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The Big Story

June 09, 2026 · View in browser

In today’s newsletter: Donald Trump Jr. secretly backed an oil refinery startup that an Indian billionaire infused with cash; the Trump administration shut down a criminal probeinto Sen. Jim Justice’s coal empire; and a ProPublica analysis shows striking similarities among measles viruses sampled across multiple states.

An Indian Billionaire Was Targeted by Trump. Then He Poured Money Into a Startup Secretly Backed by Donald Trump Jr.

An obscure Texas firm secretly connected to the president’s son said it received at least $100 million from Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. At the same time, the Ambani family secured major policy wins from the Trump administration.Read story

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Environment

Trump Administration Killed Criminal Investigation of GOP Senator’s Coal Companies

Sen. Jim Justice, a Republican from West Virginia and a close ally of President Donald Trump, owns an empire of coal companies. In the past decade, Southern Coal and other Justice corporations have racked up tens of thousands of allegedviolations of the Clean Water Act and have been sued repeatedly by state and federal prosecutors over their failure to properly follow environmental laws at their mining sites.

Prosecutors and investigators with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Virginia had launched a probe into whether the companies’ incessant violations of antipollution laws had risen to the level of criminal behavior, people familiar with the matter said. ProPublica learned Trump administration officials called off the probe earlier this year, part of a pattern of behavior at the top echelons of the DOJ to push cases against Trump’s political adversaries and ease up on allies.

Steven Ruby, an attorney for the Justice companies, said “there’s never been any intentional wrongdoing by the companies.” While objecting to the subpoenas in court, the company simultaneously convinced the DOJ to drop the case, Ruby said. The Justice family’s companies have settled many accusations of environmental violations by agreeing to pay fines and invest in better pollution prevention without admitting or denying culpability.

A DOJ spokesperson said in an email that “there is no case to be made here for a criminal investigation.” The spokesperson added that the deputy attorney general’s office determined that this case was not consistent with the Trump administration’s priorities, and it could be more appropriately resolved through the less punitive civil process. “Any career prosecutor who would paint a criminal case as strong is simply a deep state prosecutor continuing to push the priorities of the Biden administration,” the spokesperson said.Read story

Health

What ProPublica Found in the Genetic Code of America’s Measles Outbreaks

The U.S. eliminated measles a quarter century ago, but to keep its “measles-free” designation, officials will have to make a strong case that measles is not continuously spreading within its borders. Our analysis shows how difficult that could be.Read story