The Rise of Jeff Bezos Backlash, Tiktok's Murder-For-Hire Scandal, & The Epstein Class Wins in KY

TL;DR

A news roundup covering Jeff Bezos's tax controversy, a TikToker's murder-for-hire plot, and Trump's primary victories ousting Epstein-file champion Thomas Massie.

Key Points

• 1.Jeff Bezos sparked widespread backlash after a CNBC interview defending his tax contributions. He argued doubling his taxes wouldn't help a Queens nurse, while his main proposal was eliminating taxes for those earning under $75,000 — critics called the optics of a billionaire in a rocket factory making that argument deeply tone-deaf.
• 2.Bezos drew further criticism over Amazon labor practices and his philanthropy score. His Forbes philanthropy score sits at 2 out of 5, while reports cite high warehouse injury rates and poverty wages subsidized by taxpayer-funded tax breaks.
• 3.Bezos defended his Washington Post decisions, denying accusations of pro-Trump bias. He claimed pulling the 2024 election endorsement was about relevance, but the paper lost 10% of subscribers after that move, with many believing he acted to curry favor with Trump.
• 4.TikTok influencer Gabriela Gonzalez, her boyfriend Kai Cordray, and her father Francisco Gonzalez were arrested for a murder-for-hire plot targeting her custody rival, boy band member Jack Avery. Kai registered on a dark web assassination site as 'Lizard King 69,' Francisco allegedly paid $14,000 in crypto, and an FBI agent posing as a hitman recorded key conversations.
• 5.Thomas Massie — who led the charge to release the Epstein files — lost his Kentucky primary to Trump-backed Navy SEAL Ed Gal Ryan by roughly 55% to 45%. Nearly $19 million was spent against Massie, including $9.4 million from pro-Israel groups like iPAC, prompting Marjorie Taylor Greene to say releasing the Epstein files 'was our demise.'
• 6.In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — who refused Trump's demand to 'find votes' in 2020 — was crushed in his primary, while the MAGA takeover of the Georgia GOP is described as nearly complete. The governor's race is heading to a runoff between Trump-backed Bert Jones and Trump-aligned Rick Jackson, who will face Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms.
• 7.Two Democratic-backed Georgia Supreme Court challengers lost despite joint endorsements from Obama and Kamala Harris, with one losing by 19 points. DeFranco attributes the loss largely to voter confusion in nonpartisan races — many assumed name-based context clues like 'Miracle' sounded more Democratic — compounded by Georgia's law prohibiting phone use inside voting booths.
• 8.Trump's administration struck an IRS deal shielding the Trump family from tax investigation prosecutions, reportedly saving them over $100 million. Attorney General Pam Bondi — Trump's former personal attorney — signed the document, with experts calling it 'a breathtaking abuse of the tax and legal system'; separately, Senator Bill Cassidy joined Democrats on a War Powers Resolution against Trump's Iran war after losing his Louisiana primary.