Part 1 examined the destruction of First Brands, the indictment of its founder Patrick James. Part 2 examined the federal prosecution and the cooperators on whom the government’s case rests. Part 3 examined Apollo Global Management, a trillion-dollar Wall Street firm with annual revenue, in recent years, of between $26 billion and $33 billion Part 4 Apollo Golbal Management buys and sells companies, lends money to borrowers that traditional banks will not touch, and at higher interest rates, and trades positions in the debt of companies including positions that profit when those companies fail. It bets in effect with other Wall Street firms…
Author: National News Brief
In the crowded 2026 Republican primary for Oklahoma governor, podcaster and former state senator Jake Merrick positions himself as a fiery populist outsider, championing faith, family, and freedom against the political establishment through his grassroots-style campaign along Route 66. Yet beneath the authentic image lies serious trouble: Merrick faces significant financial problems and campaign mismanagement issues that raise doubts about his ability to lead effectively as governor. Many of Merrick’s supporters are shocked about the newly exposed history of personal financial mismanagement and the ethical issues it raises. Elected to office in a 2021 special election to finish Stephanie Bice’s…
The notification comes after a Florida court authorized, last weekend, that Moraes be notified via email about the lawsuit filed by the platforms in the US. By Márcio Falcão, Ana Flávia Castro TV Globo and g1 — Brasília05/25/2026(translated) American lawyer Martin De Luca — responsible for the video platform Rumble and Trump Media & Technology Group — stated this Monday (25) that Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), was notified about the lawsuit filed against him in the United States. “Today, in compliance with an order from a US federal court, Rumble and Trump Media notified…
What Was Lost First Brands, a Cleveland-based auto parts company, went into bankruptcy last year. It employed 26,000 people on five continents. About 6,000 of those workers were Americans in Midwestern factories. The other 20,000 were in China, Mexico, Europe, and other places where labor is cheaper than in the United States. First Brands had not reversed the long offshoring of American auto parts production. It had slowed it. It had the only American foundry still making aftermarket brake rotors. It had American filter lines, American wiper plants, American brake assembly. And American jobs in the Midwest at a time…
President Javier Milei, a staunch ally of President Trump and vocal opponent of Chinese influence, now confronts a high-stakes decision that could either strengthen or sabotage the budding U.S.-Argentina partnership. At the center of the challenge is the pending 25-year concession for the Hidrovía (Via Navegable Troncal), Argentina’s economic artery and the commercial backbone of the Southern Cone. This vital inland waterway stretches more than 1,000 miles and carries roughly 80 percent of the country’s imports and exports. Grain, soybeans, minerals, energy products, industrial goods, and future critical minerals all depend on it—making the Hidrovía Argentina’s equivalent of America’s Mississippi…
Sources tell the National News Brief that the Broward County Florida Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation into Marvin Dames former Bahamian National Security Minister and the Free National Movement’s candidate for Mount Moriah in the May 12 general election. The probe centers on a boat owned by Dames that was intercepted carrying approximately 200 kilograms of cocaine, discovered by the U.S. Coast Guard off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida on February 11th of this year. Contacted by the National News Brief for comment a spokeswoman for the Broward Sheriff’s office said they would “not comment on an on-going…
Mullin’s ethics file, late stock disclosures, and confirmation-hearing temper hand Democrats the script they need to turn DHS oversight into a circus. Markwayne Mullin did not walk into Homeland Security alone. He brought the ethics files with him. He brought the stock questions, the business entanglements, and the personal baggage, too. That is now President Trump’s problem. Trump voters wanted MAGA to run DHS. They wanted the border secured, deportations moving forward, cartels hit hard, and the permanent bureaucracy put back in its place. They did not vote for four years of conservatives having to explain away late disclosures, old…
By Gracelin Baskaran and Meredith Schwartz for the Center For Strategic & International Studies On April 4, China’s Ministry of Commerce imposed export restrictions on seven rare earth elements (REEs) and magnets used in the defense, energy, and automotive sectors in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff increases on Chinese products. The new restrictions apply to 7 of 17 REEs—samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium—and requires companies to secure special export licenses to export the minerals and magnets. Q1: To what extent will the most recent export restrictions on rare earths impact U.S. sourcing of these critical…
A new study from the Colorado School of Mines has found that the United States could meet much of its demand for critical minerals by recovering materials currently discarded in mining waste. Published this week in Science, the analysis shows that nearly all critical minerals used in clean energy technologies, electronics, and defense applications are already present in ore processed at US mines. However, the majority of these materials end up in tailings and other waste streams rather than being refined for use. The analysis highlights cobalt and germanium as prime examples. Recovering less than 10% of the cobalt already…
Rare earth elements have been the primary target of critical minerals trade tensions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which processes 91% of all rare earth elements globally. In response to significant new tariffs from the Trump administration, in April 2025, the PRC instated new export controls on seven rare earth elements, which resulted in a significant decrease in exports as companies had to apply for new licenses and wait for approval.1 Luckily, the list of materials did not include neodymium and praseodymium (collectively known as NdPr), which are key to the manufacture of permanent magnets used in…