SCOOP from @by-cjewett.bsky.social & me:
Markwayne Mullin urged the Department of Health and Human Service to remove warnings from the FDA website about the health risks of the gas station drug kratom.
Mullin owns equity in a leading kratom company called Botanic Tonics that could have benefited.
How the Kratom Industry Won Friends in the Trump Administration.
NEW: The tobacco company Reynolds American donated $5M to the Trump-backed super PAC MAGA Inc. on 4/30/2026.
8 days later, the Trump administration rolled out a new policy that could be very lucrative for Reynolds by allowing it to begin selling flavored vapes.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson sends a not-so-subtle signal to corporations seeking influence in the US House of Representatives, issuing an endorsement of his soon-to-be-former chief of staff, Hayden Haynes, who is joining the law & lobbying firm K&L Gates:
“He will remain like family to us…”
NEW: Under Biden, the DOJ indicted Indian billionaire Gautam Adani for “corruption & fraud at the expense of US investors.”
Adani hired Trump’s lawyer Bob Giuffra.
He told Trump’s DOJ that if they dropped the charges, Adani would invest $10b in the US.
DOJ is now planning to drop the charges.
🚨During lunch at his golf course with tobacco executives on May 2, Pres. Trump called Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Oz, furious.
He wanted action on flavored vapes. And he soon got it, prompting the FDA commissioner to resign.
w/ the amazing @kenvogel.bsky.social -->
🎁 www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/u...
POLL: 21% of Democrats believe that all three Trump assassination attempts were staged, vs 11% of Independents and 3% of Republicans, per @newsguard.bsky.social / @today.yougov.com www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/30-percent...
It has never sounded so good. youtu.be/gEKK3GVd150
I love everything about this. 🔔🔔🔔
I was in the market for a rag to clean my bathroom.
Thanks, @ny-knicks.bsky.social!
Go @sixersnba.bsky.social!
A sprawling influence campaign to promote a risky drug called kratom has gained allies among top Trump administration officials. Our investigative reporter Kenneth P. Vogel explains.
