The Conversation -- July 18, 2025
Benjamin Weiser & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “The Justice Department asked a federal judge on Friday to unseal grand jury testimony from the prosecution of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.... The request was filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, where Mr. Epstein was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges six years ago when he was found dead by hanging in his jail cell about a month after he was arrested.... The government also sought the unsealing of grand jury testimony from the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite who in a 2021 trial was convicted of helping Mr. Epstein facilitate his sex-trafficking scheme and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She has appealed her conviction.” Pam Bondi & Todd Blanche filed the motion. ~~~
~~~ Marie: It's hard to exaggerate what a sham this is. As the Times reporters write, "Judges rarely agree to grant public access to such materials." AND "The unsealing effort could take months, and the materials being sought are most likely only a small part of the evidence collected in the investigation." You know who has custody of all that other evidence? Pamela Jo Bondi. (See, for instance, Dan Mangan's report below.) If Blondie wanted to release some revelatory Epstein documents, she could immediately make public some of the thousands and thousands of documents that are under her control.
Winston Cho of the Hollywood Reporter: Donald “Trump has sued the Wall Street Journal owner News Corp. for defamation over a report detailing a 2003 letter from him to Jeffrey Epstein in which he wrote that they share a 'wonderful secret.' With the lawsuit, filed on Friday in Florida federal court, the Journal becomes the latest media outlet targeted by Trump for adversarial reporting, joining ABC News and CBS News. It sets the stage for another legal battle in which media’s incentives to stay out of Trump’s crosshairs by settling will be questioned, this time featuring Journal parent News Corp., owned by close Trump ally Rupert Murdoch.... The lawsuit names Murdoch alongside Journal reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo, who wrote the story. It brings claims for libel, assault and slander. Notably, it was filed in the Southern District of Florida, where a jury might be more receptive to defamation claims than one in New York, where News Corp., which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, is based.”
Dan Mangan of CNBC: “FBI agents assigned earlier this year to review investigative files in the criminal case against notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were instructed to 'flag' any documents that mentioned ... Donald Trump, Sen. Richard Durbin said Friday. Durbin’s claim came as the Illinois Democrat sent the Justice Department and FBI letters asking them to explain what his office calledapparent discrepancies regarding the handling of the Epstein files and findings from a July 7 Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum and instructions reportedly received by FBI personnel.'... 'According to information my office received, the FBI was pressured to put approximately 1,000 personnel in its Information Management Division (IMD) … on 24-hour shifts to review approximately 100,000 Epstein-related records in order to produce more documents that could then be released on an arbitrarily short deadline,' Durbin wrote to [FBI Director Kash] Patel. 'This effort, which reportedly took place from March 14 through the end of March, was haphazardly supplemented by hundreds of FBI New York Field Office personnel, many of whom lacked the expertise to identify statutorily-protected information regarding child victims and child witnesses or properly handle FOIA requests,' the letter said. 'My office was told that these personnel were instructed to “flag” any records in which President Trump was mentioned.'”
Julie Turkewitz & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “Ten Americans and U.S. permanent residents who had been seized by the Venezuelan authorities and held as bargaining chips were freed Friday in exchange for the release of more than 250 Venezuelan migrants whom the Trump administration sent to a prison in El Salvador. The release of the Americans and permanent residents was described by the State Department, while the release of the Venezuelans was announced by the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, on X. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the 10 U.S. citizens and permanent residents had been arrested and jailed in Venezuela 'without proper due process' and called for the 'restoration of democracy in Venezuela.' The capture and imprisonment of the Americans had been part of the Venezuelan government’s efforts to gain an upper hand in negotiations with the Trump administration, while the detention of the Venezuelans in El Salvador played a high-profile role in ... [Donald] Trump’s promise to deport millions of immigrants.” MB: No telling what will happen to the Venezuelans now that they've been sent back to Venezuela, a country from which they fled, many because they believed they were in danger in their home country.
New York Times television critic James Poniewozik wonders whether CBS's claim that it is cancelling Stephen Colbert's show for “purely financial” reasons is truthful or an exercise in truthiness. “What we do know is that the president, who has long cried for political comics’ heads — won’t someone rid him of these turbulent hosts? — has gotten another item on his wish list. 'I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired,' [Trump] wrote on his platform Truth Social.”
This Is Terrible. Selena Simmons-Duffin of NPR: "Health insurance premiums are going way up next year for people who buy their insurance on Healthcare.gov or the state-based marketplaces, according to an analysis out Friday. The average person who buys Affordable Care Act insurance will be paying 75% more for their premium, according to the analysis from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.... 'Pretty much every insurance company is talking about the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits in the ACA markets[, according to researcher Cynthia Cox of KFF]. Those markets are where people go to buy Obamacare plans, which serve people who can't get health insurance through their jobs and who don't qualify for Medicaid or Medicare.... People who are generally healthy might well decide that the higher premium is not worth it. They'll go without health insurance and risk it. The Congressional Budget Office estimates letting the subsidies expire would increase the number of uninsured by 4.2 million people. If healthy people opt out, the insurance pool is left with those who cost insurance companies more.... Congress could extend the enhanced subsidies, but that would mean ... [Donald] Trump and Republican lawmakers supporting the Affordable Care Act, which is unlikely."
Giselle Ewing of Politico: “... Donald Trump continued to rage over the Jeffrey Epstein case Friday.... 'If there was a “smoking gun” on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the “files” for four years, and had Garland and Comey in charge, use it? BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!' Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning, echoing his previous attempts to pin blame for the lack of information in the case on Democrats.... Trump continued to attack the [Wall Street Journal] Friday, writing in a separate Truth Social post: 'I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his “pile of garbage” newspaper,' adding that it 'will be an interesting experience!!!'” MB: It will indeed be an interesting experience. Think of how many damaging stories the WSJ will get out of all the discovery the court will certainly allow. Yes, indeedy, everybody will finally get a look at some pertinent Epstein files (or “files,” as Trump calls them).
RAS has an idea: "... if JD wanted to see [Trump's 2003 note to Epstein,] he could just ask Bondi for the original or at least a photograph of the birthday book." MB: Of course Trump could do something similar; he could ask Bondi to certify that there was no such album of letters and/or no such letter from him in the DOJ's Epstein files. As far as I know, Bondi hasn't commented on the note. I suspect there's a very good reason for that.
Trump loves to draw. Just saying pic.twitter.com/jMJh3XWvBW
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@AdamKinzinger) July 18, 2025
~~~ Tyler Pager of the New York Times finds some more pictures Donald Trump "wrote."
"An Enigma Wrapped in a Wonderful Secret." Andrew Egger of the Bulwark: "The idea that Murdoch and the Journal would publish a story like this — knowing Trump’s penchant for retributive lawsuits — without being on rock-solid legal footing is laughable; a small army of lawyers no doubt inspected every word of the report.... In the coming days, it will be fascinating to see how Epstein true believers handle these questions. Which will be stronger? Their years-long conviction that there’s more to the Epstein story and determination to see it brought to light? Or their Pavlovian response to radicalize against any story the president dubs “FAKE NEWS”? Call it an enigma."
Doktor Zoom of Wonkette is very skeptical of Donald Trump's claim that Coca Cola has agreed to follow his advice to change the sweetener for its signature U.S. product from corn syrup to "REAL Cane Sugar": “In yet another seeming effort to change the subject from his close friendship with the late child sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump yesterday announced what sounded like a really big trade deal if it was real, which of course it wasn’t. On his fake Twitter substitute (archive link), Truth Social — which many people consider as far from The Real Thing as Tab was from Coca-Cola (making 'X' more like 'New Coke,' but full of Nazis) — Trump ...[announced Coke's capitulation].... Big surprise: Coca-Cola hasn’t confirmed any change in its recipe. But the company, which is very aware of Trump’s fondness for Diet Coke, has also been careful not to explicitly deny it either.”
The Klepto King. Brian Slodysko & Will Weissert of the AP: “If one theme has emerged in ... Donald Trump’s second term, it’s this: He’s leveraged the power of his office for personal gain unlike anyone before in history. From crypto coins to bibles, overseas development deals to an upcoming line of cellphones, Trump family businesses have raked in hundreds of millions of dollars since his election, an unprecedented flood of often shadowy money from billionaires, foreign governments and cryptocurrency tycoons with interests before the federal government. 'He ... is supposed to be working in the public’s interest,” said James Thurber, an emeritus professor at American University.... 'Instead, he is helping his own personal interest to grow his wealth. It’s totally not normal.' The sums amassed by the Trump Organization, the collection of companies controlled by the president’s children, are far greater than those collected by the family during the president’s first term, when patronage of his hotels, resorts and golf courses was de rigueur to curry favor with the famously transactional commander-in-chief.”
David Graham of the Atlantic: “CBS’s current ownership seems determined to demolish [its] legacy [of excellent broadcast journalism. Thursday] evening, the network announced plans to end The Late Show With Stephen Colbert when the host’s contract ends next May.... Colbert ... has consistently led competitors in his time slot. CBS said this was 'purely a financial decision,' made as traditional linear television fades. Perhaps this is true, but the network that once made [Walter] Cronkite the most trusted man in America no longer gets the benefit of the doubt. CBS’s owners have made a series of decisions capitulating to ... Donald Trump, and the surprise choice to allow Colbert — a consistent, prominent Trump critic — to walk seems like part of that pattern.” Thank you to laura h. for this gift link.
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Adam Cancryn of CNN: “A collection of letters gifted to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003 included a note bearing [link fixed] Donald Trump’s name and an outline of a naked woman, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Thursday. The drawing, depicting a woman’s breasts and a 'Donald' signature in the place of pubic hair, surrounded several lines of typewritten text, according to the newspaper, which reviewed the letter. It concluded with the line: 'Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.' Trump in an interview with the Journal on Tuesday denied that he wrote the letter or drew the picture and threatened to sue the newspaper if it published the story.” At 8:30 pm ET Thursday, this was a developing story. MB: Gosh, this letter amplifying the sordid connection between the POTUS* & the Pedophile must be one of the documents in the huge file that Pam Bondi refuses to release. It's but a single page of a massive cover-up. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything.
Donald: Yes, there is, but I won’t tell you what it is.
Jeffrey: Nor will I, since I also know what it is.
Donald: We have certain things in common, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey: Yes, we do, come to think of it.
Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?
Jeffrey: As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you.
Donald: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.
~~~ Update. Hugo Lowell & Edward Helmore of the Guardian: “Donald Trump said on Thursday he had directed his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to seek the release of grand jury testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking case as he sought to tamp down controversy over a story that he allegedly contributed a sketch of a naked woman to Epstein’s 50th birthday album. The president said on Truth Social he had authorized the justice department to seek the public release of the materials, which are under seal, citing 'the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein'.... The president said in the post that he had personally told Rupert Murdoch and the Journal’s editor-in-chief Emma Tucker that the letter was fake and that he would sue if a story about the letter was published. 'Mr Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but obviously did not have the power to do so,' Trump wrote. 'Instead they are going with a false, malicious, defamatory story anyway. President Trump will be suing the Wall Street Journal, News Corp and Mr Murdoch shortly.'
“The Journal reported that [Ghislaine] Maxwell collected letters from Trump and dozens of Epstein’s other associates ... for the 2003 birthday album, three years before Epstein was ever investigated for sexual misconduct. The Journal also reported that the leather-bound album was among the documents examined by officials with the justice department who investigated Epstein and Maxwell at that time....” More on the grand jury transcripts from Glenn Thrush of the NYT, linked below. MB: Notice how Trump tries to distance himself from the story by at least twice in the post referring to himself in the third person. ~~~
~~~ Marie: laura h., who turns out to be a fine conspiracy theorist in her own right, wrote yesterday, "The note from t**** in the Epstein card^^^ is tacky but hardly scandalous. It feels to me like a leak to give the base something to talk about ... or am I wrong about that?" I don't think so. And the "document" is consistent with what is already on the public record regarding Trump's behavior toward women. But see the caveats I note below. OR maybe Obama wrote the note. And Comey drew the picture.
Charlie Nash of Mediaite: “Several drawings made by President Donald Trump in the 1990s and early 2000s resurfaced on Thursday after the president claimed to have 'never wrote a picture in my life.' The president made the claim after a Wall Street Journal report alleged that Trump had written a birthday letter to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003, which included a drawing of a naked woman, complete with pubic hair formed out of Trump’s signature. 'This is a fake thing. It’s a fake Wall Street Journal story,' said Trump in response to the report. 'I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women.'... These sketches from the early to mid-2000s were reportedly drawn with Sharpie markers. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s alleged 2003 letter to Epstein 'contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly “Donald” below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.'”
Forgive my language but this story is complete and utter bullshit. 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? -- JayDee for the defense, writing on X (via the Guardian) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I find I must agree with JayDee. The note does not "sound like Donald Trump." Or at least not like the Donald Trump of 2025. For one thing, it's an attempt to be clever while not committing anything to paper that would conclusively incriminate the writer in any sort of unlawful behavior. Trump himself is not that clever, or at least he is not that clever today. For another, the language of the note is far more sophisticated than the language he uses today. So either Trump didn't write the note -- at least in its finished form -- or it's more strong evidence of his signtificant cognitive decline. Contrast 2003's "Enigmas never age" with 2025's "I never wrote a picture in my life." Nobody says, "wrote a picture" -- unless momentarily they can't think of the word "drew." So without seeing the note, my guess is that Trump had help writing it, that he may have drawn the picture, and that he signed the figure, not so much grabbing it by the pussy (2005) but staking his claim to the pussy. ~~~
~~~ Update. Marie: The company I keep. Looks as if MechaHitler/Grok agrees with me. ~~~
~~~ Robert Davis of the Raw Story: "'Yeah, the letter sounds bogus,' posted ... Elon Musk. Even Musk's AI bot Grok was asked to comment about the WSJ report. 'No, the writing style doesn't match Trump's typical direct, boastful prose filled with superlatives like "great" or "tremendous,"' Grok replied to a post on X. 'This letter's cryptic, scripted dialogue and poetic phrasing feel atypical, and the hand-drawn element contradicts his denial of ever drawing such images. Likely a fake.'" MB: Looks like nobody told Grok about Trump's near-contemporaneous doodles or that Trump is a notorious liar.
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: Donald “Trump announced Thursday night that he was authorizing Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the public release of grand jury testimony from the prosecution of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, and Ms. Bondi said she would make that request in federal court on Friday. Mr. Trump, under intense pressure from his right-wing base after a Justice Department review found no evidence to support conspiracy theories about the sex trafficking case, ordered Ms. Bondi to 'produce any and all Grand Jury Testimony, subject to Court approval,' in a social media post.... Ms. Bondi, a Trump loyalist accused by far-right influencers of abetting a cover-up, responded immediately with a post on social media that undercut the memo the department and F.B.I. drafted this month declaring Mr. Epstein’s 2019 jailhouse death a suicide and the case closed. 'President Trump — we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts,' she wrote, quickly reversing course at his command.
“But it was not clear that she would succeed, because the secrecy of grand jury transcripts is highly protected.... Even if the transcripts are made public, which might involve months of legal wrangling, the evidence represents a fraction of material collected in the investigation. Over the past several months, dozens of F.B.I. agents and prosecutors with the Justice Department’s national security division were diverted from other assignments to review thousands of documents and a vast trove of video evidence, including footage from video cameras in the prison.” A CBS News story is here.
Washington Post: “White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the Trump administration’s handling of the case of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying 'some of the most trusted voices in the Republican Party movement' reviewed files before the Justice Department decided not to release them publicly. Leavitt also said that ... Donald Trump does not support appointing a special prosecutor in the case, and she chided the press for covering the controversy 'like it’s the biggest story that the American people care about.'” This is an excerpt from a liveblog item. MB: If there was ever the slightest pretense that Trump's DOJ was acting as an independent law enforcement agency -- as has been the tradition for half a century -- it's officially over now. Leavitt just said that political figures “in the Republican party movement,” whatever that is, inserted themselves into the DOJ's deliberative process, combed through secret DOJ files, then advised the DOJ to formalize a cover-up.
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times runs a timeline/overview of what is publicly known about the relationship between Donald Trump & Jeffrey Epstein. Here's one tidbit: “Not long after [Trump and Epstein had a 'falling-out' over rival bids for a Palm Beach mansion], the police in Palm Beach fielded a tip that young women had been observed going in and out of Mr. Epstein’s home.” MB: Any one of hundreds of people could have called in that tip, but maybe the timing of Trump's fight with Epstein & the tip to the cops isn't a coincidence. Like maybe John Barron or one of his close friends was the snitch.
On July 8, Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post ran down a list of statements by Donald Trump and Trump administration officials about releasing the Epstein files.
Michael Gold of the New York Times: “House Republicans, under pressure from Democrats and their own angry constituents, agreed on Thursday night to lay the groundwork for a potential vote calling on the Justice Department to release material from its investigation of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, breaking with ... [Donald] Trump’s demand that supporters accept his administration’s handling of the case and move on. The measure, a nonbinding resolution, has not been scheduled for a vote. It is unclear whether Republicans will ever bring it up.... But Republicans on the powerful House Rules Committee voted to advance [the resolution] after Democrats threatened to force additional votes on the Epstein disclosures.... The dispute was holding up final passage of legislation to claw back $9 billion in congressionally approved spending.... The measure calls on the Justice Department to make available within 30 days 'documents, records and communications' surrounding the investigation into Mr. Epstein, his death, and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.” ~~~
~~~ Stephen Groves of the AP: “House Republicans were grasping late Thursday to formulate a response to the Trump administration’s handling of records in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, ultimately putting forward a resolution that carries no legal weight but nodded to the growing demand for greater transparency. The House resolution, which could potentially be voted on next week, will do practically nothing to force the Justice Department to release more records in the case. Still, it showed how backlash from the Republican base is putting pressure on the Trump administration and roiling GOP lawmakers.”
More Wonderful Secrets. Daniel Hampton of the Raw Story: "Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, flagged for MSNBC viewers late Thursday ... Trump’s closing statement in the letter [to Epstein published by the Wall Street Journal] ... '... where he said something to the effect of, "May every day offer another wonderful secret."... And I think he’s going to get his wish on that, because I think every day another wonderful secret about the relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein is going to be leaking out, because so many people knew about it.'... Raskin declared that it's 'obvious' the public needs 'total disclosure of the complete file, redacting only the names and the identities of the minor victims of the sex abuse — victims of Jeffrey Epstein and of the sex ring."
Charlie Warzel of the Atlantic: “In a second term that’s been defined by chaos, unpopular policies, and the dismantling of the federal government, Trump has managed to bounce back from one scandal after another. Except, perhaps, from this one.... At the center [of the sprawling conspiracy story] is a genuine secret, the main thing that keeps the story from fading away: the specter of Epstein’s so-called client list, a document that supposedly contains the names of powerful people whom Epstein provided girls to. This list is the basis for the most sordid and compelling parts of the conspiracy theory: that Epstein not only facilitated the trafficking of these girls to elites, but that he then entrapped and extorted those elites. The Trump administration had teased the release of this list as though it were a blockbuster movie, even though its very existence remains an open question.... The longer the list stays in the dark, the more power it accrues.” Thank you to laura h. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else. -- Maurene Comey, memo to colleagues, Thursday, July 17 ~~~
~~~ Erica Orden & Kyle Cheney of Politico: “One day after being fired by the Justice Department, Maurene Comey told her former colleagues that 'fear is the tool of a tyrant,' appearing to take aim at the upper ranks of DOJ and perhaps the president....” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "Maurene Comey was one of the few people who convinced [Epstein & Maxwell's victims that] she would take on very powerful people in search of justice for them. And Pam Bondi fired her, on Donald Trump’s personal authority." Worth reading also for the details from former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman's book. (Also linked yesterday.)
David McCabe of the New York Times: “A federal court ruled on Thursday that ... [Donald] Trump’s firing of a Democratic commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission was illegal and that she was a 'rightful member' of the agency. In March, Mr. Trump dismissed Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, an F.T.C. commissioner, and her colleague Alvaro Bedoya from their positions as he asserted control over agencies that regulate companies and workplaces. The move challenged longstanding legal precedent that members of the F.T.C. can be fired only for a narrow set of reasons. Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in her ruling on Thursday that because 'those protections remain constitutional, as they have for almost a century, Ms. Slaughter’s purported removal was unlawful and without legal effect.' Mr. Bedoya also challenged his removal. But he resigned from the commission in June, saying he could not afford to have no income while his position at the agency was debated in court. As a result, Judge AliKhan dismissed his claims.... A White House spokesman said the administration would appeal the decision.”
Nina Agrawal of the New York Times: “The White House said on Thursday that ... [Donald] Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition that occurs when veins have trouble moving blood back to the heart. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, announced the diagnosis while addressing swelling in Mr. Trump’s legs and bruising on his hand in recent weeks. Dr. Sean P. Barbabella, the physician to the president, said in a memo that Mr. Trump had noticed mild swelling in his lower legs and underwent a comprehensive evaluation which revealed the condition. He added that the condition was “benign” and common in people over 70. (Trump is 79.) The risk of chronic venous insufficiency, which is estimated to affect 10 to 35 percent of U.S. adults, increases with age. The condition, which occurs most often in the legs, can cause swelling, as the president experienced.” This is part of a liveblog. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. MB: Well, so much for my suggestion, offered below. But Trump is falling apart. (Also linked yesterday.) An AP story is here.
Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: “... Donald Trump’s budget chief suggested Thursday that he doesn’t need Congress or the Constitution to force through massive cuts to federal spending, hinting that more such cuts are coming soon as Trump demonstrates he’s 'not cowing to a legislative branch’s understanding of its own authorities and powers.' Russ Vought, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, also called for more partisanship on Capitol Hill on spending matters and said he’d only work with House and Senate Democratic appropriators 'if they conduct themselves with decorum.' Vought made his remarks during a Christian Science Monitor breakfast with reporters.... The OMB director said Trump has a number of tools he can use to impose more spending cuts, like rescissions packages and so-called 'pocket rescissions,' a potentially illegal tactic where a president proposes a funding cut so late in the fiscal year that the funding expires before Congress has had 45 days of session to consider it.” See related stories on Congress's approval of Trump's $9BB rescission package, linked below.
Tony Romm of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is pushing to conduct an on-site inspection of the Federal Reserve as ... [Donald] Trump and his top aides continue to pressure Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, to lower interest rates or resign. Russell T. Vought, the White House budget director, told reporters on Thursday that administration officials wanted to visit the Fed to observe the renovations at its Washington headquarters. The administration has asserted that Mr. Powell has mismanaged the project, resulting in a cost overrun, and it has demanded that he provide answers about the project to the Office of Management and Budget. Mr. Powell responded to those accusations on Thursday afternoon, sending a letter to Mr. Vought that said the Fed had obtained proper approval for its renovation. The Fed chair cited the need for 'significant structural repairs' to two buildings that were constructed in the 1930s and sought to rebut accusations that the redesign included extravagant additions.... For all the attention on the Fed and its renovation, Mr. Trump has made clear that he is primarily scrutinizing Mr. Powell because of the Fed’s approach to interest rates.”
Dani Anguiano of the Guardian: “A delegation of US officials toured Alcatraz on Thursday as part of Donald Trump’s pledge to reopen the shuttered federal prison and tourist attraction in the San Francisco Bay, amid an outcry from California leaders who have called the plan 'lunacy'. Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, who visited the island prison with the attorney general, Pam Bondi, said the federal government was beginning 'the work to renovate and reopen the site to house the most dangerous criminals and illegals'.” MB: They really enjoy using offensive language, don't they? ~~~
~~~ Marc Caputo of Axios: Donald "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.... The U.S. government closed the prison after deeming it too expensive to operate. The structures deteriorated quickly in the bay's saltwater environment, and food and water had to be brought to the prison, while waste had to be shipped out."
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “The chief of the Justice Department’s civil rights unit has asked a federal judge to sentence a Louisville police officer convicted in the 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor to one day in prison, a stunning reversal of the unit’s longstanding efforts to address racial disparities in policing. Last year, a federal jury in Kentucky convicted Brett Hankison, the officer, of one count of violating Ms. Taylor’s civil rights by using excessive force in discharging several shots through Ms. Taylor’s window during a drug raid that went awry. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, and a judge will consider the government’s request at a sentencing scheduled for next week. On Wednesday, Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, asked the judge in the case, Rebecca Grady Jennings, to sentence Mr. Hankison to one day in prison — essentially the brief time he had served when he was charged — and three years of supervised release.... Such requests are typically filed by career prosecutors who worked on the case. Wednesday’s filing was signed by Ms. Dhillon, a political appointee who is a veteran Republican Party activist with close ties to ... [Donald] Trump, and one of her deputies.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Thanks to RAS for the link, who notes -- correctly, IMO -- that Trump DOJ civil rights division is signaling that it's okay to kill minorities. The NBC News report is here.
Border Patrol Moves Its Racial Profiling 600 Miles North. Jesus Jiménez of the New York Times: “Border Patrol agents conducted an immigration raid on Thursday at a Home Depot parking lot in Sacramento County, in a sign that federal officials are heading deeper into California after focusing on the Los Angeles region in recent weeks. Gregory K. Bovino, the head of Border Patrol’s El Centro region, said in a produced video that federal agents had begun operations in the Sacramento area, and that at least eight people had been arrested for being in the country without authorization. Sacramento is a nearly 600-mile drive northwest of El Centro, Calif., and the border with Mexico. The raid came nearly a week after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop indiscriminate immigration arrests in the Los Angeles region. The ruling in the Central District of California did not apply to Sacramento.... [DHS indicated one of the men picked up faced multiple criminal charges.] The department did not indicate a criminal history for most of the other immigrants who were detained on Thursday.... The edited video, which was overlaid with the song 'Power' by Kanye West, appeared to show people running away from masked federal agents in tactical gear in a Home Depot parking lot.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The Border Patrol thinks rounding up and deporting workers is entertaining. They think we'll enjoy the spectacle.
Lauren Gurley of the Washington Post: “They are nurses, mechanics, sanitation workers and executives. They’ve fallen in love, bought houses and raised children. They’ve opened restaurants and construction companies, paid taxes and contributed to Social Security, living and working legally in the United States since 1999. Now more than 50,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans stand to abruptly lose their legal status as the Trump administration seeks to end their protections, in place since the Clinton era, under the temporary protected status program, or TPS. Amid a broader campaign to crack down on immigration, the Department of Homeland Security said that because 'conditions have improved' in Honduras and Nicaragua, it is ending the program for natives of those countries in early September. The decision, announced in early July, has been met with outrage from immigrant communities across the country, prompting a lawsuit by the National TPS Alliance, an advocacy group, and seven impacted individuals.”
Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “Congress approved a White House request to claw back $9 billion for foreign aid and public broadcasting, after Republicans bowed to ... [Donald] Trump in an unusual surrender of congressional spending power. The House’s 216-to-213 vote early Friday morning sent the package to Mr. Trump for his signature. Two Republicans, Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Michael R. Turner of Ohio, opposed the measure. The Senate approved the package in a predawn 51-to-48 vote the day before, overcoming the objections of two Republicans, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who argued that their party was ceding Congress’s constitutional control over federal funding. The bulk of the funds targeted — about $8 billion — was for foreign assistance programs. The remaining $1.1 billion was for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which finances NPR and PBS.” The NBC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Elena Shao & Benjamin Mullin of the New York Times: “The cuts are a time bomb for the public media system. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has disbursed funding for stations through September. After that, more than 100 combined TV and radio stations that serve millions of Americans in rural pockets of the country will be at risk of going dark, according to an analysis from Public Media Company, an advisory firm. But the troubles could run deeper than that, said Tim Isgitt, the organization’s chief executive. The sudden and dramatic reduction in funding will result in a pool of fewer stations to buy programming and solicit donations, potentially creating a 'doom loop' with dire consequences for the rest of the system.” The article includes maps showing the areas across the U.S. at risk of losing public radio and television. ~~~
Perry Stein of the Washington Post: “The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday morning to advance ... Donald Trump’s controversial judicial nominee Emil Bove amid objections from Democratic senators, who walked out of the hearing in protest before the vote.... Bove faced whistleblower allegations ahead of the vote that he suggested to subordinates at a Justice Department meeting they may need to defy a court order that could have hampered the president’s aggressive deportation efforts.... Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and is considered an advocate for whistleblowers, has so far refused Democratic requests to hold a hearing with the whistleblower.... [Bove] has also been at the center of the [Justice D]epartment’s most controversial actions during the Trump administration, including a push to drop federal corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.... Ahead of the vote, more than 900 former Justice Department attorneys signed a letter to the senators expressing alarm over Bove’s nomination. The attorneys accused Bove of ignoring constitutional principals and longtime Justice Department norms as he fired employees and pursued legal strategies in the name of the president’s politics....” ~~~
~~~ Sara Boboltz of the Huffington Post: “The Democrats’ move ... sparked questions over whether the nominee technically advanced out of the committee. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) continued shouting at the committee chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), while all of his Democratic colleagues left the room in protest of the lack of debate over Bove’s fitness. Booker also later left. He had wanted to hear from the whistleblower before the senators voted on whether to advance Bove’s nomination, but Grassley refused to hold a vote on whether the whistleblower should be allowed to speak.... 'You are obligated to address a point of order according to the rules of this committee,' [Booker] said. 'You’re violating your own rules.' Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) accused Grassley of overseeing a 'kangaroo court' as she left. Grassley allowed the remaining senators to vote on advancing Bove and former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who is nominated to serve as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.” ~~~
~~~ Boxwine Pirro Advances. Keith Alexander of the Washington Post: “Jeanine Pirro came one step closer to becoming the District of Columbia’s full-time U.S. attorney Thursday after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send her nomination to the Senate floor for a final vote. The committee previously blocked ... Donald Trump’s first choice for the role, Ed Martin, a right-wing podcaster and “Stop the Steal” organizer with no experience as a prosecutor and a history of controversial statements. But Pirro sailed through without any public discussion, her name mentioned only once alongside 10 other federal prosecutors and judges preceding a vote. The vote was split along party lines, but Republican control of the committee gives them enough votes to send the president’s nominees forward.”
How to Handle the Inquisition. Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: “Facing a far-reaching probe into the inner workings of Joe Biden’s White House, a growing number of his top aides are weighing invoking the Fifth Amendment, underscoring how fraught their legal predicament has become amid an onslaught of subpoenas, criminal allegations and threats from ... Donald Trump and his allies. Anthony Bernal, chief of staff to Jill Biden when she was first lady, on Wednesday became the latest top official to invoke his constitutional right against self-incrimination, repeatedly telling the House Oversight Committee that he 'respectfully' declined to answer members’ questions in an attempt to shield himself from being thrust further into legal jeopardy.... 'Some have claimed the Fifth Amendment, even though I don’t think they actually think that they have committed any crimes[,' said law professor Jonathan Shaub of the University of Kentucky. ']But given the language that has been used and the insinuations, I can understand why their counsel would say, “Just don’t say anything, because we don’t know what they’re willing to do and what they’re willing to prosecute.”’”
John Koblin of the New York Times: “In a decision that shocked the entertainment industry and comedy world, CBS said on Thursday that it was canceling the most-watched show in late night, 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,' and ending a franchise that has existed for more than three decades. Mr. Colbert’s run — and 'The Late Show' itself — will end in May after his contract expires.... CBS executives said in a statement that the cancellation ...'... is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.'... Paramount is in the midst of closing a multibillion-dollar merger with the movie studio Skydance, a deal that requires approval from the Trump administration. Paramount recently agreed to pay ... [Donald] Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over an interview on '60 Minutes,' a move Mr. Colbert criticized on his show as 'a big fat bribe.' The merger still requires the approval of the Federal Communications Commission.... Mr. Colbert, who has hosted show for a decade, has been a passionate critic of Mr. Trump.”
~~~ laura h. wrote yesterday that the cancellation “feels like another t**** revenge move.” As Koblin writes, both Senators Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who appeared on Colbert's show last night, and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are suspicious, too. Both said the public has a right to know if CBS cancelled the Colbert show for political reasons. ~~~
~~~ Hannah Zeigler & Alexandra Petri of the New York Times: “The first people to hear that CBS was canceling 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' reacted to the news loudly, and viscerally, with a chorus of 'No!' that turned into a sustained round of boos. They were sitting in the audience in the Ed Sullivan Theater in Midtown Manhattan when an emotional Mr. Colbert announced the decision at the conclusion of the taping of his Thursday night show.... Online, fans and public figures reacted with a mix of puzzlement and indignation.... 'CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump — a deal that looks like bribery,' Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, wrote on social media. 'America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.'” ~~~
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Reader Comments (17)
Received this from a friend yesterday:
An assistant to Donald Trump told him she had a fantastic dream last
night.
There was a huge parade down Pennsylvania Avenue celebrating
Trump. Millions lined the parade route, cheering with the President
went past. Bands were playing, children were throwing confetti in
the air, there were balloons everywhere. It was the BIGGEST
CELEBRATION WASHINGTON HAD EVER SEEN!
Trump was very impressed and said, that's really great! By the way,
how did I look in your dream? Was my hair OK?
His assistant said, I couldn't Gell, the casket was closed.
Trump can rarely remember what he wrote days ago, much less years ago.
The finger prints, makeup and any DNA on the page were obviously planted by Obama and Kamala. They've just been waiting all this time to spring their trap on him like the devious Democrats they are.
That last line should be: I couldn't tell, the casket was closed.
Gell?
Aw Grok, naive little machine, "contradicts his denial of ever..." should never be part of an argument defending Donald Trump. In fact a denial shifts the betting odds 30 points in favor of it being true.
It has been documented that Fat Hitler did use a more sophisticated vocabulary in the past. And it is possible he had someone help him with writing. "Ivanka, what would you write on Uncle Jeffrey's birthday card?"
Apparently this is/was part of the evidence collected for the trials in Epstein case. So if JD wanted to see it he could just ask Bondi for the original or at least a photograph of the birthday book.
'... is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.'
That looks like a very trumpian statement from CBS and Paramount where you can tell the truth by what lies they roll out. I wonder if Trump specified that Colbert had to go for the merger to be approved?
Suspect that if he wishes Colbert will easily find another home, ala John Oliver, and as a commenter somewhere said yesterday, an unleashed Colbert ought to be a thing to behold over the next nine or ten months.
Could be the Pretender will get more of exactly what he most dislikes.
David A. Graham, in The Atlantic, writes CBS no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt.
"Building an empire takes decades. Destroying it can take only a few years, and sometimes the vandals are in the palace, not outside the gates.
For much of the 20th century, American broadcast television revolved around three networks: NBC, ABC, and CBS. William S. Paley, CBS’s longtime CEO, made sure that his company—the Columbia Broadcasting Service—was a leader among them. The network was home to Edward R. Murrow, who brought World War II in Europe home to Americans on CBS Radio; after the war, Murrow’s reporting played a pivotal role in bringing down Senator Joseph McCarthy. Walter Cronkite dominated American evenings from his perch at the Evening News. And from the days of Mike Wallace to the more recent era of Lesley Stahl and Scott Pelley, 60 Minutes set the standard for long-form television reporting.
Yet CBS’s current ownership seems determined to demolish this legacy. "
DiJiT persuaded Coke to revert to cane sugar?
If so probably just one more score by the infamous Sugar Lobby.
Pedophile Pals for Life
I’ve been seeing a lot of pictures lately of Trump with Epstein, years before he became Fat Hitler, and here’s something I’ve noticed. These are pretty much the only images I’ve seen where Trump looks truly happy. He’s smiling, not that fake thumbs up rictus he displays when he wants to look like the Emperor of the Universe, or the gleeful, mirthless, stupid grin he pulls when he’s stuck the knife in someone.
He looks relaxed, at home, completely comfortable. I’m guessing he doesn’t have many (or any) real friends, and never had any. Lawyers who keep him out of prison and sycophants who tell him how great he is aren’t friends. Friends are our equals. Trump doesn’t consider anyone his equal. So…no friends.
But Epstein might have been one, disgusting proclivities and all. In fact, their friendship was likely based in large part on shared disgusting proclivities. Epstein had his own jet, mansions, and money. Plus, like Trump, he must have had an enormous ego that placed him, he felt, above laws and beyond any ethical or moral limitations. And, unlike Trump, Epstein had a constant supply of underage girls which must have been a huge draw for an amoral rapist and sexual abuser.
So, they became friends. And now, Fat Hitler recognizes that, as (probably) Epstein’s only real friend (as much as amoral narcissists can approximate friendship), his name and numbers put him right in the epicenter of a sex trafficking ring and abuse of girls as young as 12.
But in addition to being happy about having access to young girls without having to worry about parents, guardians, or anyone calling the cops, I think he was probably very comfortable having someone as close to a friend as he’s ever had.
In the film “The Wind and the Lion”, the Teddy Roosevelt character talks about the difficulties of being, well, Teddy Roosevelt. He says “…you pick the road to greatness and come to realize that the road traveled by great men is dark and lonely and lit only at intervals by other great men.”
In Trump’s case, along the road to being a narcissistic crook and rapist, he found another narcissistic crook and rapist. And they recognized that they were fellow travelers.
Nice for them. Not so nice for the girls whose lives they stomped on.
Ol’ Jeffy has kicked, either by his own means or by someone else’s. But Fatty is still stomping on lives. And now, his past seems to be catching up with him. And as much as he needs to pretend that he knew Epstein only as an acquaintance, those pictures tell a different story.
We’ll see how it goes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/07/18/antisemitism-task-force-dei-universities-trump/?
Gosh! And I thought it was all about anti-semitism on college campuses.
Wonder if anyone will notice that much of western liberal thinking is Jewish in origin?
Probably not.
So...if the R's with whom the Dems have negotiated spending packages will when they are in the majority change their minds and claw back funding they initially agreed to, why negotiate with the bastards in the first place?
Maybe not THE question of the day, but it's mine.
@Ken Winkes: re: "why negotiate with the bastards in the first place?" The other day, I heard somebody on the teevee make the same point. I can't remember who it was or if the person said anything beyond what you wrote.
But I do know that appropriations bills can be filibustered, which means that a rescission -- like the one just passed (for the first time since Bill Clinton was president) -- is a handy way for Republicans to negate an appropriations law they had to negotiate to get enough Senate Democrats to go for.
So let's say Senate Republicans have to agree to a two-billion-dollar appropriation for public media as part of an appropriations package in order to garner enough Senate Democrats' votes to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold. But Republicans really want to clip Big Bird's wings, so after the appropriations bill passes both houses & becomes law, Republicans bring a bill to claw back the $2BB. Because the rescission bill takes only a majority Senate vote, the bill passes. So the whole negotiation process, as you suggest, was a sham -- a trick to get Democrats to agree to other appropriations Republicans wanted. It's yet another way to overcome the filibuster, while pretending it's still there.
Tim Miller
"The rescission bill the House is voting on will cut $100 million for UNICEF's efforts to feed toddlers in emergencies. Meanwhile the recent OBBB included 3x that for Mar-a-lago security."
@Marie
Thanks. I hadn't thought of that...
I see Little Marco had a good idea:
"Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the 10 U.S. citizens and permanent residents had been arrested and jailed in Venezuela 'without proper due process' and called for the 'restoration of democracy in Venezuela.'"
More (or less?) from the I'd Rather Not Know Party:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/07/18/epa-office-research-development-eliminated/?
Am bummed about Colbert— been watching him since Daily Show. He will land on his feet but CBS is flat-footed and flat wrong. No need for the cowards to continue.
Daughter read comment re the Golden Cow—. The writer was offering “Clots and prayers.” How awful that we look forward to the obituary.