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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: The Trump administration is reportedly considering a federal investigation into Axel Springer, the German parent company of POLITICO and Business Insider. The possible probe follows a thinly sourced story published by Business Insider suggesting that Donald Trump Jr.’s business interests could be akin to Hunter Biden’s corrupt political activities.
👥 Who’s Involved: The Trump White House, Donald Trump Jr., Business Insider journalist Bethany McLean, and Axel Springer.
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📍 Where & When: The issue arose following a May 6 report by Business Insider, with rumors of a possible federal probe emerging between May 13 and 15.
💬 Key Quote: An unnamed White House adviser reportedly referred to Axel Springer as a “German influence operation” and suggested its reporting could be “illegal foreign political meddling.”
⚠️ Impact: The potential probe could place Axel Springer under federal scrutiny for its media activities in the U.S.
IN FULL:
The Trump White House is reportedly weighing a federal investigation into Axel Springer, the German media conglomerate that owns POLITICO and Business Insider. The move follows a recent report by Business Insider comparing Donald Trump Jr.’s business activities to Hunter Biden‘s alleged selling of White House access, involving his father, former President Joe Biden.
On May 6, journalist Bethany McLean published a piece in Business Insider titled “Don Jr. Is the New Hunter Biden.” The report highlighted Trump Jr.’s involvement with the venture capital firm 1789 Capital and quoted an anonymous source allegedly close to the Trump family claiming, “What they’re doing is selling access to the president via the back door.”
The comparison parallels Hunter Biden, who has faced scrutiny for years over his foreign business dealings and accusations of leveraging White House access during his father’s political career. Notably, other Biden family members, including Joe Biden’s brother, Jim Biden, faced similar allegations of political corruption.
Following the Business Insider story, reports emerged that the Trump White House is considering a federal probe of the media outlet’s foreign owner, Axel Springer. Speculation regarding the investigation has been further fueled by a story from Matthew Boyle of Breitbart News, which cites an unnamed White House adviser who described Axel Springer as a “German influence operation.” The adviser also suggested that the company’s activities might amount to “illegal foreign political meddling.”
Axel Springer’s media outlets, including POLITICO and Business Insider, are believed to have attracted the attention of senior administration officials. Notably, the German-based media conglomerate and its U.S.-based media properties could face scrutiny for potentially violating federal ethics norms.
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: Native-born American workers continue to be replaced by cheap foreign labor, with the number of H-1B visas approved for 2026 topping 120,000. The number of approvals comes despite continued layoffs in the American technology industry, suggesting the visa program continues to be abused to source cheap workers rather than meet industry labor demands.
👥 Who’s Involved: President Donald J. Trump, Elon Musk, David Sacks, American technology companies, American workers, and cheap foreign labor.
Your free, daily feed from The National Pulse.
📍 Where & When: The H-1B approvals for 2026 were highlighted by U.S. Tech Workers, an American worker advocacy group, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, May 15, 2025.
💬 Key Quote: “Despite mass tech layoffs and voter backlash—especially after the Christmas H-1B uproar—the Trump team stays hands-off: 120,141 NEW H-1Bs selected for FY2026. Demand remains high despite layoffs—a clear sign U.S. workers are being replaced,” U.S. Tech Workers wrote.
⚠️ Impact: The H-1B approvals suggest that technology industry leaders Elon Musk and David Sacks, who also serve as Trump White House advisors, may be continuing to exert influence over U.S. immigration and labor policy.
IN FULL:
The replacement of native-born American workers with cheap foreign labor remains unabated despite strong public opinion against the policy. While the total approvals for 2026 are lower than the peak years under the former Biden government, data shows 120,141 H-1B visas have been accepted for the next year. This is about equivalent to the total number of H-1Bs approved for 2021, cleared during the final year of President Donald J. Trump’s first term in office.
U.S. Tech Workers, a group that advocates for American-born technology workers against foreign labor predation, notes that the approvals come despite industry layoffs and public backlash against the rate at which foreign workers are replacing native-born workers. “Despite mass tech layoffs and voter backlash—especially after the Christmas H-1B uproar—the Trump team stays hands-off: 120,141 NEW H-1Bs selected for FY2026,” the group wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter), late Wednesday. They added: “Demand remains high despite layoffs—a clear sign U.S. workers are being replaced.”
Notably, there was a sharp drop in eligible H-1B registrations for 2026, totalling 343,981, marking a 26.9 percent decline from 2025’s total of 470,342. However, this drop was primarily driven by reforms enacted under former President Joe Biden, aimed at cracking down on multiple visa filings and fraud. Additionally, the Biden-era reforms and subsequent drop in eligible registrations suggest that demand from tech companies for cheap foreign labor has not actually fallen.
The National Pulse reported in January that survey data shows 60 percent of Americans feel the nation already possesses enough skilled workers for white-collar roles. Meanwhile, only 26 percent of respondents said they wanted to see the United States increase its number of foreign workers.
During Christmas last year, the debate over H-1B visa policy boiled over onto social media. Trump White House advisors Elon Musk, who fronts the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and David Sacks, who chairs the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, pushed back against calls from Trump’s MAGA base for a reduction or even elimination of the foreign worker visa program.
Musk, who also serves as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, argued at the time that the government would need to double the number of approved H-1Bs to meet engineering demands in the semiconductor industry.
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