Shot: Powerus’s president said the company received the demand signal from the Pentagon and aims to deliver.

Chaser: Powerus went public this month by merging with a company backed by Don Jr. and Eric.

https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2026/10/12/newly-public-company-unveils-fully-autonomous-drone-interceptors/

Washington Times ran sponsored content from the president of drone manufacturer Powerus on Sunday.

Not mentioned: Powerus is backed by Don Jr. and Eric Trump.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/oct/10/affordable-enough-fire-fast-enough-evolve/

Juat a reminder that Katie Zacharia's most-recent job was a senior communications at Trump Media

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-zacharia/

"Two crypto firms with links to Trump family-backed company World Liberty Financial are embroiled in a $141mn legal battle that has shed light on controversial 'over-the-counter' deals popular in digital assets. "

Nikou Asgari for Financial Times

https://www.ft.com/content/e08fbdee-8268-4eb8-99b4-5f7089749d59?syn-25a6b1a6=1

"Karoline Leavitt Discloses Family Investments in Trump Media and Tesla"

Dave Levinthal for Washington Sun

https://www.washingtonsun.com/money/karoline-leavitt-discloses-family-investments-trump-media-tesla

"RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine views helped sideline a bird flu plan"

Rachel Shin, Marcia Brown for Politico

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/13/rfk-jr-s-anti-vaccine-views-helped-sideline-a-bird-flu-plan-01114568\

"The kratom millionaires quietly boosting the GOP" - Politico

Kratom is called "gas station heroin"

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2026/10/09/the-kratom-millionaires-quietly-boosting-the-gop-01115136

https://www.citizen.org/article/the-food-and-drug-administration-and-gas-station-heroin-the-kratom-crackdown-that-wasnt/

"The Pentagon Gave $350 Million in Contracts to a Firm Closely Tied to a Senior Defense Department Official"

Aaron Davis, Robert Faturechi for @ProPublica

https://www.propublica.org/article/george-kollitides-pentagon-contracts-alvarez-marsal

Substantial dip in the market cap of Trump's USD1 stablecoin over the past few days.

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/usd1-wlfi?chart=type%3Dmarket_cap%26mode%3Dline%26timeframe%3Dd30

New from us: actual gas pipeline CEO Sen. Alan Armstrong (R-OK) says his legislation weakening environmental reviews for pipelines will be in the permitting reform bill, to be taken up after the midterms.

It's been an oil & gas priority. He stands to make a fortune more if Williams Companies' stock rises. Full report for @sludge subscribers:

https://readsludge.com/2026/10/09/pipeline-ceo-turned-senator-wants-to-limit-states-power-to-block-pipelines/

Outside groups have spent nearly $2B this cycle, and a handful of them account for a growing share. The top 6 have each spent more than $60M, totaling $678M and 1/3 of all outside spending.

Read more: https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2026/10/outside-spending-nears-2-billion-and-the-biggest-groups-pull-further-ahead/

Pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake just threw another $6.1 million into political ads (which almost certainly don't mention crypto)

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00835959/2018439/se

"Trump Mobile failed to make required regulatory filings, senator claims"

Gerrit De Vynck for Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/10/08/trump-mobile-skipped-mandatory-federal-filings-sen-maggie-hassan-says/

Devin Nunes' old Congressional campaign is sitting on $15.7 million in cash, per new filing.

https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00370056/2017927/

"Corporations, executives, and investors benefiting from canceled enforcement gave or pledged $210.5 million toward MAGA Inc. and other Trump-aligned super PACs."

Rick Claypool for Public Citizen

https://www.citizen.org/article/cost-of-canceled-corporate-enforcement-200-million-trump-super-pac/

"Defense companies backed by the president's sons, including Anduril, have now raked in more than $6 billion dollars in active or promised government contracts."

Nathan Lee for ABC News

https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-sons-investments-won-billions-pentagon-contracts-election/story?id=137049598

"Since Sept. 1, the single biggest owner of the cryptocurrency has transferred roughly $70 million worth of $TRUMP to an account that would enable sale of its coins."

https://solscan.io/account/2RH6rUTPBJ9rUDPpuV9b8z1YL56k1tYU6Uk5ZoaEFFSK?flow=out&token_address=6p6xgHyF7AeE6TZkSmFsko444wqoP15icUSqi2jfGiPN&page_size=100#transfers

“'Regular buyers are urged to hold for a shot at dinner with the president, while tokens reserved for the coin’s creators head for the exits,'” Everson [that's me] said.

“'Tactics like this help explain how investors in Trump’s crypto ventures are billions underwater while he’s richer than ever.'"

New: As Trump's meme coin dangled a gala dinner with the president for its top buyers, the wallet holding the creators' tokens moved ~$70M of $TRUMP to an account where it can be sold.

@jeffstein.bsky.social for @washingtonsun.com

https://www.washingtonsun.com/economy/trump-meme-coin-firm-preparing-to-sell

"Hackers: We Stole Data From 3,615 Trump Mobile Customers"

Michael Kan for PC Mag

https://www.pcmag.com/news/hackers-we-stole-data-from-3615-trump-mobile-customers