Aram Roston

Journalist at The Guardian. I cover natsec, crime and corruption and more.
Contact me via signal or email

[Kenneth Roth @KenRoth]

Venezuela’s autocratic leaders (minus Maduro) have made a pact with Trump, handing over the country’s oil, so they can keep their jobs and keep out the democratic opposition. https://t.co/Va1AuI5YP7

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

"By installing the tech billionaires Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey to advisory roles in a Pentagon project about the future of warfare, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, bestowed extraordinary influence on two of Maga’s most significant campaign donors"
https://t.co/7zpR6oIxEM

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

“His WhatsApp”, they said, “‘His accountants, his lawyers, everything.” . A 2021 document obtained by the Guardian, prepared by a group of hackers, shows a list of Venezuelan targets. It lists Betancourt as a “secondary” target.

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

"According to two people familiar with the situation, Venezuelan authorities were so concerned over allegations about Betancourt’s finances that they hired a team of lawyers and investigators who began an intense investigation to try to track his money.
https://t.co/9YAiTQ89Pg

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

Betancourt’s attorney said the businessman never misappropriated money.
The investigators hired by Venezuela even used hackers to try to trace his funds. A source familiar with the hacking project said their intrusion was extensive.

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

The truth behind Donald Trump’s ‘biggest oil deal in world history’
-virtually everything Trump and his cabinet have said about the deal is false and misleading, according to the experts and officials who spoke with the Guardian.
https://t.co/9YAiTQ89Pg

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

Prior to Trump, the defense department had never operated like a private equity fund that could directly own percentages of foreign companies.

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

the idea that the Department of Defense could own more than a third of a Venezuelan oil company, or any oil company, would have been unthinkable in any previous US administration.
https://t.co/9YAiTQ7BZI

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

Earlier this year, the Guardian disclosed that the official, Emil Michael, had profited handsomely from his investment in Musk’s xAI in January, with a gain of between 400% and 4,800%.

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

Exclusive: financial disclosures from Emil Michael @USWREMichael also reaped millions from xAI stock earlier this year – show he sold his Perplexity stock for up to $25m https://t.co/ndHau9o0p5

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

Earlier this year, the Guardian disclosed that the official, Emil Michael, had profited handsomely from his investment in Musk’s xAI in January, with a gain of between 400% and 4,800%.

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

Pentagon official overseeing artificial intelligence policy, who reaped profits earlier this year of up to $24m selling his private investment in Musk’s AI company, has now sold his holdings in another AI company for between $5m and $25m, records show. https://t.co/ndHau9o0p5

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

Ullman noted that during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, funding was more forthcoming from Congress because those conflicts were authorized by a resolution. “There is no authorization to use force in this case. Is Congress obliged to pay for a conflict it did not authorize?”

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

IExclusive: The Iran war has driven the Navy into a severe financial crisis, forcing it to transfer money from its payroll and other sources to cover the costs of combat, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Guardian. https://t.co/OGABTFERxi

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

a navy spokesperson said maintenance and operations funds have not been depleted. “The Department of the Navy,” the statement said, “is actively managing its resources to meet current pay obligations on time.

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

One Pentagon memo about navy funding seen by the Guardian warns that there are “shortfalls in payroll” accounts due to the department “raiding” them to fund combat operations. https://t.co/OGABTFERxi

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

“The only reason really to do it is because they want to appease Trump, because they want to gain favor with Trump or in some way help Trump for whatever reason,” said James Angel, an associate professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

Why would depositors be interested in buying the Trump family’s little-used stablecoins after the bank got conditional approval from the US OCC? https://t.co/INTKNjKm9P

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

The first distinctive feature of the Trump bank is that there is almost no risk that it can lose money. The second is the sole logical motivation for depositors to put their money into it, according to five experts: the financial connection to the president and his family.

[Aram Roston @AramRoston]

Two fundamentals underpin the business model of a new crypto bank partly owned by the Trump family, cryptocurrency experts tell the Guardian. https://t.co/INTKNjKm9P