A New York Times investigation says two top Trump officials used their power to help a kratom company they're financially or politically linked to — bad news for honest government, good news for the company's owner.

• Homeland Security chief Markwayne Mullin has up to $1 million invested in Botanic Tonics, a kratom company, and pushed rules that hurt its rivals.
• The company's CEO gave big donations to RFK Jr. and the RNC, including half a million dollars that bought a private meeting with VP JD Vance.
• In return, Trump's DOJ dropped a case against the company, and the FDA deleted kratom warnings and links to the legal case from its website.
• RFK Jr. even called Ohio's governor to try to stop a state kratom ban, then got a $1 million donation from the company.
• The rival product, a synthetic kratom called 7-OH, really is dangerous — up to 13 times stronger than morphine and sold at gas stations.

Outlook: Expect more fights over kratom rules as states like Ohio move to ban it, while the corruption questions around these officials likely go nowhere.