Laurence J. Hale

“A small loan of a million dollars.” A Pulitzer-winning New York Times investigation put it at the inflation-adjusted equivalent of at least $413 million from his father. How the self-made legend was built: Don't sit this one out. Vote. THE RECORD by Laurence J. Hale: amazon.com/dp/B0HMCFGHCY

One week until Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. Early voting and mail-ballot rules vary by state, and some deadlines are close. Find your state's rules and your local election office at vote.gov. Whoever you support, make a plan to vote.

House Oversight documented at least $7.8 million from foreign governments and state-run entities in 20 countries to Trump businesses in 2017 and 2018, the only years the subpoenaed records covered. Who paid: Read the record. Then vote. THE RECORD by Laurence J. Hale: amazon.com/dp/B0HMCFGHCY

30,573. False or misleading claims in four years, cataloged by Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly of The Washington Post’s Fact Checker. There is no successor database for the second term. Facts matter. So does your vote. — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

DOJ asked a court to set aside California ballots from a list of ~20,000 suspected noncitizens. LA checked 200: over 70% never voted (ABC, Votebeat). 2017's fraud commission ended without evidence for Trump's 3-5M claim. New list, old claim. Vote Nov. 3. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

Trump on pardoning staff: "I certainly don't want to see innocent people go through hell." He cited Biden's pardons (Newsweek, NBC). March 2025, he declared those "VOID." Nov. 2025, he pre-pardoned Giuliani and others. Void then, precedent now. Vote Nov. 3. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

8 days to Nov. 3. Before you vote: The 2025 government shutdown lasted 43 days. As funds ran down, the administration said food assistance would lapse. Courts ordered SNAP benefits paid. The fight over payment ran into November. — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

Trump: Obama "paid off Iran with $Billions" (Reuters). Oct. 2025 he pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. Binance partners his family's USD1 stablecoin; reports say its staff found $1.7B moved for Iranian proxies (Binance denies it). Vote Nov. 3. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

Mexico paid nothing. Not one peso, ever, in direct payment. More than $15 billion in first-term wall funding came from Americans, including about $10 billion redirected from Defense Department accounts. The receipts are in. Now vote. — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

DOJ told a judge work on Trump's 250-foot "Triumphal Arch" could begin Nov. 5, the day the planning commission votes, with lawsuits still pending (AP). CBS asked who the arch is for. His answer, complete: "Me." Vote by Nov. 3. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

A judge ordered Trump to sit for a deposition in his own $10B BBC suit by Dec. 11 or risk sanctions (AP, CBS). Oct. 2022, deposed in the Carroll case and shown a 1987 photo, he pointed at Carroll: "That's Marla." Under oath, the story is tested. Vote Nov. 3. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

9 days to Nov. 3. Before you vote: July 2025: a rescission package clawed back $1.1 billion Congress had already appropriated for public broadcasting. The CPB, which funded 1,500+ local stations, voted to dissolve. Its board last met Jan. 29, 2026. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

Jan. 24, 2025: seventeen inspectors general, the watchdogs inside federal agencies, removed in one night, without the 30 days' notice to Congress the law requires. That night and what came after: 9 days left. Make your voting plan: vote.gov THE RECORD by Laurence J. Hale: amazon.com/dp/B0HMCFGHCY

“I would like you to do us a favor though.” July 25, 2019: President Zelensky raised the Javelin missiles his soldiers needed. That was the reply, per the White House memo of the call, then requests about CrowdStrike and the Bidens. Vote by Nov. 3. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

A split 9th Circuit panel upheld the order blocking Trump's 2025 federalization of California's Guard (Law360, KRCR). June 2025: ~4,200 Guard and 700 Marines sent to LA. CBO cost to Dec. 2025: $193M. Most left by July; the ruling came long after. Vote Nov. 3. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

Trump on the DOJ suit to block Alaska's Senate certification: "I'm the one that said do it." (AP) Dec. 27, 2020, per DOJ notes: "Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen." DOJ refused then. Vote by Nov. 3. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

10 days to Nov. 3. Before you vote: Presents from foreign states need Congress's consent. May 2025: the Pentagon accepted a Boeing 747-8 from Qatar, valued near $400 million, for presidential use. The administration: a gift to the Pentagon, not to him. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

Jan. 6, 2021. From about 1:10 p.m., when the Ellipse speech ended, to 4:17, when his video finally posted: 187 minutes. The documented timeline of that afternoon is in the book. If you want to save the country you love, vote by Nov. 3. THE RECORD by Laurence J. Hale: amazon.com/dp/B0HMCFGHCY

Per The New York Times: Putin discussed an Alaska gas venture last month with Trump's envoys Witkoff and Kushner. The "American" firm, Polar LNG, was secretly funded by the same Russian company meant to supply its technology, says its former CEO. Nov. 3: vote. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

Iowa rally, Thursday: "I think the law says I'm not allowed to run again." It does: the 22nd Amendment bars anyone from being elected president more than twice. Dec. 2023, asked to rule out abusing power: "Except for day one." The joke keeps coming back. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

THE RECORD is $3.99 on Kindle through Election Day. Fifty years of the documented record, from a 1973 housing-discrimination suit to the second term: "find 11,780 votes," the 187 minutes, seventeen watchdogs fired in one night. amazon.com/dp/B0HMCFGHCY — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

“I don’t settle cases.” Ten days after the 2016 election, Trump University settled for $25 million, with no admission of wrongdoing, approved by the judge he had spent the summer calling “a Mexican.” — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

A judge limited DHS's noncitizen-voter probes in 9 states through Election Day, AP and the Post report. Lists drew on commercial voter files. 2017: states of both parties refused Trump's fraud panel's voter-data demands. Now the lists go around them. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

Ukraine's Starshield was throttled last week, disrupting its drones. Sources told CBS it was Musk's call; Musk says POTUS ultimately decides. Trump now says it's lifted. Ukrainian troops told the Post it was still disrupted Friday. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

Witkoff to Putin this week: "You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that." (CBS) Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas: "No. Putin is a stone cold killer." Trump, Helsinki 2018, beside Putin: "I don't see any reason why it would be." Same deference. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

A billionaire sought a pardon. His daughter's firm gave Alina Habba a $50M+ deal, the NYT reports. Weeks later, Trump pardoned him. Habba denies any link. 2025: Trevor Milton, pardoned after $1.8M in family donations. The pattern: money first, mercy after. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

11 days to Nov. 3. Before you vote: Nov. 18, 2025: the House passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act 427-1. The Senate passed it by unanimous consent. Congress made the release the law. — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

“I just want to find 11,780 votes.” Jan. 2, 2021, on a call with Georgia's Republican secretary of state. The campaign's court petition alleged 10,315 dead voters. His office checked every name. It found four. THE RECORD by Laurence J. Hale: amazon.com/dp/B0HMCFGHCY

$750. Federal individual income tax paid for 2016, the year he won the presidency, as reported by The New York Times. $750 again for 2017. None in ten of the fifteen years before 2016. — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

FCC Chair Brendan Carr warned broadcasters against airing "Fake Polls," citing "News Distortion" rules. No examples given (Forbes, TV Technology). Sept. 2025, on Kimmel: "we can do this the easy way or the hard way." ABC suspended him within hours. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

Three in four Albertans voted to stay in Canada. Before the vote, a U.S. Treasury secretary said "we should let them come down into the U.S." My new piece: what Washington said and did on the way to that vote, and the older pattern it fits.

At a N.C. rally, Trump tied Camp Lejeune toxic-water claims to a GOP win: "If we do win, you're getting it" (NC Newsline). The pattern: in 2019 Amb. Bill Taylor wrote it was "crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign." — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

12 days to Nov. 3. Before you vote: Aug. 1, 2025: a weak jobs report. By that afternoon the labor statistics commissioner, a career statistician confirmed by the Senate 86-8, was fired, and the data declared "RIGGED" without evidence. — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

A federal hurricane map, extended with a Sharpie. September 4, 2019: an official NOAA forecast chart for Hurricane Dorian, its cone stretched into Alabama by a hand-drawn loop. Asked about the marker line, he said: “I don’t know.” — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

A new suit says Trump's 50% Canada tariffs rest on a 1930 law no president had used, CBC and Newsweek report. Feb. 20 the Supreme Court struck his emergency tariffs. A new one came that day. The pattern: tariffs change statutes. — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

Congress passed Russia sanctions 86 to 11. One signature switched them off two days before they took effect. My new piece: the record behind the waiver, and the pattern it fits. — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

13 days to Nov. 3. Before you vote: Six members of Congress, all veterans or ex-intelligence officers, told troops they can refuse illegal orders. The president posted: "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" A grand jury declined to indict any of them. — Laurence J. Hale · laurencejhale.com

The Epstein files: promised, buried, called a hoax, and finally ordered released. — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

“It will be near it but not touching it.” July 31, 2025, on the planned White House ballroom. In October, the entire East Wing was demolished, unannounced, without review by the federal planning commission. — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

14 days to Nov. 3. Before you vote: After 2020, the Trump campaign and its allies filed some sixty lawsuits. No case produced a judicial finding of outcome-changing fraud, before judges of both parties, including his own appointees. — Laurence J. Hale, author of THE RECORD · laurencejhale.com

Albertans voted Monday to stay in Canada, about 76% in early results. Separatist leaders had met State Department staff three times; Treasury Secretary Bessent called Alberta "a natural partner for the U.S." Washington saw a neighbor's split as an opportunity. Albertans answered.

Last day: THE RECORD is free on Kindle until midnight Pacific tonight. "Find 11,780 votes." 187 minutes. Seventeen inspectors general fired in one night. All of it, in order, in one book.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Voter registration deadlines differ by state: some have passed, and some states let you register at the polls. Check your status and your state's rules at vote.gov. Whoever you support, make a plan to vote.

“I wanted to always play it down.” March 19, 2020, on tape with Bob Woodward, eight days after the WHO declared a pandemic. On February 7 he had told Woodward: “This is deadly stuff.”