Sludge

K Street’s Trump Boom From crypto companies to defense contractors, new lobbying clients steered $145 million to firms led by Trump insiders in the first year of his return to power.

The lobbying firms of top Trump fundraisers saw a boom in clients last year seeking access to the new administration. The firms of Brian Ballard, Jeff Miller, and Reince Priebus signed new clients in private equity, AI, and gambling apps.

K Street’s Trump Boom From crypto companies to defense contractors, new lobbying clients steered $145 million to firms led by Trump insiders in the first year of his return to power.

New analysis: Lobbying firms led by Trump's fundraisers and former aides signed hundreds of influence-seekers after the 2024 election, raking in $145 million from new clients in 2025.

Trump EPA Threatens Decades of Climate Progress Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced plans to reconsider a ruling from the agency that underpins many of the federal government’s major climate change regula...

The Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding that underpins climate regulation, setting up legal battles.

The fossil fuel industry lobby attempted to sue the EPA over the rule in 2010, and more recently Project 2025 called for its repeal. Report from May:

Hartford looks to end parking contract with ICE The Hartford Parking Authority and ICE have contracted for parking since 2015.

Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam has requested the immediate termination of a contract between the Hartford Parking Authority and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

(h/t to @sludge.bsky.social @davidrussellmoore.bsky.social who had this first)

www.ctpublic.org/news/2026-02...

These Cities and States Hold Contracts With ICE More than a dozen governments, many with “welcoming city” policies, still hold active contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

News: Hartford, CT tells us it will "immediately" terminate the ICE parking contract it has held for a decade, worth $188,000.

Hartford is the second, after New York's Hudson River Park Trust, to say it will drop its ICE contract after Sludge's reporting highlighted the deal.

These Cities and States Hold Contracts With ICE More than a dozen governments, many with “welcoming city” policies, still hold active contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Cities with policies that limit coordination with federal immigration authorities are still doing business with ICE.

- Cottage Grove, MN has a lucrative firing range deal
- San Diego Co. provides DHS access to crime data
- in Philadelphia, the state-run Parking Authority has a deal
- more:

Paragraph from Sludge story, Feb. 11, 2026: "The City of Hartford, Connecticut is also moving to end an ICE contract with the Hartford Parking Authority (HPA) that has been in place for a decade, according to Cristian Corza-Godinez, deputy chief of staff of Hartford, who spoke with Sludge." ... “The contract was brought to our attention about two weeks ago through a constituent submission on our city website,” Corza-Godinez told Sludge. “Once we learned of the contract, we immediately moved to cancel it.”

NEWS: Hartford, Connecticut says it will "immediately" terminate ICE's long-running parking contract with the city.

A constituent raised concerns with the ICE contract in the past two weeks, said Cristian Corza-Godinez, Hartford's deputy chief of staff.

Full story: readsludge.com/2026/02/11/t...

These Cities and States Hold Contracts With ICE More than a dozen governments, many with “welcoming city” policies, still hold active contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

More than a dozen cities and states, many with pro-immigrant “welcoming city” policies, still hold active contracts with ICE, according to federal contract data.

Companies ‘Honor’ Trump With Kennedy Center Donations From defense to oil to tech, new companies are supporting the Kennedy Center since Trump’s takeover while others are revising their disclosure practices to explicitly honor the president.

NEW: New companies like Anduril are funding the Kennedy Center since Trump's takeover, while others like Chevron are newly disclosing their donations with Trump as the "honoree." readsludge.com/2026/02/09/c...

Trump's Corporate Colluders - More Perfect Union We analyzed more than 150 top donors to Trump's inauguration fund and the White House ballroom construction to figure out which corporations are donating — and what they got in return.

Big Tech companies cozying up to Trump have eye-watering AI investments facing regulations. Others, like automakers, face shifting policies from Trump's tariffs. Many are battling enforcement actions that could be, or have been, dropped.

See their benefits received:

perfectunion.us/trumps-corpo...

More Trump Vance inauguration donors airing ads during the Super Bowl:

- Open AI's CEO Sam Altman gave $1M
- Novo Nordisk's trade group PhRMA gave $1M
- Verizon has a sponsorship and gave $1M

- Paramount, while not an inauguration donor, is owned by Trump ally mega-billionaire Larry Ellison

Trump Vance inauguration fund donors: Google ($1M), Amazon ($1M), Comcast ($1M), and Microsoft ($750k)...

More Super Bowl LX ad buyers and Trump inauguration donors:

- Anheuser-Busch ($1M)
- DoorDash ($1M)
- DraftKings ($500k)
- General Motors ($1M)
- Instacart ($100k)
- Toyota ($1m)
- Uber ($1m)

Companies with Super Bowl ads that donated to the Trump White House ballroom project:

- Google (up to $22 million)
- Amazon's Alexa
- Comcast's Xfinity
- Microsoft
- T-Mobile

The project's estimate doubled this year to $400 million. Virtually all donation amounts have not been disclosed.

Foreign Interests Are Paying Millions to a Trump-Linked Lobbying Firm Ballard Partners’ foreign-interest lobbying business has boomed since Trump took office, signing up new clients from Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Albania, Uzbekistan, and more.

We took a close look at the foreign interests flooding the coffers of Ballard Partners, the lobbying firm of a top Trump fundraiser—and the wins they got from the new administration.

This investigative reporting is only possible because of our readers. Read the report, and try a subscription:

Section of Politico Influence, Feb. 6, 2026: "BALLARD’S FOREIGN CASH BONANZA: Ballard Partners “has drawn a surge of high-paying clients with foreign interests seeking access to the administration and federal agencies,” Sludge’s David Moore reports.... Several more of Ballard’s top lobbying clients have foreign ties: one is the New Era Fund … a defense and aerospace investment fund for ventures with Saudi Arabia... — “Nearly all of these clients hired Ballard Partners after Trump’s election win—quickly becoming among the firm’s top lobbying spenders." - https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2026/02/06/iceland-lobbies-up-after-52nd-state-crack-00769961

Our latest report in Politico Influence today—on the foreign lobbying firms quickly spending millions of dollars with a closely Trump-tied lobbying firm. 👀

Foreign Interests Are Paying Millions to a Trump-Linked Lobbying Firm Ballard Partners’ foreign-interest lobbying business has boomed since Trump took office, signing up new clients from Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Albania, Uzbekistan, and more.

Trump-tied firm Ballard Partners smashed the record for lobbying revenue in 2025. Many of their highest-paying clients were foreign companies that hired them since Trump's return to office, seeking access to the new administration.

Foreign Interests Are Paying Millions to a Trump-Linked Lobbying Firm Ballard Partners’ foreign-interest lobbying business has boomed since Trump took office, signing up new clients from Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Albania, Uzbekistan, and more.

Just out: The foreign-interest lobbying business of the Trump-tied firm Ballard Partners has boomed since Trump took office, raking in millions from new clients from Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Albania, Uzbekistan, and more.

Crypto, AI, and AIPAC Set up to Smash Super PAC Spending Records The groups are sitting on massive war chests for 2026 midterms, according to new disclosures.

New disclosures: AIPAC gave a record-high $30 million to its super PAC, the United Democracy Project, ahead of 2026 races. The group has already spent millions of dollars on attack ads in a New Jersey Democratic primary.

Crypto, AI, and AIPAC Set up to Smash Super PAC Spending Records The groups are sitting on massive war chests for 2026 midterms, according to new disclosures.

Super PACs for the crypto and AI industry, as well as AIPAC's group, are sitting on massive war chests for 2026 midterms. Cash on hand, according to new disclosures:

section of NYT article: Pro-Israel Group Targets a Former Ally in an Early Congressional Race (Jan. 25, 2026)

AIPAC's super PAC has now spent $2.3 million opposing Tom Malinowski in the #NJ11 primary election, per FEC filings.

This weekend, UDP spent another half-million on media and direct mail against him. Though he is described as a former ally of AIPAC, the group opposes possibility of aid conditions.

headshot of Todd L. Boehly, CEO of Eldridge Industries

In the last days of 2025, MAGA Inc. also received:

- another $1 million from tobacco company RAI Services

- $1 million from billionaire financier Todd Boehly, co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who previously gave that amount at the end of 2024

Screenshot of FEC Schedule A Form 3X, of Securing American Greatness donation of $7.5 million to MAGA Inc. on Jan. 31, 2025: https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202601319808906876

Trump's MAGA Inc. super PAC entered 2026 with $304.4 million in cash on hand, per new FEC disclosure. It plans to spend for GOP allies in the midterms.

On Dec. 31, it received another $7.5 million from Trump's "dark money" group, Securing American Greatness.

docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/form...

New US TikTok Spinoff Will Be Controlled by Trump-Aligned Billionaires Trump-aligned tech barons are now set to control nearly all major US social media platforms.

Not just Larry Ellison—pro-Trump billionaire Jeff Yass is set to profit from the new U.S. TikTok on two sides. Also in the new ownership consortium: Emirati state-owned firm MGX, and Jared Kushner's circle. By @derekseidman.bsky.social:

The Companies Behind ICE Sludge built an interactive map of every ICE contractor working with the Trump administration.

Brand-name companies with ICE contracts under the Trump administration:

- AT&T
- Dell
- Deloitte
- Ernst & Young
- FedEx
- Stamps .com
- Xerox, and others

See the $$ amounts in our searchable list:

readsludge.com/2026/01/16/t...

The Companies Behind ICE Sludge built an interactive map of every ICE contractor working with the Trump administration.

Here are ICE contractors nationwide. Interactive map:

readsludge.com/2026/01/16/t...

Hudson River Park Trust to End Longstanding ICE Contract Following Sludge Report After contracting with ICE since 2004, the Trust tells Sludge it will stop when the current contract ends in June.

After our latest report on the ongoing ICE vehicle parking at Pier 40, Sludge asked the Trust if the deal, set to expire on June 30 this year, would be renewed.

On Jan. 20, a spokesperson told us that the Trust "does not intend to renew the contract."

NYC Councilmember Erik Bottcher @ebottcher.bsky.social, whose district includes Pier 40, posted yesterday calling to halt ICE's long-running parking deal:

"Every day this continues, people are being hurt and a public park that belongs to our community is being misused.”

bsky.app/profile/ebot...

screengrab from Footprint NYC post today, Jan. 23, 2026: A group of local elected officials sent a letter to the trust’s CEO, Noreen Doyle, echoing Hoylman-Sigal’s call for early termination. “We urge the Trust to make every effort to terminate this contract immediately,” they wrote. “

Latest — @nycfootprint.bsky.social reports that nine New York elected officials are calling on the Hudson River Park Trust to cancel their ICE contract immediately.

open.substack.com/pub/thefootp...

This accountability journalism is made possible by readers like you. If you think it’s vital to follow the money, please join us as a subscriber: readsludge.com/membership

Live from Pier 40, after our latest reports on ICE’s parking contracts led the Hudson River Park Trust to say they would not renew their over two-decade deal with ICE…