Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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Trump/Powell roller coaster

Data: Financial Modeling Prep; Chart: Axios Visuals President Trump has the market on a knife's edge, waiting to see whether he'll fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell — upending a century of Fed independence in the process, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes. Multiple outlets reported today that Trump was close to firing Powell. The New York Times reported that Trump had even shown congressional Republicans a termination letter that had already been written. ? But Trump denied that he's planning to try to fire the Fed chief. "We're not planning on doing anything," he said at the White House. "I don't rule out anything, but I think it's highly unlikely. Unless he has to leave for fraud." Go deeper: Who Trump might pick to replace Powell   ? President Trump lashed out at "PAST supporters" for their continued focus on Jeffrey Epstein. "Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats' work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!" he said on Truth Social. Go deeper.

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Trump’s Vile, Corrupt Attack on Adam Schiff Is Already Backfiring

This week, President Donald Trump raged on Truth Social that Senator Adam Schiff is guilty of “Mortgage Fraud,” and demanded that he be “brought to justice.” The basis for this claim: Fannie Mae has made a criminal referral to the Justice Department involving several properties owned by the first-term California Democrat.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/4114602183981-trumps-vile-corrupt-attack-on-adam-schiff-is-already-backfiring?

Justice Department fires Maurene Comey, prosecutor on Epstein case and daughter of ex-FBI director

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey and a federal prosecutor in Manhattan who worked on the cases against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jeffrey Epstein, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

https://apnews.com/article/justice-department-james-comey-maurene-trump-dda5d1f40f08346bd97696ce4791e8ec?

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An Irreconcilable Conflict

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In his first term, President Donald Trump was assiduous in courting his base of committed supporters, often at the expense of voters who were persuadable. Those decisions helped lose him the 2020 election.

Trump isn’t doing much more to reach out to the center in his second term, but he is more willing to snub his core backers. In recent weeks alone, he has flouted his longtime claims of being anti-war by joining an Israeli bombing campaign against Iran; dropped his demand that Ukraine make concessions and worked to supply it with weapons against Russia; endured an acrimonious breakup with his high-profile, deep-pocketed pal Elon Musk; and used his One Big Beautiful Bill Act to slash entitlements, which he had claimed he’d never do.

Each of these has brought grumbling from subsets of his coalition, but none has been so sustained as the backlash over the administration’s reversal on releasing the so-called Epstein files. Now some of Trump’s most ardent backers are angry at him for purportedly hiding information, and he, in turn, is lashing out at them. “The Radical Left Democrats have hit pay dirt, again!” he wrote in a lengthy Truth Social missive this morning. “Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker.” Thinking about why this schism has emerged, and whether it will last, is helpful for understanding Trump’s political appeal and future.

What exactly these files might contain is not clear. One theory is that they include a list of famous men for whom Epstein, the late financier and sex offender, procured underage girls for sex. (Epstein’s 2019 death in a federal jail in New York City was ruled a suicide, but public doubts about its circumstances have persisted ever since.) Although Epstein had many famous friends, some of whom flew on his plane or visited his private island, no obvious evidence that such a client list exists has emerged.

But interest in the files has been whetted largely by Trump and his allies. Before entering the government, FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, both spread dark rumors about cover-ups related to Epstein and demanded the release of the names of his associates. Trump said during the campaign that he would publish materials related to Epstein—though in retrospect, his hesitation to fully commit during a June 2024 interview is conspicuous. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review.” Now her Justice Department says it doesn’t exist. Trump claims he can’t believe anyone is still talking about the story.

There are a few reasons this story has managed to stick in Trump’s side in a way others have not. The first is that, unlike many of the other conspiracy theories propounded by Trump and his allies, questions about Epstein’s cause of death and what secrets the government might be keeping are acceptable in polite company. Like Lee Harvey Oswald’s murder by Jack Ruby, the death of a man connected to so many powerful people just seems weird, even if it was actually suicide. In a recent Economist/YouGov poll, 79 percent of Americans support releasing all the Epstein documents. Two-thirds believe the government is covering up evidence about Epstein. A separate YouGov poll found that 39 percent of Americans believe Epstein was murdered, 40 percent aren’t sure, and only 20 percent believe he killed himself. And Democrats are eager to fan the flames, this week forcing House Republicans to take a vote on releasing the files. (The GOP majority voted it down.)

Second, the administration’s behavior indicates that officials are hiding something, though probably not a client list. Good reasons may exist not to release all of the materials: For example, they likely contain privileged grand-jury information. They may include witnesses who testified confidentially. Very clearly, information about underage victims of sex crimes is involved.

But Trump’s frenzied insistence that there’s nothing to see suggests that there are secrets he’d like to keep. The men were, by Trump’s account, pals for a time—and he was well aware of Epstein’s reputation. “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump told New York magazine in 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” This relationship makes him a bad messenger for dismissing the story, but no other official has the credibility with MAGA voters that he does.

Earlier this month, the FBI released “full raw” video from the jail where Epstein died, saying it showed that no one entered his area in the time around his death. But Wired reports that the video was neither raw nor full: It was edited to remove almost three minutes of footage, in the most interest-piquing splice since Watergate’s 18-and-a-half-minute gap.

Third, and perhaps most important, the questions about Epstein cut directly to the core of Trump’s political appeal. Although many of his supporters (or should we say “PAST supporters”?) opposed military raids, like the Iran bombing, and support for Ukraine, their affection for him is not about policy. It’s personal. His fundamental proposition to voters was: I will tell you what the other politicians refuse to tell you. That’s why backers hailed his “authenticity” and “honesty,” even though he was the most prolific liar to ever occupy the Oval Office—no small feat.

Trump has spent a decade telling Americans that they can’t trust the government. He’s said a “deep state” of unelected officials is plotting against them and hiding information. He’s told them they can’t trust what they’ve been told about vaccines, the John F. Kennedy assassination, or what they saw with their own eyes on January 6, 2021. Now Trump wants the nation to just trust a bunch of government officials without seeing evidence to back it up. (If it were true, as he claims, that the Epstein material is a hoax by government officials, you’d think he’d want to investigate that, as he has in far-less-credible instances.)

His gambit might work. The power of polarization and affective partisanship is strong and tends to draw people back to their corners. Already, some of the MAGA media are moving on and falling in line. But even if the whole flap leaves only a small dent in Trump’s armor, it reveals an irreconcilable conflict in his political identity. Running against power is a smart campaign trick, but once you’re in office, you can’t keep blaming others for things that the government does. The buck stops with you, whether you like it or not.

Related:

• Trump discovers MAGA has no “off” switch.
• Conspiracy theorists are turning on the president.

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Epstein Files Pushback

Several House Republicans yesterday signed on to a measure directing the Justice Department to release classified documents pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. The push—which would require a House majority to succeed—comes after President Donald Trump addressed mounting calls over the files, criticizing Republicans who supported their release and defending Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the case.   The Justice Department last week released a two-page memo (read here) saying Epstein left no “client list” of those involved in his abuse of underage girls. The department also said no further evidence would be released and no additional charges would be brought against third parties. The announcement sparked frustration among Trump’s base, many of whom have long awaited a list.   A poll released Tuesday found 3% of Americans are satisfied with the government’s handling of the files. A separate running average of top polls measures Trump’s net approval rating at -7.6, down nearly two points from the beginning of the month.   > Department of Homeland Security expands third-country deportation program, sending five immigrant detainees from various countries to the southern African nation of Eswatini (More) | Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fires two top deputies at the Department of Health and Human Services, reason not immediately clear (More)

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Trump's China retreat

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Joshua Roberts/Getty Images

President Trump has set a radical new course in the U.S.-China rivalry, ceding ground to Beijing in pursuit of a far narrower vision of America's role in the world, Axios' Zachary Basu and Dave Lawler write. Why it matters: Six months into office, the Trump administration has hollowed out the machinery of American soft power and retreated from key arenas where the U.S. has sought to blunt China's rise. Some of it is strategic: an "America First" rejection of the institutions and norms Trump officials view as bloated, failed or captured by a liberal foreign policy establishment. But some of it, critics warn, is shortsighted — focused more on scoring domestic political points than sustaining the long-term foundations of American exceptionalism. Voice of America — the U.S.-funded broadcaster long trusted to reach audiences inside authoritarian regimes — has gone dark in key regions after the Trump administration gutted its parent agency. Chinese state media is moving aggressively to fill the vacuum, expanding broadcasts in Nigeria, Thailand, Indonesia and other countries where VOA once saturated the airwaves, The Wall Street Journal reports. In a scathing report this week titled "The Price of Retreat," Senate Democrats accused Trump of damaging America's diplomatic toolkit and failing to offer "a viable alternative" to counter Chinese propaganda. ?️ The big picture: Across domains where the U.S. once projected influence without military force, the Trump administration is unilaterally disarming. Alliances: Trump's tariff threats and bullying have undermined trust among allies critical to countering China's influence, complicating efforts to present a unified front in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. Trump officials say the president has been consistent — and successful — in his demand for allies to do more to pay for their own defense. Global institutions: Trump has pulled the U.S. out of multilateral bodies he deems hostile or ineffective, such as the World Health Organization and UN Human Rights Council. Science: Trump's funding cuts to research and crackdowns on elite universities have triggered fears of a U.S. "brain drain." China is making massive, long-term investments and recruiting top talent in AI, biotech and space — and already leads the U.S. in 57 of 64 advanced technologies tracked by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Clean energy: The passage of Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" is poised to kneecap America's renewable energy boom, widening China's already dominant lead in electric vehicles, batteries and clean tech supply chains. The other side: "The Biden administration oversaw a bloated and waste-ridden operation that doled out billions of dollars annually without oversight and resulted in duplicative or even contradictory foreign policy," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. "President Trump and Secretary Rubio have made America respected again while ensuring that all actions align with the America First agenda that people voted for." ? By the numbers: A new Pew Research poll of 25 countries found that China — not the U.S. — is now viewed as the world's leading economic power. China's favorability in most countries polled by Pew has ticked upward, while America's global favorability has diminished significantly since Trump took office.

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? How Powell firing would hit markets

Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photo: Susan Walsh /Pool/ AFP via Getty Images

If President Trump fires Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, it would likely bring a period of short-term market volatility — and higher long-term borrowing costs — with the Fed viewed as more subject to a president's whims, Axios' Neil Irwin writes. Why it matters: Trump appears to be itching to push out the Fed chief he originally appointed during his first term, perhaps by claiming that an over-budget building renovation constitutes legal cause. Paired with efforts to staff the Fed with more overtly political loyalists, that could remake what has been a bedrock of U.S. financial assets for decades. ? Zoom in: In the immediate aftermath of a Powell firing, there would be a period of deep uncertainty around who was in charge of the world's most powerful central bank. Would Powell be able to stay in his job while pursuing legal challenges? And how long would it take those legal challenges to be resolved one way or the other? Nobody really knows, because this hasn't happened before. One scenario: If investors come to believe that any Fed chair who displeases the president will be fired, they could lose confidence that inflation will stay at low levels, driving long-term rates up.

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USAID

The US plans to destroy nearly 500 metric tons of taxpayer-funded emergency food, the State Department confirmed. The nutrient-dense biscuits, which have been sitting in a Dubai warehouse for months, were supposed to help feed starving people around the world. The destruction of the critically needed food would not have happened prior to the Trump administration’s destruction of the US Agency for International Development, a former USAID official said. Two rations of biscuits a day are enough to stop people from dying, they added. Now that the food is about to expire, it must be destroyed; that will cost American taxpayers another $100,000. “This is the definition of waste,” the former official said.

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Flood risk research

The Trump administration has paused work on a new database that is designed to provide Americans with precise estimates about their risk of experiencing flash floods. The database would, for the first time, take climate change into account when making precipitation frequency estimates, which would help people plan for the future when designing and building infrastructure projects. “This is about engineers and businesses and public works, making the best informed decisions possible so that we’re not in a situation where we build something today, and in 20 years we have to go back and retrofit it,” said Dan Walker, co-chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers-NOAA task force on climate resilience in engineering practice. A National Weather Service spokesperson said the work on the database is under review. ps:Of course he'll pause work on anything to do with climate change!! God forbid he'd do anything to protect the citizens of the US!!!!!

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MAGA Podcaster Hits Vance With His Own Epstein Comments in Public Callout

The vice president has been dragged into the controversy over Jeffrey Epstein’s client list.

Vice President JD Vance has now entered the Jeffrey Epstein chat, with resurfaced footage from a MAGA podcaster coming back to haunt him.

Vance went on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast last October, shortly before the 2024 presidential election. As the pair were discussing Vance’s childhood, he noted: “Everybody in politics has a vice that’s much worse than alcoholism.”

Von then says: “Release the list!” Both men laugh hysterically before Vance adds, “Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list, that is an important thing. We can go down that rabbit hole.”

The VP then moves onto another subject in the two-hour interview.

On Wednesday, X account Call to Activism shared the October clip, which it said was going viral, and tweeted: “Hey JD, what changed? Let’s blast this everywhere before he tries to erase it.”

Von then reposted the video, adding, “Yeah what changed?”

The Daily Beast has contacted JD Vance for comment.

The podcaster, who has 1.6 million followers on X, had a mix of comments including, “You got duped”, “Let this s--t go, seriously it is old,” and “Good question.”

President Donald Trump has been actively trying to deflect from the Epstein issue, calling it a “hoax” on his Truth Social account on Wednesday.

He said any MAGA voters who were still discussing it were “my PAST supporters” who have “bought into this “bulls--t,” hook, line, and sinker."

Trump then called them “weaklings.”

The vice president has kept quiet about the rumored Epstein client list since the the Department of Justice and FBI formally denied its existence earlier this month and insisted that Epstein did die by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019.

But in 2021 Vance retweeted Jack Posobiec after the conspiracy theorist posted: “What possible interest would the U.S. government have in keeping Epstein’s clients secret? Oh...”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-podcaster-hits-vance-with-his-own-epstein-comments-in-public-callout/?

ps:I wonder who started that Bull Manure Hoax?? Oh yeah the criminal-in-chief himself!!!!!

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GOP Rebel Trolls Trump With Sarcastic Suggestion He Should Pardon Maxwell Over Epstein ‘Hoax’

Kentucky firebrand Thomas Massie reignites long-running feud by twisting Donald Trump’s Epstein excuse back on him.

Republican rebel Thomas Massie gave Donald Trump a jab over Jeffrey Epstein, sarcastically suggesting Ghislaine Maxwell should be pardoned if, as the president insists, the saga is just another “hoax.”

Trump has begun calling the Epstein case fake news as he comes under pressure from across the political spectrum—and especially the MAGA hardcore—over his administration’s failure to act on its campaign promise to release the “Epstein files.”

He raged about the issue Wednesday on Real America’s Voice, dismissing the entire affair as “another hoax… put out by the Democrats,” and complaining that “weaklings” in his own party had swallowed it “hook, line, and sinker.”

Critics have suggested the president may be backing away from his pledge to release the files because of his own longstanding links to the late pedophile financier. They include former “first buddy” Elon Musk, who tweeted in early June that Trump’s name appears in them.

The absurdity of Trump calling the case a hoax—and there not being any kind of “client list,” as the Department of Justice insists—given that Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in federal prison after being convicted in 2021 of sex-trafficking minors for Epstein, was not lost on Massie.

Speaking to MailOnline, the Kentucky congressman sneered, “I guess Ghislaine Maxwell should be getting a pardon because it’s a ‘hoax’ now.”

The Daily Beast has approached The White House for comment.

Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna are trying to force a House vote to pry loose the Epstein files—a move backed by normally pro-Trump figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Michael Flynn, highlighting just how divisive the “hoax” claim has become inside MAGAworld.

However, Massie is not the only high-profile figure to use Maxwell’s jailing to ridicule Trump’s “hoax” patter, and the president’s flip-flopping over Epstein has reignited MAGA infighting, with Alex Jones calling the episode a “trainwreck.”

Tesla CEO Musk fired off 13 rapid-fire X posts on Wednesday, mocking Trump’s claim, while noting that Maxwell is still in jail.

He complained that “not a single Epstein client has been prosecuted,” and resurfaced his June allegation that Trump’s own name is in the secret records, suggesting the president is blocking their release.

There are growing calls for Maxwell to give evidence about the matter. “If she’s willing to testify, we have to call her into the Judiciary Committee and put her under oath and have her testify,” Judiciary subcommittee chairman Josh Hawley said on Tuesday.

Massie’s snark is only the latest volley in a five-year blood feud between the pair. When Massie demanded a roll-call vote on Trump’s first COVID rescue bill in 2020, the president blasted him as a “third-rate Grandstander” who should be tossed from the GOP.

Trump rekindled the vendetta last month, snarling on Truth Social that “MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague,” and bankrolling attack ads to oust him in 2026.

If intimidation was the plan, Musk spoiled it. Asked who would bankroll Massie’s re-election, the Tesla titan replied simply “Me,” turning the contest into a “proxy war” with the White House.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-rebel-thomas-massie-trolls-trump-with-suggestion-he-should-pardon-maxwell-over-jeffrey-epstein-hoax/?

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Trump Doubles Down and Points the Finger in Bizarre Epstein Excuse Rant

The president is spinning as hard as he can and insulting his own fans again.

Donald Trump intensified efforts to shift blame for the Epstein files controversy in a long-winded rant to a right-wing talk show.

The president dialed in to Just the News, No Noise on Wednesday amid accusations his administration is concealing details of Epstein’s crimes and the names of powerful associates—which, for years, included Trump himself.

Speaking on the show, which airs on the fringe Real America’s Voice Network, Trump labeled the Epstein case a “hoax” and placed blame squarely onto the Democrats as he scrambles to stem the bleeding from a fight with his own supporters. He suggested Democrats invented the whole thing, yet then dissed his own fans and fumed that Republicans aren’t sticking together.

“That’s the same stuff that’s all put out by Democrats,” he said. “And some of the naive Republicans fall right into line, like they always do.”

“The Democrats, you know, they have bad policy, they have bad candidates, they have bad everything, but they stick together,” he added. “The Republicans don’t do that, but they ought to look into the Jeffrey Epstein hoax too, because it’s another hoax that’s, frankly put out by the Demo... pushing the Republicans, and put out by the Democrats.”

Trump is on the offense after initially—and unsuccessfully—trying to sweep the Epstein drama under the rug and reminding his MAGA base that “we’re on one team.”

His new comments echoed a Wednesday Truth Social blast in which he attacked Republicans who won’t drop the issue as “weaklings” and told them, “I don’t want your support anymore!”

“[Democrats’] new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls--t,’ hook, line, and sinker,” he wrote in a stunning screed.

Prior to his election, Trump and figures in his orbit had signaled that they would release files connected to Epstein, a disgraced financier and sex offender whose death, crimes and associates have long fueled conspiracy theories within the MAGA ecosystem. For years, Trump has stoked these types of dark conspiracy theories, which remain catnip for his base.

Democrats have also called for more transparency about the Epstein case without invoking the same conspiratorial rhetoric.

When the Trump administration backtracked on releasing the so-called “Epstein files” earlier this month, it sent the MAGA base into a tailspin that, despite Trump’s best efforts, will not die down.

Prominent Trump loyalists such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Laura Loomer, Alex Jones, Charlie Kirk, and Michael Flynn have broken ranks to speak out against the decision.

“With my strongest recommendation, please gather your team and figure out a way to move past this. The roll out of this was terrible, no way around that,” Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, wrote on X Wednesday, several hours after Trump’s blast.

Flynn said the Epstein matter was not a hoax, and that Americans need to know the truth about his crimes against children to restore trust in the government.

The issue has sparked unlikely alliances. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, and GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky are leading a legislative push to force the Justice Department to release more Epstein-related materials. Trump-loving Reps. Greene, Lauren Boebert, Tim Burchett, and Jeff Van Drew are co-sponsoring the measure.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-doubles-down-and-points-the-finger-in-bizarre-epstein-excuse-rant/?

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Elon Musk Blows Major Hole in Trump’s Epstein ‘Hoax’ Theory

Trump’s former right-hand man is defiantly refusing to let the Jeffrey Epstein story go away.

Elon Musk went on a posting spree Wednesday afternoon to slam President Donald Trump’s claim that the so-called “Epstein Files” are a lefty-created hoax.

The world’s richest man, still just months removed from being Trump’s “First Buddy” before their explosive breakup, pointed out that Jeffrey Epstein’s right-hand woman, Ghislaine Maxwell, remains in federal prison for sex trafficking on his behalf.

“Wow, amazing that Epstein ‘killed himself’ and Ghislaine is in federal prison for a hoax,” Musk wrote, blowing a hole in Trump’s claim.Musk raged minutes later that “not a single Epstein client has been prosecuted,” adding, “Not even one.”

Musk, 54, posted about Epstein 13 times in just over an hour on Wednesday afternoon. All of his posts included criticism of Trump or agreed with critiques on the president’s handling of his self-inflicted Epstein headache.

“So many powerful people want that list suppressed,” Musk wrote in response to one tweet.

That is likely in reference to Epstein’s supposed “client list.” Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed in February that such a list was on her desk, ready for review, but the Trump administration has since stated that no Epstein client list exists.

Trump and Musk had a public falling out in early June. Amid nasty shots at each other, Musk accused Trump of suppressing details about the federal investigation into Epstein because he was named in the “Epstein Files.”

“Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files,” Musk posted at the time. “That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”

Musk followed up on the post shortly after, writing, “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”

The White House slammed Musk’s claim as untrue. Musk deleted the allegation days later, and the story appeared to go by the wayside.

But pressure on the president returned last week after a leaked DOJ and FBI memo stated that there was no Epstein client list. The White House confirmed the memo was genuine and insisted to his followers that it was time to move on from worrying about the accused sex trafficker.

MAGA has refused to let the story go. Some of its biggest names, like Alex Jones, who has called the situation a “trainwreck,” rebuked Trump over the issue. Some Trump supporters have gone as far as torching their Make America Great Again caps.

The fiasco renewed attention on Trump’s relationship with Epstein. Audio obtained by the Daily Beast last fall showed that Epstein once referred to Trump as his “closest friend.” The two men, who both frequented New York and Palm Beach, Florida, were photographed together on a number of occasions in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Epstein—and his rumored rich and powerful clients—have been at the center of perhaps the biggest conspiracy of the last decade in the United States. Many of those who are the most infatuated with Epstein’s alleged mystery clients are members of MAGA’s core.

Musk, who has flirted with the idea of launching a new political party backed by his hundreds of billions, has been among the loudest voices refusing to let the White House silence the Epstein story.

“Trump indicated he’d release the Epstein files,” the influencer Kaizen Asiedu posted on Wednesday. “Trump’s team hyped the release. Trump’s team fumbled the release. Yet Trump is blaming the Democrats and insulting his supporters for the consequences of his actions.”

Musk responded to the post, “The old: 1. Admit nothing 2. Deny everything 3. Make counterclaims. But it won’t work this time.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musk-blows-major-hole-in-trumps-epstein-hoax-theory/?

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Trump, 79, Can’t Remember Appointing His Own Fed Chair

The president blamed Joe Biden for selecting Jerome Powell as the U.S. Central Bank head when it was in fact him who made the appointment.

President Donald Trump was raging against Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in the Oval Office on Wednesday when he appeared to forget he was the one who put him in charge.

The president, 79, has been complaining for months about the head of the central bank for failing to cut interest rates.

During his rant, Trump pulled one of the his favorite moves by blaming former President Joe Biden while blasting Powell being in office.

“He’s a terrible Fed chair. I was surprised he was appointed,” the president vented. “I was surprised, frankly, that Biden put him in and extended him.”

However, it was Trump who appointed Powell to lead the Federal Reserve during his first term. In his Nov. 2017 announcement, the president praised Powell’s leadership, judgement and expertise.

It was Biden who then extended Powell’s tenure for a second term in Nov. 2021 as the U.S. continued to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump’s comment was immediately picked up on social media.

“Dementia? And yes let’s once again imagine the reaction not just from Fox but the entire DC media if Biden said this,” liberal political commentator and MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell posted on X.

Whether it is remembering his role in appointing Powell or simply refusing to admit to it, the detail does not fit with the narrative Trump has been pushing that he only hires the “best” while also fuming over Powell.

On Wednesday, the president called Powell “too late” on cutting interest rates and terrible. He has also blasted him as a “loser” and a “knucklehead” and written numerous social media posts berating him.

“It’s not a tough job to be honest, assuming you’re smart, it’s not a tough job. If you’re a dummy then I guess it’s a tough job,” Trump vented.

The president’s latest attacks on Powell from the Oval Office came as he was responding to reporters’ questions over whether he was preparing to fire the Fed chair.

Trump denied he was going to axe Powell as his term is set to expire next year, but the president said he was looking for Powell’s replacement.

He also suggested Powell was guilty of fraud over the $2.5 billion cost of renovations at the Federal Reserve. Powell has asked the inspector general to review it as Trump officials have piled on the criticism.

“I am confident that Jay has the wisdom and leadership to guide our economy through any challenges that our great economy may face,” Trump said while appointing Powell in 2017.

However, inflation surged coming out of the coronavirus pandemic and peaked at more than nine percent in mid-2022.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates to combat the soaring inflation. They started cutting rates in 2024 but have not done so since Jan. 2025, keeping the federal funds rate between 4.25 to 4.50 percent.

“We want to see lower interest rates. Our country deserves it,” Trump argued on Wednesday.

Powell has said the Federal Reserve would likely have lowered rates further if not for the president’s tariffs, which are expected to increase prices.

The latest data showed inflation ticking up last month bringing price increase to the highest annual rate since February.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-cant-remember-appointing-his-own-fed-chair-jerome-powell/?

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The Military Occupied LA for 40 Days and All They Did Was Detain One Guy

Thousands of federal troops have been deployed to Los Angeles since June 7 on the orders of President Donald Trump.

https://theintercept.com/2025/07/16/federal-troops-la-doing-nothing/?

ps:Talk about a waste of money!!!!!

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Devastating Intel Leak Obliterates Trump’s Iran Bombing Claims

Only one of the three nuclear sites the United States bombed was destroyed enough to significantly set back the work.

Two of the three Iranian nuclear enrichment sites that the United States bombed in June could be operational again within a few months.

Despite President Donald Trump’s repeated insistence that the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, the facilities in Natanz and Isfahan could resume nuclear enrichment in the next several months, sources told NBC News.

Only the nuclear facility in Fordow was mostly destroyed, setting back work by as much as two years, according to NBC.

Officials knew even before the strikes that the structures at Natanz and Isfahan were buried so deeply they were probably beyond the reach of even the massive “bunker buster” bomb capable of penetrating Fordow’s underground facilities, NBC reported.

The U.S. dropped the 30,000-pound GBU-57 bunker busters at Fordow and Natanz, but not at Isfahan, where officials relied on Tomahawk missiles to destroy surface targets.

In order to “truly decimate” Iran’s nuclear capabilities, Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, who heads U.S. Central Command, came up with an alternative plan that would have involved repeatedly hitting six sites, sources told NBC.

Trump decided not to greenlight the more extensive campaign, which would have lasted for several weeks and could have resulted in more deaths on both sides.

The “all-in” plan would have required targeting more of Iran’s air defense and ballistic missile systems, killing more Iranians and opening up Americans in Iraq and Syria to a greater threat of retaliation from Iran, according to NBC.

After being briefed on the plan, Trump—who campaigned on a promise to end foreign wars, not start them—decided to go with the more limited option in part because he was wary of involving the U.S. in a protracted military campaign overseas, sources said.

He has since claimed that Operation Midnight Hammer, as the strikes were called, accomplished in a single night what U.S. Central Command predicted would take weeks to achieve.

“We destroyed the nuclear,” Trump insisted in June. “Iran will not have nuclear. We blew it up. It’s blown up to kingdom come.”

His comments came a day after a leaked preliminary intelligence assessment from the Pentagon found that the bombings had sealed off the entrances to two of the enrichment facilities but had not collapsed the underground buildings.

The report also suggested that much of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was moved before the strikes—a concern the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog also expressed.

The latest intelligence assessment found more damage than the original report, according to NBC, but not the total annihilation that the Trump administration has been claiming.

The intelligence-gathering process is expected to continue for months, with assessments likely to change over time.

“As the president has said and experts have verified, Operation Midnight Hammer totally obliterated Iran’s nuclear capabilities,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told NBC in a statement. “America and the world are safer thanks to his decisive action.”

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell also told NBC that all three of the bombed nuclear sites were “completely and totally obliterated” and called reports to the contrary “fake news.”

The Daily Beast has also reached out for comment.

Iran has said its nuclear program is purely for peaceful, civilian purposes, but it was enriching uranium at levels far above those required for domestic power generation. Still, investigators have not found evidence that the country was on the verge of creating a nuclear bomb when Trump authorized the strikes.

Late last month, Trump said he would “absolutely” and “without question” consider bombing Iran if reports suggested it could enrich uranium again.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/devastating-intel-leak-obliterates-trumps-iran-bombing-claims/?

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Bondi Accused of Sitting on Another Cache of Epstein Files

Our-must read newsletter reveals what one senator says about documents revealing Trump friend Leon Black’s Epstein ties.

It’s a Beast of a time in Washington. Donald Trump’s D.C. reality show is full of new characters, plot twists, and cliffhangers, and the Daily Beast will navigate you through it. The 47th president won’t need to drain The Swamp. It’s all leaking here…

The Epstein fallout has fractured MAGA and created a political headache for Donald Trump who has pondered aloud: “What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’” But one “boy” in particular who he might want to know about is billionaire investor Leon Black.

In 2018, as Congress probed foreign interference in the 2016 election, Black gave evidence about being with Trump during a trip to Russia in the naughty ‘90s, where they attended a concert, a discotheque and, according to Black’s sworn testimony, “might have been in a strip club together.” Now however, The Swamp can reveal Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice is facing pointed questions about Black’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein—and what precisely Bondi is doing about them.

“I don’t blame anybody who says they smell a cover-up,” Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee tells The Swamp.

Black, the former head of Apollo Global Management, paid $170 million to Epstein which he claimed was for tax and estate planning advice. He’s consistently denied any knowledge or involvement in Epstein’s criminal activities.

But a copy of a 2023 settlement agreement he signed with the U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General’s office acknowledged that “Jeffrey Epstein used the money Black paid him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands.”

For the avoidance of doubt, those “operations” were Epstein’s “pedo island,” Little St. James, where he abused underage girls. The document also shows that Black agreed to pay $62.5 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2023 to be released from any potential claims arising out of the territory’s three-year investigation into Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.

The vast sums are now under scrutiny from Wyden, who smells something fishy at the DOJ—and it’s not just the caviar table where The Swamp spotted Black back in January during a VIP party for Trump’s inauguration.

Wyden called on the DOJ, the FBI and Treasury to investigate further if they really wanted to lift the veil on Epstein’s financial networks. “Attorney General Bondi is out in public saying there’s nothing more to investigate, but I know for a fact that the Trump administration is sitting on a big file full of actionable information dealing with Epstein’s financing network and operations,” Wyden tells us.

Not surprisingly, the White House declined to comment when asked about the matter. Black declined to comment through his representatives, but addressed Epstein’s social prowess in a fascinating interview with Puck News earlier this year, where he recalled how he’d pop over to Epstein’s house for dinner, as did folks such as Woody Allen, Dick Cavett and, of course, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon.

“I’m not in any way, shape, or form defending Jeffrey,” Black was quoted as saying, rattling off a list of others who also knew the late sex offender, including Trump and former president Bill Clinton. “I’m defending me. I don’t believe any of these guys knew that Jeffrey was a pedophile. I certainly didn’t. I thought he was a fascinating guy.”

Hopefully this won’t make it uncomfortable for the financier’s son Ben Black, who Trump nominated to lead the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. He’s waiting for a Senate vote.

This exclusive extract from this week’s edition of The Swamp is just a taste of the delicious secrets we reveal every week. Sign up here to never miss an edition.

 The Swamp is written by David Gardner, Farrah Tomazin, and Sarah Ewall-Wice.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bondi-accused-of-sitting-on-another-cache-of-epstein-files/?

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‘Very Dangerous Moment’ for Trump Now That MAGA Sees He’s Taking Them for ‘Fools’

Iconic journalist who helped expose Jeffrey Epstein says Trump’s base is finally seeing what he really thinks of them.

President Donald Trump has forgotten amid the Jeffrey Epstein maelstrom that his base owns him and not the other way around, according to legendary journalist Tina Brown.

The long-time media powerbroker and Daily Beast founding editor told The Daily Beast Podcast that Trump’s response to MAGA’s fury has only served to alienate him from some of his most ardent supporters.

“It was like he’s forgetting who owns him, right?” said Brown, who first met Trump and Epstein when they were all at the center of the New York social scene in the 1980s and 1990s. “And he’s mad as hell now because they’re supposed to be owned by him.”

On Tuesday, the president ripped into his own supporters for continuing to demand answers about Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The Department of Justice and the FBI formally denied there was an Epstein “client list” earlier this month and insisted that he died by suicide, not murder.

“My PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls--t,’ hook, line, and sinker. They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years,” Trump wrote.

Brown, who founded the Daily Beast with media titan Barry Diller in 2008, called the post “ill-advised” because it shows the president has confused the dynamics of his relationship with his supporters.

“I mean, as we know, famously he said, ‘I could walk down Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and my base would still love me,’” she told Daily Beast Executive Editor Hugh Dougherty. “He finds this insurrection deeply aggravating because they’re supposed to just get in line and worship him.”

His base seems to finally be coming around to the fact that he thinks they’re stupid, she added, and they’re not buying it when he tries to pin the Epstein scandal on Democrats.

Brown noted that Candace Owens had written: “‘It’s almost as if Trump thinks his base is stupid.’ And I’m thinking, you think? You think? He’s always thought they were stupid. That’s the whole point. That’s been his superpower.

“You think he wants to hang out with a lot of those people? No, he doesn’t.”

Trump’s efforts to claim that the Epstein fury is some kind of Democratic plot to undermine him is too ludicrous to convince his supporters. “Even MAGA are not buying that,” Brown said. “Something must have sort of hit him in the shower or something, ‘I can blame this on Democrats.’ He’s too late… This has not been a dexterous use of lying, which is usually very effective on his side. But it’s not working this time.”

MAGA supporters are beginning to wonder if Trump—who they felt spoke to them directly instead of showing them contempt like other elites—really is their guy.

“Suddenly, it’s like Trump’s not speaking to them anymore. He’s behaving as if they’re fools.

“He’s really misjudged this because he’s basically telling them—he’s treating them like the global elite that they hate so much have always treated them,” she said. “This is not good. This is not their guy.”

The scandal could be the tipping point that finally starts to erode “Teflon Don’s” power, Brown added.

“It’s very dangerous moment. I think for Trump... This has always been his power—that they believe that they have this intimate bond of sensibility and value to him,” she said. “And if they think he’s just, you know, kicking them to the curb and calling them ‘weaklings’ and ‘just get on the train because I’m telling you,’ I don’t think that’s going to play well.”

Click here to subscribe to Tina Brown’s must-read Substack, Fresh Hell.

New episodes of The Daily Beast Podcast are released every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Follow our new feed on your favorite podcast platform at beast.pub/dailybeastpod and subscribe on YouTube to watch full episodes.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/very-dangerous-moment-for-trump-now-that-maga-sees-hes-taking-them-for-fools-tina-brown/?

ps:Why should this show them how he fells about them?? He told them and all the Evangelicals how he fills about them in his interviews with Woodward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He could care less!!

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How Trump has dismantled the federal workforce in his first 100 days

During the first 100 days of this administration, Trump has unrelentingly attacked the federal workforce, creating an environment of chaos and inefficiency that will make it harder for federal workers to provide public goods that we all rely on.

https://www.epi.org/blog/how-trump-has-dismantled-the-federal-workforce-in-his-first-100-days/?

ps:This man has never been for working class, ever!!!!!

Trump administration hands over Medicaid recipients’ personal data, including addresses, to ICE

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials will be given access to the personal data of the nation’s 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including home addresses and ethnicities, to track down immigrants who may not be living legally in the United States, according to an agreement obtained by The Associated Press. Read More.

Trump’s approval rating on immigration and government spending has slipped, new AP-NORC poll finds

Only about one-quarter of U.S. adults say that President Donald Trump’s policies have helped them since he took office, according to a new poll that finds underwhelming marks for him on key issues, including the economy, immigration, government spending and health care. Read More.

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? President Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which occurs when veins in the legs are damaged. Go deeper.

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No Explanation (Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty.)

View in browser Stephanie Bai: How would you characterize the Court’s approach to the Trump presidency? Quinta Jurecic: The Court has definitely been solicitous of the administration, let’s say that. This pattern has been most visible on the Court’s emergency docket, also called the “shadow docket.” When a case is being litigated, often there’ll be this question of whether or not a policy should be implemented while litigation is continuing. A district court can block the policy from going into effect, and then the government can go to higher courts to try to get that block overturned. That will reach the Supreme Court on the shadow docket. The Trump administration has been very aggressive in running straight to the Supreme Court’s shadow docket to overturn lower courts’ blocks on their policies, and the Court has been surprisingly willing to take the administration up on that. According to some numbers tabulated by Steve Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown, the Court has issued 15 rulings since early April granting the Trump administration emergency relief. In seven of them, the justices didn’t provide any explanation at all for their decision, including in their recent ruling allowing the administration to dismantle the Department of Education. Stephanie: What are the implications of the Supreme Court’s more frequent use of the shadow docket in recent years? Quinta: If you imagine a typical Supreme Court case, what happens is that somebody sues, the case goes to the district court, they appeal, it goes to an appeals court, then only at the very end of the road does it reach the Supreme Court. And that can take years. Because the Supreme Court is agreeing to hear these cases on its shadow docket, it’s stepping in before the underlying legal question is actually resolved. It’s allowing that policy to go into effect while the litigation continues. What is so strange about this dynamic is that it means that, for example, Trump is going to be able to fire roughly 40 percent of the workers at the Education Department before the courts have even determined whether he has the legal authority to do so. Stephanie: It’s not hard to understand why the Trump administration keeps rushing cases to the Supreme Court, when it keeps winning. But why does the Court itself seem to prefer this approach? Quinta: That’s a question that a lot of us who study courts and the law are asking ourselves. I think there is a decent argument that they’re kind of encouraging the Trump administration to keep coming to them because they’re so willing to take up these cases, instead of sending a signal that the government should slow down. Maybe they just want the government to win. Another possibility is that the Court is more conservative than a lot of the lower courts, so the conservative justices might feel like the lower courts aren’t getting it right. It’s difficult to say because the justices aren’t explaining their reasoning in many cases. Or they explain it in the broadest of strokes. It’s been striking not only that the Court has been willing to give the Trump administration so many wins, but that it hasn’t even been bothering to explain itself. We’re at a moment where there is a lot of concern about the Supreme Court being politicized and how that affects the Court’s legitimacy. You would think that the justices would want to present their reasoning in a way that would make clear that they were acting according to legal principles rather than just handing the Republican Party a win. The puzzle is: Why are the conservative justices taking this approach? Do they not realize the effect that it has? Do they not care? Stephanie: Trump has not been shy about his disdain for the American legal system. But is there a risk that the Supreme Court’s legitimacy could also be undermined by its own actions? Quinta: So far, Trump has mostly confined his attacks to lower courts. He’s gone after the Supreme Court occasionally when they handed down a ruling that he didn’t like, especially in his first term, but now they’re handing him all of these victories. As you say, this sets up a dangerous situation for the Court, even though the conservative supermajority seems very confident that the Court will be able to maintain its power. I’m reminded of the Twitter joke about the woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party and is surprised when her face is eaten by a leopard. Trump is going after all of the other courts. Do the justices really think that he’s not going to turn on them? And once you have already damaged your own legitimacy with the public because you appear to have become a political actor, what support do you have left? Related: The Supreme Court won’t explain itself. The Court’s liberals are trying to tell Americans something.

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Hefty Alcatraz bill

Alcatraz Island on July 2. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images President Trump's audacious plan to convert Alcatraz back to a maximum-security prison could come with a hefty price tag: $2 billion, administration sources tell Axios' Marc Caputo. Why it matters: Trump is so intent on building a new prison on Alcatraz Island that administration officials have figured preliminary estimates of the costs and made repeated site visits, the sources say. The latest: Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum toured the island yesterday. Bondi's department oversees the Bureau of Prisons, which would run the facility. Burgum's agency owns the land and manages the site — which has been a tourist attraction since 1973 — through the National Park Service. ? Zoom in: Two administration officials say Trump hasn't made a final decision on what he wants to do with the island, and it's unclear what the precise costs would be. As described to Axios, there are three general options on the table: A "supermax" prison complex that would cost more than $2 billion. It would require razing all of the island's decrepit structures and building from scratch. A scaled-back prison that would cost $1 billion and not occupy the entire island. Putting the project out to bid for private prison contractors to build and operate. This option is the least likely of the three, the sources said. "We're still in the early stages," an administration official said. "We need a lot more study, a lot more specificity, before the president decides. But $2 billion might just be too much money for him." Another reason the most-expensive option might not be the choice: It would take too long to build, and Trump wants to do as much as possible while he's in office. ? The big picture: The U.S. prison population — already one of the world's largest relative to the population — has been declining for years and is projected to decrease even more. Trump's interest in Alcatraz is motivated more by symbolism than necessity, according to those who know his thinking. Alcatraz, featured in many movies, has a space in the cultural consciousness as a tough place, and the president likes that. Immigration enforcement is one of the few clear growth opportunities for the incarceration-industrial complex. Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" increased funding for immigration enforcement and could be a source of funding for a new Alcatraz if Trump moves forward with the idea.

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? Trump OKs release of some Epstein docs

Via Truth Social

President Trump said last night on Truth Social that he has directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all relevant grand jury testimony in Jeffrey Epstein's case, subject to court approval. Why it matters: The Epstein fallout has been snowballing for nearly two weeks, with the MAGA base pushing the president to take further action after the administration said a review found no evidence that the convicted sex offender kept a "client list" or was murdered. ⏱️ Bondi responded on X two minutes later that she's "ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts." Via Truth Social In another Truth Social post last night, Trump said he plans to sue The Wall Street Journal, parent company News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch over a front-page story published last evening, Axios' Rebecca Falconer writes. The article described a happy-birthday letter bearing Trump's name that the Journal says was given to Jeffrey Epstein. The letter, which the WSJ reports that it reviewed, was in a leather-bound album that Ghislaine Maxwell put together in 2003 for Epstein's birthday, according to the story. The letter bearing Trump's name allegedly features a "bawdy" drawing of a naked woman. In an interview with the Journal on Tuesday, Trump denied writing the letter or drawing the picture: "This is not me. This is a fake thing. It's a fake Wall Street Journal story. ... I don't draw pictures of women ... It's not my language. It's not my words." White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted: "The WSJ refused to show us the letter and conceded they don't even have it in their possession when we asked them to verify the alleged document." Top MAGA influencers, even ones critical of Trump's handling of the Epstein matter, bashed the Journal story. Charlie Kirk posted: "This is not how Trump talks at all. I don't believe it."

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Trump and Epstein

President Trump vowed to sue the Wall Street Journal and its owner on Thursday after the newspaper published a 2003 birthday letter to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein bearing Trump’s name and a drawing of a naked woman. "I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story," Trump wrote on his social media site. "But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.” Trump also posted on Truth Social that he had ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi “to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony" about the Epstein investigation. It’s unclear if this order will placate many of his MAGA supporters who are upset that his administration didn’t release all of the Epstein files, as he had promised. Instead, the DOJ issued a memo that said Epstein had not been murdered in prison and did not leave a client list.

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Trump’s Sketchy Epstein Lie Instantly Exposed

Turns out there are plenty of examples of Trump doing the exact thing he claims to have never done.

Donald Trump distanced himself from claims he sent a spicy, signed drawing of a naked woman to Jeffrey Epstein by insisting that he never drew pictures.

However, several doodles and artworks created by the president surfaced online on Thursday to directly contradict his claims. They suggest Trump regularly produced sketches adorned with his trademark signature.

In a Wall Street Journal article about a letter and drawing allegedly sent to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, the president’s emphatic denial includes the statement, “I never wrote a picture in my life.”

In a flurry of frantic Truth Social posts on Thursday night, Trump doubled down on his lack of artistic skills. “These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.”

The internet, though, always keeps the receipts—and there were some hefty clues that Trump may not be telling the truth.

In his 2008 book, Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges into Success, Trump wrote about his “new talent,” adding he usually draws for charity and that “it takes me a few minutes to draw something, in my case, it’s usually a building or a cityscape of skyscrapers.”

He continued: “Art may not be my strong point, but the end result is help for people who need it.”

The page in the book even includes one of Trump’s drawings.

In January, prestigious auction house Sotheby’s sold another Trump portrait, this one in his beloved color of gold, for $15,000.

The sketch, said to be “reminiscent of Riverside South development project in Manhattan”, was originally done for a celebrity art auction to benefit Capuchin Food Pantry, dubbed “Doodle for Hunger.”

While the picture was dated “2004″ by Trump, Sotheby’s states it was initially drawn in 2003, the same year he allegedly sent another doodle to his close friend Jeffrey Epstein.

The bombshell story in the Wall Street Journal claims that Trump contributed to a 50th birthday book collated for Epstein by Ghislaine Maxwell, which included bawdy sketches and letters from many of his friends.

Trump’s contribution allegedly included a sketch of a naked woman in black marker, with Donald scrawled below her waist to mimic pubic hair. The letter was signed off: “Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump claimed on Truth Social that the letter was “FAKE.”

In 2017, another one of Trump’s signature New York City skyline drawings sold for $29,184. It was also originally done for charity in 2005. The same year, another NYC skyline doodle, originally created for the St Francis Food Pantries and Shelters and also drawn in 2005, sold for $20,000. Julien’s Auctions also sold a Trump 2006 original they titled ‘George Washington Bridge’ for $4480. It is described as an “original ink illustration on paper” and “signed in black ink by Donald Trump lower center.” The drawing in the letter referenced in The Journal story was also in black marker.

In 2017, a sketch of the Empire State Building by Trump sold for $16,000 by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles. Trump had originally drawn the sketch at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate for a charity auction, according to The New York Times. At that time, the sketch sold for less than $100.

Julien’s note that the artwork is “a hand-drawn sketch of the Empire State Building executed in black marker by Donald J. Trump and signed by Trump.”

The Daily Beast contacted the White House for clarification about whether Trump had indeed drawn before, following the resurfacing of artwork seemingly done by his hand.

The White House referred the Beast to the president’s Truth Social post.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-sketchy-epstein-lie-instantly-exposed/?

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MAGA Melts Down Over Trump’s Epstein Letter Nightmare

Senior Republicans and MAGA activists are claiming that the august Wall Street Journal manufactured a fake letter.

Republicans have gone into total meltdown over allegations that President Donald Trump sent a spicy letter to Jeffrey Epstein that included a drawing of a nude woman.

MAGA activists and senior GOP officials attacked The Wall Street Journal, claiming that Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper must have published a manufactured letter.

The alleged letter was signed off: “Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

The WSJ reported that the document was part of a leather-bound book put together by Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s 50th birthday.

Trump has already said that he will sue the Journal and its parent company News Corp over the piece after dismissing it by insisting that he doesn’t draw. But the White House was forced to change tack late on Thursday after the excuse was embarrassingly undermined when doodles and artwork signed by the president surfaced online.

GOP politicians are now claiming that the inscription in the letter doesn’t “sound like” Trump and calling the Journal article “fake news” and defamatory. Vice President JD Vance led the procession, calling the drawing and message “complete and utter bullsh*t.“ He wrote: “The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it. Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it? Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?”Former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz said the allegations were “laughably false” and that he hopes “Trump gets millions from” his lawsuit against the Journal.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted the article as a “hatchet job” because “that’s not at all how he [Trump] speaks or writes.”

“The WSJ knowingly published false information to smear the President of the United States,” Leavitt wrote, claiming it was part of a “coordinated Hoax by the Democrats and Fake News to smear President Trump.”

White House Director of Communications Steve Cheung also chimed in, claiming, “the Democrats in coordination with the Fake News media just played themselves by peddling and publishing a totally false and defamatory article. Nobody in their right mind would ever believe this trash. NO PANICANS!”

But it wasn’t just those closest to Trump who took the MAGA line. MAGA podcaster Charlie Kirk, who earlier this week vowed to talk more about the Epstein saga on his platform, said “this is not how Trump talks at all. I don’t believe it.”

MAGA warrior Laura Loomer blasted the Journal report as “totally fake.” “Everyone who actually KNOWS President Trump knows he doesn’t type letters. He writes notes in big black Sharpie. Trust me, I would know. He doesn’t use email and he doesn’t type write,”

Even former close advisor turned political rival Elon Musk chimed in to bolster the party line, saying on X that “it really doesn’t sound like something Trump would say.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-melts-down-over-trumps-epstein-letter-nightmare/?