By Damian Paletta
Good morning. Last month, the FBI arrested David Rush at his Virginia home, where investigators found over 300 gold bars worth more than $40 million.
What's so special about Rush? He had been a senior official at the CIA. The gold bars were allegedly taken from the CIA for "work-related expenses." (Notably, he so far hasn't been charged with anything related to the gold bars).
The CIA's budget is classified, or secret, or nonna-your-business, as they do all sorts of undercover things all over the world. Suitcases of cash? That's not just for the movies. That kind of stuff does happen. But gold bars? In huge quantities? Just sitting in a suburban home?
This story raised all sorts of questions when it broke recently, but here's a new twist. The Wall Street Journal's Philip Wegmann interviewed Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, daughter-in-law of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She said that she recently quit the White House's budget office, where she played a senior role in the intelligence community's budget, in part because she felt uneasy signing off on what she describes as runaway spending on a range of things -- including gold.
"Until there's functional oversight of the IC's ample and unsupervised movement of money and gold, we are stuck living in something less than the constitutional republic our founders designed," she said in the interview.
If you know anything about the CIA and its gold bars, we'd love to hear from you. Politics@wsj.com
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What I'm Following
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House votes to restrict White House autonomy over war. The Republican-led House has voted to restrict the Trump administration's ability to continue the war against Iran without congressional approval. The vote is a reproach to Trump and a sign the GOP in Congress is starting to grow tired of the conflict.
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About Me
I'm Damian Paletta, The Wall Street Journal's Washington coverage chief. I've covered Washington for 22 years as a reporter and editor. I've covered the White House, Congress, national security, the federal budget, economics and multiple market meltdowns.
WSJ Politics brings you an expert guide to what's driving D.C., every weekday morning. Send your feedback to politics@wsj.com (if you're reading this in your inbox, you can just hit reply). This edition was curated and edited in collaboration with Alistair Dawber and Yolanda McBride. Got a tip for us? Here's how to submit.
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June 04, 2026 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT)
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