Good Day, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful.
Why Are Trump’s Sons Cashing In At The Pentagon?
Democratic lawmakers just asked the Pentagon’s watchdog to open an investigation. Here’s why. The Washington Post found that fifteen companies backed by Donald Trump Junior and Eric Trump have pulled down $3.2 billion in federal contracts, investments and loans. Most of that money landed after Trump took office again. And there’s another $3.1 billion in future contract options sitting on the table. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Robert Garcia, Senator Richard Blumenthal and Senator Tammy Duckworth signed the letter to Inspector General Platte Moring. They wrote about a “growing cloud of corruption” hanging over defense contracting. The brothers run two investment funds, 1789 Capital and American Ventures, and they’ve poured money into drone makers, quantum chip startups and rare earth companies. No law says they can’t. That’s the problem. When the president’s family gets rich off war spending, the contract goes to the connected, not the qualified.
Did Michigan Just Break The Democratic Establishment?
Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary Tuesday night, and he did it against nearly every power broker in the party. Chuck Schumer quietly backed Congresswoman Haley Stevens. So did Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Senator Gary Peters. Outside groups dumped more than $60 million into the race, with about $54 million of it helping Stevens. AIPAC’s super PAC alone spent over $30 million trying to stop El-Sayed, the most it’s ever thrown at one race. He won anyway, by roughly one point. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had his back. Sanders put it plainly. “They want real change, and Abdul is a vehicle for that change.” El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers in November for a seat that could decide the Senate. Money still talks in American politics. But - It just doesn’t always win.
New Mexico Sues Trump’s Justice Department Over Epstein
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued the Justice Department Wednesday, along with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. The claim here is pretty simple. The federal government is blocking New Mexico from investigating sex crimes at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch outside Santa Fe. Torrez says the stonewalling “actively harms victims and undermines the public interest.” The suit landed the same day the state’s Survivors’ Truth Commission released its interim report, which faulted federal prosecutors in Manhattan for ignoring what happened in New Mexico while focusing on New York, Florida and the Virgin Islands. Epstein bought that ranch in 1993 and built a mansion with a private airstrip. Ghislaine Maxwell is serving twenty years for sex trafficking. Justice says court orders protect victim identities. Survivors called that laughable, since the department already published their names. Blanche could hand over the files today. He won’t.
Is Washington Planning Another Bay Of Pigs?
The New York Times reported Wednesday that the CIA has secretly built a Cuba task force. Its job is to pressure Havana into the economic and political changes Trump demands. The agency is already adding case officers who recruit spies, intelligence analysts, cyber operators and specialists in covert influence campaigns. The stated goal is to split Cuba’s political elite and push out leaders Washington considers hardliners. This follows Politico reporting that American spies and surveillance assets have flooded the island. Marco Rubio, the architect of all this, just called Cuba “an influence and espionage superpower” on Fox News. Cuba has ten million people and an energy grid that keeps going dark. One source called the buildup a tactical step toward possible military action. We’ve watched this movie before, and it ended at the Bay of Pigs.
Where’s Your Tariff Refund?
Apple got an estimated $2.2 billion back last quarter. Amazon got $600 million. Nike got $300 million. After the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs, the government now owes importers around $166 billion in refunds, and more than half is already paid. You paid too. The Tax Foundation says those tariffs cost the average household about $1,000 last year. Your refund is zero. Amazon is the rare exception, promising to pay back customers where it can trace the charges. Their finance chief said they’ll “proactively contact affected customers and automatically issue refunds.” Everybody else keeps the cash. Remember those $2,000 rebate checks Trump floated? They never came. The tariff was a tax on you, and the rebate went to the corporations.
And that’s the way it is, Today Thursday, August 6, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
