Narativ with Zev Shalev (Audio)

NARATIV has obtained three previously unreported emails that directly implicate Donald Trump in knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. These emails, sent between 2011 and 2019, show Jeffrey Epstein explicitly stating that Trump knew about “the girls” and asked Ghislaine Maxwell to “stop.”One email reveals that a victim spent hours with Trump at Epstein’s house - but was never mentioned in testimony.Another shows Epstein and journalist Michael Wolff strategizing about how to leverage Trump’s denials for “political currency” during the 2016 presidential campaign.These are Epstein’s own words, in writing, to Ghislaine Maxwell and Michael Wolff.DOWNLOAD THE EMAILS EMAIL 1: “THE DOG THAT HASN’T BARKED” The first email was sent on April 2nd, 2011 - exactly one month after British newspapers published explosive exposés about Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre. Jeffrey Epstein writes to Ghislaine Maxwell: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump. [VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him, he has never once been mentioned.” Let me repeat that: A victim spent HOURS with Trump at Epstein’s house. Epstein is noting - with apparent satisfaction - that despite this victim’s testimony to authorities, Trump’s name “has never once been mentioned.” The context here is critical. This email came just weeks after the Mail on Sunday published photographs of Prince Andrew with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London townhouse. Prince Andrew was facing global media scrutiny. His reputation was being destroyed. But Trump? According to Epstein: the “dog that hasn’t barked.” Lev Parnas: “Now We Place Him in Epstein’s Home With a Victim” Lev Parnas, former Trump associate who has been cooperating with investigators, put it bluntly: “Trump kept boasting to everybody that he’s never been to Epstein Island. Well, now we place him in Epstein’s home with a victim for several hours. So these are very damaging.” This email doesn’t just show Trump’s connection to Epstein - it shows Epstein actively tracking which victims could or couldn’t implicate Trump.EMAIL 2: “HE KNEW ABOUT THE GIRLS”Fast forward eight years. January 31st, 2019.The Miami Herald has just published Julie K. Brown’s devastating “Perversion of Justice” investigation.Federal prosecutors are circling. Epstein will be arrested in just five months.And Epstein is emailing journalist Michael Wolff - the author who had unprecedented access to Trump for “Fire and Fury.” Epstein writes: “trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever. of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop” “Of course he knew about the girls.” “He asked ghislaine to stop.” This is Jeffrey Epstein explicitly stating that Donald Trump: - KNEW about the sex trafficking operation - ASKED Ghislaine Maxwell to stop These are not allegations from victims. This is Epstein himself, telling a journalist that Trump had direct knowledge. EMAIL 3: “POLITICAL CURRENCY”December 15th, 2015. Trump is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. CNN is hosting a debate in Las Vegas. And Michael Wolff emails Epstein with a heads-up: “I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you--either on air or in scrum afterwards.” Epstein replies: “if we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?” Now listen to Wolff’s response: “I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt.” This is a calculated strategy. Let Trump lie about the plane, the house. Then either expose him for “political currency” - or SAVE him to create a debt. Lev Parnas: Trump Was “Part of the Cover-Up” “What we’re starting to see is that Donald Trump was part of maybe the cover-up going back then, protecting himself and maybe laying out Epstein.” This suggests Trump wasn’t just aware of Epstein’s operation - he may have been actively involved in managing the fallout and controlling who got exposed. THE TIMELINE Subscribe to follow this investigation Share this story. Contact your representatives and demand a full investigation into Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Thank you Ellie Leonard, Stephanie G Wilson, PhD, Cat, Cathy R. Payne, Pamela, and many others for tuning into my live video with Lev Parnas! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

🌍 INTELLIGENCE COLLAPSE: The Five Eyes Alliance FracturesThe United Kingdom suspended intelligence sharing with the United States in the Caribbean after determining that Trump’s policy of bombing suspected drug boats amounts to illegal extrajudicial killing. British officials concluded their intelligence was being used to select lethal targets for strikes that have already killed 76 people. Canada and U.S. military lawyers echo Britain’s assessment: these operations violate international law.“I don’t think people understand how consequential this is,” Olga noted on today’s show. “US and UK have the closest intelligence sharing and are the closest allies forever. And here you have the UK concerned that the information they were providing was used to carry out these killings and they don’t want to be complicit in murder.” This marks the first time in the post-World War II era that Britain has cut intelligence cooperation with America over concerns about complicity in extrajudicial violence. The Five Eyes began fracturing in February after Zelensky was thrown out of the White House. In August, Tulsi Gabbard blocked allied access to Russia-Ukraine intelligence. Last month, Dutch intelligence publicly cut back NSA and CIA cooperation. Now Britain has made the break official and public.🔍 BROKEN PROMISES: Patel’s Betrayal of MI5FBI Director Kash Patel promised MI5 he would preserve a critical FBI liaison post in London that coordinates Five Eyes surveillance, including monitoring of China’s new embassy. He then abruptly eliminated the position as part of his bureau purge, reassigning the agent without notice. The betrayal reveals how Patel’s systematic gutting of counterintelligence veterans serves to isolate America from allied cooperation.⚖️ JUSTICE CORRUPTED: Rewarding Coup Plotters, Hunting InvestigatorsTrump issued “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons to 77 allies tied to the 2020 election subversion effort — Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell among them. Many face only state charges his pardons cannot legally touch. The Justice Department simultaneously opened a criminal inquiry into the intelligence officials who authored the 2017 assessment of Russian election interference, issuing up to 30 subpoenas targeting John Brennan, Peter Strzok, and Lisa Page. The 2017 assessment was validated by every subsequent investigation, including the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee. Yet Trump now criminally investigates analysts who reported accurate intelligence because he dislikes their conclusions.🔒 PRISON PRIVILEGES: Maxwell’s Special TreatmentA whistleblower told Rep. Jamie Raskin that Ghislaine Maxwell receives banned privileges in federal prison: custom meals, expedited mail, after-hours recreation, a service puppy in training, computer-enabled visits — all while preparing a commutation request for Trump. “Can you imagine every survivor who this woman basically raped and delivered to wealthy people?” Olga asked. “They’re sitting there locked within their horrors and their mind. And this woman is playing with f*****g puppies.” Meanwhile, Alexander Smirnov — the FBI informant who admitted fabricating the Biden-Burisma conspiracy — vanished from federal custody despite a six-year sentence, officials claiming he was “furloughed” with no forwarding address.👁️ SURVEILLANCE STATE: Mass Tracking Deployed at Public GatheringsDHS deployed the Homeland Security Information Network at college football games and campus protests, integrating live feeds from CCTV, drones, body cameras, and private cameras into real-time facial recognition searches. The surveillance infrastructure operates without disclosure to attendees and far exceeds what the public is told. Testing mass surveillance at football games normalizes the technology before deploying it against political opposition.Trump Tyranny Tracker airs Monday and Tuesday at 2PM ET on Narativ.org. Follow Olga Lautman’s essential tracking at OlgaLautman.Substack.com.Thank you Ellie Leonard, Richard Hogan, MD, PhD(2), DBA, Julie, HoldingTheLine, Maureen Drews, and many others for tuning into my live video with Olga Lautman! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.narativ.orgTara Palmeri has done extraordinary work documenting Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors in Tara Palmeri The Red Letter, giving voice to Virginia Giuffre and the women trafficked to the most powerful men in the world. She brought Bloomberg’s latest: federal prosecutors built a parallel money laundering investigation alongside the sex trafficking case. Simultaneous. And Eps…

Democrats swept every contested seat Tuesday night, from Mississippi to Georgia to Staten Island. The margins weren’t close. Twelve-point, fifteen-point victories in races where polls predicted tight finishes just days before. Record turnout across red states and blue states alike delivered a verdict the Trump administration couldn’t muddy or steal, despite laying groundwork to challenge results through coordinated disinformation from MAGA operatives and Russian bot networks claiming fraud at polling places.The victory matters because it demonstrates what Olga Lautman has insisted throughout nine months of tracking authoritarian developments: when enough people show up, no amount of election rigging or propaganda can stop them. The power of mass participation overwhelmed the infrastructure being constructed to control outcomes. But that infrastructure didn’t disappear Tuesday night. It’s still being built, piece by systematic piece.The Department of Homeland Security released Mobile Identify this week—an app available on Google Play that puts facial recognition technology in every local police officer’s pocket. Any sheriff or cop can now scan faces and check immigration status in real time, instantly retrieving personal data and deportation orders from federal databases. The tool extends DHS’s surveillance reach beyond ICE into thousands of municipal police departments nationwide.The technology doesn’t limit itself to immigration enforcement. Today it searches for immigrants. Tomorrow it searches for whatever list gets loaded into the system. That’s the pattern with surveillance capabilities once deployed—they find new applications regardless of original intent. Privacy laws that should prevent this kind of warrantless scanning have been circumvented entirely. States have leverage to push back, but doing so requires recognizing the threat.Meanwhile, DHS is building a biometric database that will store facial recognition data and personal information from every foreign traveler entering or leaving the United States—for 75 years. The retention period reveals the purpose. No legitimate security function requires keeping facial scans for three-quarters of a century. That timeframe serves permanence, not protection. The database will start at airports before expanding to land and sea ports, creating what cybersecurity experts immediately identified as a massive honeypot for hackers and state actors.The third element connects the others. DHS plans to merge state driver’s license databases into its SAVE system, creating a national citizenship verification tool that links Social Security numbers, passport records, and visa information. Privacy experts warn the architecture enables both mass surveillance and systematic errors that could strip citizens of rights through false flags. The federal government is essentially compelling states to hand over DMV records for a backdoor national ID system that will interface with every other database being constructed.Connect these three initiatives and the design becomes clear: local police with facial recognition apps checking against 75-year biometric databases, all cross-referenced through a national citizenship verification system. Each component amplifies the others. This is infrastructure for tracking and controlling movement at scale, being deployed before it’s needed for its ultimate purpose.The information environment is being shaped simultaneously. Laura Loomer received Pentagon press credentials this week, joining Gateway Pundit and LindellTV in a Trump-aligned press corps gaining access as major outlets—including Fox News—walked out over new rules banning journalists from seeking information not pre-approved by the government. When propagandists replace journalists at Pentagon briefings, that’s not coincidence. It’s information control following the Russian playbook from the early 2000s, when regular journalists got pushed out and replaced with state media.The Pentagon specifically matters because they’re not just cutting off legacy media—they’re banning personnel from speaking to Congress. No accountability to elected representatives, no independent reporting, just information filtered through loyalists like Loomer who have built platforms attacking officials deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump.And here’s where Tuesday’s election intersects with the surveillance infrastructure: Trump-appointed election denier Heather Honey and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi are still publicly calling for Trump to declare a national emergency to federalize election administration. Corsi claims he’s drafting the executive order for future implementation. The person who led Stop the Steal efforts in Arizona now holds a position inside DHS telling state officials how to secure their elections—the definition of putting the arsonist in charge of fire prevention.Tuesday proved mass participation defeats prepared theft. Democrats didn’t just win—they won big enough that pre-positioned disinformation couldn’t muddy results. Voters showed up in California for a state proposition in numbers that signal where public sentiment stands. Young voters turned out in impressive numbers across the board. The blue wave overwhelmed the machinery being assembled to prevent exactly this outcome.But the machinery persists. The surveillance systems being deployed, the press access being restricted, the emergency powers being drafted—none of that went away Wednesday morning. The 75-year database still gets built. The facial recognition apps still get distributed. The citizenship verification system still gets merged. These aren’t tools for governing. They’re tools for control, being put in place while they can be justified as routine security measures, ready to be activated when the next crisis provides pretext.The victory Tuesday matters. It proves resistance works. It demonstrates that turnout can overcome rigging when margins are big enough. But it doesn’t eliminate the need to understand what’s being constructed in parallel. Authoritarian infrastructure doesn’t announce itself with dramatic reveals. It accumulates through bureaucratic expansion until the architecture is complete.That’s Day 290. The people showed up Tuesday. The question is whether they’ll stay engaged enough to dismantle what’s being built while it’s still under construction.Thank you Nick Paro, Noble Blend, Stuart Cohen, Maggie Birmingham, Bud Jones, and many others for tuning into my live video with Olga Lautman and Ellie Leonard! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

I joined Shane Yirak on Firebrands United to discuss yesterday’s Democratic sweep and what it actually means. We talked about how Mamdani’s victory shows voters want policies that work for the middle class, not more identity politics. The conversation moved through corruption in both parties, the power of independent journalism, and how open-source investigation lets a 25-year-old in a dark room find answers that used to be hidden. I talked about my Greatest Heist investigation—specifically the second book documenting Epstein’s role in the 2008 collapse and JP Morgan Chase’s involvement. Shane and I agreed we’re in an information war. The weapon is truth, documented and verified. That’s how we win.Thank you Centered America, Pamela, P. J. Schuster, Jeanne Elbe, Jennifer Wells, and many others for tuning into my live video with Shane Yirak! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

Two weeks ago, Michael Wolff received a letter threatening a billion-dollar lawsuit if he didn’t retract statements about Melania Trump’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein. Instead of backing down, Wolff did something remarkable: he sued the First Lady first.“I certainly wasn’t gonna say that this was not true, recant it, apologize for it, no less pay them a billion dollars,” Wolff told me. His lawyers explained the Trump playbook: file lawsuits you know you won’t win for the express purpose of causing “so much brain damage that people relent. They say, okay, fine, I’ll just walk away from this.”This wasn’t retreat—it was a calculated offensive that transformed Wolff from threatened journalist into subpoena-wielding prosecutor. Under New York’s anti-SLAPP laws, designed to protect free speech from intimidation lawsuits, Wolff now has the power to compel both Melania and Donald Trump to answer questions under oath about their relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex trafficker who died in federal custody under suspicious circumstances.“To be perfectly honest, I’d like nothing better than to get Donald Trump and Melania Trump under oath and actually find out all of the details of their relationship with Epstein,” Wolff told me during tonight’s interview. That prospect—Trump under oath discussing Epstein—represents the disclosure the Trump family has spent years and millions of dollars trying to prevent.The Photographs No One Has SeenWolff’s credibility on this subject comes from direct observation. In 2014, while interviewing Epstein for a potential biography, Epstein unlocked a safe in his Palm Beach home and displayed photographs “like playing cards” on a table—images showing Donald Trump with young, topless women. One photograph captured Trump in light-colored pants with a visible stain while multiple girls around him pointed and laughed.When Wolff urged Epstein to make these photographs public once Trump became president, Epstein refused, suggesting he “wasn’t crazy” enough to cross Trump. The implication: even Epstein, who trafficked underage girls and blackmailed powerful men, feared what Trump might do in retaliation.These photographs exist somewhere. The question is whether they’re buried in FBI evidence rooms or hidden in the still-unreleased “Epstein files” that both parties claim they want public but somehow never materialize.The Modeling ConnectionBoth Trump and Epstein were obsessed with models—supermodels, runway models, catalog models, girls who dreamed of being models. This wasn’t casual interest; both men invested in modeling agencies and used them as recruitment pipelines. Melania fits directly into this ecosystem, arriving in New York in the 1990s when both Trump and Epstein were prowling the modeling circuit.Photographs place all three together—Trump, Melania, and Epstein—at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, alongside Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew. This wasn’t a chance encounter; this was their world. The lawsuit threatening Wolff objects to him saying Melania “knew” Epstein, despite photographic evidence of exactly that.The Trumps aren’t suing because Wolff is lying. They’re suing because he’s telling the truth, and they’re using litigation as a weapon to exhaust, intimidate, and silence anyone who connects those dots publicly.Epstein’s Tapes and Trump’s BubbleWolff has released portions of his recorded interviews with Epstein, including Epstein casually describing himself as Trump’s “closest friend for ten years” and boasting intimate knowledge of Trump’s sexual habits. On tape, Epstein claimed “the first time [Trump] slept with [Melania] was on my plane”—suggesting their relationship began within Epstein’s orbit, on the infamous “Lolita Express.”“I’ve long since come to understand that there are many things going on simultaneously in Jeffrey Epstein’s life,” Wolff reflected. Epstein operated under a “complex web of cause and effect that seemed like it could at any time take him down or make him rich.” Yet somehow he survived—until he couldn’t. It’s a tale of two friends: one becomes president, the other dies alone in a jail cell.When I asked Wolff how Trump would react to his electoral defeats in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York, his answer revealed something crucial about Trump’s survival mechanism: “Donald Trump lives in his own world. It’s a bubble reality. In his mind, the world is as he wants it to be, and he pushes forward on that basis and only on that basis. There’s never a recalibration.”Trump is “a man without an inner life,” Wolff added, which explains how he compartmentalizes everything—including his friendship with a sex trafficker who knew too much.This explains how Trump survived four criminal indictments, a conviction, and now mounting evidence of his Epstein connections. He simply denies reality exists and assumes his will wins in the end. It’s worked so far.What Comes NextWolff isn’t just defending himself—he’s going on offense. His new Substack, “Howl,” will document the legal case in real-time while methodically telling the Epstein story and covering Trump’s White House. He’s launched a GoFundMe to cover legal expenses because taking on a sitting president and First Lady requires serious resources. The Trumps have threatened or sued James Carville, The Daily Beast, and others over Epstein connections—most backed down or settled. Wolff’s fighting back, and he needs support to sustain a legal battle against unlimited Trump family resources.“Right now, I’m just suing the First Lady with an eye that that might be the ultimate book,” Wolff quipped. He’s not planning another traditional Trump book—he’s done writing about White House chaos from the inside. But a legal discovery process forcing Trump to answer questions about Epstein? That’s a different book entirely.But the stakes justify the cost. If Wolff succeeds in forcing Trump to testify under oath about Epstein, it could crack open the scandal that Trump has spent a decade trying to bury. We’ll finally get answers about the nature of their friendship, what Trump knew about Epstein’s trafficking operation, and whether Melania’s introduction to Trump happened through Epstein’s network.The legal threats from Melania’s lawyers included James Carville and The Daily Beast among their targets. Most backed down. Wolff didn’t. He turned their billion-dollar threat into subpoena power, their intimidation into investigation.Trump’s bubble reality may have protected him from four indictments, but it can’t protect him from sworn testimony. And that’s why Melania’s lawyers are threatening everyone who mentions Epstein’s name—because once Trump has to answer questions under oath, the bubble pops.Michael Wolff just called their bluff. Now we’ll see if they’re willing to actually go to court and defend what they’ve spent years trying to hide. Wolff needs resources to sustain this fight—the GoFundMe link is available on his Substack. This isn’t just about one journalist’s legal defense; it’s about whether anyone can force Trump to tell the truth about Epstein under oath.Michael Wolff ’s Substack “Howl” provides real-time updates on the Melania lawsuit, methodical Epstein reporting, and Trump White House coverage. His GoFundMe for legal defense is linked on his Substack at michaelwolff.substack.com. Subscribe to support independent journalism that powerful people are trying to silence.Thank you Ellie Leonard, J Dziak, Debbie Hupp, Robin Payes, Ang Traders, and many others for tuning into my live video with Michael Wolff! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

Democratic institutions are being systematically hollowed out, replaced with performance and propaganda while actual power consolidates behind closed doors.🏛️ Senate Theater While China WinsThe Senate passed three resolutions this week opposing Trump’s tariffs—51-47 against global tariffs, 50-46 on Canada, 52-48 on Brazil. Four Republicans crossed party lines in each vote: Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski. The headlines wrote themselves about bipartisan pushback and cracks in Republican unity.But the House enacted rules blocking these resolutions from ever reaching the floor. Trump’s tariffs remain fully in force. The votes were theater—carefully staged resistance that changes nothing.While senators performed their constitutional duties for the cameras, analysts assessed Trump’s Beijing summit with Xi Jinping. The verdict was unanimous: China won decisively. Beijing secured immediate tariff rollbacks and suspended rare earth export controls without making a single structural concession on intellectual property, forced technology transfer, or Taiwan. Trump received publicity around soybean purchases and fentanyl cooperation—talking points for farm country ahead of 2026. Both leaders declared victory, but only one side extracted concrete gains.The juxtaposition reveals how power actually works now. Congress stages symbolic votes while Trump hands authoritarian allies what they want. American consumers pay 47 percent more for Chinese goods nearly a year into these tariffs, and the Supreme Court hasn’t even ruled on whether Trump had legal authority to impose them. If the Court strikes down the tariffs, the trillions collected become an accounting nightmare—how do you rebate tariffs incorrectly charged to every American?⚔️ DOGE Seizes Military ControlBut the tariff theater obscures something more dangerous. Trump’s DOGE unit, which came top life under Elon Musk, is executing a military takeover in plain sight. DOGE now controls the Pentagon’s drone overhaul, bypassing traditional procurement to acquire 30,000 drones. Separately, Rear Admiral Kurt Rothenhaus—a decorated officer who oversaw billions in naval research funding—was removed and replaced by Rachel Riley, a 33-year-old former DOGE employee and McKinsey partner with no naval experience. Riley previously pushed for mass layoffs of 8,000 HHS employees before being moved to control naval research.Senator Mark Kelly, a former naval aviator, called the appointment “highly unorthodox.” That understates what’s happening. The Office of Naval Research, created by Congress in 1946, has historically been led by senior military officers with extensive experience in technology, science, and engineering. Now a civilian political operative controls billions in military research funding and weapons procurement. This isn’t efficiency—it’s the systematic replacement of military expertise with personal loyalty.🔒 Democrats Locked Out of War BriefingsThe military purge extends to information control. The Trump administration held a Republicans-only briefing on U.S. strikes near Venezuela that killed nearly 60 people. Democrats were systematically excluded from discussions about military operations that have resulted in at least 61 deaths across 14 known strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific over two months. Senator Mark Warner warned this politicizes military decision-making and eliminates congressional oversight of escalating Caribbean operations.When the opposition party loses access to information about ongoing military strikes, oversight becomes impossible. The bipartisan briefing system that survived previous administrations—including genuine national security crises—has been discarded. Congress can’t check what it can’t see.📝 Erasing January 6 From HistoryThe Justice Department, now under Jeanine Pirro’s control, is erasing January 6 from official records. Two federal prosecutors were placed on administrative leave after describing the January 6 crowd as a “mob of rioters” in a sentencing memo for Taylor Taranto, a Trump-pardoned insurrectionist later arrested near Barack Obama’s home with weapons. The DOJ replaced their memo with one that omits any reference to the Capitol attack or Trump’s role in inciting it. Prosecutors are being punished for stating facts in court documents. The written record is being rewritten in real time.📱 Facial Recognition Deployed on CitizensAnd the surveillance state is expanding onto American streets. Videos show ICE and Border Patrol agents using facial recognition technology called Mobile Fortify on people in public spaces, including minors, to “verify citizenship.” An agent in Chicago pointed a phone at a teenager’s face after the teen said he had no ID, then asked him to confirm his name. Technology once justified for border security now scans citizens without warrants, legislative authorization, or public debate.🔴 The Pattern Is ClearDay 283 connects: symbolic congressional votes that change nothing, military functions controlled by political operatives, opposition lawmakers locked out of war briefings, prosecutors punished for documenting violence, and facial recognition deployed on citizens. The pattern isn’t complicated. Democratic guardrails aren’t bending—they’re being systematically dismantled and replaced with mechanisms of authoritarian control.The Senate can vote all it wants. But while they’re voting, actual power is being transferred to unelected loyalists, opposition oversight is being eliminated, history is being erased, and surveillance is expanding. Theater can’t stop what’s happening when the stage itself is burning.Trump Tyranny Tracker airs Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7PM ET with Zev Shalev and Olga Lautman. Follow Olga’s essential daily tracking at Trump Tyranny Tracker on Substack. For more investigative reporting, visit Narativ.org.Thank you Cathy R. Payne, Rachel Hendricks, Agent#99, Yvette, GW B, and many others for tuning into my live video with Olga Lautman! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

Technical issues kept us from going live on Substack but thankfully we recorded the show. The final assault on voting rightsThe Supreme Court heard arguments today on a Section 2 case that will determine whether Congress retains any power to enforce constitutional limitations on presidential authority. The case centers on Republican efforts to eliminate congressional seats currently held by Black Caucus members through aggressive gerrymandering. Legal experts expect the conservative majority to approve these changes, potentially handing Republicans 19 additional House seats while delivering what Olga Lautman calls “the final nail in the coffin of the Voting Rights Act.”Congress on permanent vacationThe timing matters. While the Court systematically erodes voting protections, House Speaker Mike Johnson has kept Congress shuttered for over a month—an unprecedented taxpayer-funded vacation during a government shutdown. Federal workers and military families stand in food bank lines while their representatives refuse to work. Johnson hasn’t even sworn in Arizona’s elected representative after five weeks. The House closure has nothing to do with the shutdown impasse; Johnson could bring members back to conduct the people’s business without addressing budget negotiations. Instead, he’s created a power vacuum that serves Trump’s interests perfectly, eliminating congressional oversight precisely when it matters most.Pentagon builds wall of secrecyThat vacuum becomes dangerous when combined with Pentagon stonewalling. Both Republican and Democratic senators are demanding information about Trump’s military buildup in Latin America—aircraft carriers, fighter jets, thousands of troops operating under unprecedented secrecy. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has imposed non-disclosure agreements on military officials involved in the operations and simultaneously cut off congressional access and press briefings. The response to bipartisan congressional inquiries? Nothing. The constitutional requirement for congressional oversight of military operations has been replaced with a wall of silence that conceals not just operational details from the public, but the very existence of these buildups from Congress itself.When utilities become weaponsMeanwhile, essential services have become surveillance infrastructure. Court records reveal that ICE and the FBI obtained Con Edison customer data, but the utility refuses to confirm whether warrants or court orders were required. The company’s silence follows revelations that federal agents conducted searches of its data systems. In a city where Con Edison holds a monopoly, immigrant communities now face an impossible choice: maintain electricity or risk deportation. The pattern extends beyond immigration enforcement. As Olga notes, utilities cooperating with federal authorities today to target immigrants can easily expand tomorrow to anyone who speaks out against the regime. When basic services become weapons of state control, everyone becomes vulnerable.Monuments to authoritarianismTrump completed the week by purging all six members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts—the independent body tasked with reviewing his $300 million White House ballroom and triumphal arch. The Biden-appointed commissioners received termination emails just as they prepared to assess projects designed to glorify Trump’s presidency. They’ll be replaced with loyalists who won’t question the demolition of the people’s house or the anonymous donations funding its transformation into a palace. The scale suggests this is merely the beginning—a symmetrical expansion that will remake the White House into something approaching Mar-a-Lago’s gaudy ostentation, paid for through untraceable contributions that function as another avenue for pay-to-play schemes with foreign governments.The through-line connects each story. Courts eliminate voting protections while Congress remains deliberately inactive. Military operations proceed without oversight while utilities hand over customer data without warrants. Independent commissions get purged to approve vanity projects that glorify authoritarian power. Each institution designed to provide checks on executive authority either lies dormant, actively collaborates, or gets replaced with loyalists.Olga’s warning cuts through the noise: “It might seem like nothing right now, but it’s going to creep into your lives. It’s going to creep into your workplace. It’s going to creep into your futures, into your children’s futures.”The machinery of democratic accountability isn’t breaking down. It’s being systematically dismantled, piece by piece, while those elected to defend it take five-week vacations. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

Heather Honey spent six months in 2021 searching Arizona ballots for bamboo fibers and hidden watermarks. The Cyber Ninjas audit she helped run became a national punchline—faulty analysis, inaccurate claims, misleading conclusions. Maricopa County officials eviscerated their work. The conspiracy collapsed under scrutiny.In August, Trump made her Deputy Assistant Secretary for Election Integrity at the Department of Homeland Security.A month later, Honey convened a conference call with election officials from nearly all 50 states. Instead of briefing them on protecting the 2026 midterms, she questioned whether DHS cybersecurity experts had overstepped by combating election misinformation. She accused the Federal Election Security Center of censorship. Officials left the call alarmed. One told reporters: “I don’t know if she’s stupid or lying.”Honey’s mentor is Cleta Mitchell, the lawyer who sat beside Trump on that infamous call pressuring Georgia officials to find votes. Mitchell now runs the Election Integrity Network, training what investigators describe as an organized cavalry of activists to embed as poll watchers and election monitors across battleground states. Recently, Mitchell floated something more audacious: Trump might invoke emergency powers to override state election authority, claiming threats to national sovereignty justify federal intervention.The Constitution forbids this. Even during declared emergencies, presidents have no authority over how states conduct elections. But constitutional limits only matter when people enforce them.Trump personally called Texas Governor Greg Abbott in August, ordering mid-decade congressional redistricting. The legislature complied, creating five new Republican-friendly districts. North Carolina passed their gerrymandered map last week, targeting Congressman Don Davis—one of only three Black representatives from a state where a third of residents are Black. Indiana Governor Mike Braun called a special session for November 3rd, making Indiana the fourth Republican state pursuing Trump’s redistricting scheme. Indiana Republicans already hold seven of nine congressional seats. They want all nine.Wednesday, the Supreme Court hears Louisiana v. Calais, designed to gut Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. If the conservative majority rules as expected, Republicans could eliminate minority-majority districts across the South and gain 19 additional House seats, wiping out 30% of the Congressional Black Caucus in a single legal strike.Meanwhile, Trump’s Justice Department is sending election monitors to California and New Jersey—not to protect voting rights, but to surveil Democratic states holding crucial off-year elections on November 4th. The surveillance runs in reverse now.Then there’s Dominion. Trump spent years attacking the voting machine company, forcing them to sue Fox News for defamation. Fox paid $787 million to settle. In October, Dominion was sold to Scott Leyendecker, former Republican elections director in St. Louis. He immediately rebranded the company as Liberty Vote and promised compliance with Trump’s executive orders. The machines Republicans claimed were rigged against them now belong to Republicans.Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of Fair Fight Action, frames the threat plainly: “We are under an autocratic onslaught at all levels.” The New York Times investigation she references shows Election Integrity Network operatives discussing how to manufacture pretenses for declaring national emergencies as far back as March. Max Flugrath, also of Fair Fight, emphasizes what too many miss: “Even in the event of some sort of national emergency being called, there is a very detailed list of powers that a president has. Any authority over how states run their elections is not one of them.”But authority and action diverge when institutions fail to hold the line. Trump declared Antifa a terrorist organization—Antifa isn’t an organization. He does and says anything that advances his agenda, normalizes the previously unthinkable, and depends on state-level sycophants to implement it.The machine operates across multiple fronts simultaneously: federal appointments of conspiracy theorists, mid-decade gerrymandering, Supreme Court cases targeting voting rights, partisan control of voting infrastructure, and systematic preparation to reject results that don’t favor Republican control. Each component reinforces the others. Together, they form something more dangerous than scattered tactics—a comprehensive system designed to ensure Trump controls Congress regardless of how Americans vote.Groh-Wargo stresses that partisan resistance alone cannot counter an autocratic threat of this scale. “To beat back this threat, we cannot just be in a partisan fight. We have to build a very, very broad coalition across ideology, across race, gender, across citizenship.” The coalition required spans beyond party politics into civil society, corporate America, higher education—anywhere capitulation currently replaces confrontation.The 2026 midterms represent the critical test. If Democrats can retake the House or Senate, constitutional checks on executive overreach might hold. If they cannot—if the election machinery Trump is installing delivers the predetermined results it’s designed to produce—the path forward darkens considerably.Fair Fight Action is organizing volunteer networks, legal challenges, and public awareness campaigns. They track developments, coordinate resistance, and build the broad coalitions necessary for sustained democratic defense. The work requires participation beyond clicking and sharing. It demands showing up, speaking out, refusing compliance with autocratic directives wherever they emerge.The coup didn’t end on January 6th. It paused, regrouped, and professionalized. Now it holds institutional power and knows exactly how to wield it. There is no time to spare. Every American should realize what’s at stake and do whatever you can legally do to stop it.Learn more and join the fight at fairfight.comThank you Ellie Leonard, Diane L. Green, Kendeth Sissy Young, Mary B, Natasha K., and many others for tuning into my live video with Max Flugrath and Rights & Insights! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

🏛️ TRUMP DEMOLISHES 1942 EAST WING FOR BALLROOMTrump’s crew is tearing down the entire East Wing—built in 1942 under FDR during World War II—without consulting the preservation commissions designed to prevent exactly this. The two-story structure housed the First Lady’s office and concealed the Presidential Emergency Operations Center bunker beneath it. Trump promised in July the project “won’t interfere with the current building” and wouldn’t be “touching it.” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in September that “nothing will be torn down.” Both lied. The entire wing is gone, replaced by a 90,000-square-foot ballroom that overwhelms the 55,000-square-foot White House. This isn’t Trump’s property to destroy—it’s the people’s house. The bunker renovation echoes Hitler’s Reich Chancellery design, with its grand ballroom positioned above the Führer’s underground bunker.⚖️ TRUMP PARDONS BINANCE FOUNDER WHO BACKED FAMILY CRYPTO VENTURETrump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s convicted founder who pleaded guilty to money laundering violations, just months after Zhao backed the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto venture. The pardon ends Zhao’s U.S. criminal liability and could lift restrictions on Binance’s return to the U.S. market despite the company’s $4.3 billion money-laundering fine. The pardon power has become a purchase point—invest in Trump family ventures, receive presidential clemency. This creates an explicit template: financial backing of Trump businesses buys freedom from federal prosecution.🛢️ TRUMP’S SANCTIONS THEATER: TEMPORARY PRESSURE ON PUTINTrump sanctioned Russia’s largest oil companies—Rosneft and Lukoil—after canceling another Putin summit, but immediately said he hopes they “won’t be on for long.” This is the same cycle since January: Trump sides with Russia, Europeans pull him toward Ukraine, Putin calls and reels him back. Last week he promised Tomahawks to Ukraine. Days later he screamed at Zelensky after talking to Putin. Lavrov made impossible demands to Rubio, the meeting collapsed, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte flew to Washington sounding alarms, and now we have temporary sanctions that won’t survive Putin’s next phone call.🎖️ HEGSETH LOCKS DOWN PENTAGON: CONGRESS AND PRESS CUT OFFDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth is consolidating authoritarian control through two simultaneous moves. First, he ordered all Pentagon communications with Congress to receive prior approval from his office, restricting even senior military leaders from independently briefing lawmakers on constitutional oversight matters. Second, the Pentagon created a “next generation” press corps dominated by pro-Trump outlets—The Gateway Pundit, LindellTV, Turning Point USA—after mainstream media rejected restrictive access rules. The New York Times and CNN surrendered credentials rather than submit to severe limitations. With Congress cut off and independent journalists excluded, accountability for military actions has been eliminated.📚 BONUS INTERVIEW: ELLIE LEONARD ON VIRGINIA GIUFFRE’S MEMOIRJournalist Ellie Leonard joined to discuss revelations from Nobody’s Girl that major outlets are burying. Giuffre describes secret rooms in Epstein’s mansion containing floor-to-ceiling photographs of underage victims, pinhole cameras recording everything throughout the house, and Palm Beach police working as Epstein’s private security—likely tipping him off before FBI raids so hard drives could be removed. This wasn’t just trafficking; it was an intelligence operation designed to compromise powerful people and facilitate criminal financial activity. Jamie Dimon’s JP Morgan provided banking infrastructure for 15 years. Bill Gates, Trump, Ehud Barak, Harvard administrators—all connected to an operation that has metastasized into networks now controlling the presidency. When Weinstein’s crimes broke, the Times fought to expose him. When Epstein’s operation gets documented—involving infinitely more power and money—silence. The girls weren’t the crime. They were insurance protecting much larger crimes. This is the origin story of the corruption that delivered us here, where presidents destroy landmarks without permission because oversight institutions were compromised decades ago. The demolition crews in the White House are making visible what’s been happening to American democracy for years. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.narativ.orgAdmiral Alvin Holsey served as commander of U.S. Southern Command for less than a year. The job typically lasts three. In those final Pentagon meetings before his resignation, Holsey did something a four-star admiral rarely does: he said no.Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wanted Venezuela invaded. Holsey’s staff ran the analysis. The answer came back clear: this requires an Operation Instant Thunder-style air campaign—the 30-day bombardment that preceded the first Iraq War. You’d need half the Air Force to suppress Venezuela’s Russian-built air defenses protecting Caracas. Then ground forces for occupation. Then years of counterinsurgency in a country the size of Texas and California combined.Holsey asked for written legal justification. The answer was silence.He asked again. Still nothing.So he resigned.Retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery explained the boat strikes that killed 27 people in carefully chosen words: “extremely unusual operations that a reasonable person could disagree with the legality of.” In military speak, that means illegal.The professional military drew its line. Admiral Holsey proved they can refuse. The harder question is what happens next.WHEN THE MILITARY WON’T, ICE WILLHere’s what happened after Holsey walked away: ICE’s weapons budget exploded. Between January and October, spending jumped from $9.7 million to $71.5 million—a 700 percent increase. The procurement records detail what they bought: chemical weapons, guided missile warheads, explosive components.Immigration agencies don’t need anti-tank weapons. Deportation operations don’t require grenade launchers. But domestic military operations do.Trump’s pattern reveals itself. When the professional military refuses illegal orders, build forces that won’t refuse. ICE answers to the president, not Congress. ICE operates without military legal oversight. ICE doesn’t face courts-martial for constitutional violations. And now ICE has an arsenal designed for war.The National Guard completes the picture. Texas troops deployed to Illinois over Governor Pritzker’s objections. California Guard federalized against Governor Newsom’s protests. Red-state forces patrolling blue cities—Portland, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington.An appeals court just authorized Guard deployment to Portland despite state resistance. The legal framework for military occupation of American cities is being constructed one judicial ruling at a time.So can the military stand up to Trump? One admiral did. But Trump’s response shows he doesn’t need the military’s cooperation—he’s building his own forces.Paid subscribers can access a deeper dive below

Demolition crews began tearing down the East Wing of the White House this week for Trump’s $250 million personal ballroom. The image has broken through in ways other Trump abuses haven’t—the physical destruction of the seat of American democracy captured in photographs that reveal exactly what’s happening to the country.By Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had ordered all Treasury Department employees not to photograph the destruction. The excuse? Images could “reveal sensitive security features.” The reality? They’re hiding Trump’s destruction of American institutions from the American people. Trump started demolishing this historic building without approval from the National Capital Planning Commission—the agency that must green-light work on government buildings. He bragged at a donor dinner that he was told “you can start tonight, you have no approvals” and “you can do anything you want.”The bunkers sit beneath that wing. Every foreign intelligence agency is now studying these photos for vulnerabilities. Who’s doing the construction? We saw this playbook at 10 Downing Street when Russian contractors wired the press room for surveillance. Trump is turning the White House into another Mar-a-Lago, complete with a throne room where he can hold court as America’s king. When authoritarians suppress documentation of their actions while claiming unlimited power, they’re showing you exactly what they are.🏛️ TRUMP CLAIMS “UNQUESTIONED POWER”Trump vowed to send National Guard troops into San Francisco, falsely claiming “unquestioned power” under the Insurrection Act. Crime rates in San Francisco have been falling, but that didn’t stop Elon Musk and David Sacks—unelected tech billionaires—from demanding military intervention in their city. California officials warned such action would be illegal. Trump doesn’t care. He’s conditioning Americans to accept military deployment in U.S. cities, invoking the Insurrection Act more frequently, testing boundaries before breaking them entirely. The same president demolishing the White House without approval now claims unlimited authority to deploy troops. The pattern reveals the plan.🕵️ SECRET POLITICAL PERSECUTION APPARATUSReuters uncovered the Interagency Weaponization Working Group—a secret operation involving the White House, DOJ, CIA, and ODNI coordinating Trump’s retaliation campaign against perceived enemies. They’re targeting anyone connected to the Russia probe, January 6 investigations, and COVID policies. Led by Attorney General Pam Bondi and DNI Tulsi Gabbard, the group includes 39 officials tied to Trump’s election fraud conspiracies and far-right movements. Intelligence agencies have turned inward against political opponents while the president claims unlimited authority and tears down institutional barriers. This isn’t isolated abuse—it’s systematic weaponization of the intelligence apparatus for political persecution.🚨 ICE ARMS ITSELF LIKE A MILITARYICE increased weapons spending by 700% under Trump—$71 million for “small arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories.” But the procurement lists reveal they’re buying guided missile warheads and explosive components. An immigration enforcement agency now possesses military-grade weaponry. This militarization connects directly to Trump’s threats of troop deployment and claims of unlimited power. When you arm a domestic agency with missiles while threatening to deploy military forces in American cities, you’re not preparing for immigration enforcement—you’re building infrastructure for authoritarian control.⚠️ INSTALLING A NAZI TO DESTROY WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONSPaul Ingrassia, Trump’s choice to head the Office of Special Counsel—the agency that protects whistleblowers—called Martin Luther King Jr. Day “a holiday that belongs in the seventh circle of hell” and bragged about having “a Nazi streak.” The 30-year-old used racial slurs, mocked civil rights, and declared his admiration for the “Hitler Youth.” Now imagine you’re a federal employee who witnessed Trump’s demolition of the White House—which Bessent ordered you not to photograph. The person in charge of protecting you from retaliation openly celebrates Nazi ideology. That’s not an accident—that’s the message. Speak up and a Nazi sympathizer controls your fate.THE SYSTEM REVEALS ITSELFEach development this week connects to build authoritarian infrastructure: demolishing institutions while suppressing documentation, claiming unlimited power while militarizing domestic agencies, running secret persecution operations while installing Nazi sympathizers to destroy whistleblower protections. This isn’t separate scandals. Trump tears down physical and institutional barriers simultaneously—the White House and democratic safeguards, both reduced to rubble while his Treasury Secretary hides the evidence. They’re not even pretending anymore. The demolition equipment operating at the seat of American democracy tells you everything about what’s being built in its place.Trump Tyranny Tracker airs live Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm ET on Narativ.org, available as audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Follow Olga Lautman’s essential daily tracking of authoritarian developments at trumptyrannytracker.substack.com.Thank you Caro Henry, An Mcgreevy, Dianne Bryant, Jami, Joseph Felser, and many others for tuning into my live video with Olga Lautman! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

John Bolton stood before a federal judge in Greenbelt, Maryland on Friday morning, pleading not guilty to 18 counts of mishandling classified information. The 76-year-old former national security adviser faces up to 180 years in prison for keeping diary notes about his time in the Trump White House—notes that were reviewed and cleared by White House classification officials before appearing in his 2020 book.As news of the indictment broke, Lev Parnas—who knows this playbook intimately—invoked a phrase he coined back in 2019: Bolton is “going through some things.”That expression was born when Trump and Rudy Giuliani targeted Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch for removal from Ukraine. When Ukrainians asked Lev what was happening to her, he gave them the answer that would become shorthand for political destruction: she’s “going through some things.” It was code for a hit job, a phrase that acknowledged the machinery of destruction without naming the destroyers.Now that same machinery has turned on Bolton.KHARKIV NEEDS YOU!Oleksandr Bolbirer from Voice from Ukraine will be traveling to Kharkiv over the next two weeks to deliver urgently needed dry shower packs to families—many of them elderly or with small children—who are struggling to maintain basic hygiene and protect themselves from disease. In a war zone where clean water and stable electricity can vanish in seconds, this is more than comfort. It’s survival.Every donation is an act of solidarity with the people of Ukraine. It says: You are not forgotten. We stand with you.Support the Kharkiv Hygiene CampaignRevenge Served Cold Lev Parnas spent 90 minutes this morning on our Week in Review show explaining exactly how this works—because he’s already survived it.Parnas went to prison for donating $2,500 to Pete Sessions using a corporate credit card. The same administration that prosecuted him watched Elon Musk contribute $350 million to Trump’s campaign. One man’s house got raided at dawn by a SWAT team. The other man now runs a government efficiency office with access to classified systems while simultaneously operating a social media platform that amplifies Russian propaganda.The difference wasn’t the crime. The difference was choosing the wrong side.Retribution In Real Time Bolton’s indictment follows the same pattern. His book was reviewed by Ellen Knight, the White House’s classification expert. Trump was furious it revealed his incompetence and pressured Knight for hours to say classified information had been disclosed. She refused—because there wasn’t any. The Biden Justice Department declined to prosecute. But Trump never forgot, and the moment he returned to power, the FBI raided Bolton’s home and office. Thursday’s indictment was inevitable.The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called it what it is: retribution. “If Bolton had praised Trump in his book,” they wrote, “it’s safe to say he wouldn’t have been indicted.”Trump Strikes Fear Here’s what makes this machinery so effective: most of the laws Bolton is accused of violating exist in a gray zone that nearly everyone in government operates within. As Lev explained this morning, the federal code is written so broadly that prosecutors could indict almost anyone if they wanted to. Tax law, campaign finance rules, classification protocols—they’re all interpretive minefields where selective enforcement is the norm.Trump hasn’t created new laws. He’s weaponized the existing ones by purging career prosecutors and installing loyalists who will indict his enemies while ignoring identical behavior by his allies. He cleared out the IRS agents and DOJ attorneys not to stop weaponization but to ensure the weapons only fire in one direction.Putin Calls, Trump Jumps While Bolton’s indictment dominated headlines, Trump was orchestrating another performance on the world stage. On Thursday, Vladimir Putin called. Hours later, Trump announced a summit in Budapest within two weeks and suddenly reversed course on sending Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine—weapons his Defense Secretary had just spent two days in Europe promising to NATO allies.The pattern is unmistakable. When Trump faces uncomfortable scrutiny—this time over his Epstein connections—Putin throws him a lifeline by offering a meeting. It happened in Alaska. It’s happening again in Budapest. Each time, Trump jumps on command while Ukrainians keep dying and Zelensky keeps making futile pilgrimages to Washington hoping for weapons that will never arrive.The Plan: Prolong Suffering, Then Claim Victory Lev described the plan as it was explained to him by sources: prolong Ukraine’s suffering, put them on their knees, then let Trump ride in as the savior who brokers Putin’s peace. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spent two days in Europe promising Tomahawks to NATO countries. Then Putin made one phone call, and Trump announced he doesn’t have enough Tomahawks for America’s own stockpile.No follow-up questions from the press about what America needs them for. No questions about why the Defense Secretary was overseas selling weapons Trump now claims don’t exist in sufficient numbers.A War At HomeLev made the stakes tangible. He described parents screaming at his kids during football games, making political gestures designed to intimidate. Strangers approaching his wife in supermarkets telling her he should be rotting in prison. Someone cutting them off in traffic this week, screaming obscenities because they recognized him.“We’re living in a war environment,” he said.That environment exists because Trump has given permission for it. Whether the harassment is coordinated or stochastic, the effect is the same: people who speak out face consequences that extend far beyond legal jeopardy. Their businesses suffer. Their families endure harassment. Their physical safety becomes questionable.No Kings, No Thieves, No TyrantsThis weekend, the No Kings protests will fill streets in cities around the world. Dean Blundell closed our show this morning with a warning and a call to action: Trump will look for any excuse to arrest protesters, to strip them of First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment protections. But the march must happen anyway.“Get into good trouble,” Dean said, channeling John Lewis. “No kings, no tyrants. We decide. We, the people.”While millions prepare to march for democracy, people are dying in Ukraine for democracy. Journalists, influencers, and citizens everywhere are working to expose authoritarianism wherever it emerges. The fight isn’t abstract anymore. It’s at the grocery store, at kids’ football games, in the boats being blown apart in the Caribbean, in the courtrooms where political enemies face decades in prison for offenses their accusers commit with impunity.Oleksandr Bolbirer from Voice from Ukraine will be traveling to Kharkiv over the next two weeks to deliver urgently needed dry shower packs to families—many of them elderly or with small children—who are struggling to maintain basic hygiene and protect themselves from disease. In a war zone where clean water and stable electricity can vanish in seconds, this is more than comfort. It’s survival.Every donation is an act of solidarity with the people of Ukraine. It says: You are not forgotten. We stand with you.Support the Kharkiv Hygiene CampaignCatch the full Week in Review conversation with Dean Blundell, Lev Parnas, and Zev Shalev at deanblundell.substack.com and levparnas.substack.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

John Bolton stood before a federal judge in Greenbelt, Maryland on Friday morning, pleading not guilty to 18 counts of mishandling classified information. The 76-year-old former national security adviser faces up to 180 years in prison for keeping diary notes about his time in the Trump White House—notes that were reviewed and cleared by White House classification officials before appearing in his 2020 book.As news of the indictment broke, Lev Parnas—who knows this playbook intimately—invoked a phrase he coined back in 2019: Bolton is “going through some things.”That expression was born when Trump and Rudy Giuliani targeted Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch for removal from Ukraine. When Ukrainians asked Lev what was happening to her, he gave them the answer that would become shorthand for political destruction: she’s “going through some things.” It was code for a hit job, a phrase that acknowledged the machinery of destruction without naming the destroyers.Now that same machinery has turned on Bolton.KHARKIV NEEDS YOU!Oleksandr Bolbirer from Voice from Ukraine will be traveling to Kharkiv over the next two weeks to deliver urgently needed dry shower packs to families—many of them elderly or with small children—who are struggling to maintain basic hygiene and protect themselves from disease. In a war zone where clean water and stable electricity can vanish in seconds, this is more than comfort. It’s survival.Every donation is an act of solidarity with the people of Ukraine. It says: You are not forgotten. We stand with you.Support the Kharkiv Hygiene CampaignRevenge Served Cold Lev Parnas spent 90 minutes this morning on our Week in Review show explaining exactly how this works—because he’s already survived it.Parnas went to prison for donating $2,500 to Pete Sessions using a corporate credit card. The same administration that prosecuted him watched Elon Musk contribute $350 million to Trump’s campaign. One man’s house got raided at dawn by a SWAT team. The other man now runs a government efficiency office with access to classified systems while simultaneously operating a social media platform that amplifies Russian propaganda.The difference wasn’t the crime. The difference was choosing the wrong side.Retribution In Real Time Bolton’s indictment follows the same pattern. His book was reviewed by Ellen Knight, the White House’s classification expert. Trump was furious it revealed his incompetence and pressured Knight for hours to say classified information had been disclosed. She refused—because there wasn’t any. The Biden Justice Department declined to prosecute. But Trump never forgot, and the moment he returned to power, the FBI raided Bolton’s home and office. Thursday’s indictment was inevitable.The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called it what it is: retribution. “If Bolton had praised Trump in his book,” they wrote, “it’s safe to say he wouldn’t have been indicted.”Trump Strikes Fear Here’s what makes this machinery so effective: most of the laws Bolton is accused of violating exist in a gray zone that nearly everyone in government operates within. As Lev explained this morning, the federal code is written so broadly that prosecutors could indict almost anyone if they wanted to. Tax law, campaign finance rules, classification protocols—they’re all interpretive minefields where selective enforcement is the norm.Trump hasn’t created new laws. He’s weaponized the existing ones by purging career prosecutors and installing loyalists who will indict his enemies while ignoring identical behavior by his allies. He cleared out the IRS agents and DOJ attorneys not to stop weaponization but to ensure the weapons only fire in one direction.Putin Calls, Trump Jumps While Bolton’s indictment dominated headlines, Trump was orchestrating another performance on the world stage. On Thursday, Vladimir Putin called. Hours later, Trump announced a summit in Budapest within two weeks and suddenly reversed course on sending Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine—weapons his Defense Secretary had just spent two days in Europe promising to NATO allies.The pattern is unmistakable. When Trump faces uncomfortable scrutiny—this time over his Epstein connections—Putin throws him a lifeline by offering a meeting. It happened in Alaska. It’s happening again in Budapest. Each time, Trump jumps on command while Ukrainians keep dying and Zelensky keeps making futile pilgrimages to Washington hoping for weapons that will never arrive.The Plan: Prolong Suffering, Then Claim Victory Lev described the plan as it was explained to him by sources: prolong Ukraine’s suffering, put them on their knees, then let Trump ride in as the savior who brokers Putin’s peace. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spent two days in Europe promising Tomahawks to NATO countries. Then Putin made one phone call, and Trump announced he doesn’t have enough Tomahawks for America’s own stockpile.No follow-up questions from the press about what America needs them for. No questions about why the Defense Secretary was overseas selling weapons Trump now claims don’t exist in sufficient numbers.A War At HomeLev made the stakes tangible. He described parents screaming at his kids during football games, making political gestures designed to intimidate. Strangers approaching his wife in supermarkets telling her he should be rotting in prison. Someone cutting them off in traffic this week, screaming obscenities because they recognized him.“We’re living in a war environment,” he said.That environment exists because Trump has given permission for it. Whether the harassment is coordinated or stochastic, the effect is the same: people who speak out face consequences that extend far beyond legal jeopardy. Their businesses suffer. Their families endure harassment. Their physical safety becomes questionable.No Kings, No Thieves, No TyrantsThis weekend, the No Kings protests will fill streets in cities around the world. Dean Blundell closed our show this morning with a warning and a call to action: Trump will look for any excuse to arrest protesters, to strip them of First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment protections. But the march must happen anyway.“Get into good trouble,” Dean said, channeling John Lewis. “No kings, no tyrants. We decide. We, the people.”While millions prepare to march for democracy, people are dying in Ukraine for democracy. Journalists, influencers, and citizens everywhere are working to expose authoritarianism wherever it emerges. The fight isn’t abstract anymore. It’s at the grocery store, at kids’ football games, in the boats being blown apart in the Caribbean, in the courtrooms where political enemies face decades in prison for offenses their accusers commit with impunity.Oleksandr Bolbirer from Voice from Ukraine will be traveling to Kharkiv over the next two weeks to deliver urgently needed dry shower packs to families—many of them elderly or with small children—who are struggling to maintain basic hygiene and protect themselves from disease. In a war zone where clean water and stable electricity can vanish in seconds, this is more than comfort. It’s survival.Every donation is an act of solidarity with the people of Ukraine. It says: You are not forgotten. We stand with you.Support the Kharkiv Hygiene CampaignCatch the full Week in Review conversation with Dean Blundell, Lev Parnas, and Zev Shalev at deanblundell.substack.com and levparnas.substack.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe