Trump’s Maga base livid over justice division’s dealing with of Epstein information
As we reported earlier, Donald Trump is dealing with a fast-growing a Maga rebel over his administration’s dealing with of the Epstein information – the felony investigation into convicted little one intercourse offender and rich financier Jeffrey Epstein.
For years, many within the Maga motion have alleged an enormous authorities cowl as much as shield Epstein, which Trump and his allies – from vice-president JD Vance to FBI director Kash Patel – performed up for political achieve, claiming an incriminating consumer listing that Epstein purportedly used to blackmail rich co-conspirators was being stored secret by the federal government.
Former conservative podcaster and now deputy FBI director Dan Bongino did the identical, together with lawyer normal Pam Bondi, who in February informed Fox Information of the listing: “It’s sitting on my desk proper now to assessment.”
As my colleagues wrote final week: “Bondi particularly spent months hyping up the supplies as being filled with damaging particulars associated to little one porn and intercourse trafficking, creating anticipation amongst a core group of the president’s supporters.”
However final week, a justice division and FBI investigation discovered there was no secret consumer listing to be launched, and that Epstein died by suicide in federal custody in August 2019, which has additionally lengthy been the topic of rightwing conspiracy theorists who consider he might have been killed earlier than he might implicate well-known associates.
Coming after Trump’s administration created a lot anticipation that the alleged listing can be publicly disclosed, per Politico: “Now? It’s an enormous credibility downside. Vance, Patel, Bongino and Bondi – amongst others – successfully need to both acknowledge that they weren’t simply improper concerning the authorities masking up for Epstein, however really making stuff up, or they arrive off like they’re a part of a cover-up themselves.”
Certainly the findings have prompted rightwing influencers who’re ceaselessly in favor of Trump’s insurance policies to recommend that the federal authorities is defending a robust cabal of pedophiles, with specific ire directed at Bondi who many in Maga world have demanded be fired.
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Up to date at 09.54 EDT
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Adam Gabbatt
Donald Trump managed one thing uncommon final week. In his administration’s declare that it didn’t have a listing of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged purchasers, and that the convicted intercourse offender was not murdered, it succeeded in upsetting the rightwing influencers and commentators – and reportedly even Trump’s deputy FBI director – individuals who usually champion his each transfer.
“This stinks. This simply reeks,” was the decision of Jesse Watters, the primetime Fox Information host. He added:
The feds spent many years investigating Epstein and have had whole entry to his property for years, they nonetheless can’t give us a straight reply? This isn’t something new; the federal government has been preserving us at midnight for generations.
Watters was cautious to not criticize the Trump administration straight, blaming “the feds” as he described Pam Bondi, the lawyer normal, and Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, as “nice Individuals”.
However inside the rightwing, Epstein-curious sphere, others had continued to wade in. “Pam Blondi [sic] is masking up little one intercourse crimes that occurred below HER WATCH when she was Lawyer Common of Florida,” wrote Laura Loomer, the 32-year-old conspiracy theorist whose affect over Trump has come below scrutiny.
Loomer accused Bondi of failing to pursue authorized motion in opposition to Epstein, regardless of lawsuits being filed in opposition to him in Florida. “She is afraid of that being mentioned and delivered to mild. She must be fired. She has tainted the investigation,” Loomer concluded.
When the justice division stated that Epstein didn’t hold a consumer listing and no extra information associated to his sex-trafficking investigation can be made public, the White Home claimed Bondi had been speaking concerning the “entirety of all the paperwork and relation to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes”, which happy few rightwing commentators, lots of whom have constructed careers on propagating conspiracy theories.
“We had been all informed extra was coming. That solutions had been on the market and can be supplied. Unbelievable how completely mismanaged this Epstein mess has been. And it didn’t need to be,” stated Jack Posobiec, who promoted the baseless principle that high-level Democrats had been working a baby intercourse ring out of a Washington pizzeria. Posobiec was amongst a bunch of rightwing influencers who got binders labeled “The Epstein Recordsdata: Part 1” throughout a go to to the White Home in February – though many had been upset that these paperwork contained little new data.
The ire was additionally impressed by the justice division releasing an 11-hour video displaying the outside of Epstein’s door, apparently in an effort to point out nobody entered his cell on the time he died. However a minute of the video was lacking, which happy few on the fitting.
“There are some extraordinarily weird issues concerning the video of Epstein’s cell that Pam Bondi’s DOJ launched as proof nobody killed him. First, a full minute seems to be lacking from the video and secondly, it does NOT look like the identical cell because the picture launched on Jan 5, 2020,” wrote Robby Starbuck, a rightwing influencer and Trump supporter. “Anybody else discover this extraordinarily troubling?”
Others had been extra direct. “NO ONE IS BUYING THIS!! Subsequent the DOJ will say ‘Really, Jeffrey Epstein by no means even existed.’ That is excessive sickening,” Alex Jones, the rightwing commentator and conspiracy theorist, wrote on social media.
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Up to date at 10.12 EDT
Trump defends Pam Bondi as his base requires lawyer normal’s dismissal
Donald Trump has defended lawyer normal Pam Bondi amid calls from Maga world for her to go.
In a prolonged social media publish, Trump hit out at complaints from critics who’ve accused Bondi of withholding extra details about Jeffrey Epstein’s sudden dying and his so-called consumer listing.
“LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB,” Trump wrote in all caps, encouraging his supporters to “not waste time and power” on Epstein.
Bondi urged to Fox Information in February that Epstein’s consumer listing was “sitting on my desk proper now to assessment”. She had additionally repeatedly pledged to disclose probably damaging proof together with “quite a lot of names” and “quite a lot of flight logs” regarding Epstein.
However the justice division final week launched a memo concluding there was no proof suggesting the disgraced financier and convicted intercourse offender stored a “consumer listing” to blackmail high-profile figures. It additionally discovered no proof to recommend foul play in Epstein’s dying, which had beforehand been dominated a suicide.
Bondi sought to make clear her remarks within the White Home on Tuesday, telling reporters that she had been commenting on the whole Epstein “file” and different information.
Tucker Carlson has informed NBC Information this morning that he now believes the justice division doesn’t even have “a lot related details about Jeffrey Epstein’s intercourse crimes”. “Slightly than simply admit that, Pam Bondi made a bunch of ludicrous claims on cable information exhibits that she couldn’t again up, and this present outrage is the consequence,” Carlson stated.
Trump’s Maga base is livid with Pam Bondi after she did not ship on guarantees of main revelations on the Epstein information. {Photograph}: Ken Cedeno/ReutersShare
Up to date at 10.04 EDT
Over the weekend, FBI director Kash Patel denied swirling resignation rumors over reported unhappiness on the justice division choice to shut the e-book on Jeffrey Epstein after administration officers teased a giant reveal earlier within the yr.
In a Saturday social media publish, the company director stated in a social media publish on the weekend: “the conspiracy theories simply aren’t true, by no means have been. It’s an honor to serve the President of america – and I’ll proceed to take action for so long as he calls on me.”
Over the previous week, Maga hardliners, together with Georgia consultant Marjorie Taylor Greene, former White Home adviser Steve Bannon and – reportedly – FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, have been strongly vital of a joint choice by US lawyer normal Pam Bondi and the FBI to not launch additional details about Epstein held in authorities information, together with a so-called consumer listing.
And on Friday, NBC Information reported that Bongino was contemplating stepping down from his publish on the FBI after a “heated confrontation” with Bondi over the difficulty. CBS Information heard that he then didn’t present as much as work that day.
“Bongino is out-of-control livid,” the one that has spoken with the deputy FBI director stated. “This destroyed his profession. He’s threatening to give up and torch Pam except she’s fired.”
Trump final night time performed down the resignation rumors, saying he had spoken to Bongino who sounded “terrific”.
However Maga influencer and far-right activist Laura Loomer had this prediction for Politico: “I don’t see how there is usually a scenario the place Bongino can coexist with Blondi [Loomer’s derisive moniker for Bondi] as lawyer normal, and so I wouldn’t be shocked if we see a resignation from Bongino. Maybe I’m improper, however it could not shock me if Bongino resigns within the subsequent week.”
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Up to date at 09.32 EDT
Democrat to introduce laws calling for Epstein information launch
The Democrats are on it too. Later right now within the Home, consultant Marc Veasey is introducing laws calling for the discharge of the Epstein information.
Veasey informed Politico:
I feel [Trump’s] attempting to guard some billionaire pal of his. That’s what he lives for greater than anything on this planet: defending billionaires. Take a look at what he did with the so-called ‘huge, stunning invoice’.
A vote wouldn’t solely be uncomfortable for Home Republicans – it could additionally hold the story within the information when the president would like it to vanish. Trump will most likely attempt to latch on to another story to attempt to change the narrative right now, so we’ll be searching for that.
Politico additionally notes that “the rising variety of Democrats making comparable efforts on the Epstein information spans a large breadth of the celebration’s membership, from New York consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Georgia senator Jon Ossoff; from relative backbenchers to members of the Senate management, like Hawaii senator Brian Schatz.”
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Up to date at 09.25 EDT
With Trump’s headache not displaying any indicators of going away, Politico realized that “an ally supportive of the Trump DOJ’s dealing with of the Epstein case, has pitched senior White Home officers on the thought of Bondi and deputy lawyer normal Todd Blanche doing an all-questions-addressed information convention in an try and exhaust the press and put the story to mattress.”
Maga influencer and far-right activist Laura Loomer additionally informed Politico on Sunday that “there needs to be a particular counsel appointed to do an unbiased investigation of the dealing with of the Epstein information so that folks can really feel like this challenge is being investigated, and maybe take it out of [Pam Bondi’s] fingers, as a result of I don’t assume that she has been clear or executed a superb job dealing with this challenge”.
“When folks voted for President Trump, releasing the Epstein information was one thing that was promised to the bottom,” Loomer stated. “The bottom is sad, and I feel that this challenge isn’t going to go away.”
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Up to date at 10.04 EDT
Trump’s Maga base livid over justice division’s dealing with of Epstein information
As we reported earlier, Donald Trump is dealing with a fast-growing a Maga rebel over his administration’s dealing with of the Epstein information – the felony investigation into convicted little one intercourse offender and rich financier Jeffrey Epstein.
For years, many within the Maga motion have alleged an enormous authorities cowl as much as shield Epstein, which Trump and his allies – from vice-president JD Vance to FBI director Kash Patel – performed up for political achieve, claiming an incriminating consumer listing that Epstein purportedly used to blackmail rich co-conspirators was being stored secret by the federal government.
Former conservative podcaster and now deputy FBI director Dan Bongino did the identical, together with lawyer normal Pam Bondi, who in February informed Fox Information of the listing: “It’s sitting on my desk proper now to assessment.”
As my colleagues wrote final week: “Bondi particularly spent months hyping up the supplies as being filled with damaging particulars associated to little one porn and intercourse trafficking, creating anticipation amongst a core group of the president’s supporters.”
However final week, a justice division and FBI investigation discovered there was no secret consumer listing to be launched, and that Epstein died by suicide in federal custody in August 2019, which has additionally lengthy been the topic of rightwing conspiracy theorists who consider he might have been killed earlier than he might implicate well-known associates.
Coming after Trump’s administration created a lot anticipation that the alleged listing can be publicly disclosed, per Politico: “Now? It’s an enormous credibility downside. Vance, Patel, Bongino and Bondi – amongst others – successfully need to both acknowledge that they weren’t simply improper concerning the authorities masking up for Epstein, however really making stuff up, or they arrive off like they’re a part of a cover-up themselves.”
Certainly the findings have prompted rightwing influencers who’re ceaselessly in favor of Trump’s insurance policies to recommend that the federal authorities is defending a robust cabal of pedophiles, with specific ire directed at Bondi who many in Maga world have demanded be fired.
Share
Up to date at 09.54 EDT
UK prime minister Keir Starmer will meet Donald Trump when the president visits Scotland later this month.
A Downing Avenue spokesman stated: “The White Home has confirmed that president Trump will probably be making a non-public go to to Scotland later this month.
“Given he’s visiting a non-public capability, there is not going to be a proper bilateral however the prime minister is happy to take up the president’s invite to satisfy throughout his keep.”
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US tariffs of 30% on EU imports, introduced over the weekend, will choke off investments and trigger a deindustrialisation on this planet’s largest financial system, the German equipment and tools producers affiliation VDMA stated on Monday.
“The renewed postponement prolongs the poisonous uncertainty for corporations on each side of the Atlantic. This slows down funding and weakens financial progress in each the US and Europe,” VDMA managing director Thilo Brodtmann stated in an announcement.
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Olivia Empson
A brand new Senate committee report on the tried assassination of Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, final yr, described the occasions as a “cascade of preventable failures” and referred to as for extra extreme disciplinary motion to be taken with the Secret Service sooner or later.
Within the 31-page, extremely vital findings launched on Sunday, the Senate homeland safety and governmental affairs committee lamented the mishandling of communications across the rally and stated Trump was denied additional safety on the day.
“A 20-year-old gunman was in a position to evade detection by the nation’s prime protecting company for almost 45 minutes,” the committee acknowledged, including that “not a single individual has been fired”.
The publication of the report comes precisely a yr after the tried assassination of Trump, when he was wounded after a bullet grazed his ear on 13 July 2024. One rally-goer, Corey Comperatore, was killed earlier than the shooter, a 20-year-old nursing-home employee from Pennsylvania named Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot lifeless by a Secret Service agent. Crooks scaled a constructing overlooking the rally and opened fireplace utilizing an AR015-style rifle.
The picture of Trump defiantly elevating his fist within the fast aftermath of the assault grew to become a political touchstone, serving to push Joe Biden out of the race and fuelling help round his presidency in a heightened, accelerated method.
ShareDan Sabbagh
Donald Trump has indicated that the US will announce a plan to promote Patriot air defence methods and different weapons to Ukraine afterward Monday, amid rising White Home exasperation with Russia’s refusal to conform to a ceasefire.
The president informed reporters on Sunday as he returned from the Membership World Cup closing that the US would “ship them numerous items of very refined army and so they’re going to pay us 100% for them”.
“We’ll ship them Patriots, which they desperately want,” Trump added, describing the upcoming announcement as “enterprise for us”.
Although Trump didn’t spell out precisely who would fund the purchases, it’s anticipated to contain European nations. Final week the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, stated Berlin was “prepared to accumulate” extra Patriot methods.
Trump stated final week he would make a “main assertion” on Ukraine on Monday. He has develop into annoyed along with his lack of progress in persuading Vladimir Putin to conform to a ceasefire and an finish to the conflict.
On Sunday Trump reiterated that he was upset with the Russian president. “Putin actually shocked lots of people. He talks good after which he bombs everyone within the night,” he stated, confirming the change in sentiment.
In the course of the election marketing campaign Trump stated he might finish the Ukraine conflict in 24 hours, and following his victory started a collection of bilateral discussions with Putin in an effort to dealer a ceasefire. However these did not progress as Russia made maximalist territorial calls for, whereas stepping up its bombing of Ukraine’s cities.
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President Donald Trump stated on Sunday that it could be an amazing factor if Fed chairman Jerome Powell stepped down.
“I hope he quits,” Trump informed reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.
ShareAlexander Abnos
US president Donald Trump was entrance and middle for Chelsea’s trophy elevate and was greeted by widespread boos on the Fifa Membership World Cup closing at a sold-out MetLife Stadium on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Trump was booed whereas showing on video boards in the course of the taking part in of the nationwide anthem earlier than the match, after which later whereas strolling out with Fifa president Gianni Infantino to current the competitors’s trophy, particular person awards and runners-up medals.
Later, Trump and Infantino collectively carried the Membership World Cup trophy to the Chelsea workforce on the stage. Infantino moved out of body of tv cameras whereas Trump stayed put, discovering himself squarely in focus as Chelsea captain Reece James lifted the trophy and his team-mates celebrated round him.
President Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino have fun with Chelsea FC in the course of the awarding ceremony for the Membership World Cup. {Photograph}: Xinhua/ShutterstockShare
Up to date at 07.43 EDT
Trump’s 30% tariffs would ‘virtually prohibit’ EU-US commerce, says Šefčovič
Jennifer Rankin
Donald Trump’s risk to impose 30% tariffs on European items would “virtually prohibit” transatlantic commerce, the EU’s lead negotiator with the US has stated.
Arriving for talks with European ministers in Brussels, Maroš Šefčovič, the EU commerce commissioner, stated a tariff of 30% or extra would have a huge effect, making it “virtually unimaginable to proceed” present transatlantic commerce, which is price €4.4bn (£3.8bn) a day.
Expressing disappointment, he stated his negotiating workforce thought that they had been near a deal. “The sensation on our aspect was that we’re very near an settlement,” as he stated the 2 sides had been negotiating an settlement in precept – the outlines of a deal – for 4 weeks previous to Trump’s blunt announcement on the weekend.
The US president stated on Saturday that EU imports would face a tariff of 30% from 1 August, denting European optimism that talks to safe a nonetheless painful 10% responsibility had been virtually finalised.
In response to Trump’s newest deadline, the EU determined to postpone retaliatory countertariffs on €21bn of US items that had been as a consequence of kick in at midnight on Monday till 1 August.
Ministers can even focus on plans for an additional spherical of countermeasures, concentrating on €72bn of US imports to the EU.
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Trump says he spoke to FBI’s Bongino amid Epstein uproar
Whats up and welcome to the US politics stay weblog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will probably be bringing you all the newest information traces over the subsequent few hours.
We start with information that president Donald Trump stated on Sunday he spoke to deputy FBI director Dan Bongino to attempt to calm an uproar over how the Justice Division dealt with the probe into the dying of accused intercourse trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged clientele, Reuters reported.
Requested by reporters if Bongino remained in his place after reportedly pondering resigning, Trump stated: “Oh I feel so… I spoke to him right now. Dan Bongino, excellent man. I’ve identified him a very long time. I’ve executed his present many, many instances. He sounded terrific, really.”
Bongino represents part of Trump‘s ‘Make America Nice Once more’ base of help that has lengthy been suspicious of Epstein, whose 2019 dying in federal custody has been dominated a suicide. In a joint memo launched final Monday, the FBI and the Justice Division stated there was no proof to help a variety of long-held conspiracy theories about Epstein’s dying and his alleged clientele.
Conservative influencers from Laura Loomer to Elon Musk have criticized lawyer normal Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel for his or her findings, which got here months after Bondi pledged to disclose main revelations about Epstein, together with “quite a lot of names” and “quite a lot of flight logs.”
US media, together with Fox Information and NBC Information, have reported that Bongino has clashed with Bondi over the difficulty and was contemplating stepping down.
Patel and Bongino, a former conservative podcaster, each beforehand made statements earlier than working on the FBI a few so-called consumer listing and infrequently urged that the federal government was hiding details about Epstein from the American public.
Dan Bongino pictured final month within the Capitol {Photograph}: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Photographs
In different information:
King Charles has invited Donald Trump for an unprecedented second state go to in September, scheduling the journey for 3 days when parliament isn’t sitting and eradicating the potential of the US president addressing parliament. The go to is a coup for the White Home, with Trump changing into the primary elected politician in trendy historical past to be granted two state visits, after his earlier one in 2019.
Nonetheless, the US president obtained a frostier reception when he made an look on the Membership World Cup closing in New Jersey on Sunday. Trump was booed and jeered by the group in the course of the nationwide anthem earlier than the match and once more whereas presenting the trophy to Chelsea alongside Fifa president Gianni Infantino.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has referred to as on the EU to “defend European pursuits resolutely” after Trump threatened to impose 30% tariffs on almost all imports from the EU. It got here because the EU moved to de-escalate tensions after the blunt transfer by Trump on Saturday. The bloc declared an additional pause on €21bn of retaliatory tariffs till 1 August, dovetailing with the US president’s new deal deadline.
Kristi Noem, the homeland safety secretary, stated on Sunday that Trump desires to have the Federal Emergency Administration Company (Fema) “remade” as a substitute of eradicated fully. In a brand new interview on Sunday with NBC, Noem defended the Trump administration’s response to the lethal Texas floods which have killed not less than 120 folks, saying: “I feel the president acknowledges that Fema shouldn’t exist the best way that it all the time has been. It must be redeployed in a brand new method, and that’s what we did throughout this response.”
Rosie O’Donnell has shrugged off a risk from Trump to revoke her US citizenship on the grounds that she is “a risk to humanity”. The New York-born actor and comic stated on Sunday that she was the newest in a protracted listing of artists, activists and celebrities to be threatened by the US president.
A brand new Senate committee report on the tried assassination of Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, final yr, described the occasions as a “cascade of preventable failures” and referred to as for extra extreme disciplinary motion to be taken with the Secret Service sooner or later. Within the 31-page, extremely vital findings launched on Sunday, the Senate homeland safety and governmental affairs committee lamented the mishandling of communications across the rally and stated Trump was denied additional safety on the day.
Trump stated the US will ship Patriot air defence methods to Ukraine to assist it battle off Russian assaults amid a souring of his relations with Vladimir Putin.
Kevin Hassett, the White Home financial adviser, stated Trump has seen some commerce deal presents and thinks they have to be higher, including that the president will proceed with threatened tariffs on Mexico and the EU in the event that they don’t enhance.
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Up to date at 07.41 EDT
