Michael T. Lester @MichaelTLester

@mgmbird01 The post says Affinity was founded July 2021 — six months after he left the White House in January 2021. Both dates are correct.

My post on Sazan Island went viral yesterday because the verifiable facts are shocking. Here's what I left out: Sazan is just one piece of a much bigger operation. Jared Kushner started Affinity Partners in July 2021. One day after leaving the White House. Within weeks, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund wired him $2 billion. Senior Saudi officials objected. Mohammed bin Salman overruled them. By the end of 2024, Affinity was managing $4.8 billion, almost entirely from foreign governments. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE. Today that number is $6.16 billion. 99% from foreign nationals. The fee structure, disclosed to the Senate Finance Committee under investigation: Kushner charges the Saudis 1.25% annually on $2 billion in committed capital. Other investors pay closer to 2%. The Senate's own investigators called this "unusually high" for a firm with Kushner's experience level, or more correctly, complete lack of experience. As of mid-2024, Affinity had generated zero return on investment and had not distributed a penny of earnings back to any client. He's charging governments tens of millions a year to have their money sit in a bank account. In late 2024, Senator Wyden referred Kushner to the Department of Justice for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The same law that put Paul Manafort in prison. Now Kushner is back in government. Trump's "Special Envoy for Peace." Negotiating with Iran. Negotiating with Russia. Negotiating ceasefire terms in Gaza. On behalf of the United States. Not chosen by Americans. No experience running an investment firm. No training or experience in international relations. His sole credential is that he married the president's daughter. All while managing $6 billion from the governments he is negotiating with. Before Trump's second term started, Kushner publicly promised he would not raise additional capital while serving. The New York Times then reported he was actively soliciting $5 billion more from foreign governments. His lawyers confirmed the conversations. They said he "does not intend" to take it. He said the same thing before he took it the first time. The Senate Finance Committee and the House Oversight Committee are both demanding answers. They've asked for every communication between Kushner and foreign governments. They've asked Affinity to preserve all documents. Any destruction of records, they said in writing, will be treated as obstruction. Now look at the ownership chart below. It was produced as part of a corporate investigation published June 3rd titled "Exporting the Abraham Accords: The Hidden Network Converging on Albania's Shoreline." My follower @SlavicWoman777 flagged it in my replies. Five unnamed Albanian shareholders. 24% combined stake. Structured deliberately just below the 25% threshold that would require public disclosure under Dutch law. That is someone trying to hide who is behind the money. This is what corruption looks like when it's wearing a suit and has a law firm on retainer. What do you call it when your government's negotiator is on the payroll of the governments he's negotiating with?

Good question. The shell companies hiding the Albanian shareholders are registered in the Netherlands, so Dutch law governs their disclosure requirements. Structuring below 25% keeps the beneficial owners off the Dutch UBO registry. That's why Albanian prosecutors can't easily see who's behind the money.

First, Muhammad, I appreciate your measured and intellectual response. It is refreshing to see people able to discuss a topic without immediately delving into emotional diatribes. I think one thing that gets conflated too frequently is Muslim versus Arab. When Americans do something we don't immediately prefix it with "the Christians", Even though the United States is predominantly Christian. We do, however, portray everything going on in the Middle East as "the Muslims". I think it's fair to say that what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians is criminal, and genocide. Note: I did not say the Jews and the Muslims. There are some Christian and Muslim Israelis just as there are Jewish and Christian Palestinians. We need to stop talking about religious beliefs and talk about people.

Three reasons, all documented. Al Jazeera, CBS News, and Times of Israel report Albanians are protesting environmental destruction of a protected wildlife zone already underway, a corruption investigation by Albanian prosecutors into how the land was acquired, and a deal negotiated in secret without their knowledge or consent. That's why they're in the streets. The facts are available to everyone if you care to look.

Jared and Ivanka Kushner want to buy Sazan Island in Albania because it is beautiful and they want to make it a resort. How nice! But Sazan island is not a vacation spot. It’s a well-documented strategic military chokepoint with a long military history. In 1958, Nikita Khrushchev stood at the nearby Soviet submarine base and said, "From there I could control the Mediterranean to Gibraltar." Sazan island controls the Strait of Otranto, and the Strait of Otranto controls access to the entire Adriatic. Every empire that wanted to control the Adriatic, wanted Sazan. Romans. Ottomans. Italians. Germans. Soviets. What Ivanka describes as "An unbelievable, beautiful 1,400-hectare private island in the middle of the Mediterranean," is approximately 3,600 nuclear bunkers and kilometers of tunnels and hardened underground facilities, including a submarine pen the Soviets built specifically to project power into the Mediterranean, and is still an Albanian military zone. The deal was negotiated in secret. Albanian citizens and their own parliament didn't know about it until the press reported it. The Albanian government approved it immediately after Trump won reelection. Kushner’s newly formed investment company is using $4.6 billion from Saudi Arabia and Gulf sovereign wealth funds to fund the purchase. A Qatari company, Power International Holding, is a co-owner of the project and is currently under investigation by Albanian anti-corruption prosecutors. Now that the deal is public, the Albanians are pissed. They're in the streets marching by the thousands in Tirana, Albania’s capital with banners reading "Albania is not for sale." Private security forces have attacked protesters. The Albanian government has suspended police officers, and revoked security company licenses. Yep, just a couple private civilians looking to open a resort. No need to look further... Now that you know the whole story, what do you think?

@IrmaMihelidaki That's the point. A NATO acquisition would require transparency, allied consensus, and congressional oversight. A private purchase requires none of that.

Trump isn't getting rich despite being president. He's getting rich because he's president. Here's how the machine works. He launches a memecoin. He controls 80% of it. He then invites the top holders to a private dinner at the White House. Foreign investors who want access to the U.S. government now have a payment mechanism that looks like cryptocurrency speculation. His company trades on the stock market under his initials. Foreign governments, sovereign wealth funds, and companies with business before his administration can move that stock simply by buying it. No wire transfer. No paper trail linking it to policy. His hotels and golf courses are open for business. Foreign embassies book events there. Delegations stay there. The U.S. Secret Service charges his own properties to protect him at those same locations. The Treasury gets some of it back. Most of it stays. His son-in-law sat in the White House for four years managing U.S.-Saudi relations. Six months later, Saudi Arabia wrote Affinity Partners a $2 billion check over the objections of their own advisors. MBS signed off personally. None of this required a law to be broken. That's the point. The presidency has been converted into a revenue stream. The transactions are legal enough, diffuse enough, and complex enough that no single one draws a clear line from policy to payment. That's not an accident. Are you OK with that?

You're right that it was warned. That's confirmed. The question isn't whether CENTCOM followed its own procedure. It's whether that procedure is legal. No UN Security Council resolution authorizes this blockade. Congress has not declared war. The ship was in international waters, flagged to a third country, carrying no cargo. Following a self-declared procedure isn't the same as lawful authority.

Yesterday, a U.S. F/A-18 Super Hornet fired on the M/T Marivex, a Palau-flagged oil tanker, in international waters in the Gulf of Oman. The ship was empty. It was not transferring oil. It was sailing toward an Iranian port. That was enough. 24 Indian crew members had to abandon ship. Oman rescued them. The Marivex is on fire, adrift, and crewless in international waters. CENTCOM called it "disabled." The ship is burning with no crew, no power, and no propulsion. "Disabled" is political speak for "destroyed" similar to saying "neutralized" instead of "assassinated." This is the seventh commercial vessel the U.S. has "disabled" since launching the blockade on April 13. The blockade applies to any ship, from any nation, in international waters, if U.S. forces decide it is headed somewhere we don't want it to go. Congress has not declared war on Iran. How do you feel about this?

Today is the anniversary of Israel attacking the USS Liberty. On June 8, 1967, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attacked an unarmed American naval vessel in international waters off the Sinai coast. They killed 34 Americans and wounded 171 more. Israel called it a mistake. The evidence says otherwise. Israeli aircraft fired napalm and rockets at the ship. When the Liberty tried to radio for help, the Israeli aircraft blocked the transmissions. Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned the life rafts the crew deployed. A clear violation of international law. You don't shoot at life rafts by accident. Declassified NSA documents show Israeli pilots knew they were attacking a U.S. Navy vessel flying an American flag, in clear, daylight weather conditions. Israeli diplomatic cables from their own ambassador in Washington confirm the White House had "clear proof that from a certain stage the pilot discovered the identity of the ship and continued the attack anyway." Rescue aircraft launched from the USS Saratoga. McNamara recalled them. When the fleet commander challenged the order, President Johnson came on the line personally and told him he would not have his allies embarrassed. That account comes from Admiral Lawrence Geis, the Sixth Fleet carrier division commander, relayed after the fact. McNamara denied it. Johnson never answered for it. No U.S. response. No congressional investigation. No accountability...still. This is the only time in American history that an ally attacked a U.S. Navy vessel, killed American sailors, and the President of the United States recalled the rescue planes. I dedicated an entire chapter to this in my book. The survivors have been fighting for acknowledgment for 59 years. Does that sound like a good ally to have?

@BimmerLtd Appreciate you picking up the book. And you're exactly right, his first term he had some guardrails, lawyers telling him no, staff who pushed back. This term those people are gone. He's not testing what he can get away with anymore. He already knows.

Trump's net worth: $3.9 billion when he took office in January 2025. Trump's net worth today: $7.3 billion. That's $3.4 billion in 14 months. While sitting in the Oval Office. Where did it come from? He launched a memecoin three days before his inauguration. Trump-affiliated entities own 80% of the supply. At it's peak, that his stake was worth $26 billion on paper. Trading fees alone generated tens of millions in cash. He controls Trump Media. The company earned $3.6 million in revenue last year. Its market cap has been in the billions. The gap between what the company earns and what it's worth exists for one reason: his name is on it. During his first term, 20 foreign governments paid $7.8 million to his hotels and properties while he was making foreign policy decisions that affected every one of them. That's documented. Six months after his first term ended, Saudi Arabia handed his son-in-law $2 billion for a private equity firm with no track record. Saudi Arabia's own screening panel objected. MBS personally overruled them. Every other president since LBJ combined grew their wealth by tens of millions while in office. Trump did $3.4 billion in 14 months. Are you OK with that?

Obama's wealth grew after he left office. Book deals. Speaking fees. Private market transactions with no policy leverage attached. Trump's $3.4 billion gain happened in 14 months while sitting in the Oval Office, through a memecoin he controls, a stock that trades on his name, and properties where foreign governments pay to get access. The mechanism is the issue. Not the number.

Trump, last week: "I call the shots. I call all the shots. Netanyahu doesn't call the shots." Netanyahu agreed to a ceasefire. Then bombed Beirut continuously. Iran retaliated for the Beirut strikes. Israel bombed Iran. Trump, today: "I urged Netanyahu not to retaliate." Israel bombed Iran anyway. One of these two men is really calling the shots. Which one do you think it is?

Close, Mel. They do it AI for targeting. The greater truth is though that they consider all Palestinians military targets, maybe even of higher value. Lol a combatant, you remove one combatant. Lil a woman or child and you remove future combatants. Same reason you target hospitals and health care workers. It's a force multiplier if people can't be healed. It's also inhumane and a war crime, but we are helping them get away with it instead of stopping it.

Every number I posted this week is civilian. The UN report on AI's water, energy, carbon, and land footprint covers commercial data centers. What you use. What your company uses. It does not cover the Pentagon. The Department of Defense just signed classified AI contracts with seven companies: OpenAI, Google, SpaceX, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and others. Palantir's Maven system already runs across all five military branches, processing real-time targeting data from more than 150 intelligence sources simultaneously. It can identify targets, nominate them for strike, and recommend which weapons platform to use. That infrastructure runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. How much power does it consume? How much water? What is the carbon footprint of AI-enabled warfare at scale? We don't know. The numbers are classified. So when you see the UN's figures and think the cost of AI sounds high, understand that we are only looking at the part they let us see.

Do you know what the problem is in American Politics? It isn't the left. It isn't the right. It isn't the deep state, greed, or narcissism. It is most Americans' lack of memory. George Santayana said it plainly: those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Here's what we are about to repeat. Congress is currently moving legislation that would merge U.S. and Israeli military development and intelligence operations. Before you decide how you feel about that, you should know the history of this particular partnership. Israel is the only country that has ever attacked a U.S. Navy vessel and faced zero retaliation. In 1967, Israeli forces attacked the USS Liberty in international waters. Thirty-four American sailors were killed. One hundred seventy-four were wounded. The U.S. government quietly accepted Israel's "mistaken identity" explanation and moved on. Jonathan Pollard was an American naval intelligence analyst who spent seventeen years stealing some of the most sensitive military secrets in U.S. history and handing them to Israel. He was convicted of espionage in 1987. Israel paid him a salary, gave him citizenship, and celebrated him as a hero when he emigrated there in 2020. The Lavon Affair. In 1954, Israeli intelligence operatives planted bombs at American and British civilian targets inside Egypt. The plan was to blame Egyptian nationalists and destabilize the region. The operation was exposed. Israel eventually acknowledged it. The FBI and CIA have both formally identified Israel as one of the most aggressive collectors of intelligence against U.S. officials on American soil. Last week, NBC News reported that the Defense Intelligence Agency raised its counterintelligence threat designation for Israel to "critical," the highest level possible. In 2019, Politico reported that the FBI suspected Israel of planting surveillance devices near the White House and other federal facilities to monitor U.S. officials. Israel denied it. Whatever happened to that investigation? One attack on a U.S. warship. One spy inside U.S. intelligence. One covert bombing campaign targeting American civilians, blamed on Arabs. One surveillance operation aimed at the White House. And now we are proposing to merge our military development and intelligence apparatus with theirs. Do you remember? Because the decision-makers in Washington are counting on the fact that you don't. What else have we conveniently forgotten?

@AllenJames6813 Exactly. Why spy when Congress will just hand it over.

The Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency just raised Israel's counterintelligence threat level to "critical." That is the highest designation possible. It means the U.S. military considers Israel an aggressive espionage threat against American officials. The White House and Israeli Embassy both deny it. Three current and former U.S. officials told NBC News otherwise. Now ask yourself this: The House Armed Services Committee just voted to advance a provision that would merge our military technology, AI systems, and defense supply chains with this same country. Data fusion. Network integration. Their systems inside ours. It now goes to the full House floor. And our own military considers them a critical espionage threat. Does that sound like something done in America's interest?

@EelyAfam NBC News, June 6, 2026. Three current and former U.S. officials. nbcnews.com/politics/natio…