Democracy Now! Productions

The White House has announced funding for construction of what would be the first new U.S. coal plants in 13 years. On Thursday, President Trump announced $700 million in new federal funding for the coal industry during an Oval Office gathering with Republican governors and Cabinet members.President Donald Trump: “If you look at China, if you look at so many of the successful countries, they’re using coal. If you look at some of the real great failures countries, they’re using wind. Just keeps blowing, blowing, blowing and puts you right out of business.”This week, attorneys general from seven states sued the Trump administration over its efforts to cancel a major offshore wind lease off the coast of New York.

The online “prediction markets” platform known as Kalshi has reported the disgraced former Republican Congressmember George Santos to federal authorities on suspicion of insider trading. Two sources familiar with the investigation say Kalshi contacted the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Department of Justice after Santos placed bets on whether or not he would attend the State of the Union address last February. Santos bet against his own attendance — after posting this video to his hundreds of thousands of social media followers.George Santos: “I’m going to be there for the State of the Union in the gallery, guys. Just chill, trolls. Chill. OK?”Santos was expelled from Congress in 2023 and pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud, identity theft, lying to Congress, stealing money from campaign donors and fraudulent unemployment claims. He was released from federal prison in October after President Trump commuted his seven-year sentence. It’s not clear whether Santos will face new criminal charges. This comes after President Trump lashed out at prominent politicians who’ve sought to regulate or ban Kalshi and similar platforms. Writing on his Truth Social site after Minnesota last month became the first state to ban prediction markets, Trump called Governor Tim Walz ”SCUM,” along with Chris Christie, Letitia James, and JB Pritzker. Trump added, “Other Countries are after this new form of Financial Market, and we want to remain at the top. Likewise, and even more importantly, where we are currently the Crypto (Bitcoin, etc.) Capital of the World, other Countries are trying diligently to replace us in that capacity, but we won’t let that happen.”

In New Jersey, Republican Congressmember Tom Kean Jr. won an uncontested primary election on Tuesday — even though he has not been seen in public in over three months. Kean’s campaign has offered little explanation for his absence, saying only that it’s due to a “personal medical condition” and that it might be several more weeks before Kean is healthy enough to return to Capitol Hill. Kean won the endorsement of President Trump, who praised him on social media as “working tirelessly,” while adding, “HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” Kean has missed over 100 votes since his disappearance in early March.

The Trump administration has begun dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a network of ocean floor sensors that collect critical data on marine ecosystems, ocean currents and the climate crisis. The National Science Foundation said this week it will decommission more than 900 deep-sea sensors installed a decade ago. Its closure was recommended by the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 playbook for Trump’s presidency. Scientists warn the move will severely degrade efforts to monitor changing climate patterns and could negatively affect weather forecasting and extreme weather alerts.

Democratic lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to scrap a proposal making it easier for 401(k)s and other retirement plans to offer investments in cryptocurrency, private equity and so-called alternative assets. In a letter to the Labor Department, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and Congressmember Bobby Scott warn, “This would strip long-held investor protections from retirement savers and encourage the use of more risky, complex, and expensive investments. The proposed rule is harmful to American workers.”

President Trump appeared to struggle to remain awake during his appearance in the Oval Office on Thursday, closing his eyes for extended periods of time and at one point slumping in his chair at the Resolute Desk. It’s the latest in a series of public events where Trump appeared to doze off in full view of the White House press corps. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified to a House committee that he’d never seen President Trump fall asleep. That prompted California Congressmember Ted Lieu to accuse Rubio of “lying to Congess.” Lieu then played video from a December Cabinet meeting where Rubio praised Trump’s leadership while the president appeared to fall into a slumber.Rep. Ted Lieu: “You are literally talking about issues of war and peace, and Donald Trump is sleeping right next to you.”Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “No, he’s not.”Rep. Ted Lieu: “If Donald Trump cannot stay awake at these important meetings where the cameras are rolling, imagine what he’s like when the cameras are not there. So, I’m going to ask you: Have you been at classified meetings where Donald Trump has fallen asleep” —Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “I’ve never been at any meeting” —Rep. Ted Lieu: — “or had trouble staying awake?”Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “I’ve never been at any meeting where — and the things you’re showing me now, he was not falling asleep.”

In the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reports a Palestinian family of five was burned alive as they slept in their beds when Israel bombed their home in Gaza City overnight. They were among nine people killed in the attack. This is a Palestinian man who lost his daughter and his two grandchildren.Rabah Lubbad: “The war did not end. It is a hoax. The war did not end. They are fooling people. Nothing ended. There are martyrs every day. There are martyrs in all places in Gaza every day. What war ended? The war ended from one side only.”Since October, when Israel agreed, on paper, to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Hamas, it has killed nearly 950 Palestinians in near-constant attacks on Gaza. Nearly 3,000 others have been wounded.

In California, voters in the city of Monterey Park have approved a measure that permanently bans the construction of new data centers, defeating a proposal to build a massive new artificial intelligence site near a residential neighborhood. It’s the first time a municipality has banned a data center through a direct ballot initiative. This comes as new research from the U.N. University warns that, by 2030, global data centers are projected to consume 945 terawatt-hours of electricity — or nearly triple what Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria consume annually, combined. The report also finds data centers’ water footprint will equal the basic annual domestic water needs of all 1.3 billion people in sub-Saharan Africa.

We speak with Dr. Adam Hamawy, the former U.S. Army combat surgeon who just won the Democratic nomination in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District. He is now the heavy favorite to win the Democratic-leaning district in November and, if elected, would become New Jersey’s first Muslim member of Congress. Hamawy is an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights and volunteered in Gaza during Israel’s genocidal assault on the territory. He has been endorsed by prominent progressives like Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, who credits Hamawy with saving her life after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq in 2004. “I was running on something very simple: that we should be spending on healthcare, not bombs,” Hamawy tells Democracy Now!, criticizing the $1 trillion Pentagon budget. “We need to be spending some of that right here at home to restore our nation, to fund universal healthcare like Medicare for All, to fund tuition-free public college, to rebuild our roads and bridges, to address the housing crisis.”

The British government earlier this week barred left-wing political commentators Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur from entering the U.K. ahead of several speaking events. The Home Office said it was canceling their travel permits because “their presence in the U.K. may not be conducive to the public good.” Piker and Uygur, who are related, are both outspoken in their criticism of Israel. While the government did not cite a specific reason for the ban, some lawmakers and pro-Israel groups had accused the two of promoting antisemitism, which they reject. “I find what the British government did here to be objectionable. I find it to be disgusting. I also find it to be terrifying,” Piker tells Democracy Now! “I think it’s a sign that we’re … headed down a very different — dare I say, fascist — direction in the Western world.” Piker also discusses his participation in a recent humanitarian mission to Cuba, for which he is reportedly under investigation by the Trump administration, and his support for progressive and antiwar candidates in this year’s midterm elections. “We don’t have a lot of time. Fascism is here,” Piker says.