Whistleblower: Trump administration pushed elite universities into payments despite lack of evidence
Former U.S. Justice Department attorney Haley Van Erem is making serious allegations about the Trump administration's antisemitism investigations at elite American universities. Haley Van Erem, who had worked for nearly ten years in the department's Civil Rights Division, describes investigations whose outcomes, according to her account, were in some cases already decided before the evidence had been fully reviewed. The interagency task force created in February 2025 under then-Attorney General Pam Bondi allegedly sought to pressure universities into agreements and payments even when there was no sufficient legal basis for doing so.
Van Erem had been involuntarily assigned to the Department of Health and Human Services and worked there on investigations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Originally, the assignment was to investigate allegations of antisemitic incidents at medical school graduation ceremonies. At Columbia and Brown, that turned into an investigation of the entire university. Van Erem also accuses government officials involved in the investigations of targeting Middle East Studies faculty because of their academic work and other professors because of their Muslim faith. The allegation is especially clear in the case of Brown University. The investigative team reportedly found no evidence of a Title VI violation. Even so, leadership allegedly refused to close the investigation with a finding that no violation had occurred and instead continued pushing for a settlement. Brown ultimately paid $50 million to workforce development organizations in Rhode Island to end three federal investigations. No wrongdoing was found.
At Columbia University, investigators did find evidence of discrimination, according to Van Erem's account, but the investigation was accelerated before the facts and legal issues had been adequately reviewed. It also relied on allegations from media reports and court filings, as well as conduct that may have been protected by freedom of speech. Columbia paid $200 million and in return regained access to federal funding. The administration went even harder after Harvard. Government officials were already discussing massive funding freezes and sweeping settlement demands before an investigation had been completed that could have established a Title VI violation in the first place. Sean Keveney, then acting general counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services, allegedly said Harvard would probably settle because the university was "over a barrel." U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ordered the reversal of more than $2.6 billion in Harvard funding cuts in September 2025 and described the government's actions as unlawful retaliation.
A year later, the government suffered another defeat in the same federal court: Judge Richard G. Stearns dismissed the lawsuit on August 13, 2026, in which Harvard had been accused of failing to adequately protect Jewish students from harassment. The cases cited were too isolated to establish an ongoing civil rights violation. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin described the effort in a letter to Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, as a politically prepared operation against professors, university administrators and academic freedom. The Justice Department rejects that account and says it stands behind the integrity of its investigations. Van Erem left the department in May 2025. She says she did so because she was no longer willing to take part in investigations that, in her view, were politically motivated, unsupported by the facts and inconsistent with the law.
Trump cuts research funding - marmot scientists save 60 years of science with OnlyFans and cryptocurrency
A research project on marmots in the Rocky Mountains that has been running for more than 60 years nearly collapsed because of funding cuts by the Trump administration. Now, of all things, OnlyFans and a cryptocurrency are keeping the scientists in the field for at least another year. Yellow-bellied marmots have been studied at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory near Crested Butte, Colorado, since 1962. Researchers are now following the 11th generation of the animals, making it one of the world's longest continuously running studies of wild mammals.
After Washington drastically cut federal research funding, the money suddenly ran out. In June, the scientists therefore opened an account on OnlyFans, the platform mainly known for sexual content. Under the name "OnlyMarms," however, there are no naked people, just marmots running across rocks or disappearing into their burrows. "Our goal isn't really to sexualize the marmots," says UCLA professor Daniel Blumstein. "We want to celebrate the marmots." The unusual attempt initially raised around $6,000. Then something happened that even the researchers had not expected. Unknown supporters created the marmot cryptocurrency "$OnlyMarms" on the Solana blockchain and decided to donate all transaction fees to the research project. In just two weeks, it brought in more than $88,000. Together with additional donations from people who wanted to support the marmots but did not want to send money through OnlyFans, the total rose to more than $100,000. That will allow the project to continue for at least another year. Julien Martin of the University of Ottawa, who co-leads the research with Blumstein, calls the past two weeks "crazy" and openly admits that this internet world is largely foreign to him. More money would help immediately: according to Martin, $300,000 could fund a PhD position for four years. Martin finds it especially bitter that his research now depends, of all things, on cryptocurrency.
Donald Trump himself is said to have made around $635 million from his own meme cryptocurrency while his administration is simultaneously cutting scientific research programs. Funding through the National Science Foundation has been cut or frozen, and research involving terms such as "climate" or "women" has come under additional scrutiny. In April, the administration also fired the entire 22-member independent board of the National Science Foundation. Trump's science adviser Michael Kratsios later said U.S. priorities should focus more heavily on artificial intelligence and robotics and less on the life sciences. For the marmot researchers, that is not some theoretical budget decision. Their decades of data show what is changing in the mountains. Longer summers and shorter winters have caused the animals to gain weight. At the same time, last winter brought exceptionally little snow.
For marmots, that can be deadly because during hibernation the snow cover protects their underground burrows from extreme cold. More animals recently died in Colorado than at any point previously observed during the project. Many simply froze to death, Martin says. The researchers therefore want to keep measuring because without observations continuing over decades, it is difficult to determine how much the climate and living conditions are actually changing. OnlyFans and the marmot cryptocurrency have bought them time. They do not replace proper scientific funding. The fact that a research project with six decades of data now has to hope that pictures of marmots on an adult platform and an internet-created cryptocurrency bring in enough money for scientists to still be able to go into the field next summer says quite a lot about what is happening to American research funding right now.
Russia sends hypersonic-missile frigate to escort LNG tanker through the Baltic Sea
Russia is now using one of its most modern warships to escort an LNG tanker through the Baltic Sea. The frigate "Admiral Kasatonov" was spotted Monday off the German Baltic island of Fehmarn together with the Russian-flagged gas tanker "Portovy." The ship has served in the Russian Navy since 2020 and is equipped with Zircon hypersonic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. It is unusual for Moscow to deploy a warship like this to escort a commercial vessel. The "Portovy" normally serves as floating LNG storage for the Gazprom LNG Portovaya facility in the Leningrad region. According to available vessel-tracking data, the tanker has now left the Baltic Sea and is heading north along the Norwegian coast. Its listed destination is Murmansk.
That is what stands out, because Murmansk itself is a major hub for Russian liquefied natural gas and is normally not a destination for LNG from a Russian export terminal on the Baltic. Maritime analyst H. I. Sutton therefore considers it likely that the cargo is ultimately headed to East Asia, possibly China. The "Portovy" could take the Northern Sea Route itself or transfer its LNG to another tanker in Murmansk. LNG shipments along that route are nothing unusual in summer, but the point of origin is. Liquefied natural gas from the Baltic normally heads south through the Mediterranean and Suez Canal or around Africa. A northern route would also avoid dangers created by the war in the Middle East, but Sutton sees another reason as more likely: Moscow apparently wants to protect its gas tankers from Ukrainian naval drones. Ukrainian unmanned boats have already attacked tankers outside the Black Sea. Russia may now be responding with a new export strategy and military escorts.
According to observers, the "Admiral Kasatonov" has already been used this year to escort ships belonging to Russia's shadow fleet. It is also not the only Russian warship currently appearing in the Baltic Sea. In early August, the destroyer "Admiral Levchenko" was also sent to the region and was spotted off the Danish coast on Tuesday. The increased presence comes just weeks after Putin announced that Russia would respond with corresponding countermeasures to the detention of Russian ships by European Union countries. Now a warship armed with hypersonic missiles is sailing alongside a Russian gas tanker off German and Danish coasts. For an ordinary LNG shipment, that is a considerable military commitment - and an indication of how seriously Moscow now takes the threat to its merchant fleet.
"ICE charter flights to Tehran: We are now reconstructing them flight by flight.".
Read our article: ICE Charters to Tehran While the Bombs Were Falling - Part 1
Our article on ICE charter flights to Tehran is far from finished. In Part 1, we revealed how U.S. officials in Washington, Tel Aviv, Doha, Cairo, Jordan and Tehran organized deportation flights while the political and military situation between the United States and Iran kept escalating. The work is based on more than 800 internal emails and additional documents that we are currently reviewing. The documents show how manifests were created, travel documents obtained, stopovers planned and diplomatic permissions secured. They also show how Iranian representatives were involved in the preparations and how even people who were not on final passenger lists ultimately ended up in Tehran.
Part 2 of the investigation will follow later this week, by August 23. In it, we will reconstruct the events in much greater chronological detail. We are following the individual charter flights step by step, matching internal messages to the respective dates and decisions, and tracing the flight routes as precisely as possible: from U.S. detention facilities through the stopovers to Doha and onward to Tehran. This is not just about flight plans. It is about showing when each decision was made, who was involved and how internal instructions ultimately became actual deportations. The people were handed over to a regime that Washington itself accuses of murdering its own citizens, a state that tortures people and locks them up without due process. Among them are minorities and dissidents who have good reason to fear persecution after arrival.
Trump wants to keep building: Now the Supreme Court is supposed to save the $400 million ballroom
The fight over Donald Trump's $400 million White House ballroom has reached the Supreme Court. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is asking the nation's highest court to keep aboveground construction halted while the legality of the project is being fought out. The preservation group accuses the administration of simply trying to outrun judicial review rather than obtaining what it believes is the required approval from Congress. No federal law expressly gives the president the power to demolish one-third of the White House and replace it with a massive privately funded ballroom, its attorneys write. The East Wing of the White House has already been demolished for the roughly 90,000-square-foot building. The project also includes an underground military facility that the administration says is necessary to protect the president. Those specific construction works are allowed to continue.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia halted the aboveground construction and found that no law comes even close to giving the president the authority he claims. A divided appeals court left Leon's ruling in place but temporarily suspended its effect so the Trump administration could go to the Supreme Court. The administration continues to argue that the president can decide on renovations to the White House without Congress or the courts being allowed to limit him. The Justice Department also says the current open construction site makes the building harder to protect. Solicitor General D. John Sauer is therefore demanding a decision before Friday, when the appeals court ruling is set to take effect. He calls the construction halt unlawful and says the entire complex, including a fully secure ballroom, is necessary for national security. The administration also disputes that the National Trust even has legal standing to sue. Its attorneys counter that Leon's order is already narrowly limited and expressly allows all underground work needed to protect the president, his family and staff. Chief Justice John Roberts had given the National Trust until Tuesday to file its response. Construction has been underway for ten months, and according to the administration the project is now around 65 percent complete. That is exactly why the White House is pushing for speed: the further construction advances, the harder it becomes for a legal fight to still produce an actual construction halt.
If you'd like to support our work, that would be cool. And what would the world be without research, investigation and the help that comes from it? That's right - Trump!
Hackers steal data on 1.2 million people in Latvia
Hackers have stolen personal data belonging to around 1.2 million people in an attack on Latvia's national road traffic authority, CSDD. The country has only about 1.9 million residents. Data belonging to around 200,000 companies was also affected. The attacks took place between August 8 and 10 and gave the perpetrators access to information from payment receipts dating back to 2008. The stolen data included names, personal identification numbers, vehicle license plate numbers, registered addresses, as well as payment dates and amounts. For companies, the compromised information included company names, registration numbers and vehicle and payment data. Phone numbers and other contact information do not appear to have been leaked based on what is currently known.
The day-to-day operations of the road traffic authority were not affected by the attack either. CSDD and the national cybersecurity organization CERT.LV are now warning about possible fraud attempts in which the stolen information could be used to make messages look especially convincing. Citizens are therefore being told to be cautious about emails, messages or phone calls claiming to come from CSDD or other government agencies. Precisely because the attackers now know names, addresses and other personal information, fake messages can look much more convincing than ordinary phishing emails. Authorities are explicitly warning people not to open links in unexpected messages. Latvian police have now opened a criminal investigation under two provisions: unauthorized access to an automated data-processing system and unlawful actions using devices that affect the resources of such systems. So far, the stolen datasets have neither appeared publicly nor been found for sale. The attackers' motive is also still unknown.
Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs therefore is not ruling out a political background either. According to him, it cannot currently be excluded that this was a hybrid attack carried out by the intelligence services of a state hostile to Latvia. There is no evidence for that so far. What is already clear, however, is the scale: a single attack captured data corresponding mathematically to almost two-thirds of Latvia's entire population.
After months of Iranian attacks, Pentagon considers pulling back from the Persian Gulf
The war with Iran could permanently change the U.S. military presence in the Middle East. Early planning is underway at the Pentagon for a significantly smaller U.S. troop presence in the Persian Gulf. This is not yet a formal review ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but the Pentagon's policy office, the Joint Staff and U.S. Central Command are already looking at which of the badly damaged bases should even be rebuilt after the war ends. Normally, around 40,000 American troops are stationed at nearly 20 locations between Jordan and Oman.
Since the war began, additional warships, fighter jets and air-defense systems have been sent to the region. U.S. forces have now carried out more than 13,000 strikes against Iran. At the same time, Tehran showed just how vulnerable the U.S. bases built up over decades really are. Before the war began in February, Central Command had already partially evacuated numerous facilities because Iranian missiles and drones could hit them too easily. More than 200 U.S. facilities have been damaged or destroyed during the war. Six U.S. service members were killed in an Iranian strike on Port Shuaiba in Kuwait in March, and another attack in Jordan killed four Americans in July. Defending its bases, the U.S. military fired more than 1,000 advanced Patriot and THAAD interceptor missiles, cutting deeply into its own stockpiles.
Now the question is why Washington should pour billions into exactly those large facilities whose locations Iran has known for decades and which proved almost impossible to adequately protect during the war. Adm. Bradley Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, supports discussions about moving troops farther west from the Persian Gulf, according to a government official. Jordan, Israel and the Saudi coast along the Red Sea are being discussed. Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh is also being mentioned as a potentially safer location. Expanding the U.S. presence in Israel is being discussed as well. There is resistance inside the administration, however, because the Pentagon is simultaneously warning about a growing threat of Israeli espionage against the United States. For the Gulf states, a U.S. pullback would be significant. Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, Kuwait hosts major Army and Air Force units, and countries in the region have built their defense closely around Washington for decades. Arms sales and intelligence cooperation could remain in place even with fewer American troops on the ground. Building up domestic military capabilities capable of making up for a larger U.S. withdrawal, however, would take many of these countries years. Then there is the bill for the war so far.
Das Pentagon erwartet bis Ende September Kosten von rund 37,5 Milliarden Dollar. Darin ist der Wiederaufbau zerstörter Stützpunkte noch nicht enthalten. Eine Schätzung des American Enterprise Institute setzte allein die Reparaturkosten bereits im April bei etwa fünf Milliarden Dollar an. Genau diese Ausgaben will Washington nun offenbar nicht automatisch freigeben. Der im Juni von Donald Trump unterzeichnete vorläufige Friedensvertrag mit Teheran zerbrach wieder, seitdem greifen beide Seiten weiterhin sporadisch an. Eine endgültige Entscheidung über einen Truppenabbau ist deshalb noch nicht gefallen. Im Pentagon wird aber bereits für die Zeit danach gerechnet. Nach Monaten des Krieges steht plötzlich nicht mehr nur die Frage im Raum, wie viele amerikanische Stützpunkte repariert werden müssen, sondern ob die USA an einigen dieser Orte überhaupt noch bleiben wollen.
