Saturday Covfefe: The Systems Are Working. Just Not for You.

Watchdogs. Iran. Elections. And one musical horse.

Saturday, August 22, 2026

$40 trillion.

That’s where the national debt landed this week. If you think that’s just a Washington Beltway number, it isn’t. The consequences can reach your mortgage, your car loan, your credit cards, etc.

And, as the national debt crossed a record $40 trillion, the President was showing off construction on his White House ballroom and helipad.

So there’s your cheerful Saturday morning financial update. Now on to the other things keeping me caffeinated.

1. He Spied For America, Now ICE Wants Him Gone

Blerim Skoro says he infiltrated al Qaeda for the CIA, provided intelligence to the FBI, and helped put terrorists behind bars. He was shot after his cover was blown and a federal judge later determined that sending him back to Kosovo could put him at risk of torture or death. So naturally, ICE arrested him while he was showing up to an immigration office to renew his paperwork.

Skoro’s story is complicated. He came to the U.S. from Kosovo, served prison time for drug trafficking, was deported, and later returned illegally. There’s a national security problem buried inside this immigration story: What happens the next time America asks someone to risk their life for us?

Intelligence work depends on people willing to enter rooms Americans cannot, build relationships we cannot, and take risks most of us will never know about. You can argue about Skoro’s immigration status. You can’t pretend the message being sent to future informants and assets overseas doesn’t matter.

"I never thought they were going to betray me like this." – Skoro.

Neither, presumably, did the people we’ll need to recruit tomorrow.

🕵️‍♂️ He spied for the U.S. Now ICE wants to deport him. (CBS News)

2. What Does Anti-Terrorism Money Have to Do With Your Ballot?

Last month we found out that the Trump administration is withholding federal anti-terrorism money unless states and local governments agree to changes in how they run elections. The money comes from FEMA’s Homeland Security Grant Program, created by Congress after 9/11 to help communities prevent and respond to terrorism.

That is quite a journey from al Qaeda to ballot audits.

New requirements cover voting equipment, how ballots are cast and audited, and citizenship checks of voters and election workers using a federal database that has faced questions about accuracy. Jurisdictions that don’t comply can lose 20%, or potentially all, of their grant funding. Now Harris and El Paso counties in Texas, Nashville, and Columbus are suing. FEMA says election security is national security and calls the requirements “critical, common-sense steps” to protect election integrity.

I spent years at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Protecting elections from cyberattacks, terrorism, and foreign interference absolutely belongs in the homeland-security mission. Using anti-terrorism funding as leverage to dictate how states and localities administer elections is something very different—especially months before the midterms. Whatever you think, ask yourself this: What happens to public safety when terrorism-prevention money becomes leverage in a fight over elections?

🗳️ Anti-Terrorism Funds Tied to Election Rules (USA Today)

3. When the Watchdogs Become Political Weapons

I’ve warned about this for years.

When I spoke out in 2020, I didn’t use the internal whistleblower process. I had spent my career inside the government and was already worried about what happens when the systems designed to expose wrongdoing are controlled by the people you’re reporting on.

Trump began his second term by firing or demoting at least 20 inspectors general. Some replacements are now openly praising Trump, attacking his political opponents and directing scrutiny outside the agencies they’re supposed to oversee.

Then came a DOJ whistleblower. Career Civil Rights Division attorney Haley Van Erem alleges the administration’s antisemitism investigations into Brown, Columbia and Harvard universities had outcomes "predetermined without regard to the evidence." At Brown, she says investigators found insufficient evidence of systemic violations; yet more than $500 million in federal funding had already been frozen.

Antisemitism is real and Jewish students deserve protection, but that’s exactly why investigations must follow the evidence, not a political directive. Put the stories together: fire the watchdogs, weaken their offices, install political allies, and then pressure career investigators when the facts don’t produce the desired result…

And you arrive at the question I worried about in 2020: Who do you report wrongdoing to when the watchdogs themselves have been compromised?

🚨 Trump’s IGs Become Political Weapons (NY Times); DOJ Whistleblower Sounds the Alarm (WaPo)

Someone I Want You to Know

I want to pause here for someone I know personally.

My friend and former colleague Julia Curlee told her story in The Atlantic this week. Julia and I spent years serving in the intelligence community, and we later served together on Vice President Mike Pence’s staff. During my tenure as his Homeland Security Advisor, she was his Presidential Daily Briefer. I knew Julia for what she was: an extraordinarily dedicated intelligence officer and public servant. I also watched Vice President Pence treat her with the professionalism and respect she had earned.

Julia is transgender. In her piece, she writes publicly about her career, her service, and what happened after the Trump administration returned to power.

She ends with a line that stayed with me:

"This White House took my calling, but it will not take my pride, or tell me that I don’t belong, or that I must disappear."

She once wrote under a pseudonym so she could keep serving. Now she writes in her own name for the same reason.

🕵️‍♀️ Julia Curlee: The Wrong Kind of American (The Atlantic- Gift article)

With Julia last night. Proud of her service. Proud of her courage. Even prouder to call her my friend.

4. ICE Had a Quiet Deportation Channel With Iran

And then there’s the one that almost made me spit out my coffee.

Newly released emails show ICE officials working with Iranian officials to arrange three flights that deported more than 100 Iranians in 2025 and early 2026. Coordinating with another government to obtain travel documents isn’t unusual. However, what happened next is. The emails show Iranian officials requesting changes to who would be sent back, and ICE apparently accommodating some of them.

"Per request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases," one ICE official wrote. Another wrote: “Iran has requested that I amend the previous manifest and expedite the removal process.”

At least one Iranian was even put on a flight despite not appearing on the final manifest sent to Qatar. One U.S. official responded: “I have no idea how the case/person got through on the plane.” DHS disputes that anyone was mistakenly deported.

Days after Trump warned “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” during the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, ICE leadership was calling Iranian deportations a priority. An internal email urged officials to “identify a solution for this White House priority,” even as Iranians themselves were fleeing the country.

Previous reporting found asylum seekers among those deported. And eleven Iranian detainees have separately alleged they were forced to meet with Iranian government officials who knew details about their asylum claims. DHS vehemently denies sharing asylum records and says deportees received due process.

For decades, America offered refuge to Iranians fleeing that regime. Now we’re learning the regime may have had a say in who America sent back.

🇮🇷 ICE’s Quiet Channel With Iran (AP)

5. Dump Flock, but the Cameras Aren’t Going Away

Remember all that controversy over Flock Safety, the company with more than 120,000 AI-powered license-plate cameras across America? People fought back and at least 56 municipalities have deactivated, canceled, or rejected Flock contracts this year. Victory! Well, not exactly. New reporting finds that some cities dumping Flock are simply replacing it with another surveillance company: Axon. The $48 billion police-tech giant behind Tasers and body cameras has moved in to replace Flock in at least seven municipalities across five states.

And this is where the story turns into a bigger Flockin’ deal. See what I did there?

These cameras automatically scan license plates billions of times every month, creating searchable records of where vehicles have been. Police say they’re invaluable for finding missing people, stolen cars and solving crimes. We’ve also seen police use this technology to track a woman suspected of self-administering an abortion across state lines. Officers have allegedly used it to stalk romantic partners. Data has found its way to federal immigration enforcement. Now add artificial intelligence (AI)…Axon markets a platform that combines license-plate readers with city and privately owned cameras to, in the company’s words, "connect the dots across your entire data ecosystem."

This isn’t really a story about Flock anymore. It’s about building a surveillance infrastructure faster than we’re building the rules governing what can be done with it.

You can take down the Flock cameras. That doesn’t mean anyone stopped watching.

👁️ Cities Dump Flock. Surveillance Remains (The Guardian)

Meanwhile, Deep in the Heart of Texas…🤠

Okay, I’m originally from Texas, so indulge me. Cook Political Report just moved the Texas Senate race from Lean Republican to Toss-Up, as rural Republicans increasingly revolt over data centers, transmission lines, water, power and local control. Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide in more than 30 years. So no, I’m not calling Texas blue. But I am saying: Watch Texas. I will certainly do my best to support James Talarico because I love my home state. Texans and the country deserve better than the corrupt Ken Paxton.

🐴 One Thing for Your Soul

Meet Yupia, a rescue horse who apparently looked at the music industry and thought: I can do that!

Singer-songwriter Mikayla Khramov discovered Yupia liked making music when he started strumming her guitar with his nose. He has since expanded his repertoire to guitar, harp and accordion, sometimes plucking strings with his teeth. Naturally, he’s now a featured artist on her upcoming album.

So after a week of $40 trillion debt, deportations, surveillance and government watchdogs…

Here’s a horse dropping an album. And frankly, I’m ready for his tour dates.

🎸 Meet Yupia, the Musical Horse (USA Today)

And on that note, I’m off to play my guitar. Thanks for the inspiration, Yupia.

–Olivia