Good morning. I’m Corinne Straight, and this is AlterNet America.
Trump promised housing for 6,000 homeless veterans in Los Angeles, then budgeted exactly zero dollars to build it. Peter Navarro personally called the Pentagon to fast-track a $620 million loan to a rare-earth firm Don Jr. had just bought into. The Justice Department is subpoenaing Reddit and X to unmask anonymous users who criticized ICE. And Utah audited two million voter registrations for a year and found 13 noncitizens who actually voted.
AlterNet America is the people-powered response to the MAGA billionaire takeover of American media. We are reader-funded, editorially independent, and not for sale. We exist because of you. If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, please upgrade today.
Now, let’s get into it.
Trump Breaks Promise to House 6,000 Homeless Veterans
Donald Trump signed an executive order last year promising a new National Center for Warrior Independence on the West Los Angeles VA campus. It would house 6,000 homeless veterans. Construction was to be finished by January 1, 2028.
His April budget proposal for fiscal 2027 allocates zero dollars to build it.
The administration has made VA officials and local advocates sign nondisclosure agreements about the project, according to NPR. The 6,000 figure is twice the number of homeless veterans in Los Angeles. Trump has never explained where the other 3,000 would come from.
At a May 13 House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, Republican Chairman Mike Bost asked the VA if it considered itself “above congressional oversight.” Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden told VA officials, “There’s no way in hell you’re gonna come here and say $500 million is a down payment, and you can’t tell me what the actual cost is.” He called it corruption.
VA testimony confirmed that housing capacity at the West LA campus grew by 422 beds in Trump’s first year back in office. None of them resulted from the executive order.
Rep. Mark Takano warned the site could become “a vast West Side skid row.”
The plan currently on the table involves 800 tiny homes that are eight feet by eight feet. That is the size of a parking space.
The Pentagon to Fast-Tracked a $620 Million Loan for Don Jr.’s Firm
Three months after Donald Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm took a stake in a small North Carolina rare-earth magnet company called Vulcan Elements, the Pentagon approved a $620 million loan to that company.
The loan is the largest ever issued by the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital.
According to ProPublica, White House trade counselor Peter Navarro personally called the office and told them to get it done. Vetting normally takes months. Staff worked late nights for weeks to push it through.
Before the loan, Vulcan was valued at roughly $200 million. After the loan, it was valued at roughly $2 billion. Don Jr.’s firm, 1789 Capital, had taken its stake at the lower number.
A week before the loan was announced, Trump Jr. hosted Navarro on his streaming show and told his nearly two million subscribers to buy Navarro’s book.
This is the first time the awarding of a federal contract has been directly linked to White House intervention on behalf of a Trump family business interest. A separate drone parts manufacturer Don Jr. has a stake in is also under consideration for a Pentagon loan.
The Pentagon’s statement was that “no company receives preferential treatment.” The call came from the White House.
That’s what we’re here for. AlterNet America doesn’t have a broadcast license to protect, an advertiser to placate, or a billionaire in the ownership suite with opinions about which stories make it to print. We just have you. If that’s worth something to you, please consider upgrading your subscription today.
The DOJ Is Trying to Unmask Reddit and X Users Who Criticized ICE
Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News host now serving as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has subpoenaed Reddit and X for the names, addresses, and financial data of two anonymous users who criticized ICE.
The users are part of a criminal investigation. Pirro’s office has not told them what they are being investigated for.
Their attorneys believe the focus may be on officer endangerment but dispute that their clients committed any crime. The underlying conduct, as far as anyone can tell, was making negative comments about a federal agency on the internet.
This is not new. In February, the Department of Homeland Security sent dozens of subpoenas to Google, Reddit, Discord, and Meta seeking personal data on users who criticized or tracked ICE agents.
The Trump administration is reading the Reddit threads. It is reading the Instagram comments. And it is trying to prosecute the people writing them.
Utah Audited Its Voter Rolls for a Year. It Found 13 Noncitizen Voters.
Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican, completed a year-long audit of the state’s voter rolls this week. Out of more than two million registered voters, her office confirmed 27 noncitizens. Thirteen of them had voted in an election since 2018.
Thirteen votes out of roughly 5,156,392 cast in Utah’s last four general elections. That is 0.00025 percent.
The audit flagged another 25 “probable noncitizens,” nine of whom have voted since 2016. Total illegitimate votes across many millions cast in Utah since 2016: 22.
Henderson’s office also reported that the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE database — the tool the Trump administration is pushing on states to purge noncitizens — is unreliable. It flags naturalized citizens whose federal records have not been updated.
In March, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon touted the DOJ’s nationwide voter roll investigation as uncovering “dozens” of illegitimate votes. Out of roughly 680 million cast in the last five national elections. That is 0.000007 percent.
The Trump administration is restructuring American voting around a problem that does not exist.
Nobody Owns This Newsletter but You
The FCC chair is openly threatening broadcasters who run unflattering coverage of the president. Independent newsrooms are being bought up, quieted, and absorbed. The billionaires who own most of what’s left have decided the safest editorial position is no editorial position at all.
AlterNet America does not have a license to lose. We do not have a parent company to please. We do not have an owner who plays golf with the president. We have you, and that is the entire business model.
If you can, hit the button below and upgrade your subscription today. It is the only thing keeping this newsletter independent, and it is the only thing that lets us keep telling you what the people with the licenses won’t.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you tonight.
