The White House is preparing for what, inside, they are calling a rampage. A secret Russian money trail just turned up inside an Alaska gas deal discussed in Ukraine peace talks, as people say Trump is giving Alaska to Russia. Ukraine finally got its satellite access back, but only after Congress started threatening to shut down Trump's nominees. And today I sat down with Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary under President Joe Biden, the former mayor in Indiana, to talk about all this and more.
Because right now, with 10 days to go, the president of the United States, behind the scenes, has told advisers in a way that this could be spelling the end, the beginning of the end of his presidency. That's what many in and around the White House are saying and contemplating, as Democrats look increasingly bullish at taking back one or both chambers of Congress. And inside the White House, Trump's own people are terrified of what happens next. If you can, make sure to subscribe to support this work. Like, comment, share. We got a lot of pushback over our reporting on Trump's connections to Russia, on exposing what happened in the Middle East, but this is reporting that needs to continue to happen, and I can do it with your support.
Right now, administration officials, advisers and allies told CNN that they are increasingly convinced that if Republicans lose in the midterms, Trump is going to go on what they call a quote rampage, firing people across the government as he looks for someone to blame.
Listen to how Trump's own allies right now are describing the mood inside the White House. One said, quote, "It's more brutal than any other situation in modern times in the White House. You can't trust anybody here. If we lose both the House and the Senate, there's really no telling what happens. Everyone is fair game." You finally have a president who is looking at the future and seeing himself as a lame duck. A lame duck president who has very little in terms of power in the Congress. And many outside the White House are saying that a Democratic win in either chamber, either the House of Representatives or the United States Senate, would spell the beginning of the end for this president.
So, who's on the chopping block? Defense Secretary Pete Hoekstra, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, and White House Budget Chief Russ Vought. And now we're seeing people being pushed out of the White House in real time. Many of Trump's own aides privately believe that the House is already lost.
Trump himself sounded resigned this week, saying, quote, "The president always loses for whatever reason, the midterms." And this isn't just Democrats saying it. It's also folks across the pond in the United Kingdom who are making clear that Trump is the quote lamest of lame duck presidents.
And as one Republican strategist put it, he'll have the full authority of the presidency until noon on January 20th, 2029. I expect he will use it. Now, I do want to touch on something that's very significant because today we learned that there is talks behind the scenes to essentially sell out Alaska to Russia. And it's very urgent. It's more urgent than ever before.
US energy company executives — this is from Jay in Kiev and the New York Times and the Financial Times — energy company executives have reportedly resigned in disgust as the Trump family is caught secretly expediting the funneling of $25 billion from a sanctioned Russian energy giant in exchange for allowing Russians to obtain a natural gas project in Alaska. Investigations by the New York Times and Financial Times revealed that Russia's Novatek allegedly concealed its financial involvement in the American project through a UAE-linked intermediary. Gentry Beach, a long-time Trump ally and close friend of Donald Trump Jr., signed an agreement with Novatek to pursue natural gas development in Alaska. Reuters documented this arrangement in February.
Vladimir Putin discussed the cooperation on the Alaska energy project with Steve Wodkaff and Jared Kushner. Now, the controversy is deepening when Polar Train LNG CEO Joe Riddle raised concerns about concealed Russian financing and possible sanctions violations. He departed, resigned back in September.
Now, the Financial Times also described discussions about a potential arrangement under which Novatek would provide technology for the Alaska project in exchange for sanctions relief benefiting its Arctic LNG 2 development in Siberia. According to the New York Times, Riddle and two other departing executives warned the Trump administration about the Russian financing and urged officials to investigate it. They're actively selling Alaska to the Russians or selling Ukraine to the Russians. It depends on the day and it depends on who you ask in real time.
Meanwhile, today Hitler's estate in Germany, his former estate, is on fire. It's burning. This is what Eagle's Nest looked like today. An arsonist, a suspected arsonist, has been arrested. The fire alarm went off overnight. Perched on a cliff more than 6,000 ft up in Germany's Bavarian Alps, firefighters are still fighting the blaze this morning.
The building was commissioned by the Nazi party, completed in 1938. Hitler visited numerous times for social functions. I spoke with Secretary of Transportation, former Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg this morning about the midterm blitz, the war in Iran, the war in Ukraine, and whether he himself sees himself as potentially the savior for the Democratic Party in 2028 and moving forward. It's a conversation you don't want to miss. Make sure to subscribe, support this work. Here's my conversation with Pete.
Great to be joined again by Pete Buttigieg. Now Pete, I got to jump right in and ask you because you are on a midterm blitz. We're 10 days away from election day. How are you feeling? Where are you going? And where are you most excited about?
I think the most important thing to do is a rapid-fire sequence of 10 or 15 clean, discrete pieces of legislation, one by one, putting money back in people's pockets and making everyday life better, because that's what they will have hired Democrats to do. And there's so many things immediately that we should be taking action on. Healthcare. And it's not just the overhaul of the healthcare system, which I think we need, but more immediate steps, like getting people those tax credits back and doing something about these Republican cuts to Medicaid. It's raising the minimum wage, a simple and effective policy that could benefit millions of Americans. It's having a fairer tax system than we have right now. And again, political reforms like a ban on gerrymandering.
I think instead of having one giant bill with a umpteen amendments, we should have a series of bills, get them to the president's desk, and dare him to say no to all of these things that two-thirds of Americans, sometimes three-quarters of Americans, want. Now, of course, we got to have accountability. Of course, we got to have standards. But to me, it's very important not to allow it to appear like that's more important to us than taking care of everyday life. But, you know, when it comes to oversight, I think there needs to be a focus on behaviors that no Democrat or Republican should ever accept. And a focus on the victims, the very real victims of everything from ICE abuses to corrupt deals in this administration.
