5️⃣ Noem’s Husband Exposed

Cross-dressing photos of former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s husband Bryon surfaced today — hundreds of messages sent to multiple women showing him in fake breasts and pink spandex as part of what’s being described as a “bimbofication” fetish. Dean Blundell, who broke the story on his Substack, walked through the messages in detail, including exchanges on a fetish platform where Bryon paid tribute to a user listed as “slave” and discussed transitioning fantasies. “She did execute some Americans. She did hurt hundreds of thousands of migrants and people of color in the name of Jesus. She hates trans people and cross dressers. So I can’t ignore that either,” Blundell said. The irony was not lost on either host — the woman who ran Trump’s deportation machine had her own family secret blow up in public, possibly leaked by an undocumented immigrant on the app who recognized who Bryon was. Noem was already quietly removed from DHS weeks ago and reassigned to a made-up “Special Envoy” role. Now we know why.

4️⃣ Trump’s Library Is a Hotel

President Trump unveiled renderings of his presidential library Monday — a Miami skyscraper with his name on it, a gold statue of himself, a golden escalator, and Air Force One in the lobby. Then he told reporters he doesn’t “believe in libraries or museums” and confirmed it would “most likely” be a hotel. The 2.6-acre site was donated by Miami Dade College — a public institution giving away public land for $10. “This is a money laundering center. This is a convention hall. This is a hotel. This is a place for people to pay five times what the market value for a condo is just to say thanks to Donald Trump,” Blundell said. Shalev pointed out that foreign governments — the Saudis, Qataris, UAE, Russians — will pour money into the building, turning what should be a place of public study into a generational revenue stream for the Trump family. “Every single thing is only viewed as a money-making opportunity for these guys,” Shalev said. “There’s not a single thing that is about public service.”

3️⃣ SCOTUS Shreds Birthright Order

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Trump’s executive order to strip birthright citizenship from children born to undocumented parents, and his own appointees tore the argument apart. Chief Justice Roberts called the administration’s examples “very quirky” and questioned how they could expand to millions of people. Justice Kagan pointed out the government’s own brief was mostly about temporary inhabitants, not undocumented immigrants. The highlight came when Justice Gorsuch asked Solicitor General John Sauer whether Native Americans would qualify as birthright citizens under the administration’s test — and Sauer said he didn’t know. “You’re on their soil, dickhead,” Blundell responded. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson delivered the sharpest line of the day, asking whether pregnant women would be “brought in for depositions” to determine their babies’ citizenship. Trump sat in the courtroom for 90 minutes, the first sitting president to attend oral arguments. A decision is expected by June.

2️⃣ Johnson Says We’re Not at War

At 9 PM tonight, Trump will address the nation claiming the Iran war could end in “two, maybe three weeks” — while Speaker Mike Johnson insists the United States is “not at war.” The House voted 219-212 to kill a bipartisan War Powers resolution, with Johnson calling the War Powers Act “unconstitutional and frightening.” Shalev laid out what Trump will try to sell tonight: that the war is good for America, that $4-a-gallon gas is patriotic, and that NATO allies who won’t join the fight deserve to be abandoned. Blundell catalogued the reality — AWACS sawed in half by Iranian missiles, stratotankers destroyed on the tarmac in Saudi Arabia, 17 U.S. military installations gone, the Strait of Hormuz under Iranian control. “This is operation cover the s**t up as fast as you can and offer 17 different narratives,” Shalev said. Trump told Reuters he’s “absolutely” considering withdrawing from NATO, and MBS put the U.S.-Saudi relationship “on hold.” The free world is closing its airspace to American military equipment for the first time in history.

1️⃣ Lutnick Federalizes Your Ballot

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — whom Shalev called “the crypto secretary” for his ties to stablecoin Tether — stood behind Trump in the Oval Office and laid out the architecture of a federal election takeover. A new executive order directs DHS and the Social Security Administration to compile a national “citizenship list” of eligible voters, with USPS assigned to deliver mail ballots only to names on that list. “They’re just going to send the mail-in votes to Republicans, basically, or white people,” Blundell said. Oregon and Arizona filed suit within minutes. Shalev connected Lutnick’s role to the larger corruption: Tether was under investigation for massive Russian money laundering, Lutnick sold his business to his children who got a loan from the crypto company, and now this same man with zero election authority is inserting the federal government between every American and their ballot — seven months before the midterms. “The whole thing is just a crypto venture,” Shalev said, “and it’s designed to build himself a fortune.”

Five stories, one pattern: every public institution — the military, the courts, the postal service, the presidential library — gets turned into a private revenue stream or a tool of authoritarian control.

The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.

Thank you Elaine Cimino, LC - Silence is Complicity, Leah Anderson, Steven Luker, Lalisa, and many others for tuning into my live video with Dean Blundell! Join me for my next live video in the app.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

Before the countdown even started, Dean Blundell broke news from a fresh court filing: the ATF was unable to match the bullet recovered from Charlie Kirk’s autopsy to the rifle allegedly used by Tyler Robinson. The bullet fragmented on impact with bone, making conclusive ballistics analysis impossible — though the spent shell casing at the scene did match Robinson’s weapon. Robinson’s defense team filed a motion requesting a six-month delay to review the evidence. Meanwhile, Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby, who orchestrated Robinson’s surrender, abruptly resigned after 30 years on the job. “This is the biggest story in the world that nobody’s talking about because it’s getting buried,” Blundell said. The case that made Kirk a MAGA martyr — complete with Capitol posters and a Presidential Medal of Freedom for his wife — now has serious evidentiary questions at its core.

5️⃣ Let Them Eat Cake

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill renaming Palm Beach International Airport to Donald J. Trump International Airport, effective July 1 with airport code DJT — and the Trump family had already trademarked the name plus luggage, flight suits, and plastic shoe protectors. Meanwhile Eric Trump unveiled renderings of a 50-story presidential library tower in Miami, gold arches and Air Force One in the lobby, funded by a tax-exempt foundation planning to raise a billion dollars with no restrictions on foreign donations. The original fund was dissolved after failing to file basic paperwork, with $63 million in media lawsuit settlements unaccounted for. Senators Warren and Blumenthal are demanding answers. An airport, a tower, and a trademarked merch line — none of it is about legacy. It’s revenue streams wrapped in presidential immunity.

4️⃣ Gas Hits $4

Gas crossed $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022, with the national average hitting $4.02 — up 34.7% in a single month, the largest spike ever recorded in the United States. Larger than after Katrina, larger than after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Diesel is at $4.59 and analysts say $5 is possible if the Strait of Hormuz stays contested. Every gallon is a war tax from a conflict Americans didn’t vote for and weren’t consulted on, delivered by an administration that promised energy dominance.

3️⃣ NPR/PBS Funding Ruled Unconstitutional

A federal judge struck down Trump’s executive order defunding NPR and PBS, ruling it violates the First Amendment. Judge Randolph Moss called it “viewpoint discrimination and retaliation,” noting the order specifically cited NPR articles about queer animals and a PBS documentary about a transgender teenager. The ruling connects directly to the broader media landscape — with Oracle’s Larry Ellison moving to acquire CBS and CNN, building what Shalev called “not just a surveillance state but a censorship state” designed to control what Americans see, hear, and believe for the next decade.

2️⃣ Judge Halts White House Ballroom

A second federal judge handed Trump a major loss Tuesday. Judge Richard Leon halted construction of the $400 million, 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom, ruling the president lacks authority to fund it through private donations from Amazon, Google, and Palantir — companies with billions in government contracts. “The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner,” Leon wrote. Blundell put it more simply: “He’s the Billy Mays of presidents — he’s always selling someone on his idea.” Trump is expected to keep building regardless, just as he ignored the Supreme Court on tariffs.

1️⃣ SCOTUS Guts Conversion Bans / Allies Reject Trump’s War

Two number one stories today. The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy violates the First Amendment, with Justice Jackson dissenting alone, threatening protections in 30-plus states — on Transgender Day of Visibility. Shalev called it “a Russian copycat policy” and “a pathway to criminalizing homosexuality,” noting Russia banned another LGBTQ organization called Coming Out the same day. Then came the revelation that Kristi Noem’s husband Byron was outed as a cross-dresser on fetish sites while his wife pushed anti-LGBTQ policy in Jesus’s name. And on Day 31 of the Iran war, the coalition of one is collapsing. Defense Secretary Hegseth, who declared Iran “neutralized” last week, is now begging NATO allies for help keeping the Strait of Hormuz open — the same allies Trump called cowards. Italy blocked landing rights, Spain denied overflight, and Qatar asked for its jet back. “They’ve lost the war,” Blundell said. “They’re not willing to admit it, but they’re currently defeated.” Trump’s response to allies: “Build up some delayed courage. Go to the Strait and just take it.”

One year of the Fivestack. Two chill middle-aged snacks doing their best to inform the people — and a whole lot more work to do to bring democracy back.

The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.

Thank you Cheech Previti, Pamela, Leah Anderson, Lalisa, Eric Lullove, and many others for tuning into my live video with Dean Blundell! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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5️⃣ No Kings — 8 Million March

Two days after the largest single-day protest in American history, the question is what happens next. Eight million Americans turned out across all 50 states in over 3,300 organized events demanding an end to the Iran war, democratic backsliding, and the suppression of the Epstein files. “250 years of American history, there has never been a bigger protest against its own government, ever,” Dean said, noting the numbers have doubled from the previous No Kings march. Yet Sunday morning shows barely mentioned it — Kristen Welker was the only anchor to reference it, calling it “tens of thousands.” Dean revealed that FCC chair Brendan Carr sent notes to media executives warning them not to cover the march, and the regime is now threatening to charge television executives with treason for showing the footage. “When 9 million people show up, that’s a f*****g revolution,” Dean said. “That’s the beginning of a civil movement that Donald Trump can’t stop.”

4️⃣ Russia Targeted US Base for Iran

Ukrainian President Zelensky dropped an intelligence bombshell this weekend: Russia took satellite images of Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on three consecutive days — March 20th, 23rd, and 25th — before Iran attacked the base on March 26th, injuring a dozen American troops and destroying an AWACS command-and-control aircraft and multiple stratotankers worth hundreds of millions. Former Congressman Denver Riggleman, who joined the show as a surprise guest straight off the plane, broke down the significance. “This means we have a massive gap not only in how we’re actually responding, but we have a massive gap in our counterintelligence operations,” Riggleman said, calling for the U.S. to seize all Russian economic assets, arm Ukraine with every long-range weapon available, and deploy jammers against Russia’s GLONASS navigation system. Trump’s response to the Russian-assisted attack on American servicemembers: “They do it and we do it.”

3️⃣ Bunker Under the Ballroom

The $400 million East Wing “ballroom” renovation is really a secret military complex. Trump let the truth slip on Air Force One this weekend, revealing that underneath the ballroom is a massive bunker and command center — something he had been hiding behind the cover story of a ceremonial ballroom with Corinthian pillars. Riggleman explained that what’s really being built is a massive SCIF — a sensitive compartmented information facility — and raised critical questions about other entrances, exits, and whether similar bunkers are being constructed around the country as part of a continuity of operations plan. Dean pointed out that the New York Times renderings reveal bizarre design flaws including stairs that lead nowhere and a front facade with no door, while the building is being funded by private — possibly foreign — donors. “Leave it to Donald Trump to build a brand new ballroom that has no f*****g door,” Dean said. Riggleman warned: “I am worried about 2028, and if this thing is complete by 2028, what that means if he does refuse to leave.”

2️⃣ Exclusive: Tether Owns the Lutnick Empire

Narativ published a new investigation revealing Jeffrey Epstein’s direct role in designing the cryptocurrency capture of America — for Vladimir Putin. Emails from the Epstein archive show Epstein pitching an intermediary with a plan to deliver to Putin a vision for Russia to leapfrog America’s financial dominance using cryptocurrency, describing it as a Sputnik-level event. The connections run deep: Epstein’s crypto advisor Brock Pierce invented Tether, the stablecoin whose $133 billion in treasuries are held by Howard Lutnick’s Cantor Fitzgerald — and Lutnick sold Cantor to his kids through a trust funded by a Tether loan. Riggleman called for a crypto investigative task force, estimating Trump family crypto holdings may be close to $10 billion, with 19 of the 25 largest investors in Trump-backed crypto being foreign entities. “It’s almost like it is the Epstein regime,” Zev said. “It’s not the Trump regime.”

1️⃣ Greater North America — The Donroe Doctrine

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stood at U.S. Southern Command headquarters in Doral and redrew the map of the Western Hemisphere. Everything north of the equator — from Greenland to Guyana, Alaska to Ecuador — is now America’s “immediate security perimeter,” which he’s calling Greater North America. Dean connected it directly to the Greater Israel expansionist plan and identified the religious through line: Hegseth is framing this as a Christian nationalist mission, tied to the Seven Mountains Mandate and Project 2025’s concept of “re-hemisphering.” Riggleman broke down how the plan maps onto Project 2025’s framework where global powers each claim their own hemisphere, with the U.S., Russia, China, and Israel each carving out territory. “This is an attempt by the Donald Trump regime, by Pete Hegseth, to paint his expansionism as a mission from his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” Dean said.

Former Congressman Denver Riggleman joined the show as a surprise guest from Zev’s house — straight off the plane, sharing a microphone, and bringing receipts on the Trump family’s capture of the military-industrial complex. His six-part series on the Trump crime family’s drone and defense industry corruption is at denverriggleman.substack.com.

The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.

Thank you Marnie Screams Into the Void, Iulia Huiu, Kristen Lepionka, Pamela, LC - Silence is Complicity, and many others for tuning into my live video with Dean Blundell! Join me for my next live video in the app.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

5. Kash Patel Hacked by Iran

The FBI director got hacked by the enemy he’s supposed to be fighting. An Iran-linked hacking group called Handala breached Kash Patel’s personal Gmail account and published photos, emails, and personal documents online dating from 2010 to 2022 — and the DOJ confirmed the material is authentic. Among the leaked files: photos of Patel in Cuba smoking cigars next to cars with Cuban plates, his personal resume, and years of correspondence. The FBI is now offering a $10 million reward for information on the hackers, which as Zev noted means the best the bureau can do about its own director getting compromised is offer a bounty. Dean had his own take: “He’s an honorary screeched-in citizen of Newfoundland — we need to remove that designation right now.” Meanwhile, the White House’s own social media accounts posted two unexplained videos to X and Instagram Wednesday night — one showing someone’s feet with a woman’s voice asking “It’s launching soon, right?” — deleted 90 minutes later with millions of views and zero explanation.

4. Johnson Kills DHS Bill

The Senate passed a bipartisan bill to fund DHS at 2:20 this morning — everything except ICE — a compromise to end the six-week shutdown that has 510 TSA officers quitting and airports in chaos. Speaker Mike Johnson killed it hours later, calling it a “crap sandwich” and announcing his own eight-week stopgap that funds all of DHS including ICE. Dean’s assessment was more blunt: “It’s not a crap sandwich, it’s a s**t sandwich.” Johnson’s version goes back to a Senate that just left for a two-week recess, with Schumer already calling it dead on arrival. The NTSB chair is still driving five hours to crash sites because she can’t fly through her own country’s airports. Nobody is governing — they’re just positioning.

3. Fulton County Sues Over Ballot Seizure

A federal court hearing happened today in Georgia that may be the most important legal proceeding you haven’t heard about. Fulton County is suing to get back more than 650 boxes of 2020 election ballots that the FBI seized in a January 28th raid — ordered by Kurt Olsen, the Trump lawyer who was part of the original scheme to overturn the 2020 election and is now the White House’s director of election security. As Zev put it: “A man who tried to steal an election is now in charge of investigating elections, and his first act was to send the FBI to seize the ballots from the county that helped flip Georgia for Biden.” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was physically present at the seizure despite having zero authority over domestic elections. Dean connected the dots: “These are the same f*****g people and they’re running it back.”

2. Tomahawks Running Out

The United States has fired more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles in four weeks of war with Iran, and Pentagon officials describe remaining stockpiles as “alarmingly low” — some using the word “Winchester,” military slang for out of ammunition. The math is devastating: the U.S. produces between 90 and 100 Tomahawks per year, each costing $3.6 million and taking two years to build. In four weeks, this administration burned through a decade of production. Dean laid out the profiteering angle — the Trump family has secured $1.5 billion in defense contracts through 32 companies since the war began. “He’s basically burning through our ammunition on purpose,” Dean said. Raytheon says it will take a minimum of five years to replenish what’s been fired.

1. 10,000 More Troops to the Middle East

The Pentagon is drawing up plans to send 10,000 additional ground troops to the Middle East — infantry, armor, the 82nd Airborne — joining 5,000 Marines already en route. Their staging area: within striking distance of Kharg Island, the small strip of land that handles 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports. Trump extended his pause on strikes against Iranian energy infrastructure to April 6th, claiming talks are going well while Iran says no talks are happening. “You don’t move 10,000 ground troops into theater to negotiate,” Zev said. “You move them to invade.” Meanwhile the Strait of Hormuz is effectively shut, and Russia earned $7 billion in the first two weeks of March selling oil that used to flow through it. April 6 isn’t a peace deadline — it’s a deployment window. And tomorrow, millions of Americans will be in the streets for the third No Kings rally, with more than 3,000 events planned in all 50 states.

The FBI director is compromised, the government is shut down, the ballots are seized, the missiles are spent, and the troops are moving. Tomorrow, America answers.

Thank you Amy Gabrielle, Pamela, Leah Anderson, Lalisa, Skutt Hope, and many others for tuning into my live video with Dean Blundell! Join me for my next live video in the app.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

5️⃣ The Dictator Holds Court

Donald Trump’s first full cabinet meeting played out like a scene from Pyongyang, with sycophantic praise from every corner of the room while the president fell asleep three times, rambled incoherently for seven minutes, and sat with hands visibly caked in makeup. Dean Blundell described it best: “Trump’s cabinet meeting was a 47-car pileup, and he was driving all 47 cars.” Trump used the televised spectacle to attack Supreme Court Justices Barrett and Gorsuch as “sickening” after the tariff ruling, dismissed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s offer of aircraft carriers to help in the Persian Gulf, and sat stone-faced while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth excoriated the media for reporting the truth about America’s broken war machine. Senator Markwayne Mullin was introduced as the new DHS Secretary, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Trump that Venezuela wants to build him a statue, drawing comparisons to the kind of flattery reserved for dictators.

4️⃣ Congress Flees Tomorrow

Day 40 of the DHS shutdown arrived with Congress preparing to leave town for recess, abandoning TSA screeners who haven’t been paid and travelers facing 10-hour security lines at major airports. ICE agents at the southern border are handing out water bottles to migrants because they have no resources to process them. The air safety crisis deepened after an Air Canada flight and a LaGuardia fire truck nearly collided on the tarmac because the truck had no transponder and the airport’s overloaded radar system was being managed by a single air traffic controller. Dean cancelled two upcoming U.S. trips over safety concerns, warning that with spring break travel surging, the system is on the verge of catastrophic failure.

3️⃣ DOJ Runs a Loyalty Program

Michael Flynn received a $1.2 million taxpayer-funded settlement from the DOJ for “malicious prosecution,” despite having pleaded guilty twice and being a man who served as a foreign agent for Russia and Turkey, participated in January 6th, and became a QAnon leader. Meanwhile, Kash Patel’s grand jury testimony was released completely redacted except for his invocations of the Fifth Amendment, raising serious questions about what the nation’s top law enforcement official is hiding. In a Miami courtroom, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro appeared in shackles but refused to cooperate with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s request that he falsely claim Venezuela interfered in the 2020 election to bolster Trump’s narrative. And in a bizarre side deal, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff negotiated Pakistan’s rebuilding plan for New York’s Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan in exchange for Pakistan’s acceptance of crypto currency.

2️⃣ 10 Tankers: Iran’s Real Signal

Trump claimed Iran sent 10 oil tankers to the United States as a peace gesture, but the real story is who actually controls Iran now. The power behind the regime is Ahmad Vahidi, the Interpol-wanted terrorist responsible for the 1994 Argentina bombing and the 1996 Khobar Towers attack, who served as the first commander of the IRGC Quds Force. A new generation of extremist hardliners has replaced the old guard, and those tankers weren’t a peace offering — they were a demonstration that this new leadership controls Iran’s oil infrastructure and can turn the spigot on or off at will.

1️⃣ Kharg Island: A Suicide Mission

The Pentagon is planning a ground assault on Kharg Island, the tiny speck in the Persian Gulf that handles 90 percent of Iran’s crude oil exports, using the 82nd Airborne and Marines. Trump gave Iran a Friday deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, timed to the end of the trading week to prop up stock prices. But as Malcolm Nance laid out on Narativ Live, a million trained Basij soldiers are waiting in fortified positions built over 47 years, armed with missile systems that can lock onto targets and fragment into secondary warheads. The island has one runway that Iran would destroy immediately, the USS Gerald Ford is in port and not operational, and the Abraham Lincoln is out of ammunition in the Indian Ocean. The Trump family’s motive became clearer when Dean revealed that Eric and Donald Jr. have each accumulated roughly $10 billion by rolling up drone manufacturing and AI automation companies across the defense sector — effectively owning a piece of the entire U.S. military industrial complex. This isn’t just a war for oil or ego. It’s a war to feed a family monarchy.

The Five Stack is ticking — and the clock is running out.

The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.Thank you Lev Parnas, Cash Flow Collective, Robin Payes, Pamela, Lalisa, and many others for tuning into my live video with Dean Blundell! Join me for my next live video in the app.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

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Malcolm Nance read Article 3, Section 3 of the Constitution live on air: "Congress shall have the power to declare treason. That means a new Congress next January could declare treason.” And that’s how the Treason Ticket was born - Every Democrat running in 2026 should be running on the treason ticket.

5️⃣ Generals Turn on Hegseth

Retired Major General Randy Manner, U.S. Army, went on camera and called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a “potential war criminal” and “a disgraced National Guard major kicked out of the D.C. National Guard.” That is not partisan commentary. That is a retired general officer putting a marker down that the man running America’s wars has no business being anywhere near a command structure. Retired General James Mattis followed by calling Trump’s entire Iran strategy “delusional.” Senior military leaders are now publicly warning that the civilian leadership is unfit and potentially criminal. When generals start using words like war criminal and delusional about their own chain of command, that is not dissent. That is a distress signal.

4️⃣ Iran Is a Kill Box and Trump Knows It

Malcolm Nance joined the show for an extended segment and laid out in brutal detail why a ground invasion of Iran would be catastrophic for American forces. The Strait of Hormuz is 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, and Iran has spent 40 years turning it into a kill box with pre-positioned anti-ship missiles, explosive drone boats, naval mines, and Basij suicide commandos willing to ram American vessels.

Karg Island, where 90% of Iran’s oil exports flow, sits inside that kill zone, and any attempt to seize it means threading a carrier group through waters Iran controls from both sides. Nance described the geography as a shooting gallery and noted Iran has 600,000 Revolutionary Guard troops, a battle-hardened force that fought an eight-year war with Iraq.

Trump rejected the JCPOA in 2018 even though Iran was complying with every condition, and now he is demanding the same terms back while bombing them. Iran rejected his recycled 15-point proposal today and laid out five conditions of its own including sovereignty over the Strait and an end to all strikes. Meanwhile, someone made $580 million on suspicious oil trades timed perfectly to Trump’s social media posts, the SEC enforcement chief who flagged it was fired, and Paul Krugman called it what it is: treason. Article 3, Section 3 of the Constitution says Congress has the power to declare treason. A new Congress in January 2027 could do exactly that.

3️⃣ Epstein Estate Paid Off Jane Doe 4

The House Oversight Committee released deposition videos of Epstein’s attorney Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn, and Kahn made a critical mistake. In the morning session he confirmed under oath that the estate settled with Jane Doe 4, the woman who accused both Epstein and Trump of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 years old. By the afternoon someone had clearly gotten to him because he walked it back, suddenly claiming he didn’t recall Trump’s involvement. But the damage was done. He already confirmed the payment in a deposition where Trump was named in the question. Indyke sat through six hours claiming he knew nothing about Epstein’s crimes despite serving as his personal attorney for decades and collecting roughly $40 million from the estate. Jane Doe 4’s attorney Lisa Bloom has refused to discuss any details of the settlement, which tells you everything about the nondisclosure agreement attached to it. You don’t pay $40 million to lawyers and accountants because they did a great job. You pay that kind of money because you need them to go the distance covering up something enormous.

2️⃣ Democrat Flips Mar-a-Lago District

Emily Gregory flipped Florida House District 87 last night, the district that includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, beating his personally endorsed candidate by 2.3 points in a district Trump carried by 9 in 2024. That is a 21-point swing. Twenty-nine state legislature seats have now flipped from red to blue since Trump took office. The treason ticket is not a slogan. It is a constitutional strategy. Article 3, Section 3 gives Congress the power to declare treason, and a blue wave in November could put a Speaker in place with the authority to prosecute.

1️⃣ Tether Owns the Lutnick Empire

Narativ’s investigation revealed the full scope of how Tether, a foreign-owned crypto company registered in the British Virgin Islands, now effectively owns Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s family fortune. When Lutnick joined the Cabinet he sold Cantor Fitzgerald to his children, who couldn’t afford it, so Tether loaned them the money. Cantor holds $133 billion in U.S. Treasury securities backing Tether’s stablecoins, and if the Lutniks default, Tether becomes first-in-line creditor for the entire firm. The man deciding whether to intervene is Commerce Secretary Lutnick himself. Tether’s CEO told associates before the appointment that Lutnick had promised to run interference against any investigation, and sure enough, Deputy AG Todd Blanche shut down every crypto probe including the DOJ and SEC investigations into Tether the moment he took office. This is the same mechanism Lutnick and Epstein used to help crash the market in 2008, just rebooted with crypto instead of mortgage-backed securities. If Tether collapses, $133 billion in Treasuries get dumped and the U.S. financial system takes the hit. That is not a conflict of interest. That is a financial weapon of mass destruction in the hands of people who have used one before.

The through line of today’s show is simple. Market manipulation timed to bombing campaigns. Estate payoffs to silence rape victims. A foreign crypto company that owns the Commerce Secretary. A defense secretary that generals are calling a war criminal. This is not governance. This is a criminal enterprise operating in plain sight. And Article 3, Section 3 of the United States Constitution gives the next Congress the power to call it what it is. Every Democrat running in 2026 should be running on the treason ticket.

The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

Today’s FiveStack is brought to you by Ground News — FiveStack viewers get 40% off. Click the button below to access the discount.

BREAKING: NTSB FIRST PRESSER AFTER AIR CANADA CRASH

The NTSB revealed today that the deadly collision at LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night was caused by an overlapping series of systemic failures. Air Canada Express Flight 8646, a CRJ-900 carrying 72 passengers from Montreal, struck a Port Authority fire truck on Runway 4 at approximately 100 miles per hour, shearing off the cockpit and killing both pilots — Captain Antoine Forest and First Officer Mackenzie Gunther. Two controllers were on duty doing the jobs of four people, the same staffing practice flagged after the Reagan National midair collision in January 2025.

The fire truck had no transponder, making it invisible to the airport’s ASDE-X surface detection system, which never issued an alert. A critical radio transmission ordering the truck to stop was stepped on by another call, and the NTSB does not yet know whether the firefighters ever heard the command. The cockpit voice recorder shows Captain Forest grabbed the controls just two seconds after touchdown and tried to steer away. He had six seconds. An NTSB investigator was stuck in a TSA security line in Houston for three hours because of the DHS shutdown, and Chair Jennifer Homendy drove five hours from Washington rather than attempt to fly.

5️⃣ DHS Deal Brewing

Senate Republicans and the White House are discussing a potential deal to end the six-week partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security by funding every part of the agency except ICE’s deportation arm. Senate Majority Leader John Thune expressed new optimism after a White House meeting Monday night, and Senator Katie Boyd Britt was seen in intense conversation with Minority Leader Schumer on the Senate floor afterward. Democrats have not signed off — Schumer wants restrictions on warrants and masks, and Thune says he won’t negotiate reforms without funding. Meanwhile, more than 400 TSA officers have quit, callout rates have hit 55 percent at Houston Hobby, and some airports may close entirely.

4️⃣ Rothschild Bank Raided in Epstein Probe

French police raided the Paris headquarters of Edmond de Rothschild bank last Friday as part of the expanding Jeffrey Epstein investigation, confirmed by Bloomberg, the Washington Post, and the Associated Press. The target is former bank employee and UN diplomat Fabrice Aidan, whose name appeared in more than 200 Epstein documents including emails sent directly to Epstein between 2010 and 2016. France, the UK, and multiple other countries are now actively investigating the Epstein network — the United States, where the FBI director is firing the agents who would do this work, is the glaring exception.

3️⃣ Blood for Oil

At 6:50 a.m. Sunday, fifteen minutes before Trump posted on Truth Social that he was halting strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure, $580 million in oil and stock futures moved in a single burst. Oil dropped 11 percent. Stocks surged. Paul Krugman wrote today in “Treason in the Futures Markets” that somebody close to Trump clearly knew what was coming. Trump started a war that bottled up one-fifth of the world’s oil supply, then lifted sanctions on Russian oil so Putin could fill the gap — Russia earned $7 billion in the first two weeks of March. Every escalation and every de-escalation is a market event, and every single one benefits Russia. American soldiers and Iranian civilians are dying so Vladimir Putin can fund his war on Ukraine.

2️⃣ MBS Pushes Ground War

The New York Times reported today that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been pushing Trump in a series of calls to continue and escalate the war against Iran, calling it a “historic opportunity” to remake the Middle East. MBS has specifically advocated for ground operations, including seizing Kharg Island — the hub of Iran’s oil infrastructure — with American troops. Qatar announced today it has pulled out of mediation entirely, with its foreign ministry saying its focus is now “entirely dedicated to defending our country.” The man who ordered the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi is telling an American president to send American soldiers to die on an island in the Persian Gulf.

GROUND NEWS ANALYSIS OF MBS SAUDI STORY

Here’s an example of why we love Ground News. Instead of breaking down the story of left vs right, the categorized viewpoints around the idea of escalation.

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1️⃣ Two Pilots Dead

Everything that went wrong at LaGuardia connects to everything else on today’s show. The DHS shutdown that left TSA unable to function. The understaffing that put two controllers in a tower doing four jobs. The fire truck without a transponder. The radar that couldn’t track it. The radio call that was blocked. And when you arrive at LaGuardia today — if your flight hasn’t been canceled, which half of them have — you’re greeted not by TSA officers ensuring your safety but by masked ICE agents. This is what a country looks like when its government stops functioning, not because it can’t, but because the people running it have decided that functioning is not the point.

The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.

Thank you Ellie Leonard, Robin Payes, ann schneider, Leah Anderson, Suzanne Sky, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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BREAKING: Two Pilots Dead at LaGuardia

An air traffic controller at LaGuardia Airport cleared a Port Authority fire truck onto an active runway at 11:40 PM Sunday, then screamed “stop” at least ten times as Air Canada Express Flight 8646 barreled in from Montreal at 150 miles per hour. Both pilots were killed instantly. Flight attendant Solange Tremblay was ejected from the aircraft while still strapped to her seat, thrown dozens of feet from the wreckage — her daughter called it “nothing short of a miracle.” The escape slides never deployed, leaving 72 passengers to organize their own evacuation in the dark, scrambling over the wings. “The flight attendant in the front got ejected from the plane, so we really did not have direction,” said passenger Rebecca Liquori. Dean noted the controller “has got to live with this for the rest of his life” and pointed out that air traffic controllers have the second-highest burnout rate of any profession in the world. The crash came at an airport already buckling — earlier that same day, travelers endured hourslong security lines because of TSA staffing shortages tied to the DHS shutdown. LaGuardia is 40% below safe staffing levels, controller retirements have surged from four a day to 15-20 during the shutdown, and DOGE fired 400 FAA employees back in February 2025. It is the first fatal accident at LaGuardia since 1992.

5️⃣ Trump Blocks TSA Deal, Sends ICE to Airports

Senate Majority Leader John Thune had a deal with Chuck Schumer to end the 43-day DHS shutdown — fund everything except ICE, get TSA workers back on the job, end the airport chaos. Trump killed it on Truth Social. “Donald Trump doesn’t give a f**k if that lasts,” Dean said, describing how Trump told Thune he wanted to keep the fight going for political leverage. “I don’t care how dangerous flying the friendly skies of the United States are. Because it’s more important to me that I look like I win this fight.” Trump’s solution: deploy untrained ICE agents to 15-20 airports starting Monday. “None of them are trained to do any TSA work, any screening, none of that,” Dean noted. “They’re trained for customs and border enforcement.” Meanwhile, ICE agents were filmed at airports without masks, some directing travelers to TGI Friday’s, others leaning on mezzanine railings with their heads in their hands. “I don’t know what the f**k we’re doing here, but we’re here.”

4️⃣ SAVE Act: Do It for Jesus

Trump appeared at an event in Tennessee and delivered what may be the most revealing moment of his presidency. He told Republican senators to tie voter ID and proof of citizenship to the DHS funding bill — the SAVE America Act — and skip Easter recess to get it done. Then he said it: “Make this one for Jesus.” Dean, who grew up in the evangelical faith, broke it down: “When you’re out of answers, when you need them to do something, you tell them it’s their God-given duty. Jesus died for you so you could pass the SAVE Act.” Trump was laughing as he said it, unable to keep a straight face. “He knows he’s misusing Jesus’s name,” Zev observed. “The idea that Jesus would have endorsed anything Donald Trump is doing is nonsensical.” The SAVE Act would require proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote — targeting communities of color, women, trans people, and anyone who’s undergone a name change. Trump has made it clear: this bill is more important to him than funding TSA, more important than airport safety, more important than ending the shutdown.

3️⃣ SCOTUS Signals Kill on Mail-In Voting

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could eliminate mail-in ballot grace periods in 18 states just in time for November’s midterms. The RNC is challenging Mississippi’s own Republican-passed law allowing ballots postmarked by Election Day to arrive five days later. Only the three liberal justices appeared sympathetic. “This is part of the SAVE Act,” Dean said. “The SAVE Act is just this enormous go f**k yourself — we don’t want you voting. If you’re Black, if you’re trans, if you’re a woman, if you’ve undergone a name change, we want you to stay as far away from the polls.” A ruling by June would reshape the midterm elections.

HERE’S HOW GROUND NEWS ANALYZED THIS STORY

Ground News tracked coverage across the political spectrum: left-leaning outlets framed it as voter suppression targeting minorities and the elderly, center outlets focused on the legal question of federal versus state authority, and right-leaning outlets called it an election integrity measure to prevent late-arriving ballots from swinging results. Get 40% off Ground News by clicking here:

2️⃣ Columbus Statue Returns to the White House

While two pilots lay dead at LaGuardia, the White House installed a 13-foot replica of the Christopher Columbus statue torn down in Baltimore in 2020, rebuilt with pieces of the original. They also reinstalled the Confederate General Albert Pike statue. Dean had a take that surprised: “I actually applaud the return of the Christopher Columbus statue. Because to me, that’s truly what America was built on — a lie.” Zev pushed back, insisting America’s foundational ideas — government for and by the people — remain “the most incredible, beautiful things the world has ever been given.” Dean countered with data: Canadians have a 40% greater chance of moving between economic classes. The two sparred over whether America’s promise was real or myth, eventually agreeing the country needs “a reset of some sort.”

1️⃣ Iran: Trump’s Ghost Talks

Trump’s 48-hour ultimatum to Iran expired with no strikes and no explanation — just a Truth Social post about “very good and productive conversations.” Iran’s response: “There is no dialogue between Tehran and Washington.” Dean called it what it is: “Donald Trump had an entire two-day negotiating session with the Iranian regime that no one knew about — including the Iranian regime.” Zev noted that Trump’s entire financial future — his crypto holdings, his business interests — is tied to the region he accidentally set on fire. “I probably would invent an imaginary negotiation too,” Dean admitted. The new deadline is Friday. Iran is still enriching uranium. The Strait of Hormuz is still closed. And the president of the United States may be talking to no one.

The Spring from Hell is here. Trump is blocking deals, invoking Jesus, deploying ICE to airports, and negotiating with ghosts — while two pilots lie dead on a runway. Welcome to the FiveStack.

The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.Thank you Lev Parnas, Cat: Poli-Psych, Robin Payes, Iulia Huiu, Noble Blend, and many others for tuning into my live video with Dean Blundell! Join me for my next live video in the app.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

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5️⃣ Bari Weiss Kills CBS News Radio

After nearly a century on the air, CBS News Radio is dead. Bari Weiss announced she’s shutting down the division Edward R. Murrow built and laying off 6 percent of the CBS newsroom, with 700 affiliated stations given two months to find a replacement. “She is systematically destroying everything,” Zev said of Weiss, calling her unqualified for the position and noting the only qualification she has is supporting Israel and Bibi Netanyahu. Dean traced the pattern further: “Does money even matter to the bottom line of what they’re trying to accomplish with this consolidation? I don’t think ratings matter.” With CBS Evening News cratering to 3.83 million viewers under Tony Dokoupil and the Ellison family now acquiring CNN through the Warner Bros. Discovery deal, the consolidation of American media under Trump-aligned ownership continues at speed.

4️⃣ Staley’s Wife Files for Divorce

After 40 years of marriage, Debora Staley has filed for divorce from former Barclays CEO Jes Staley, the banker banned from the UK financial industry over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. All documents are sealed. “They’re doing a performative divorce more likely than anything else in order to separate their assets so she can control them going forward,” Zev explained, noting that British regulators are investigating Staley’s ties again. Dean didn’t hold back: “Do you know how many women, how many girls slash women have accused Jes Staley of sexual abuse? I counted 38.” With JPMorgan’s $290 million Epstein settlement and more litigation coming, the Epstein reckoning is now forcing the people who enabled it to scramble for financial cover.

HERE”S A STORY YOU MAY HAVE MISSED WE FOUND ON GROUND NEWS:

Saudi Arabia's oil officials are privately projecting crude could spike to $180 a barrel if the Iran war's disruption of energy supplies persists past April, according to the Wall Street Journal. Oil is already above $110 with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed to commercial traffic. Economists surveyed by the Journal put the probability of a global recession at 50 percent if prices reach $138. Don’t miss another story like this. Fivestack viewers get 40% at groundnews.com/fivestack

3️⃣ Epstein’s Lawyer: “I Knew Nothing”

Darren Indyke, Jeffrey Epstein’s personal attorney for decades and co-executor of his estate, sat before the House Oversight Committee and told Congress under oath that he had “no knowledge whatsoever” of Epstein’s crimes. His name is on NDAs covering payments totaling up to $280 million to victims. He signed off on settlements during the estate process. And yet he claims he knew nothing. “This isn’t perjury. This is flat out lying,” Dean said. “Just flat out lying about what this man helped Jeffrey Epstein get away with for 20 years.” Congressman David Min, a former law professor, said after the hearing that Indyke likely perjured himself “over and over and over again,” revealing that Indyke couldn’t explain $725,000 in structured cash withdrawals designed to avoid federal reporting, that multiple women described him helping them with apartments and immigration issues, and that he reportedly told women not to talk to police. The FBI and Department of Justice had never even interviewed Indyke before this deposition.

2️⃣ Trump Ally Weaponized ICE Against His Ex

The New York Times reported that Paolo Zampolli, the man who introduced Donald Trump to Melania and a figure in the Epstein files, used his White House connections to get ICE to detain and deport the mother of his child during a custody battle. Zampolli reached out to top ICE official David Venturella, who personally called the Miami office to ensure agents picked up Amanda Ungaro before she was released on bail. Dean laid out the deeper connection: Zampolli was recruited into the modeling world by Jean-Luc Brunel, Epstein’s associate who died in a French jail. He brought Melania into the Epstein world and is now serving as a presidential special envoy with what amounts to diplomatic cover. “Every single person around Donald Trump that is impugned by the Epstein files has been given some type of cover,” Zev noted, connecting the pattern of Trump surrounding himself with compromised figures from both the Epstein and Russia networks.

Ice Detains 7-Year-Old Canadian Girl

Also on today's show: Dean broke the story of Ayala Lucas, a seven-year-old Canadian girl with autism currently being held by ICE at the Rio Grande Valley Central Processing Center near McAllen, Texas. Her mother, Tanya Warner, is a Canadian citizen from British Columbia who had been living legally in the United States for five years with a Texas driver's license, a work visa, and a green card. The family was crossing the border legally when agents took her inside for routine fingerprinting and never let her out. Ayala has been subjected to 24-hour lights, noise, and overcrowding — sensory chaos that an autistic child cannot process. She is one of at least 40 Canadian children currently in ICE detention. "Get this young girl home," Dean said, calling on the Canadian government to intervene. "As a father, this thing crushed me."

1️⃣ Trump and Bibi: Boots on the Ground

Three weeks into a war Congress never authorized, the United States is deploying ground forces to the Middle East. The USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group departed San Diego March 18th carrying 2,500 Marines and 20 F-35B fighter jets. Trump admitted he killed Iran’s entire leadership and now has no negotiating partner, saying “there’s no one to talk to” and then adding “I like that.” Netanyahu appeared publicly and confirmed a ground component is necessary, telling reporters “you can’t do revolutions from the air.” Dean connected the escalation directly to the Epstein cover-up: “If you wanted to know how serious Donald Trump is about getting out from underneath this whole pedophile conversation, he’s willing to sacrifice 8,000 men and women.” Zev tied the thread tighter: “Epstein worked for Israel and Epstein worked for Russia. The fact that we are at war at the behest of Bibi Netanyahu is important because the reason Donald Trump is in power is partially because of Jeffrey Epstein.”

The through line across all five stories is the same network protecting itself, whether through media consolidation, performative divorces, perjury before Congress, weaponizing federal agencies, or launching unauthorized wars.

The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.

Thank you Lev Parnas, Ellie Leonard, Cat: Poli-Psych, Dee Batiste, "Sushi"(Jen) of MIND HAVEN, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe

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5️⃣ Trump’s Pearl Harbor Clanger

Donald Trump invoked the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor at a White House press conference Thursday — while Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stood beside him. A Japanese reporter asked why the U.S. didn’t warn allies before attacking Iran. Trump’s response: “Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?” Takaichi had arrived bearing 250 cherry trees as a gift and hoping to strengthen the alliance. Instead she got a reminder of the most painful chapter in the relationship. “She brought 250 cherry trees. He brought 1941,” Dean said. “There’s probably nothing worse you could do than mention Pearl Harbor next to the Japanese Prime Minister.” Trump needs Takaichi to send naval vessels to the Strait of Hormuz. Japanese media is playing the clip on a loop. Decades of diplomatic bridge-building between the two countries — Obama at Hiroshima, Abe at Pearl Harbor — undone in 30 seconds for a punchline.

4️⃣ $200 Billion for Iran

Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth asked Congress Thursday for $200 billion in additional war funding on top of the existing $1 trillion defense budget. “It takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth said. The U.S. has struck over 7,000 targets in Iran with no end date in sight. Even Republican Sen. Roger Marshall called the figure “a little tall.”

HERE’S THE HEADLINE WE WOULD HAVE MISSED WITHOUT GROUND NEWS:

This story is getting 60% right-wing coverage — if you consume left-leaning media, you’re probably not seeing it. Iranian lawmakers are moving to impose tolls and taxes on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf declared that maritime traffic “will not return to its pre-war status.” Tehran lawmaker Somayeh Rafiei said countries must pay taxes for strait transit. The $200 billion war just got more expensive.

Find this story and thousands more at groundnews.com/fivestack — 40% off.

3️⃣ Joe Kent’s Bombshells on Tucker

Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent sat down with Tucker Carlson Wednesday night for his first public interview since resigning over the Iran war, while the FBI investigates him for alleged classified leaks. Kent told Carlson there was no U.S. intelligence supporting an imminent threat from Iran — confirming what the ODNI’s own worldwide threat assessment says. He described Israeli officials bypassing U.S. intelligence channels to go directly to policymakers, shifting the red line from “no nuclear weapon” to “no enrichment at all,” killing any possibility of a deal. Kent also connected the war to the unresolved murder of Charlie Kirk, saying his NCTC found leads suggesting a potential foreign nexus to the assassination that the FBI and DOJ shut down. “This is a guy who was sitting in the DNI’s office, seeing all the intelligence, saying there’s no real threat from Iran,” Zev said. Lev Parnas added: “The most important thing is the timing — it had nothing to do with imminent threat. It had to do with Russia and Israel.”

2️⃣ Gabbard Contradicts Trump, RFK on the Ropes

DNI Tulsi Gabbard appeared before the House committee Thursday, one day after telling the Senate she went to the FBI’s Fulton County raid “at the request of the president” — directly contradicting Trump, who said Bondi sent her. Today’s testimony was strikingly different. “She was basically a lot more demure, did not really answer any questions related to Fulton County,” Zev observed. “She got smacked on the wrist for yesterday.” Dean noted the body language: “Number one, you know when your kid knows he’s in trouble? That’s what we got today from Tulsi Gabbard.” Asked directly whether she possessed intelligence pointing to foreign interference in Georgia’s 2020 election, Gabbard repeatedly deflected: “We are continuing to look into this matter.” Meanwhile, RFK Jr.’s standing with Trump’s inner circle has hit “a new low,” per the Wall Street Journal. A federal judge blocked his revised vaccine schedule. Zev reported that a good source says Mehmet Oz may soon take over at HHS, which may explain Kennedy’s increasingly erratic behavior.

1️⃣ Bondi’s Perjury Trap

House Democrats walked out of AG Pam Bondi’s closed-door Epstein files briefing Wednesday night. She showed up early, refused to go under oath, and then said she wasn’t even sure she’d appear for her April 14 subpoenaed deposition. “She’s got this choice to make,” Zev explained. “She can either protect the president and perjure herself, or she damages the president by telling the truth — in which case she’s doomed anyhow. It’s either jail, perjury, or political exile.” Reps. Dan Goldman and Ted Lieu have formally requested a special counsel to investigate Bondi for perjury after she testified in February that “there is no evidence that Donald Trump has committed a crime” — despite Trump being referenced over 38,000 times in the Epstein files. Five Republicans voted for the subpoena. Impeachment articles have been filed. And today, Epstein’s longtime lawyer Darren Indyke is testifying behind closed doors. Dean drove home the through-line: “They’re all women. Every single woman he’s put out on the ice flow — Bondi, Gabbard, Noem. They are cannon fodder to him.”

Five stories. One pattern. A president who invoked Pearl Harbor to justify a war his own intelligence says was unnecessary, while his cabinet faces perjury charges, his attorney general can’t answer a yes-or-no question, and Epstein’s lawyer sits in the deposition chair.

The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.narativ.org/subscribe