Kush Desai told NOTUS’ Violet Jira as Trump’s tariff plan begins to kick in across many sectors in earnest.
Prices are not going up is the admin’s story when it comes to one of the biggest political risks it’s taking, and officials are sticking to it. On the other hand, here’s Syracuse University economist Devashish Mitra: “People keep talking about, ‘Oh, we haven’t had any inflation,’ but this is because we haven’t had high tariffs because the high tariffs are paused.” One side or the other is gonna be right!
Prime benefits: Amazon Web Services on Thursday gave the General Services Administration up to $1 billion in discounts. NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer reports it’s just one of many trips to the bargain basement offered to Trump by Big Tech lately: OpenAI offered $1-per-agency access to its premium products; Oracle slashed prices on government software contracts to the tune of 75%; Google chopped its federal contract prices by more than 70% and tossed in discounts on cloud computing to boot.
NOTUS Investigation
A congressman’s secret helicopter: Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan owns his own helicopter. But until Dave Levinthal uncovered this fact in his latest report for NOTUS, Bresnahan had never publicly disclosed it in his financial documents or to his constituents in one of Pennsylvania’s poorest districts.
The chopper: It’s a 2024 Robinson R66 with retail price between $1 million and $1.5 million. Dave tracked its purchase through an LLC called “RPB Ventures.”
The flights: Bresnahan has tried to keep them from public view. FlightAware says tracking is not available “per request from the owner/operator.” Dave uncovered more than two-dozen flights. The first came in the heated final weeks of Bresnahan’s 2024 campaign.
What campaign finance people say: Any government official who flies Air Bresnahan would be required to report it. Likewise, any campaigning the congressman does with his helicopter would require public accounting.
What Bresnahan’s team says: He bought the aircraft “to provide emergency response and inspection services that help keep seniors warm, hospitals powered, and schools open,” spokesperson Hannah Pope told Dave, but “since being elected to Congress, those business plans have been put on hold.”
Pope did not respond to questions about why it appears Bresnahan was trying to keep his helicopter a secret until NOTUS asked about it.
NEW ON NOTUS
Private prison windfall: CoreCivic’s net income is up 103.4% compared to the same quarter in 2024. Competitor GEO Group’s revenue is up $300 million compared to Q2 of last year, NOTUS’ Taylor Giorno reports. That’s all before Trump signed a massive new budget for ICE.
“This funding is a historic increase in funding provided to ICE … which we know will further drive demand for the solutions we provide,” CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger said on the Q2 earnings call.
SNAP sugar bans seem popular: The branding not as much. Twelve states have waivers to prohibit SNAP benefits from being used on soda and candy. Colorado is the first blue state to get the waiver (for soda). RFK Jr. says more blue states want in — they just don’t want the waivers branded as “MAHA,” since it’s become “kind of a partisan brand,” NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer reports.
New vax grant: The CDC quietly posted 10 new grant opportunities — almost half of them on immunizations and infectious diseases, NOTUS’ Margaret Manto reports. “I’d be surprised if these studies can make back what BARDA has lost in vaccine development and match the public health investment dollar for dollar, given that CDC funding has been stagnant or worse for years,” UPenn public health expert Nicholas Evans said.
More: Air Force Denies Retirement Pay for Trans Soldiers Pulled From Service, by Amelia Benavides-Colón
Some California Democrats Say Trump ‘Needs to Get Out of the Way’ of the Olympics, by Tinashe Chingarande;
Trump Admin Purges Top FBI Official, by Amelia Benavides-Colón
NOT US
- Video shows Department of Justice official urging Jan. 6 rioters to ‘kill’ cops, by Tom Dreisbach for NPR
- Jasmine Crockett is a no-show boss from hell who terrorizes staffers, aides say, by Steven Nelson for the New York Post
- Women shouldn’t hold office, says GOP woman now running for office, by TJ L’Heureux for the Phoenix New Times
- He Turned Around Detroit as a Democratic Mayor. Now He’s Ditching the Party. By John McCormick for The Wall Street Journal
Thank you for reading! If you like this edition of the NOTUS newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If this newsletter was shared with you, please subscribe — it’s free! Have a tip? Email us at tips@notus.org. And as always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on our newsletter at newsletters@notus.org.
Don’t miss the stories shaping Washington.
Sign in
Log into your free account with your email. Don’t have one?
Check your email for a one-time code.
We sent a 4-digit code to . Enter the pin to confirm your account.
New code will be available in 1:00
Let’s try this again.
We encountered an error with the passcode sent to . Please reenter your email.