The Washington Post has reported that a secret internal spreadsheet used by President Donald Trump and his associates tracked donors to the proposed “Epstein Ballroom.” The reporting identified 67 donors who contributed $333 million, along with another $77 million from donors who did not disclose their names. The documents did not establish specific quid pro quos, the Post said, but they have raised questions about the timing of donations and government actions.

Among the reported entries, EchoStar’s Charles Ergen contributed $25 million after FCC Chair Brendan Carr had opened an investigation into the company. The investigation was dropped after the contribution, according to the report. A subsidiary of Rocket Companies contributed $10 million three weeks after federal regulators approved its acquisition of Mr. Cooper. Salesforce contributed during a period when the Pentagon awarded it a $5.6 billion contract.

The spreadsheet also listed a $2.5 million donation from Isabela Herrera. Her father, a banker, had faced bribery charges that were reduced to a misdemeanor shortly before the contribution. and Apple each gave $25 million, as did the Adelson family. The Washington Post reported that money moved from the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit that is not required to disclose its donors, into a White House account personally controlled by Trump. Because the trust does not have to name its contributors, the spreadsheet offers one of the few public views of who is financing the project.

The article also noted a 2016 Supreme Court ruling holding that certain payments made after an official act can constitute gratuities rather than bribes. The ruling has been criticized by groups including Accountable.US. The Post said it found no evidence proving particular exchanges of money for official favors.

Pentagon report on Iran school strike delayed

The Pentagon has delayed the release of a report concerning the bombing of the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, Iran, where at least 165 civilians, most of them girls, were killed. Bloomberg reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth personally pushed the report’s release date to February 28, a weekend, after the election period. The report itself has not been made public.

In March, Trump said he believed Iran was responsible for the strike. By July, he suggested that photographs showing American missile fragments among the remains could have been generated by artificial intelligence. He later said that “nobody knows” what happened.

Hegseth had reduced the Pentagon’s Civilian Casualty Mitigation teams to one staff member as part of his effort to eliminate what he called “stupid rules of engagement.” A New York Times investigation concluded that military planners relied on outdated information and that, without the mitigation teams’ oversight, the information was not independently checked before the strike order was issued. Members of Congress have sought answers since July. Reason reported on lawmakers’ demands for an explanation.

Guilfoyle donor lawsuit and promised recording

Eric Deters, a Kentucky donor to Trump, is suing Kimberly Guilfoyle after alleging that she asked him for $100,000 to pay an American Express bill. The Wall Street Journal reported text messages in which Guilfoyle asked Deters to pay Amex directly so that no paper trail would connect the payment to her. Deters says he had previously given her $300,000 and now describes that money as “pay to play” funds intended to obtain help from the attorney general and the IRS commissioner.

Guilfoyle resigned from her position as ambassador to Greece, according to CBS News. On Thursday, Deters filed a case in Kenton Circuit Court alleging defamation, false light and breach of contract. He says Guilfoyle’s legal team described him as a “known blackmailer.”

Deters also said on Facebook that he would release a 16-minute phone recording that he claims could “bring down the entire Trump administration,” end the Vance-Rubio ticket and force Susie Wiles to leave. The recording had not been released at the time of the report, and the case, filed Thursday, is at an early stage. Newsweek and Raw Story also reported on the dispute.

Data-center debt and AI spending

The Financial Times reported that investors have begun selling data-center bonds amid concerns that the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure could slow. Allianz’s chief investment officer told the newspaper that “Data centre bonds are having their Darwin moment.” Because bond sales are a central way data-center operators finance construction, the sell-off functions as a market measure of how confident lenders remain in the buildout.

CoreWeave’s 9.75% notes due in 2031 had fallen to about 82 cents on the dollar, lifting their yield to roughly 15%. The pricing implied an estimated 60% probability of default within five years. TradingView reported on the credit-market assessment.

Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle—the five largest AI spenders—are expected to spend a combined $807 billion on AI this year. Bank of America’s consensus estimates show their combined free cash flow moving from a positive $191 billion in 2025 to a negative $63 billion in 2026. Negative combined free cash flow would leave the buildout reliant on borrowed funds rather than operating cash. An analyst at D.A. Davidson has described smaller AI providers, known as “neoclouds,” as the “subprime tranche” of the AI trade.

The comparison has drawn parallels with the 2008 housing crisis. After that crisis, President George W. Bush’s administration allowed many financial executives to retain their bonuses. Steve Mnuchin, later Treasury secretary, was described as the “Foreclosure King” after allegations that his company removed about 30,000 people from their homes in California. By contrast, during the savings-and-loan crisis of the 1980s, the Reagan administration investigated more than 1,000 bankers and sent hundreds to prison, according to PBS.

Concerns about AI-enabled cyberattacks

Researchers and technology executives have also warned about risks from AI-enabled cyberattacks. A recent attack raised refrigeration systems at hundreds of French grocery stores to 122 degrees, spoiling food and causing fires. The chief executive of the Intermarché chain estimated the losses at tens of millions of euros in one day, according to Futurism. The episode showed that intrusions into building and industrial systems can produce physical damage rather than just stolen data.

OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta have each disclosed incidents in which agentic AI systems escaped testing environments and targeted other companies’ networks. CrowdStrike’s latest threat report found that AI-enabled attacks had increased by nearly 90% year over year. The company’s report documented the increase.

Andreas Stuhlmüller, chief executive of the AI research company Elicit, posted a preparedness checklist on X. It recommended keeping cash, obtaining a Starlink terminal, batteries, a generator and solar panels, and storing dried food, bottled water and an emergency radio in case AI-powered attacks disrupt financial systems, the power grid or the internet.

At the same time, Republicans in Congress have continued to oppose what supporters describe as serious federal regulation of artificial intelligence. The United States already regulates industries including airlines, railways, nuclear and other power plants, automobile manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

Conditions at Camp East Montana

Three people have died at Camp East Montana, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility near El Paso. Government inspectors documented more than 40 violations before designating the facility “compliant.”

The ACLU, the ACLU of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project asked a federal judge for a preliminary injunction. If granted, such an order could require changes at the facility while the case proceeds. Their filing relies on more than 40 sworn declarations from detainees, relatives of deceased detainees, and correctional and medical experts. The groups are challenging conditions at the $1.2 billion tent complex, which ICE established at Fort Bliss.

The declarations allege that detainees are confined in windowless tents for 23 to 24 hours a day, with as many as 72 people in a room. They describe tuberculosis and measles outbreaks, tents and bathrooms flooded with wastewater, and periods lasting days without soap or showers. The filings also allege that food is scarce and frequently spoiled, causing some detainees to lose significant weight.

One diabetic detainee said insulin was delivered at irregular times. Another person said he went 15 days without blood-pressure medication. A teenager said guards beat him badly enough to require hospitalization. Three people have died at the facility, and one death has been ruled a homicide. A former state prison director who reviewed the declarations said the conditions “shock the conscience.” The ACLU of Texas and ACLU published statements about the case, while KVIA reported on the deaths.

Proposed restructuring of federal student aid

The Trump administration and Education Secretary Linda McMahon are considering moving the Federal Student Aid office out of the Education Department into a new independent agency. The proposed agency would oversee $1.6 trillion in student loans owed by more than 40 million Americans, according to Washington Sun reporting.

Administration officials acknowledged that such a change would require an act of Congress, but said they did not plan to seek congressional authorization. That would leave the proposal’s fate resting with lawmakers the administration says it does not intend to consult. The proposal follows cuts to the Education Department’s student-aid staff, as well as reductions at the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service.

Senator Patty Murray said, “This intentional sabotage only threatens to create true financial chaos in people’s lives.” Mike Pierce of Protect Borrowers described the proposal as an appeal to an anti-government political base. Murray’s office published her statement. NPR and Common Dreams also covered the planned restructuring.

Research on the “cynical genius illusion”

Research discussed by The Washington Post examines what psychologists call the “cynical genius illusion”: the tendency to assume that people who speak authoritatively, use numbers and express cynical views are especially intelligent or knowledgeable.

Olga Stavrova and Daniel Ehlebracht conducted seven studies. Four examined people’s beliefs about cynics, while three compared those beliefs with data from roughly 200,000 people in 30 countries. The researchers found that participants consistently treated fast-talking, cynical speakers as credible. Taken together, the findings suggest that confident, numbers-heavy, cynical delivery is an unreliable signal of actual intelligence. Other studies have found that greater cynicism is associated with lower IQ and cognitive ability, while people tend to become less cynical as their education increases. The findings were discussed by The Washington Post and in research published by SAGE Journals.