Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 1,096 words…4 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: Musk, Ronaldo and The Crown Prince: Inside Trump's $1 Trillion Saudi Power Play, U.S. Tests a New Ukraine Peace Framework, Europe and Mossad Breakup Hamas’ “Octopus Network”, Klimt Portrait Sells for $236M, xAI Goes Big in Saudi Arabia… & much more!
🚨 Watch For:
President expected to sign the Epstein Bill shortly
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
Clockwise from top-left: The President with the Crown Prince to his right and the First Lady to his left; Selfie posted by David Sacks which includes Robaldo, Elon and Howard Lutnick; Cristiano Ronaldo walking to his seat; Elon Musk at the dinner table.
🍽 Musk, Ronaldo and The Crown Prince: Inside Trump's $1 Trillion Saudi Power Play
Last night, the East Room became the global capital of power as President Trump rolled out a black-tie, candlelit dinner for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—with pistachio-encrusted lamb in tow.
The guest list looked like the Forbes gala met the World Cup after-party: Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Jensen Huang, Jeff Bezos, Cristiano Ronaldo, Schwarzman, Wirth, Fraser—basically the PIF’s LinkedIn network IRL.
😯 Surprise Guest: The headline presence was Elon Musk—his first return to the White House since his public feud with Trump earlier this year.
The détente wasn’t subtle. Musk’s appearance was a political and economic tell: if Silicon Valley’s highest-voltage CEO is back in the room, the relationship reset is real.
🚨The Headline Moments: Trump used the moment to announce Saudi Arabia’s new status as a major non-NATO ally, unlocking priority access to U.S. weapons systems—including F-35s—and accelerated tech, energy, and nuclear cooperation.
He also touted nearly $1 trillion in Saudi investment headed for the U.S., a figure that will dictate how Wall Street positions itself for months.
⚡The Viral Moment: The Crown Prince delivered the night’s viral moment, joking about prediction markets betting on whether he’d ditch traditional attire for a tux:
If you bet on the black suit, you get 17x… sorry, you lose.
⚽ Ronaldo—Saudi’s unofficial brand ambassador—joined the festivities after strolling the White House grounds with Trump and chatting with Barron (Cool dad points secured, Trump bragged). His appearance doubled as soft-power PR ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
💡Bottom line: This wasn’t just a dinner. It was a strategic alignment ceremony—with celebrity gloss and trillion-dollar stakes.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
🇺🇸 🇺🇦 U.S. Tests a New Ukraine Peace Framework
Washington has dispatched special envoy Steve Witkoff to Kyiv to explore a 28-point Ukraine-Russia peace outline he developed with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
The plan touches on European security guarantees, Ukraine’s military posture, future U.S.-Russia-Ukraine relations, and potential territorial arrangements—areas Kyiv views as highly sensitive.
U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll arrived for follow-up talks after consultations with Marco Rubio and Witkoff, underscoring that the administration is formally assessing diplomatic options.
Kyiv’s response so far: cautious and unconvinced.
💡Next phase: U.S. briefings with European partners as evaluations continue.
🖼 Klimt Portrait Sells for $236M, Becomes No. 2 All-Time
A rare Gustav Klimt portrait, Elisabeth Lederer, sold for $236.4M at Sotheby’s New York, making it the second most expensive artwork ever auctioned.
The 20-minute bidding war far beat expectations ($150M) and capped a remarkable journey: Nazi looting, near-destruction in WWII, rescue in 1948, and decades in private collections including Estée Lauder heir Leonard Lauder’s Fifth Avenue home.
Other Klimts from the Lauder collection fetched up to $80M.
💡 Fun twist: An hour later, a fully functional gold toilet by Maurizio Cattelan sold for $12.1M—buyer is a famous American brand, apparently.
💣 Europe & Mossad Break Up “Hamas Octopus” Network
Mossad and European agencies have dismantled what investigators dubbed the “Hamas Octopus”—a coordinated network preparing attacks on Jews, synagogues, and Israeli sites across Europe.
Months of surveillance across Germany, Austria, and others uncovered weapons caches, explosives, and drones allegedly positioned for activation “on command.”
A major stash in Vienna was tied to Muhammad Naim, son of a senior Hamas figure.
European officials say meetings in Qatar point to high-level approval despite Hamas denials.
💡 Why it matters: Recent arrests in Germany highlight Hamas’s push to expand operations abroad. Intelligence cooperation, for now, is keeping Europe ahead of the curve.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
⚖ Larry Summers Steps Down from OpenAI Board
Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary and ex-Harvard president, resigned from OpenAI’s board amid fallout from recently released congressional documents detailing his extensive personal correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein.
Summers admitted wrongdoing and called his actions “deeply shameful.” OpenAI said it respects his decision.
⚡The resignation is part of a broader retreat from public roles for Summers, including think tanks and media positions, as Harvard launches a new probe into his Epstein-linked activities.
🛑 Abbott's Texas-Sized Terror Tag
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott just designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist orgs, blocking them from buying land.
Abbott's move aligns with U.S. allies like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, which already designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
CAIR fired back, calling it a "publicity stunt masquerading as a proclamation" and promised a legal battle, noting the U.S. government doesn't recognize the designation.
⚡The move comes amid heightened scrutiny on CAIR, including reports of the group cutting $1,000 checks for students protestors who were disciplined for anti-Israel protests.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
Elon Musk and Jensen Huang at the American-Saudi Investment Forum today
🤖 xAI Goes Big in Saudi Arabia
Elon Musk’s xAI is teaming up with Saudi state-backed Humain to build a 500 MW data center—the largest xAI facility outside the U.S.—to power Grok and other AI workloads.
The project leans on Nvidia chips and aligns with Saudi plans to handle 6% of global AI processing by 2030.
⚡Backed by $15B in Saudi investment and potential easing of U.S. export controls, this deal cements Musk’s growing tech ties with the kingdom.
☢ Microsoft Goes Nuclear for AI Growth
The Department of Energy just greenlit a $1B federal loan to Constellation Energy to restart Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island reactor—now the Crane Clean Energy Center.
The reboot is anchored by Microsoft, which signed a 20-year deal to buy 100% of the plant’s 835 MW to fuel its expanding AI data centers.
⚡Set to reopen in 2027, the project covers most of its $1.6B price tag and marks a major bet on nuclear as the backbone of U.S. digital infrastructure.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
A is for absent
No spelled-out number before "one thousand" uses the letter A. Plenty of E’s, I’s, O’s and U’s though.