An Open Letter to
The Drug Enforcement Administration has misled you.
The Honduras pardon is the proof. Please act.
Dear Mr. President:
I write to you as an independent voter, a small-business owner, and the editor of an independent civic-journalism
publication in Omaha — the city where Berkshire Hathaway holds its Annual Meeting and where the country’s
most respected business minds gather each spring. I write not in anger, but in concern — for your reputation, for
the country, and for the truth.
On November 28, 2025, you announced — and on December 1, formally granted — a full pardon to Juan Orlando
Hernández, former President of Honduras. Mr. President, with all respect: I believe the people who urged that
pardon misled you about who Mr. Hernández is.
This is not a man who was “treated very harshly and unfairly.” This is a man whom prosecutors accused of leading
a narco-state. A federal jury in New York convicted him in March 2024. A federal judge sentenced him to 45
years and an $8 million fine. The Assistant U.S. Attorney told the court Mr. Hernández had “paved a cocaine superhighway
to the United States.” Prosecutors documented at least 400 tons of cocaine moved into America during
his presidency and a $1 million bribe to his brother — also convicted — from the Sinaloa Cartel under “El Chapo”
Guzmán himself, in exchange for unimpeded passage of product through Honduras.
By any measure — tonnage, duration, sophistication, government infrastructure — Juan Orlando Hernández is
in the running for the largest cocaine trafficker any American jury has ever convicted. Bloomberg described the
pardon as having “toppled the capstone of one of the most ambitious narcotics investigations in the history of the
Department of Justice.”
Mr. President, I do not believe you knew. I believe you were told a different story.
That story came, in significant part, through the Drug Enforcement Administration — the agency that built the
case, that knows every page of the record, and that should have walked into the Oval Office and told you plainly:
“Sir, do not pardon this man. His record will become your record.” If the DEA gave you anything less, I believe the
DEA failed you. If the DEA helped engineer that pardon while withholding its institutional knowledge, I believe the
DEA betrayed you.
I do not write to you as a stranger to DEA misconduct. I am the pro se plaintiff in active federal litigation in the U.S.
District Court for the District of Nebraska arising from a Freedom of Information Act enforcement claim against the
DEA, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Homeland Security. In the course of that litigation, I have
developed firsthand knowledge of DEA conduct that in my opinion does not reflect well on the agency. I will not air
the details here; they belong in court filings. But I will state my opinion plainly: my experience is consistent with an
agency that has lost the discipline of telling its political leadership the truth.
You have demonstrated, in this term, a willingness to remove officials whose conduct damaged the administration.
That same willingness is needed now. Senator Mark Warner has already called the Hernández pardon
“glaring hypocrisy” — and that was before the capture of Nicolás Maduro on essentially identical charges. The
contradiction is unanswerable; the agency that allowed it to develop is the one that should answer for it.
I write from Omaha, where the country’s most discerning business community gathers each May. Your reputation
among serious Omaha businesspeople is being eroded by DEA conduct that does not bear your fingerprints
but is being attributed to your administration. That is unjust to you.
For your protection, and for mine, please act:
 Direct the Attorney General to remove the current Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
 Direct the Department of Justice Inspector General to open a formal review of the agency’s communications
with the White House regarding the Hernández pardon — who recommended it, who vouched for the recommendation,
and who possessed institutional knowledge of Mr. Hernández’s conduct and failed to convey it.
The country deserves a Drug Enforcement Administration that tells the President the truth. You deserve advisors
who do not damage your record by engineering pardons that contradict your own policy. And I deserve a federal
agency that responds to my FOIA requests honestly, accurately and transparently.
Respectfully,
Brent Lambi
President Donald

Every Iowan and Nebraskan who ever
held a driver’s license learned the same
bargain at sixteen. You stop at the red
light even when the road is empty. You
yield when the sign says yield. You pull
over when the trooper’s lights come on,
and if you think the ticket is wrong, you
take it to the judge, and then you do what
the judge says. Nobody in either state
has ever been issued a license stamped
rules optional.
On November 3, voters will decide whether
that bargain still applies to the man in
the White House. Strip away the ads and
the rally music, and this election comes
down to one question: does the President
of the United States have to follow the
rules of the road? Donald J. Trump and
the MAGA movement have answered it
with their conduct. The answer is no.
THE COURTS ARE NOT
HIS EMPLOYEES
An Associated Press review found federal
judges had determined that this
administration ignored court orders at
least 31 times. In Minnesota, Judge Patrick
Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee,
catalogued 96 violations of court
orders by ICE in his district in January
Gallagher, appointed by Trump himself,
held the administration in contempt for
the second time in the same case, after a
19-year-old asylum seeker was deported
to El Salvador in spite of three separate
cuit heard arguments over whether officials
criminally defied an order to turn
deportation flights around.
The owner of a company can overrule a
store manager. A president cannot overrule
a federal judge. In my opinion, Donald
Trump lives in a delusional world in which
the judiciary is a subsidiary he holds a majority
stake in, and an unfavorable ruling
is a memo from a junior employee that he
may drop in the wastebasket.
“A president who will not
stop at the red light will
not stop anywhere.”
CONGRESS HOLDS
THE PURSE, NOT HIM
Article I of the Constitution gives Congress
the power of the purse. It does not
Government Accountability Office, Congress’s
own nonpartisan watchdog, ruled
that his attempt to cancel $810 million
in health, education and other funding,
passed by Congress and signed into law,
is illegal. The maneuver, GAO wrote,
“subverts both the constitutional process
for enacting federal law and Congress’s
constitutional power of the purse.”
The White House budget director’s response
was to call GAO “hyper partisan.”
But it was Maine Republican Susan
Collins, chair of Senate Appropriations,
who called it an “unlawful cancellation
of appropriations that were approved on
a bipartisan basis.” When a Republican
chair says it, it is not partisanship. It is
arithmetic.
THE CONSTITUTION IS
NOT A SUGGESTION
In February the Supreme Court, 6–3, in
an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts,
held that the President never had legal
authority to impose his sweeping emergency
tariffs. The same day, he reached
for a different statute and announced
a new global tariff on every country on
earth, raising it to 15% within a day.
Roughly $166 billion taken unlawfully
from American importers now has to
be pried back through the courts, while
trade lawyers describe the administration
slow-walking the refunds as interest
runs up on your dime.
A DEAL IS A DEAL,
UNLESS HE SIGNED IT
Trump signed the U.S.–Mexico–Canada
Agreement in 2020 and called it the best
trade deal ever made. Then he slapped
tariffs on Canada anyway and told our
neighbor, which buried 158 soldiers from
the war in Afghanistan that followed 9/11,
that it ought to become the 51st state.
In January he said he was open to military
force to take Greenland from Denmark, a
NATO ally that lost 43 soldiers fighting
beside Americans in Afghanistan. When
Denmark’s friends stood with it, he hit
Denmark, France, Britain, Germany and
The Greenland pact signed September
22 was sold as “permanent control.”
Analysts at the hawkish Foundation for
Defense of Democracies concluded it
The Rules of the Road
“Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it.” — Mark Twain
This election is a referendum on the rule of law. A president who treats the courts and Congress
as subsidiaries of his own company has not even delivered what he promised, and the
Republicans who once vowed to stand up to Washington are standing on his stage.
Veritas Pro Populo
HONEST POLITICS
Brent Lambi
Now on X: @_HonestPolitics | x.com/_HonestPolitics
When I filed this case, I expected a
straightforward process involving discovery
and documents. If the record
supported it, I also expected the true
wrongdoer to be named as a third party
defendant.
That is not what has happened. It is my
opinion that discovery in this matter is
being shaped by people whose names do
not appear in the case caption. I cannot
prove that today, and I will not tell readers
otherwise. I can only tell you what I
believe and why I am acting on it.
I am therefore pausing my lawsuit.
I want to be plain about Berkshire Hathaway.
My view is that the company and
its agents may themselves have been
used by someone else who gave them a
version of events and left them to act on
it.
If I am right, Berkshire is not the author
of this defamation but a vehicle for it. To
the extent that my filings suggested otherwise,
my apology is sincere.
My hope is that Berkshire Hathaway or
its agents will come forward or tell others
what I suspect they may already know:
the origin of this matter is federal.
I remain of the view that my dispute
with the federal government is ongoing
and that the government’s objective is
to silence and discredit me.
Free speech has cost me a great deal. In
this political climate, it is plainly not free.
Brent Lambi: The opinions expressed
above are solely those of the author.
A Pause and an Apology
An update on the Berkshire Hathaway defamation matter
and why I am putting my own case on hold for now.
“Berkshire is not the author of this defamation but a vehicle for it.”
changes less than it seems, since a 1951
treaty already gave America broad access,
and that Trump “severely damaged
trust among America’s European allies
and created strains in the NATO alliance
to the delight of the Kremlin.” Allies are
not rivals to be shaken down. They are
the reason we win.
EVEN BY HIS OWN
SCORECARD, HE FAILED
If contempt for the courts, Congress,
the Constitution and our allies were not
enough to revolt any decent American,
consider this: the administration has also
failed to deliver what it promised you.
THE LEDGER OF BROKEN PROMISES
Lower prices on “day one.”
Tariffs would make
farmers rich.
Farm aid would
make you whole.
Ethanol’s champion.
End Ukraine’s war
“in 24 hours.”
Something “much better”
than Obamacare.
Release the Epstein files.
Drain the swamp.
PROMISED DELIVERED
Inflation 3.4% in August after a 4.2% April peak. USDA
sees beef up nearly 10% this year.
Record farm debt of $624.7 billion and record $33 billion
in interest. Chapter 12 filings up 220% in Iowa, 29%
in Nebraska in 2025.
A $12 billion bridge against $50 billion-plus in losses
(Farm Bureau). Financially vulnerable Iowa farms:
7.7% to 19%.
Still no permanent nationwide year-round E15.
The war grinds on; he pressures Zelensky, not Putin.
“Concepts of a plan.” Enhanced ACA credits lapsed;
premiums rose.
Months of resistance until his own party forced a vote.
A $400 million Qatari jet; $1.2–1.4 billion in family
crypto income in 2025.
THE REPUBLICANS
WHO KNEW BETTER
That is what makes this sad. Iowa and
Nebraska have sent Republicans to
Washington who told us they would
stand up to it. Don Bacon, a retired Air
Force brigadier general, broke publicly
with this President over Ukraine, tariffs
and Pete Hegseth, and he is leaving Congress.
Mariannette Miller-Meeks and
Zach Nunn campaigned as independent
voices for Iowa, then stood on the stage
in Clive praising the administration’s policies
before Trump spoke. Pete Ricketts
built his name as a free-trade governor
who led missions abroad to sell Nebraska
beef and grain; he now stands with the
President whose trade war has cost those
same producers dearly.
when Congress’s own watchdog said the
President broke the law to take money
Congress appropriated? Where were
they when a Trump-appointed judge
found contempt a second time? Silence
in the face of lawlessness is not neutrality.
It is a vote.
THE VISIT WILL NOT SAVE THEM
promised to come to Iowa: “We have to
get you all elected.” He added, “I think
I’m more popular now than I was then.”
Iowans disagree. A Marist poll taken
September 17–20 found Democrat Josh
Turek leading Ashley Hinson 50% to 42%
among registered voters for the open
Senate seat, Democrat Rob Sand ahead
for governor, and, most telling, 43% calling
their congressional vote mostly a vote
against Trump, against just 22% for him.
In Nebraska, which has not elected a
Democrat to the Senate since 2006, independent
Dan Osborn led Ricketts
46% to 42% in a SurveyUSA poll, while a
Wedgewood poll had Ricketts up 52% to
48%, a dead heat either way. In Omaha’s
Second District, Democrat Denise Powell
led Republican Brinker Harding 46% to
42% in a Democratic-sponsored survey.
In my opinion, every rally is a reminder
of whom these candidates answer to, and
it is not you.
THE BALLOT QUESTION
To every Republican on the ballot in
Iowa and Nebraska, two questions, on
the record: If the President defies a federal
court order, will you vote to hold
him accountable, yes or no? And: Is
Congress’s power of the purse yours to
defend, or his to ignore?
This is not about party. I am a lifelong Independent.
Had a Democratic president
ignored 31 court orders and spent money
Congress never approved, I would write
every word of this again. But this cycle, a
vote for any Republican who will not answer
those questions is a vote to let him
keep driving with no rules at all. A president
who will not stop at the red light will
not stop anywhere.
FOLLOW THE RULES
OF THE ROAD.
ON NOVEMBER 3,
TAKE AWAY THE KEYS.
Sources: Associated Press court-order review (May 2026); Just
Security on Schiltz order (Feb. 2026); Axios on Judge Gallagher
contempt (Sept. 25, 2026); ACLU on D.C. Circuit en banc
hearing (Sept. 29, 2026); GAO opinion via Roll Call, AP, Deseret
News, NBC (Sept. 26–29, 2026); Learning Resources v. Trump
(Feb. 20, 2026), WilmerHale, BDO; Wikipedia and House of
Commons Library on the Greenland crisis; FDD (Sept. 29,
2026); BLS CPI August 2026; USDA ERS Food Price Outlook;
American Farm Bureau; Iowa Farm Bureau/ISU/Iowa Bankers
Assn. 2026 Outlook; PBS/AP and Iowa Capital Dispatch
(Sept. 28, 2026; Jan. 27, 2026); Marist Poll (Sept. 17–20, 2026);
Political Wire (SurveyUSA, Wedgewood); Pollsmax; Legis1 and
Ballotpedia on NE-2.

On Tuesday morning, outside the United
Nations General Assembly in New York,
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked the President
of the United States a fair question.
New CNN polling, she said, shows twothirds
of Americans do not believe the
U.S. is winning the war with Iran. When
will it end?
He did not answer. He scolded her. “I’m
surprised that CNN is here covering me.
You shouldn’t be here!” When Collins
replied that the United Nations had let
her in, he pressed on: “You should not be
here covering me.” Then he walked away.
Read that line again. A reporter on international
ground, holding a UN credential,
asking about a war Americans
are paying for in dollars and in sons and
daughters, and the President believes she
needs his permission to be there. That is
the warning. The rest of this editorial is
the evidence.
THE BAN
On Friday, Sept. 18, the President announced
that CNN, MS NOW and Politico
were banned from the White House
“effective immediately.” On Saturday
their staff were turned away and their
press passes revoked. On Monday the
three outlets sued the President and three
White House officials, alleging the ban violates
the First Amendment and discriminates
on the basis of editorial viewpoint.
Give credit where it is due: that same
Monday, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News
suspended their shared White House
television pool coverage in protest. When
Fox stands with CNN, this is not a partisan
squabble. It is a line being crossed.
THE BUYER
Also on Monday, twelve state attorneys
general, led by California’s Rob Bonta,
settled their antitrust suit against Paramount
Skydance’s roughly $110 billion
purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery,
CNN’s parent. The Justice Department
and the Federal Communications Commission
had already signed off. Warner’s
CEO told staff to expect the deal to close
by early October.
When it closes, one man, David Ellison,
43, son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, a
longtime ally of this President, will control
CBS News and CNN, two major film studios,
HBO Max, Paramount+ and a stable
of cable channels. The deal is financed in
part by foreign sovereign wealth funds,
including Saudi Arabia’s, and Wall Street
analysts expect the merged company to
carry more than $77 billion in debt. Owners
that deep in debt, who need Washington’s
goodwill, are not owners who pick
fights with Washington.
WE HAVE SEEN THIS MOVIE
We do not have to guess what an Ellison
newsroom looks like. In 2025, Paramount
PRESS FREEDOM: A WARNING TO VOTERS
The Doors Are Closing
First CBS. Then 60 Minutes. Now CNN. One family, one friendly White House,
“There are only two forces that can carry light to all the corners of the globe, only two,
the sun in the heavens and the Associated Press down here.” — Mark Twain, 1906
THE TIMELINE
2025 Paramount pays $16M to settle Trump’s 60 Minutes suit; FCC approves the Ellison takeover
Oct. 2025 Bari Weiss named CBS News editor-in-chief
Dec. 2025 60 Minutes CECOT prison segment pulled before air
Spring 2026 Correspondents Alfonsi and Pelley out
July 13 12 states sue to block Paramount–Warner
Sept. 18 CNN, MS NOW, Politico banned from White House
Sept. 21 Outlets sue; networks suspend pool; states settle
Sept. 22 “You shouldn’t be here!” at the UN
Early Oct. Merger expected to close
Veritas Pro Populo
HONEST POLITICS
Brent Lambi
Now on X: @_HonestPolitics | x.com/_HonestPolitics
PRIORITIES
Three Wishes, One Ledger
A Texas Senate candidate summed up Washington’s
priorities in three sentences. The question is not which
party he belongs to. It is whether he is wrong.
A BUDGET IS A MORAL DOCUMENT. READ IT. THEN VOTE.
paid $16 million to settle the President’s
lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview, a suit
many First Amendment lawyers called
meritless. That settlement, NPR reported,
helped smooth the sale to the Ellisons
through federal review, and Ellison
promised the FCC the network would become
more hospitable to conservatives.
Then came Bari Weiss, handpicked as
editor-in-chief of CBS News. In December
she pulled a 60 Minutes investigation
of abuses at El Salvador’s CECOT prison
a day and a half before air. By late spring,
correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Scott
Pelley were gone. Alfonsi reportedly had
an unaired investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s
ties to major banks still on the
shelf. CBS says there is no political interference.
Viewers can weigh that claim
against the timeline.
A PROMISE IS NOT A WALL
In exchange for dropping their suit, the
states won film-release quotas, studio-lot
protections, and a pledge to create a
“news editorial independence board”
for CBS News and CNN, watched by a
monitor. Connecticut Attorney General
William Tong said plainly that his office
wanted full divestiture of CNN and CBS
“A board that answers to the owner’s company is a promise, not a wall.”
News, and did not get it. For weeks beforehand,
Ellison had been threatening
to move Paramount out of California.
In this publisher’s opinion, the states
were squeezed by jobs threats, by a deal
Washington had already blessed, and
by the sheer weight of the money on the
other side, and they settled for paper. 60
Minutes had editorial independence on
paper, too. And note who settled: Democratic
attorneys general. This is not a
one-party failure.
WHY THIS REACHES YOUR
KITCHEN TABLE
A government does not need to shut
down a newspaper to control what you
know. It only needs to decide who gets in
the room, reward owners who play along,
and let regulators remind broadcasters
that licenses can be reviewed, as FCC
Chairman Brendan Carr did last year,
shortly before ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel
off the air. Do that long enough and the
hard questions about Iran, about your
premiums, about the Epstein files simply
stop being asked.
The First Amendment was written to protect
the press from exactly this: power
choosing its own coverage. It does not enforce
itself. Courts can help. Congress can
help. You decide who sits in Congress.
THE BALLOT QUESTION
Every candidate for the House and Senate A Texas Senate candidate summed up
Washington’s priorities in three sentences.
The question is not which party he belongs
to. It is whether he is wrong.
On September 3, James Talarico, the Texas
state representative and Democratic
nominee for the U.S. Senate seat held by
John Cornyn, posted three sentences on
Substack. Each was a wish. Each was also
an accusation.
THE PREDATOR AND THE ROOFER.
His first wish: that the government pursued
child predators with the same energy
it spends chasing immigrant workers
on their way to a job site at dawn. In my
opinion, the contrast is fair. Federal agencies
have found the manpower for predawn
sweeps of farms, car washes and
construction sites. They have not found
the same urgency in releasing the Epstein
files Congress ordered disclosed. A government
that can find a roofer at 7 a.m.
can find a document.
THE LOOPHOLE AND THE SCHOOLHOUSE.
His second: that Washington
would close billionaire tax loopholes
as readily as communities close public
schools. Rural Iowa and Nebraska know
the school half of that sentence by heart:
consolidation, longer bus rides, a town
losing its center. The loopholes stay open
year after year, defended by lobbyists
whose children never ride that bus.
“Fund healthcare like they
fund forever wars.”
JAMES TALARICO, SEPT. 3
THE HOSPITAL AND THE WAR. His
third: that we would pay for health care
the way we pay for open-ended wars
in the Middle East. Wars get emergency
spending. Hospitals, especially rural
ones, get told to wait. When enhanced
ACA premium credits lapsed, families
here felt it in the mailbox.
NOT A PARTY LINE. This is not a Democratic
complaint or a Republican one.
Both parties have funded the wars, both
have protected the loopholes, and both
have looked away from powerful men
with powerful friends. Talarico simply
wrote it down in three lines.
The ballot question. Every candidate on
an Iowa or Nebraska ballot this November
should answer on the record: with
one more dollar and one more agent,
would you go after the predator, the loophole
and the empty hospital bed, or the
roofer, the schoolhouse and the next war?
Their answer is your ballot.

The Epstein Class Is
Replacing the Middle Class
Two farm states worry about premiums, diesel, and the
mortgage. Washington worries about a plaza inscription,
a $400 million plane, and who else is in the files.
Sources: OGE 2025 disclosure; Forbes; Public Citizen; NBC/Telemundo; CBS News; CNN; AAFB; KFF; USDA/beef trade filings.
THE LEDGER: WEALTH, GIFTS & THE FILES
QATARI 747 GIFT $400 million
TRUMP CRYPTO INCOME, 2025 $1.2-$1.4 billion
TRUMP NET WORTH, ‘24 TO ‘26 $2.3B to $6.5B
ADMIN. OFFICIALS OVER $100M 57 (incl. 17 ambassadors)
CABINET BILLIONAIRES 2 of 23 (Lutnick, McMahon)
TOP TRUMP FILE NAMES 10 people; Trump most-named
LAST CONTACT BEFORE ARREST Steve Bannon, July 6, 2019
MUSK PEAK NET WORTH, 2026 approximately $839 billion
IOWA / NEBRASKA FARM CH.12s, ‘25 18 (+220%) / 17 (+29%)
ACA PREMIUM, TYPICAL HOUSEHOLD $888 to $1,904
Everybody over thirty knows the oldest line
in American business: the check is in the
mail. Donald Trump has turned it into a way
of governing.
THE DOGE CHECK. In February 2025,
Trump and Elon Musk floated sending 20%
of DOGE’s cost-cutting savings back to taxpayers
as a $5,000 “DOGE dividend.” No pool
of cash was ever created to pay it. DOGE shut
down on July 4, no law authorizing the checks
ever passed, and no checks were sent. Even
the savings were inflated: the Government
Accountability Office could document only
$110 billion of the $215 billion DOGE claimed.
THE TARIFF CHECK. In November 2025,
Trump posted that “A dividend of at least
$2,000 a person” would be paid. Ten months
later, those checks have not come. Instead,
much of the tariff money had to be paid
back. The government refunded $100 billion
through July—more than half of the $166 billion
owed to businesses after the Supreme
Court struck the tariffs down. You paid those
tariffs at the checkout counter. The refunds
went to corporations.
The only “dividend” that actually went out
was a $1,776 payment to troops—a housing
subsidy Congress had already approved, rebranded
as Trump’s “warrior dividend.”
You paid the tariffs at the checkout
counter. The refunds went to corporations.
THE $5,000 CHECK. On September 9 in Dallas,
Trump promised $5,000 to every adult
citizen—if Republicans keep control of Congress.
FactCheck.org puts the cost at roughly
$1.2 trillion, with the national debt past $40
trillion and the annual deficit projected at a
record $2.1 trillion.
Asked why the government wouldn’t pay it
now, Trump said it was because Democrats
couldn’t do it. His party already controls both
houses. Florida’s Republican governor, Ron
DeSantis, denounced the promise, and NPR
noted it is illegal to pay people to influence
their votes. Whether a campaign promise
crosses that line is for the courts. Any farmer
can tell you what it smells like.
THE PEACE CHECK. Today at the United Nations,
Trump said, “I believe we’ll make a deal
right after the election.” Three weeks ago, he
said he couldn’t care less whether Iran signed
an agreement. He has used this line before. In
August 2020, he told donors, “When we win,
we will have a deal within four weeks.” Same
script, same due date: after you vote.
WHY THE DUE DATE MATTERS. In this
page’s opinion, the timing is the point. A
Democratic House can open impeachment.
The Supreme Court’s 2024 immunity ruling
shields official acts, not private conduct. After
January 2029, Trump’s safety depends on who
holds the pardon pen. Every promise buys
time.
To be fair, this editor has practiced law and
run a business. In a legal corner that tight, I
might promise the moon too. That is human.
But understanding a man’s motive is not the
same as paying for it.
THE BALLOT QUESTION. Ask every candidate,
on the record: Will you vote to borrow
$1.2 trillion for this check? And if it’s such a
good idea, why didn’t you pass it while your
party held both houses?
THE COMBINE THAT WON’T START.
Chapter 12 family-farm bankruptcies hit 315
nationwide in 2025, up 46 percent, the second
straight year of increases. Iowa filed 18, up
220 percent. Nebraska filed 17, up 29 percent.
That is not a market correction. That is a farm
economy running out of runway while Washington
fields a fresh $400 million aircraft.
THE PLANT THAT CUT SHIFTS, THE BORDER
THAT DIDN’T. The U.S. cattle herd fell
to 86.2 million head this year, a record low,
down 8.6 percent since 2020, and ground beef
hit roughly $6.69 a pound. Washington’s answer
was to raise Argentina’s tariff-free beef
quota fivefold, from 20,000 to 100,000 metric
tons, then sign a fresh reciprocal trade deal
opening the door wider. Cheaper trim for the
grinder, maybe, but every ton that crosses tariff-
free is a ton an Iowa or Nebraska feedlot
and packing floor didn’t get paid to supply.
THE PREMIUM YOU CAN’T AFFORD. The
enhanced ACA premium tax credits lapsed
December 31. KFF estimates the hit at roughly
$888 rising to $1,904 for a typical marketplace
household, with an estimated 4.8 million
Americans losing coverage.
THE BAR TAB. Call it drunken-sailor spending
if you like, “Whiskey Pete,” or whatever
name fits. The debt keeps climbing past $39.9
trillion while the same Washington that says it
can’t afford enhanced premiums found room
for a roughly $600 million ballroom addition
(nearly half taxpayer-funded), gold leafing,
new arches, and a Kennedy Center board vote
inscribing a plaza in the president’s name after
a federal judge ruled the board had no authority
to rename the building on its own.
“Washington accepted a $400 million
plane. It has not found the money for
your premium, or a straight answer
about the island.”
THE HONEST PART. Being named in the
Epstein files is not proof of criminal conduct
for Trump, Lutnick, or anyone else on that
list, and the Justice Department’s broader sixpage
release mixed hundreds of unrelated celebrities
in with actual officials, which critics
on both sides called an attempt to muddy the
waters. The Argentine beef quota was framed
as consumer relief, not a deliberate blow to
feedlots. Billionaire wealth reflects market
valuations broader than any one administration.
And farm bankruptcies, while sharply
higher, remain below the 1980s farm-crisis
peak. None of that changes the pattern: the
money, the access, and now the files keep
landing upstream of the people actually farming,
packing, and paying premiums in Iowa
and Nebraska.
THE MIDDLE CLASS DID NOT
ASK FOR A PLAZA, A PLANE,
OR A TOKEN. IT ASKED WHAT THE
PREMIUM WOULD COST.
A COUNTRY CANNOT PAY DOWN
A DEBT WITH GOLD LEAF, OR EXPLAIN
AWAY AN ISLAND LUNCH WITH A
LOYALTY OATH.
BIG CHANGE IS REQUIRED
IN NOVEMBER
VOTE LIKE YOUR FARM, YOUR
PREMIUM, AND YOUR PAYCHECK
DEPEND ON IT.
NAMES OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE
EPSTEIN GOVERNMENT FILES
We can only guess what was stopped,
delayed, or is still missing.
TOP 10 TRUMP OFFICIALS &
ASSOCIATES IN THE FILES
1. DONALD TRUMP, President The mostnamed
individual in the files by a wide margin,
see the note below.
2. HOWARD LUTNICK, Commerce Secretary
The most heavily documented current official
besides Trump: a family visit to Epstein’s island,
a fundraiser invitation, a donation tied
to a dinner in his honor, and a joint business
venture, all separately documented.
3. STEVE BANNON, Former White House
Chief Strategist LAST DOCUMENTED CONTACT
WITH EPSTEIN OF ANYONE ON THIS
LIST: the two men texted through the afternoon
of July 6, 2019, the day of Epstein’s arrest,
making plans to film a documentary. Epstein
texted “All canceled” at 7:37 p.m.; he was
arrested at Teterboro Airport about two hours
later. Bannon does not hold a position in the
current administration.
4. ELON MUSK, Former DOGE Chief Multiple
email exchanges with Epstein between
2012 and 2014, including a message reminding
Epstein of Musk’s planned island visit.
5. ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HHS Secretary
Listed as a contact in Epstein’s personal address
book and has publicly acknowledged
flying on Epstein’s plane twice.
6. MEHMET OZ, CMS Administrator Emailed
Epstein a personal party invitation and separately
appears on a party guest list.
7. JOHN PHELAN, Secretary of the Navy
Name appears on a flight manifest for one of
Epstein’s aircraft.
8. KEVIN WARSH, Trump’s Fed Chair Nominee
Named on a “St. Barth’s Christmas” guest
list forwarded to Epstein.
9. JARED KUSHNER, First-Term Senior Adviser,
Son-in-Law His own newspaper sent
Epstein an invitation to a charity gala.
10. ALEX ACOSTA, Trump’s First-Term Labor
Secretary As the U.S. Attorney who later joined
Trump’s cabinet, he approved Epstein’s original
2008 non-prosecution plea deal.
LAST CONTACT BEFORE THE
ARREST: STEVE BANNON
Of everyone ever named in Trump’s orbit and
the Epstein files, former White House Chief
Strategist Steve Bannon holds the latest documented
contact of all, the afternoon of July
6, 2019, the very day Epstein was arrested.
The two men texted for hours making plans
to film a documentary together, including on
Epstein’s island. At 7:37 p.m., Epstein texted
Bannon “All canceled.” Roughly two hours
later, federal agents arrested him at Teterboro
Airport. No one on this list has any documented
contact with Epstein after that point, and
no current administration official has documented
contact anywhere near that date.
Bannon holds no position in the administration
today. Per CBS News and CNN, citing
House Oversight Committee records.
WHICH PRESIDENT IS NAMED THE
MOST? DONALD TRUMP, BY FAR.
Published counts range from “more than
1,000” (CNN) and “more than 3,000” (DOJ’s
own tally) to roughly 5,300 in one batch and
38,000 mentions of Trump/Melania/Mar-a-
Lago combined in another (NYT). Rep. Jamie
Raskin’s claim of “more than a million” after
reviewing unredacted files is disputed by
fact-checkers as a broad-search artifact, not a
verified count. Even at the lowest published figure,
no other president comes close: Bill Clinton
is documented at “at least 50” mentions in
the much smaller 2024 unsealed civil-suit release,
and no comparable count has been published
for Obama or Biden in either release.
One entry per person, no repeated rows for
the same individual. Scope: Trump-administration
officials (either term, current or former)
and documented personal or business
associates. The Bannon row and the sidebar’s
“Last Contact Before Arrest” line are highlighted
per request. Ranking reflects depth of
documentation in the files, not a precise mention
count. Per NBC News, CNN, CBS News,
PBS, Reuters, Roya News, and the officials’
own on-the-record statements. Appearing
in the files is not evidence of wrongdoing for
anyone named.
When I filed this case, I expected a straightforward
process involving discovery and documents.
If the record supported it, I also expected
the true wrongdoer to be named as a third
party defendant.
That is not what has happened. It is my
opinion that discovery in this matter is being
shaped by people whose names do not appear
in the case caption. I cannot prove that
today, and I will not tell readers otherwise. I
can only tell you what I believe and why I am
acting on it.
I am therefore pausing my lawsuit.
I want to be plain about Berkshire Hathaway.
My view is that the company and its agents
may themselves have been used by someone
else who gave them a version of events and left
them to act on it.
If I am right, Berkshire is not the author of
this defamation but a vehicle for it. To the extent
that my filings suggested otherwise, my
apology is sincere.
My hope is that Berkshire Hathaway or its
agents will come forward or tell others what I
suspect they may already know: the origin of
this matter is federal.
I remain of the view that my dispute with
the federal government is ongoing and that the
government’s objective is to silence and discredit
me.
Free speech has cost me a great deal. In this
political climate, it is plainly not free.
Brent Lambi: The opinions expressed above
are solely those of the author.
A Pause and an Apology
An update on the Berkshire Hathaway defamation matter
and why I am putting my own case on hold for now.
“Berkshire is not the author of this defamation but a vehicle for it.”

THE EPSTEIN CLASS IS
REPLACING THE MIDDLE CLASS
Two farm states worry about premiums, diesel, and the mortgage. Washington worries
about a plaza inscription, a $400 million plane, and who else is in the files.
Sources: OGE 2025 disclosure; Forbes; Public Citizen; NBC/Telemundo; AAFB; KFF; USDA/beef trade filings.
THE LEDGER — WEALTH, GIFTS & THE FILES
QATARI 747 GIFT $400 million
TRUMP CRYPTO INCOME, 2025 $1.2-$1.4 billion
TRUMP NET WORTH, ‘24 → ‘26 $2.3B → $6.5B
ADMIN. OFFICIALS OVER $100M 57 (incl. 17 ambassadors)
CABINET BILLIONAIRES 2 of 23 (Lutnick, McMahon)
TOP TRUMP FILE NAMES 10 people; Trump most-named
MUSK PEAK NET WORTH, 2026 ≈$839 billion
IOWA / NEBRASKA FARM CH. 12s, ‘25 18 (+220%) / 17 (+29%)
ACA PREMIUM, TYPICAL HOUSEHOLD $888 → $1,904
Veritas Pro Populo
HONEST POLITICS
WITHOUT READER SUPPORT
THIS COLUMN DISAPPEARS.
Brent Lambi
Now on X: @_HonestPolitics | x.com/_HonestPolitics
The Check Is in the Mail
Four promised payouts, one promised peace, and not
one delivered. Every due date lands after you vote.
“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.” — Mark Twain
A PROMISE DUE AFTER THE ELECTION IS NOT A PROMISE.
IT IS A BILL—AND YOU ARE THE ONE PAYING IT.
THE COMBINE THAT WON’T START. Chapter
12 family-farm bankruptcies hit 315 nationwide
in 2025 — up 46 percent, the second straight year
of increases. Iowa filed 18, up 220 percent. Nebraska
filed 17, up 29 percent. That is not a market
correction. That is a farm economy running
out of runway while Washington fields a fresh
$400 million aircraft.
THE PLANT THAT CUT SHIFTS, THE BORDER
THAT DIDN’T. The U.S. cattle herd fell to
86.2 million head this year — a record low, down
8.6 percent since 2020 — and ground beef hit
roughly $6.69 a pound. Washington’s answer
was to raise Argentina’s tariff-free beef quota
fivefold, from 20,000 to 100,000 metric tons, then
sign a fresh reciprocal trade deal opening the
door wider. Cheaper trim for the grinder, maybe
— but every ton that crosses tariff-free is a ton
an Iowa or Nebraska feedlot and packing floor
didn’t get paid to supply.
THE PREMIUM YOU CAN’T AFFORD. The
enhanced ACA premium tax credits lapsed December
31. KFF estimates the hit as a rise from
roughly $888 to $1,904 for a typical marketplace
household, with an estimated 4.8 million Americans
losing coverage.
THE BAR TAB. Call it drunken-sailor spending
if you like — “Whiskey Pete,” or whatever name
fits. The debt keeps climbing past $39.9 trillion
TOP 10 TRUMP OFFICIALS & ASSOCIATES IN THE FILES
1. DONALD TRUMP — President
The most-named individual in the files by a wide margin — see the breakdown below.
2. HOWARD LUTNICK — Commerce Secretary
The most heavily documented current official besides Trump: a family visit to Epstein’s island, a
fundraiser invitation, a donation tied to a dinner in his honor, and a joint business venture, all separately
documented.
3. STEVE BANNON — Former White House Chief Strategist
Sustained, frequent email and text correspondence with Epstein over roughly 18 months, ending days
before Epstein’s 2019 arrest.
4. ELON MUSK — Former DOGE Chief
Multiple email exchanges with Epstein between 2012 and 2014, including a message reminding Epstein
of Musk’s planned island visit.
5. ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. — HHS Secretary
Listed as a contact in Epstein’s personal address book and has publicly acknowledged flying on Epstein’s
plane twice.
6. MEHMET OZ — CMS Administrator
Emailed Epstein a personal party invitation and separately appears on a party guest list.
7. JOHN PHELAN — Secretary of the Navy
Name appears on a flight manifest for one of Epstein’s aircraft.
8. KEVIN WARSH — Trump’s Fed Chair Nominee
Named on a “St. Barth’s Christmas” guest list forwarded to Epstein.
9. JARED KUSHNER — First-Term Senior Adviser, Son-in-Law
His own newspaper sent Epstein an invitation to a charity gala.
10. ALEX ACOSTA — Trump’s First-Term Labor Secretary
As the U.S. Attorney who later joined Trump’s cabinet, he approved Epstein’s original 2008 nonprosecution
plea deal.
WHICH PRESIDENT IS NAMED THE MOST?
DONALD TRUMP — BY FAR.
Published counts include “more than 1,000” (CNN), “more than 3,000” (DOJ’s own tally), roughly 5,300
in one batch, and 38,000 mentions of Trump/Melania/Mar-a-Lago combined in another (NYT). Rep. Jamie
Raskin’s claim of “more than a million” after reviewing unredacted files is disputed by fact-checkers
as a broad-search artifact, not a verified count. Even at the lowest published figure, no other president
comes close: Bill Clinton is documented at “at least 50” mentions in the much smaller 2024 unsealed
civil-suit release, and no comparable count has been published for Obama or Biden in either release.
THE $5,000 CHECK. On September 9 in Dallas,
Trump promised $5,000 to every adult citizen—
if Republicans keep control of Congress. Fact-
Check.org puts the cost at roughly $1.2 trillion,
with the national debt past $40 trillion and the
annual deficit projected at a record $2.1 trillion.
Asked why the government wouldn’t pay it now,
Trump said it was because Democrats couldn’t
do it. His party already controls both houses.
Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis,
denounced the promise, and NPR noted it is
illegal to pay people to influence their votes.
Whether a campaign promise crosses that line
is for the courts. Any farmer can tell you what it
smells like.
THE PEACE CHECK. Today at the United Nations,
Trump said, “I believe we’ll make a deal
right after the election.” Three weeks ago, he
said he couldn’t care less whether Iran signed
an agreement. He has used this line before. In
August 2020, he told donors, “When we win, we
will have a deal within four weeks.” Same script,
same due date: after you vote.
WHY THE DUE DATE MATTERS. In this page’s
opinion, the timing is the point. A Democratic
House can open impeachment. The Supreme
Court’s 2024 immunity ruling shields official
acts, not private conduct. After January 2029,
Trump’s safety depends on who holds the pardon
pen. Every promise buys time.
To be fair, this editor has practiced law and run
a business. In a legal corner that tight, I might
promise the moon too. That is human. But understanding
a man’s motive is not the same as
paying for it.
THE BALLOT QUESTION. Ask every candidate,
on the record: Will you vote to borrow $1.2
trillion for this check? And if it’s such a good
idea, why didn’t you pass it while your party
held both houses?
while the same Washington that says it can’t
afford enhanced premiums found room for a
roughly $600 million ballroom addition (nearly
half taxpayer-funded), gold leafing, new arches,
and a Kennedy Center board vote inscribing
a plaza in the president’s name after a federal
judge ruled the board had no authority to rename
the building on its own.
“Washington accepted a $400 million
plane. It has not found the money
for your premium — or a straight
answer about the island.”
THE HONEST PART. Being named in the Epstein
files is not proof of criminal conduct for
Trump, Lutnick, or anyone else on that list, and
the Justice Department’s broader six-page release
mixed hundreds of unrelated celebrities in
with actual officials, which critics on both sides
called an attempt to muddy the waters. The Argentine
beef quota was framed as consumer relief,
not a deliberate blow to feedlots. Billionaire
wealth reflects market valuations broader than
any one administration. And farm bankruptcies,
while sharply higher, remain below the 1980s
farm-crisis peak. None of that changes the pattern:
the money, the access, and now the files
keep landing upstream of the people actually
farming, packing, and paying premiums in Iowa
and Nebraska.
alongside him. Elon Musk, worth roughly $839
billion at his peak this year even after stepping
back from his formal DOGE role, is still part of
that same weather system. None of these men
are worrying about a farm loan renewal in Sioux
County or a premium notice in Douglas County.
They are the class this editorial is named for.
NAMES OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE EPSTEIN
GOVERNMENT FILES. The Justice Department’s
own letter to Congress named more than
300 “government officials and politically exposed
persons” found anywhere in the files — a roster
so broad it swept in Elvis Presley and Marilyn
Monroe alongside sitting cabinet secretaries.
Narrow that roster to Trump’s own officials and
associates, past and present, and ten names
carry the heaviest documentation: a Commerce
Secretary with four separate episodes, a former
chief strategist with a year and a half of correspondence,
a former DOGE chief who discussed
visiting the island directly, a sitting HHS Secretary
who has admitted flying on Epstein’s plane
twice, and more. And the president himself is not
just on that list — he is, by every published count,
the most-named president in the entire Epstein
files. None of that is a conviction. But it is not a
list of strangers, either. The department’s own
letter also concedes it withheld material it judged
“law-enforcement sensitive” and redacted more
on top of that — lawmakers who reviewed the
unredacted set called the cuts excessive. What
was stopped, delayed, or never surfaced at all
is something the public can only guess at. The
full top-ten list and the most-named-president
breakdown appear Everybody over thirty knows the oldest line in
American business: the check is in the mail. Donald
Trump has turned it into a way of governing.
THE DOGE CHECK. In February 2025, Trump
and Elon Musk floated sending 20% of DOGE’s
cost-cutting savings back to taxpayers as a $5,000
“DOGE dividend.” No pool of cash was ever created
to pay it. DOGE shut down on July 4, no
law authorizing the checks ever passed, and no
checks were sent. Even the savings were inflated:
the Government Accountability Office could
document only $110 billion of the $215 billion
DOGE claimed.
THE TARIFF CHECK. In November 2025,
Trump posted that “A dividend of at least $2,000
a person” would be paid. Ten months later, those
checks have not come. Instead, much of the tariff
money had to be paid back. The government
refunded $100 billion through July—more than
half of the $166 billion owed to businesses after
the Supreme Court struck the tariffs down. You
paid those tariffs at the checkout counter. The
refunds went to corporations.
The only “dividend” that actually went out was
a $1,776 payment to troops—a housing subsidy
Congress had already approved, rebranded as
Trump’s “warrior dividend.”
You paid the tariffs at the
checkout counter. The refunds
went to corporations.
When I filed this case, I expected a straightforward process involving discovery and documents. The
case has not proceeded as I expected, and I have decided to pause my actions concerning this lawsuit.
A Pause and an Apology
An update on the Berkshire Hathaway defamation matter and why
I am choosing not to pursue this matter any further for the time being.
I want to be plain about Berkshire Hathaway. I disagree with its position in this matter, but I recognize
that the dispute should be resolved on the evidence. I intend to keep my focus there.
I still have plenty of questions about what happened. Pausing gives me time to consider the record and
decide how best to move forward.
Free speech has cost me a great deal. In this political climate, it is plainly not free.
Brent Lambi
The opinions expressed above are solely those of the author.