The Info Web

Barack Obama

44th U.S. president who commuted Chelsea Manning's sentence, declassified the 28 pages, and said in 2026 that aliens are real but that he had not seen them.

Also known as
Barack Hussein Obama, Barack H. Obama, President Obama, President Barack Obama
Mentioned on
33 pages
Last edited

Barack Obama is an American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States from January 2009 to January 2017.1 He was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.2

Ann Dunham, Lolo Soetoro and Indonesia

Ann Dunham, Obama's mother, was born in Wichita, Kansas on November 29, 1942 and earned her bachelor's degree in anthropology at the University of Hawaii in 1967. She held a grant from the Technology and Development Institute of the East-West Center from 1973 to 1978, received a master's degree in 1975 and a doctorate in 1992, both in anthropology, and died in Honolulu on November 7, 1995.3 The chronology in her papers at the National Anthropological Archives lists a consultancy on international development for the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1979 and 1980, service from 1981 to 1984 as Program Officer for Women and Employment at the Ford Foundation's Regional Office for Southeast Asia in Jakarta, a rural development consultancy to the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan in 1986 and 1987, and work from 1988 to 1992 as research coordinator and consultant to Bank Rakyat Indonesia under three contracts funded by the World Bank and USAID in microfinance.3 Duke University Press published her dissertation research on rural metalworkers in Java in December 2009 as Surviving against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia, edited by Alice G. Dewey and Nancy I. Cooper.4

Her second husband, Lolo Soetoro, was an Indonesian student; Janny Scott reported in the New York Times in 2008 that he was summoned home in 1966 after the turmoil surrounding the rise of Suharto, and that Dunham and her son followed him.5 Foreign Policy described Soetoro as a geologist for the Indonesian army who later became a consultant for a Western oil company.6 Scott's 2008 article states that Dunham became a consultant for USAID on setting up a village credit program, then a Ford Foundation program officer in Jakarta, and later joined Indonesia's oldest bank to work on a microfinance program.5

The journalist Wayne Madsen, who has said he formerly worked for the National Security Agency, stated in a 2010 interview with Press TV, translated by the Indonesian outlet Rakyat Merdeka Online, that Obama's father, mother and Obama himself had deep connections to the Central Intelligence Agency. In the interview Madsen said that the Ford Foundation program in Indonesia during Dunham's years there was essentially the responsibility of Peter Geithner, father of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and that in CIA files he had found that the official responsible for microcredit payments to Javanese farmers, at the place where Obama's mother worked, held a cover post as an economic officer at the US Embassy in Jakarta.7 The outlet noted errors elsewhere in the interview, among them Madsen's statements about the ethnicity of those killed in Indonesia in 1965 and 1966 and about where Obama's grandmother died.7 A critical essay published by Berghahn Books describes Madsen's later book as partly relying on Scott's 2011 biography of Dunham, A Singular Woman.8

Business International, Occidental and Columbia

Obama attended Occidental College for his first two years of college and then transferred to Columbia University, where he took his degree in 1983.910 In the Columbia magazine Sundial of March 10, 1983 he published an article on the campus groups Arms Race Alternatives and Students Against Militarism, writing that the "military-industrial interests" benefited from the narrow focus of the nuclear freeze movement and kept "adding to their billion dollar erector sets."11

In 1983 he took a job with Business International Corporation in New York. The New York Times, as quoted by FactCheck.org in 2008, described the company as "a small newsletter-publishing and research firm, with about 250 employees worldwide, that helped companies with foreign operations" and said Obama was a researcher and writer for the firm for about a year before he moved on to the New York Public Interest Research Group.10 On December 27, 1977 the New York Times, in an article by John M. Crewdson based on a three-month inquiry, reported that at least 22 American news organizations had employed American journalists who were also working for the CIA, and listed Business International among the lesser known organizations. The article quoted Elliott Haynes, whose father Eldridge Haynes had co-founded the company, as saying that his father had provided cover for four CIA employees in various countries between 1955 and 1960.12

Madsen stated in the same 2010 interview that Obama had worked after Columbia for Business International, a company that used journalists as cover, and that CIA documents he had examined showed an active CIA recruitment program at Occidental College while Obama studied there from 1979 to 1981, with a recruiter reporting about 70 students in attendance.7

The Nobel Committee and the Epstein Calendar

Thorbjørn Jagland chaired the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 2009 to 2015, the years in which it awarded the peace prize to Obama and, in 2012, to the European Union.132 In 2014 Jeffrey Epstein told Bill Gates that Jagland "had been reelected as head of the Council of Europe," and Gates answered "That is good" and asked whether "his peace prize committee job is also up in the air?"14 In February 2026 lawyers said that Jagland had been charged after a Norwegian probe into alleged Epstein ties.14

Kathryn Ruemmler and the White House Counsel's Office

Kathryn Ruemmler served as White House Counsel to Obama from 2011 to 2014, then joined Latham & Watkins as a partner and in 2020 became general counsel of Goldman Sachs.15 Epstein telephoned her within weeks of her departure from the White House in 2014, and his calendars record more than three dozen appointments with her through 2019.15 Epstein's staff asked him twice whether young women should be kept out of the townhouse while she was there.15 On January 8, 2015 she wrote to Epstein: "John Brennan gave me the CIA Agency Medal (the CIA's highest award) this morning. How cool is that?"16 Telling the Journal, she said: "I regret ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein."15 She announced in February 2026 that she would resign from Goldman Sachs effective June 30, 2026, after her name recurred in the Department of Justice's Epstein releases.17

Larry Summers and the Economic Team

Larry Summers directed the National Economic Council in Obama's first term. In September 2010 he announced that he would leave at the end of that year and return to his professorship at Harvard University.18 Summers resigned from the board of OpenAI in November 2025 after backlash over Epstein emails, was banned for life by the American Economic Association in December 2025, and resigned from Harvard on February 25, 2026.19 On November 14, 2025, at the request of Donald Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi assigned Jay Clayton to investigate Epstein's dealings with Bill Clinton, Summers, Reid Hoffman and JPMorgan Chase.20

William Burns

William Burns served as deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration. The Wall Street Journal's reporting on Epstein's recovered calendar recorded three meetings between Burns and Epstein in 2014, the year Burns was preparing to leave government.21 When the reporting appeared in May 2023, Burns was director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The agency's spokeswoman, Tammy Kupperman Thorp, said that Burns remembered "meeting Epstein once briefly in New York." The calendar records three meetings and the agency's statement describes one. The mutual friend who made the introduction was not named.22

The Epstein Files Transparency Act

The Epstein Files Transparency Act (H.R. 4405, Public Law 119-38) passed the House 427 to 1 on November 18, 2025 after a discharge petition by Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, and Trump signed it on November 19.23 The Justice Department missed the act's December 19, 2025 deadline, reported on December 24 that it had found more than a million additional documents, and on January 30, 2026 published the bulk of the material.24

Judges Appointed Under Obama

Obama appointed Paul Engelmayer to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the commission is dated July 27, 2011.25 Engelmayer later took over the criminal case of Ghislaine Maxwell, United States v. Maxwell, after Alison Nathan was elevated to the Second Circuit. In 2025 he first refused and then granted a request by Todd Blanche, then the Deputy Attorney General, to unseal the case's grand jury record, the latter under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.26 In February 2025, sitting in emergency Part I, he barred political appointees and special government employees from Treasury payment systems.27

Obama nominated Nathan on March 31, 2011, the Senate confirmed her on October 13, 2011, and her commission issued on October 17, 2011.28 She had been an associate White House counsel to Obama. She presided over the Maxwell prosecution from its unsealing in July 2020 through her sentencing of Maxwell to 20 years in prison on June 28, 2022.29

The 2016 Intelligence Record

The Durham report by special counsel John Durham devotes a section to intelligence received in late July 2016 about the purported "approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016 of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security services." The report calls it the Clinton Plan intelligence and reproduces the text that Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe declassified in September 2020: "The IC does not know the accuracy of this allegation or the extent to which the Russian intelligence analysis may reflect exaggeration or fabrication."30

The report states that John Brennan, then director of the Central Intelligence Agency, met Obama and other White House personnel on July 28, 2016 to discuss the 2016 election and the creation of an interagency Fusion Cell on Russian influence, and that Brennan told the Office that the cell was put in motion after that meeting. Email traffic and witness interviews, the report says, reflect that at least some CIA personnel believed the Clinton Plan intelligence led to the decision to set up the cell.31 On August 3, 2016, according to the report, Brennan met the President, the Vice President and other senior officials, including the Attorney General (remotely) and the FBI Director, in the White House Situation Room, and Brennan's declassified handwritten notes reflect that he briefed the "alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on 26 July of a proposal from one of her [campaign] advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security services."32 On September 7, 2016, the report states, intelligence officials forwarded an investigative referral to FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok.33

In a closing discussion of compartmentation the report quotes Brennan as telling the Office that "[t]here was no effort at the CIA to restrict information because it was potentially embarrassing for Hillary Clinton .... Obama just wanted the right people involved."34 A footnote records notes taken by Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who was not at the meeting, that "President Obama stated that the FBI should think about doing defensive briefs."35

The Durham report states that the Perkins Coie lawyer Michael Sussmann gave the FBI's general counsel, James Baker, data purporting to show a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, representing that he was not acting for any client; the Office's investigation, the report says, showed those representations were false because Sussmann was representing the Clinton campaign, as evidenced by his law firm's billing records and internal communications.36 A jury acquitted Sussmann of the false statement charge after a two-week trial.37 The report records that at the trial the campaign manager Robby Mook and the lawyer Marc Elias said the campaign did not authorize Sussmann to take the Alfa Bank allegations to the FBI, and that Mook testified that top campaign officials were aware of the allegations and that Clinton approved their dissemination to the media before questions about their accuracy had been resolved.38

Intelligence Appointees and the 2008 FISA Vote

On July 9, 2008, as a senator from Illinois, Obama voted for H.R. 6304, the bill amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which passed the Senate 69 to 28.39 As president he named Leon Panetta Director of the CIA (sworn in February 13, 2009), James Clapper Director of National Intelligence (confirmed August 5, 2010) and Brennan Director of the CIA (sworn in March 8, 2013, the day after the Senate confirmed him following a nearly 13-hour filibuster by Rand Paul).404142

Surveillance, Section 215 and the Snowden Disclosures

On August 9, 2013 Obama told a press conference that he would "work with Congress to pursue appropriate reforms to Section 215 of the Patriot Act," the program that collected telephone records. He also said the Justice Department would make public its legal rationale for collection under that section.1

The Guardian reported on June 27, 2013, publishing a top-secret draft report by the National Security Agency's inspector general, that the agency had collected US email records in bulk for more than two years under Obama.43 On March 12, 2013 Ron Wyden asked James Clapper, then Director of National Intelligence, at an open hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee whether the NSA collected "any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans." Clapper later apologized for testimony that NBC News and the Associated Press described as "clearly erroneous."44

On January 17, 2014 Obama issued Presidential Policy Directive 28 on signals intelligence. The directive says that "all persons should be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their nationality or wherever they might reside." It also says that the collection of signals intelligence in bulk "may consequently result in the collection of information about persons whose activities are not of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence value," and that "The United States will therefore impose new limits on its use of signals intelligence collected in bulk."45 The directive followed the disclosures of Edward Snowden, which began in June 2013.

The bin Laden Raid and the Drone Program

On May 2, 2011 Obama announced the operation against Osama bin Laden: "Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan." He said that bin Laden had "escaped across the Afghan border into Pakistan" and that "I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan."46

In a speech at the National Defense University on May 23, 2013, Obama said that "From our use of drones to the detention of terrorist suspects, the decisions that we are making now will define the type of nation" the country would leave to its children. He described "lethal, targeted action against al Qaeda and its associated forces, including with remotely piloted aircraft commonly referred to as drones," and said that "the use of drones is heavily constrained."47

Stuxnet and the Olympic Games Program

In June 2012 David Sanger reported in the New York Times that Obama had accelerated cyberattacks against the uranium enrichment program at Natanz in Iran. The program had begun under the Bush administration and was code-named Olympic Games. A worm had escaped the plant in 2010 and spread across the internet. The last attack in the later series, Sanger reported, "temporarily took out nearly 1,000 of the 5,000 centrifuges Iran had spinning at the time to purify uranium."48 The account drew on interviews with current and former American, European and Israeli officials, none of whom would allow their names to be used. Sanger's 2012 book Confront and Conceal covers the same program.49 The article states that in a meeting at the White House days before his inauguration, George W. Bush urged Obama to preserve two classified programs, Olympic Games and the drone program in Pakistan, and that Obama took the advice. It states that Panetta, General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Michael Morell, deputy director of the CIA, told Obama in the summer of 2010 that the worm had escaped, and that the collaboration with Unit 8200 of the Israeli military was driven in part by the American aim of dissuading Israel from a pre-emptive strike.48

Cartwright pleaded guilty in October 2016 to making false statements to federal investigators in the leak inquiry; prosecutors said he had falsely told them he had not provided information that appeared in a news article and a book by Sanger.50

Executive Order 13581 and Transnational Criminal Organizations

On July 24, 2011 Obama signed Executive Order 13581, "Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations." The order took effect at 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on July 25, 2011, was published in the Federal Register on July 27, 2011 and blocks the property of the organizations listed in its Annex, which names four entities: the Brothers' Circle, the Camorra, the Yakuza (also called Boryokudan or Gokudo) and Los Zetas.51

The 28 Pages

The Joint Inquiry into the September 11 attacks ended with a section that was classified after its 2002 publication. On July 15, 2016 the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, under Chairman Devin Nunes and Ranking Member Adam Schiff, approved publication of the section. The committee's release states that after a declassification review "the Obama Administration decided to declassify" the section, which was sent to congressional leadership with redactions to protect sources and methods.52 The release also says that the section "does not put forward vetted conclusions, but rather unverified leads that were later fully investigated by the Intelligence Community."52

Jonathan Pollard

Jonathan Pollard applied for commutation of his sentence on October 15, 2010. A letter from the Office of the Pardon Attorney dated March 14, 2011 stated that the application remained pending.53 On December 21, 2010 former Attorney General Michael Mukasey wrote to Obama asking that he commute the sentence. Mukasey wrote that former CIA director James Woolsey and former Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dennis DeConcini had expressed "firmly their belief that his sentence should be commuted." He called the submission to the sentencing court of affidavits from Caspar Weinberger, seeking a heavier sentence than the prosecutors requested, "deeply disturbing," and wrote that "a life sentence can only be considered utterly disproportionate to the crime."54 Mukasey also cited a submission by former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb on the affidavits.54 Pollard was released from prison on November 20, 2015 and placed on parole. The conditions included a curfew, an electronic monitor, limits on the jobs he could take, and a prohibition on leaving the United States.55 Israel had granted him citizenship in 1995.55

Chelsea Manning

On January 17, 2017 Obama commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, who had been serving a 35-year term for the WikiLeaks disclosures. Release was set for May 17, 2017.56 The commutation was part of a clemency action that the White House counted as 209 commutations and 64 pardons.57 Among those pardoned that day was the retired Marine general James Cartwright, who had pleaded guilty in October 2016 to making false statements in the investigation of a leak about the cyberattack on Iran's nuclear facilities.50

Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

On May 17, 2021 Obama appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden. When James Corden handed the interview to the bandleader Reggie Watts, the conversation turned to extraterrestrial life. Obama asked, "Is there a lab somewhere where we're keeping the alien specimens and spaceships?" and said the answer was no. He then said: "But what is true is that there is footage and records of objects in the sky that we don't know exactly what they are."58

In an interview with the podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen published on February 14, 2026, Obama said of aliens, "They're real but I haven't seen them," and that they are not "being kept in... what is it? Area 51." On February 15 he posted a statement on Instagram: "I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!"59 On February 19, 2026 Trump posted on Truth Social that he would direct the Pentagon to begin releasing government files on UAP, and told a reporter that Obama had given classified information when he said aliens were "real."60 On May 8, 2026 the Department of Defense began posting files at war.gov/UFO, with more than 160 files covering more than 400 incidents.61

Leslie Kean wrote that in August 2014 she met John Podesta, then an adviser to Obama, in the West Wing and proposed that one person in the Office of Science and Technology Policy be assigned to the subject of UFOs. In her account the proposal went nowhere.62 Podesta had written the foreword to her 2010 book, and in June 2011 he invited her to make a confidential presentation at the Center for American Progress, which he had founded. Kean's public records effort began in 2002, when Larry Landsman of the Syfy channel invited her to lead it on the Kecksburg incident of December 9, 1965, and the drive was "bankrolled by" the Sci Fi Channel.63

Daniel Correa, chief executive of the Federation of American Scientists, was the Office of Science and Technology Policy's assistant director for innovation policy for four years under Obama.64

Campaign Money and Donors

Employees listing Goldman Sachs as their employer gave 553,638.39 dollars in 764 itemized contributions to Obama for America in the 2008 cycle. Employees listing Credit Suisse gave 256,403.03 dollars in 485 contributions, and employees listing UBS gave 267,344.97 dollars in 518.65

On October 2, 2008 the Judicial Confirmation Network, later known as the Judicial Crisis Network, filed a 24-hour notice of electioneering communications with the Federal Election Commission. The disbursements, dated September 29, 2008, included a placement with the Pittsburgh firm BrabenderCox for an advertisement titled "Chose" that named Obama. The notice reported 548,063 dollars in total. The persons listed as sharing or exercising control of the filing were Neil Corkery, Gary Marx, whose employer was Century Strategies, and Dan Casey, whose employer was DC Strategies. Marx signed the form.66

The Horowitz Family Foundation gave 250,000 dollars to the Barack Obama Foundation in the year ended June 2019, according to its Form 990-PF filings.67 In April 2026 Kalshi announced Stephanie Cutter, a former deputy campaign manager for Obama's 2012 campaign, as a policy adviser.68

Advisers, Appointees and Nominees

The 2014 board of the Counter Extremism Project included Dennis Ross, whom the Jewish Telegraphic Agency described as an adviser on Middle East affairs to Presidents Clinton and Obama.69 The report states that the project declined to identify its sources of funding except for Thomas Kaplan, a billionaire commodities investor, and that the project was "backed by a host of pro-Israel stalwarts."69 Brian Quintenz was nominated to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by both Obama and Trump and served as a commissioner from August 15, 2017 to August 31, 2021.70 Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar led the Domestic Policy Council's teams on civil and criminal justice, public health, immigration and regulatory reform in Obama's first term, and had co-chaired the Obama-Biden transition's immigration working group. He later served on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.71 Ro Khanna served as a deputy assistant secretary of commerce in the Obama administration.72

The papers of C.B. Scott Jones at the University of Colorado include drafts of letters to Presidents George W. Bush, Clinton and Obama.73 On May 25, 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City, Obama thanked Bob Kerrey, a former senator, for being "one of the key people to help lead this effort" on Fulbright University Vietnam.74 Kerrey had been named chairman of the board of trustees of the university in May 2016. The Trust for University Innovation in Vietnam, whose chairman Thomas J. Vallely called him "the ideal candidate for the job," promoted the project, and Asia Times reported that the appointment angered some people in Vietnam after the online outlet Zing published a story on Kerrey's role at Thanh Phong.75

Charles C. Johnson promoted the claim that Susan Rice, then Obama's national security adviser, had directed surveillance of the Trump campaign.76 Rice denied using intelligence to spy on Trump advisers.77 The New York Times described Johnson as a "notorious conservative provocateur" who played a pivotal early role alongside Peter Thiel in the formation of Clearview AI.78 A business partner later sued Johnson, as reported by Semafor, for falsely presenting himself as an intelligence agent.79

Relationships 15

Appointed
Head of
Relative of
  • Ann Dunham, parent3
Employed by
  • Business International Corporation, 1983–1984, researcher and writer10
Employer of
  • Alison Nathan, 2009–2010, associate White House counsel and special assistant to the president1
Appointed by
  • Larry Summers, until 2010, Director of the National Economic Council18
  • Leon Panetta, from 2009, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency40
  • James Clapper, from 2010, Director of National Intelligence41
  • Kathryn Ruemmler, 2011–2014, White House Counsel15
  • Paul Engelmayer, from 2011, U.S. District Judge, Southern District of New York25
  • Alison Nathan, from 2011, U.S. District Judge, Southern District of New York28
  • John Brennan, from 2013, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency42

Sources

  1. Barack Obama, "Remarks by the President in a Press Conference," The White House, August 9, 2013. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/09/remarks-president-press-conference ↩
  2. "The Nobel Peace Prize 2009," NobelPrize.org, announcement of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to Barack H. Obama. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2009/summary/ ↩
  3. S. Ann Dunham papers, NAA.2011-04, National Anthropological Archives, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, biographical note and chronology. https://sova.si.edu/record/naa.2011-04 ↩
  4. S. Ann Dunham, Surviving against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia, edited by Alice G. Dewey and Nancy I. Cooper (Durham: Duke University Press, December 2009). https://www.dukeupress.edu/surviving-against-the-odds ↩
  5. Janny Scott, "A Free-Spirited Wanderer Who Set Obama's Path," The New York Times, March 14, 2008. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/us/politics/14obama.html ↩
  6. Blake Hounshell, "Dreams From His Stepfather," Foreign Policy, June 4, 2010. https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/06/04/dreams-from-his-stepfather/ ↩
  7. Teguh Santosa, "Wayne Madens: Obama dan Keluarganya Dibesarkan CIA," Rakyat Merdeka Online, August 27, 2010, translating the Press TV interview with Wayne Madsen titled "White House happy with CIA-trained Obama." https://rmol.id/read/2010/08/27/2317/wayne-madens-obama-dan-keluarganya-dibesarkan-cia ↩
  8. "Anthropological Issues and US President Obama," Berghahn Books blog. https://berghahnbooks.com/blog/the-presidents-mother-the-anthropologist-and-the-anthropologists-son ↩
  9. "Obama earned his stripes during time as Tiger," The Occidental, January 1, 2016, quoting the Columbia alumni newsletter. https://theoccidentalnews.com/opinions/2016/01/01/obama-earned-his-stripes-during-time-as-tiger/2883082 ↩
  10. FactCheck.org, "Obama Polishes His Resume," June 2008, quoting The New York Times and The Washington Post. https://www.factcheck.org/2008/06/obama-polishes-his-resume-2/ ↩
  11. Barack Obama, "Breaking the War Mentality," Sundial (Columbia University), March 10, 1983, as reprinted by Origins of Our Time, May 1, 2024. https://ourtime.substack.com/p/breaking-the-war-mentality-guest ↩
  12. John M. Crewdson, "C.I.A. Established Many Links to Journalists in U.S. and Abroad," The New York Times, December 27, 1977 (with reporting by Joseph B. Treaster). https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/27/archives/cia-established-many-links-to-journalists-in-us-and-abroad.html ↩
  13. Lewis, Mark. "How Epstein leveraged the Nobel Peace Prize to connect with the world's most powerful," Yahoo News, February 14, 2026. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/epstein-levaraged-nobel-peace-prize-230549753.html ↩
  14. "Thorbjørn Jagland: Norwegian ex-prime minister charged after probe into alleged Epstein ties, lawyers say," CNN, February 13, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260420203121/https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/13/europe/norway-pm-jagland-charged-epstein-ties-intl-hnk ↩
  15. "The Former Biglaw Partner In Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar," Above the Law, May 2023, summarizing the Wall Street Journal's "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar" series. https://abovethelaw.com/2023/05/the-former-biglaw-partner-in-jeffrey-epsteins-private-calendar/ ↩
  16. U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Kathy Ruemmler to Jeffrey Epstein, January 8, 2015, EFTA02386175 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02386175.pdf ↩
  17. CBS News, February 2026, on Ruemmler's resignation as Goldman Sachs general counsel. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kathryn-ruemmler-resigning-from-goldman-sachs-epstein-files/ ↩
  18. PBS NewsHour, "Obama economic team turning over as Larry Summers departs," September 21, 2010. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/obama-economic-team-turning-over-as-larry-summers-departs ↩
  19. "Summers Resigns From OpenAI Board Amid Backlash Over Epstein Emails." The Harvard Crimson, November 19, 2025. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/19/summers-resigns-open-ai/ ; "Larry Summers banned for life from American Economic Association." Associated Press via Fortune, December 3, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/12/03/larry-summers-banned-for-life-from-american-economic-association ↩
  20. "Bondi taps acting U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to probe Democrats' ties to Epstein," The Washington Times, November 14, 2025. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/14/bondi-taps-acting-us-attorney-jay-clayton-probe-democrats-ties/ ↩
  21. Ponieman, Natan. Benzinga, May 2023, on Epstein's private calendar, summarizing the Wall Street Journal. https://www.benzinga.com/news/23/05/32134015/private-calendar-reveals-jeffrey-epsteins-meetings-with-cia-director-noamchomsky-and-goldman-sachs ↩
  22. The Daily Beast, May 2023, on Epstein's calendar meetings with Noam Chomsky and William Burns. https://www.thedailybeast.com/epstein-calendar-reveals-meetings-with-noam-chomsky-and-former-cia-chief-william-burns/ ↩
  23. Epstein Files Transparency Act, Pub. L. No. 119-38, § 2(c)(1)(C), 139 Stat. 656. https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ38/PLAW-119publ38.pdf ; Office of the Clerk, Roll Call 289, November 18, 2025. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025289 ↩
  24. U.S. Department of Justice, Press Release No. 26-84, January 30, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-publishes-35-million-responsive-pages-compliance-epstein-files ↩
  25. Federal Judicial Center, "Engelmayer, Paul Adam," Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges. https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/engelmayer-paul-adam ↩
  26. United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF Nos. 784, 785 (July 18, 2025); Opinion and Order, ECF No. 809 (Aug. 11, 2025), reported at 794 F. Supp. 3d 215, 225-29; Opinion and Order, ECF No. 820 (Dec. 9, 2025). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/ ↩
  27. Order, State of New York et al. v. Trump et al., No. 25 Civ. 1144 (JAV) (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 8, 2025), ECF No. 6 (Engelmayer, J., sitting in Part I). https://nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2025-02/25cv1144%20Order%20on%20TRO%202%208%2025_0.pdf ↩
  28. Federal Judicial Center, "Nathan, Alison Julie," Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges. https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/nathan-alison-julie ↩
  29. U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02842688, Court Records (United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y. 2020)), opinion, United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/United%20States%20v.%20Maxwell%2C%20No.%20120-cr-00330%20(S.D.N.Y.%202020)/EFTA02842688.pdf ↩
  30. John H. Durham, Special Counsel, Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns, U.S. Department of Justice, May 12, 2023, p. 81 (Clinton Plan intelligence; Ratcliffe letter of September 29, 2020 and Brennan Notes declassified October 6, 2020). https://www.justice.gov/storage/durhamreport.pdf ↩
  31. John H. Durham, Special Counsel, Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns, U.S. Department of Justice, May 12, 2023, p. 84. https://www.justice.gov/storage/durhamreport.pdf ↩
  32. John H. Durham, Special Counsel, Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns, U.S. Department of Justice, May 12, 2023, p. 85 (Brennan White House briefing). https://www.justice.gov/storage/durhamreport.pdf ↩
  33. John H. Durham, Special Counsel, Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns, U.S. Department of Justice, May 12, 2023, p. 82. https://www.justice.gov/storage/durhamreport.pdf ↩
  34. John H. Durham, Special Counsel, Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns, U.S. Department of Justice, May 12, 2023, p. 297. https://www.justice.gov/storage/durhamreport.pdf ↩
  35. John H. Durham, Special Counsel, Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns, U.S. Department of Justice, May 12, 2023, p. 298, n. 1721. https://www.justice.gov/storage/durhamreport.pdf ↩
  36. John H. Durham, Special Counsel, Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns, U.S. Department of Justice, May 12, 2023, p. 16. https://www.justice.gov/storage/durhamreport.pdf ↩
  37. John H. Durham, Special Counsel, Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns, U.S. Department of Justice, May 12, 2023, p. 287. https://www.justice.gov/storage/durhamreport.pdf ↩
  38. John H. Durham, Special Counsel, Report on Matters Related to Intelligence Activities and Investigations Arising Out of the 2016 Presidential Campaigns, U.S. Department of Justice, May 12, 2023, pp. 265-266. https://www.justice.gov/storage/durhamreport.pdf ↩
  39. U.S. Senate, Roll Call Vote 168, 110th Congress, 2nd Session, H.R. 6304, July 9, 2008. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1102/vote_110_2_00168.xml ↩
  40. "CIA Director Sworn In, Emphasizes Importance of 'Honesty'," ABC News, February 13, 2009. https://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LawPolitics/story?id=6874727 ↩
  41. "Senate confirms Clapper as intell chief," Defense Systems, August 6, 2010. https://www.defenseone.com/defense-systems/2010/08/senate-confirms-clapper-as-intell-chief/189665 ↩
  42. Eyder Peralta, "John Brennan Is Sworn In As CIA Director," NPR, March 8, 2013. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/03/08/173826021/john-brennan-is-sworn-in-as-cia-director ↩
  43. Glenn Greenwald and Spencer Ackerman, "NSA collected US email records in bulk for more than two years under Obama," The Guardian, June 27, 2013, publishing a top-secret draft report by the NSA inspector general. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/27/nsa-data-mining-authorised-obama ↩
  44. NBC News / Associated Press, "Director of National Intelligence apologizes for his 'clearly erroneous' NSA testimony," July 2, 2013. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna52381116 ↩
  45. Presidential Policy Directive 28, "Signals Intelligence Activities," January 17, 2014, The White House. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/17/presidential-policy-directive-signals-intelligence-activities ↩
  46. Barack Obama, "Remarks by the President on Osama Bin Laden," The White House, May 2, 2011. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/02/remarks-president-osama-bin-laden ↩
  47. Barack Obama, "Remarks by the President at the National Defense University," The White House, May 23, 2013. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/23/remarks-president-national-defense-university ↩
  48. David E. Sanger, "Obama Ordered Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran," The New York Times, June 1, 2012. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html ↩
  49. David E. Sanger, Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power (2012), excerpt as reported by The Register, June 1, 2012. https://www.theregister.com/2012/06/01/stuxnet_joint_us_israeli_op/ ↩
  50. "Obama pardons retired Gen. James Cartwright for lying during leak probe," CBS News (AP), January 17, 2017. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-cartwright-president-obama-pardons-lying-leak-probe ↩
  51. Executive Order 13581 of July 24, 2011, "Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations," 76 Fed. Reg. 44757 (July 27, 2011). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2011-07-27/pdf/2011-19156.pdf ↩
  52. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, "Intel Committee publishes declassified '28 pages,'" press release, July 15, 2016. https://intelligence.house.gov/2016/07/15/intel-committee-publishes-declassified-28-pages/ ↩
  53. Office of the Pardon Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, letter to Grant F. Smith, FOIA Request No. 2011-036, March 14, 2011. https://www.israellobby.org/pollard/03142011Pollard_release.pdf ↩
  54. Michael B. Mukasey to President Barack Obama, letter of December 21, 2010. https://www.israellobby.org/pollard/12212010Mukasey.pdf ↩
  55. Matthew S. Schwartz, "Jonathan Pollard, Who Sold Cold War Secrets To Israel, Completes Parole," NPR, carried by Georgia Public Broadcasting, November 21, 2020. https://www.gpb.org/news/2020/11/21/jonathan-pollard-who-sold-cold-war-secrets-israel-completes-parole ↩
  56. "Obama Commutes Chelsea Manning's Prison Sentence for Leak," Bloomberg, January 17, 2017. https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-01-17/obama-commutes-sentences-of-chelsea-manning-and-former-general ↩
  57. "President Barack Obama commutes sentence of Chelsea Manning," ABC30, January 17, 2017. https://abc30.com/post/president-barack-obama-commutes-sentence-of-chelsea-manning/1706866/ ↩
  58. "Obama says government doesn't have alien specimens but UFOs are real," Vice, May 18, 2021, on Obama's appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden, May 17, 2021. https://vice.com/en/article/obama-says-government-doesnt-have-alien-specimens-but-ufos-are-real ↩
  59. "Obama clarifies alien comments after telling podcast they're real," KRDO, February 16, 2026, on Obama's interview with Brian Tyler Cohen and his Instagram statement of February 15, 2026. https://krdo.com/news/2026/02/16/obama-clarifies-alien-comments-after-telling-podcast-theyre-real/ ↩
  60. "Trump says he's directing the Pentagon to release files related to UFOs and aliens." NBC News, February 19, 2026 (quoting Trump's Truth Social post). https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-says-directing-pentagon-release-files-related-ufos-aliens-rcna259833 ↩
  61. "Pentagon releases declassified UFO files including videos and photos held by the government for decades." NBC News, May 8, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/science/ufos-and-anomalous-phenomena/ufo-uap-files-pentagon-release-trump-rcna344204 ↩
  62. Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously." The New Yorker, May 10, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously ↩
  63. Gibb, Tom. "Reality 'X-file': People in Kecksburg want to resolve what fell from the sky in 1965." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 9, 2003, p. 21. ↩
  64. Federation of American Scientists, "Daniel Correa," biography. https://fas.org/expert/daniel-correa/ ↩
  65. Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC API, schedule A contributions by employer, committee C00431445 (Obama for America), 2008 cycle, retrieved October 15, 2026. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/by_employer/?committee_id=C00431445&cycle=2008 ↩
  66. Federal Election Commission, FEC Form 9, 24 Hour Notice of Disbursements/Obligations for Electioneering Communications, Judicial Confirmation Network, received October 2, 2008 (committee C30001242), Schedule 9-B, pages 2 to 4. https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/424/28039843424/28039843424.pdf ↩
  67. Horowitz Family Foundation (EIN 35-7050910), Form 990-PF for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 (IRS object 201903169349101270). ↩
  68. PR News, "Kalshi Taps Precision's Cutter," O'Dwyer's, April 3, 2026. https://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/24567/2026-04-03/kalshi-taps-precisions-cutter.html ↩
  69. Uriel Heilman, "Backers of anti-Iran group create mirror group against violent Islamists," Jewish Telegraphic Agency, September 22, 2014, as published by the AZ Jewish Post. https://azjewishpost.com/2014/backers-of-anti-iran-group-create-mirror-group-against-violent-islamists/ ↩
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  71. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar," former president (2021 to 2026), biography. https://carnegieendowment.org/people/mariano-florentino-tino-cuellar ↩
  72. Office of Representative Ro Khanna, "About Rep. Khanna," official biography. https://khanna.house.gov/about/about-rep-khanna ↩
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  75. "Vietnam’s Kerrey dilemma: Fulbright U appointment is lightning rod for US ties," Asia Times, June 2016. https://asiatimes.com/2016/06/vietnams-kerrey-dilemma-fulbright-u-appointment-is-lightning-rod-for-us-ties/ ↩
  76. ABC30, "Susan Rice denies using intel to spy on Trump advisers," April 2017. https://abc30.com/post/susan-rice-denies-using-intel-to-spy-on-trump-advisers/1839001/ ↩
  77. MPR News, "Rice denies unmasking for political purposes," April 4, 2017. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/04/04/rice-denies-unmasking-for-political-purposes ↩
  78. "What We Learned About Clearview AI's Hidden 'Co-Founder.'" The New York Times, March 18, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/technology/clearview-facial-recognition-ai.html ↩
  79. "Business Partner Sues Chuck Johnson for Falsely Presenting as Intelligence Agent." Semafor, October 16, 2024. https://www.semafor.com/article/10/16/2024/business-partner-sues-chuck-johnson-for-falsely-presenting-as-intelligence-agent ↩

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