The Hound | Feb. 19

Hi there,

It’s Thursday. Stephen Colbert continues to fire back at CBS as the network attempts their clean up the scandal of them yanking the interview with U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico from Texas. Trump’s ICE crackdown is impacting the hospitality industry according to workers. Higher education institutions are beginning to grow a backbone and fight back against the Trump administration’s efforts to gut DEI and strip accreditation. And Trump’s adult sons say their flagrant corruption is our fault.

New reporting on Donald Trump and his sons’ involvement in cryptocurrency ventures raises profound questions about conflicts of interest, foreign influence, and self-enrichment. When a former president and current political figure promotes or benefits from opaque digital financial schemes while seeking power, that is not a novelty business story—it is a corruption story with national security implications. When the press fails to follow the money, interrogate investors, and connect financial dealings to political influence, it allows potential corruption to hide in plain sight.

🖊️ Add your name to call on major news organizations to cover Trump’s cryptocurrency dealings as a central corruption issue—investigating financial backers, tracing potential foreign ties, and clearly explaining the conflicts posed by political power intertwined with private profit. Democracy depends on transparency about who stands to gain from public office.

Read about this, and more, with today’s stories:

Trump’s Sons Say Their Open Corruption Is Our Fault (The New Republic)

Colbert Takes CBS to Task, Again (Mother Jones)

Trump’s immigration siege is rattling hospitality industry, workers say (The Guardian)

Trump would like the government he leads to pay him billions (NPR)

It’s Correct and Moral to Use the Olympics to Speak Out About Politics (The Intercept)

Resistance Comes to Higher Education (The American Prospect)

How Often Does Child Welfare Call Police in Your State for Positive Drug Tests at Birth? (The Marshall Project)

Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential run inspired generations to carry his message (AP News)

Amid Mass ICE Arrests, Trump Pardon Recipient Juan Orlando Hernández Given Special Treatment (ProPublica)

Until next time,

Harry from The Hound

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