1. Liftoff
SpaceX founder Elon Musk addresses members of the media during a press conference announcing new developments of the Crew Dragon reusable spacecraft, at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California on October 10, 2019.
Philip Pacheco | Afp | Getty Images
2. Settling up
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 11, 2026.
Daniel Heuer | Reuters
3. Expiration date
Jay Clayton, former chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), speaks during the Bloomberg Invest event in New York, US, on Thursday, June 8, 2023.
Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Trump announced yesterday that he would nominate Jay Clayton to be the permanent director of national intelligence. Clayton is currently the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Clayton is expected to take the baton from Bill Pulte, who last week was tapped by Trump to serve as acting director after Tulsi Gabbard resigned. Pulte’s lack of experience in intelligence has drawn criticism from Democrats, along with some GOP lawmakers.
Democrats have pledged to vote against any short-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — a major national security tool — following Pulte’s appointment. The program is set to expire today after the House rejected a proposal to extend it yesterday.
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4. Bezos on AI
Jeff Bezos, Co-CEO of Project Prometheus, speaking with CNBC in San Francisco on June 11th, 2026.
CNBC
Jeff Bezos’ AI startup Prometheus announced a $12 billion funding round yesterday. That values the company, which was launched late last year, at $41 billion.
In his first time speaking at length about the startup, Bezos on Thursday told CNBC’s David Faber that Prometheus has done “remarkable” work but it is “premature” to disclose its accomplishments so far. The Amazon founder said the latest funding round will allow Prometheus, which focuses on AI models for physical tasks, to increase its compute.
Bezos also shared his views on how AI should be regulated and whether the tech can improve Americans’ standard of living. See all the big moments from the interview here.
5. Ad campaign
A boy peers out from under a voting booth as his mother marks her ballot during the state’s primary election to choose candidates for the November midterm elections, in Cary, North Carolina, U.S., March 3, 2026.
Jonathan Drake | Reuters
Your TV ads may soon be getting a lot more political. A new report forecasts that the 2026 midterm elections could see the highest advertising spend of any U.S. election.
The 2026 races are expected to generate $11.6 billion in ad spend, according to the report from AdImpact. That’s up nearly $800 million from the projection AdImpact made last year and would top the $11.2 billion spent on the 2024 presidential cycle.
As CNBC’s Laya Neelakandan notes, more than $5 billion of that is expected to go to broadcast. California, Texas, Michigan and Ohio are among the states seeing the largest spending overall.
The Daily Dividend
Here are some stories you might have missed this week:
- World Cup travel boost hasn’t materialized for U.S. businesses — yet
- How screwworm could re-inflate record beef prices this summer
- Trump might ‘love the inflation,’ but experts say consumers are feeling the pain
- Commercial real estate saw record lending competition in April: JLL
- 51% of U.S. adults say the American Dream is out of reach for most people right now: CNBC survey
- Sam Bankman-Fried files formal request for a pardon from Trump
— CNBC’s Chris Eudaily, Leslie Picker, Yun Li, Sarah Min, Deena Zaidi, Deirdre Bosa, Jasmine Wu, Lora Kolodny, Hayley Cuccinello, Kevin Breuninger, Spencer Kimball, Sean Conlon, Lisa Kailai Han, Dan Mangan, Justin Papp, Annie Palmer and Laya Neelakandan contributed to this report.
CJ Haddad assisted in the production of this newsletter. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.
