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Flying Spaghetti Monster = Trump’s Effort to Evade Epstein Files Scandal

[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

For more than a week I have been watching Google Trends as Trump flings more and more spaghetti at the wall to find something that sticks.

Something with enough adhesion and coverage to hide his failure to produce the Epstein files, a kind of flying spaghetti monster more real than the snarky faux deity — sticky strands like the flip-floppery on tariffs, the unwarranted and unlawful occupation of Washington DC by National Guard, the embarrassing meeting with Putin on US soil.

US media has been helping Trump by allowing itself to be sucked into the noodly vortex with outrage du jour.

Yes, there’s a lot of outrage, and US media has failed to cover it in a way that conveys the depth of outrage. But they also allowed themselves to be led wholly off course by a convicted felon who is a serial liar and a serial business failure.

The one thing Trump has been consistently successful at in his lifetime: leading the media away from his failures.

Australia’s 60 Minutes did what CBS’ 60 Minutes in the US wouldn’t do. It stayed on course and covered the Epstein files scandal with this video aired August 17.

Meanwhile, Google Trends reflects Trump’s success steering US media and their consumers away from the gaping black hole that is the Epstein files Trump promised his base.

Google Trends, August 11, 2025 – search terms Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, tariffs, Russia

Google Trends, August 19, 2025 – search terms Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, tariffs, Russia

We cannot accept a Manchurian candidate run by Putin. We cannot accept the occupation of our cities at the Manchurian candidate’s orders.

But we absolutely cannot allow this Manchurian candidate to continue to throw tons of pasta to obscure his role in a human trafficking conspiracy.

Yes, his role, because he’s actively hiding the files by way of his proxies at DOJ, while allowing Ghislaine Maxwell privileges she should not have in the form of better detention conditions not permitted to sex offenders.

The conspiracy continues even after Jeffrey Epstein’s death; the victims are no closer to getting explanations about the human trafficking network in which Epstein and Maxwell operated, and the public including Trump’s base have been denied the files Trump promised as part of his campaign.

Press your members of Congress to get the files released. Press media outlets to stop being part of the conspiracy by inaction and to stay on the Epstein files. Don’t get buried under the flying spaghetti. Don’t let up.

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In Appointing a Babysitter, Todd Blanche Concedes Dan Bongino Can’t Match Andrew McCabe’s Competence

Forty days after Dan Bongino had to take a day off from work because he was so emotional about the Jeffrey Epstein cover-up, Todd Blanche appointed a babysitter for the podcast host.

Missouri’s far right wing Attorney General, Andrew Bailey, will serve as co-Deputy Director, which before Blanche arrived and turned DOJ into a vehicle for sex trafficking cover-ups, was never a thing.

Here’s how WaPo reported the appointment.

“Thrilled to welcome Andrew Bailey as our new FBI Co-Deputy Director,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on social media Monday evening. “As Missouri’s Attorney General, he took on the swamp, fought weaponized government and defended the Constitution. Now he is bringing that fight to DOJ.”

Fox News Digital first reported on Bailey’s appointment. Both Attorney General Pam Bondi and Patel provided comments to the outlet celebrating the move.

Multiple news outlets reported that Bailey was considered for a top Justice Department or FBI position at the beginning of the administration, but the president opted not to nominate him.

The FBI deputy director position does not require Senate approval and it was unclear how Bongino and Bailey will split the responsibilities of the job.

Bailey arrives at the FBI at a time when the bureau is facing intense criticism from Trump supporters over its handling of the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Before their positions at the FBI, Patel and Bongino had spread conspiracy theories about the case, suggesting that the FBI during the Biden administration covered up key details of the investigation to protect powerful people who may have participated in sex crimes alongside Epstein.

The move comes just as the FBI announced it will miss the deadline for turning over Epstein files to Congress, the kind of moment that might require better cover-up skills than releasing an obviously altered video as “proof” that Epstein killed himself.

Now, on the one hand, it’s easy to laugh your ass off at this move, which is tacit confirmation that Bongino is nowhere near as competent as, say, Andrew McCabe.

Bongino has wailed about how hard this job is. So now, I guess, he has a job share, the kind of accommodation you might make for someone with inadequate qualifications for the job.

On the other hand, I have suspicions that this is not so much about the Jeffrey Epstein cover-up and Bongino’s manifest incompetence. The move comes shortly after Kash Patel fired two senior officials, along with the agent who had been flying his plane (who also played a role in the Mar-a-Lago search and the Peter Navarro arrest).

The FBI has forced out at least three senior officials who found themselves at odds with President Donald Trump’s administration, including a former acting director who resisted demands to fire agents involved in investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to people familiar with the dismissals.

Brian Driscoll, who briefly served as acting head of the bureau during the first weeks of Trump’s second term, was fired by senior leaders this week and will finish his last day Friday, said three people familiar with his departure, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the unannounced personnel move.

Driscoll was given no reason for his firing, the people said. But during his brief tenure at the top, he earned the respect of much of the FBI’s rank and file after he resisted orders from Trump Justice Department appointees to identify hundreds of agents who had been involved in the Capitol riot investigations, which agents feared could signal a wider purge.

“I regret nothing,” Driscoll wrote in a farewell message to colleagues obtained by The Washington Post. He added, “Our collective sacrifices for those we serve is, and will always be, worth it.”

Also dismissed this week were Steven Jensen, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office, and Walter Giardina, an agent involved in the investigation that sent Trump’s former trade adviser Peter Navarro to prison, the people familiar with the matter said.

The firing of Driscoll and Jensen would already have required a new organizational structure, from the reorganization that Kash pushed through in March.

But I can’t help but thinking about the number of sensitive investigative steps at FBI that require high level approval — most famously, FISA warrants.

Everything at FBI runs according to the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (one, two), a big unwieldy guide meant to prevent the abuses of J Edgar Hoover. Not only do certain sensitive investigations — say, of journalists or members of Congress — require high level approval, in some cases from the Deputy. But the Deputy owns the document.

If you get a competently corrupt Deputy (Bongino certainly doesn’t have the competence) you could dismantle those protections in order to make the FBI a far more politicized entity.

Perhaps most notably, the appointment of Bailey comes the day after DOJ appealed a judge’s ruling that the FTC’s investigation of Media Matters repeats past attempts to infringe on the NGO’s First Amendment rights — a ruling in which Bailey’s own politicized investigation of Media Matters figured prominently.

Mr. Musk responded on November 18, 2023, by promising to file “a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters.” Id. ¶ 38 (quoting Elon Musk (@elonmusk), X (Nov. 18, 2023, 2:01 am), https://perma.cc/X4HN-PLJ4). He claimed that “activist groups like Media Matters . . . try to use their influence to attack our revenue streams by deceiving advertisers on X.” Id. ¶ 39 (quoting Elon Musk (@elonmusk), X (Nov. 18, 2023, 2:01 am), https://perma.cc/X4HN-PLJ4). As he saw it, Media Matters had “‘manipulate[d]’ advertisers and the public by ‘curat[ing]’ and ‘contriv[ing]’ in order to ‘find a rare instance of ads serving next to the content they chose to follow.’” Id. ¶ 39.

The next day, on November 19, 2023, Stephen Miller, the current White House Deputy Chief of Staff, in response to a post on X about the Media Matters article, stated that “[f]raud is both a civil and criminal violation” and that “[t]here are 2 dozen+ conservative state Attorneys General.” Id. ¶ 40 (quoting Stephen Miller (@StephenM), X (May 17, 2022, 11:12 am), https://perma.cc/5X5H-5QLN). Just a few hours later, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey replied to Mr. Miller’s post: “My team is looking into this matter.” Id. ¶ 41 (quoting Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey), X (Nov. 19, 2023, 4:46pm), https://perma.cc/J463- 656K). And the next day, on November 20, 2023, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton “announced that he was launching an investigation into Media Matters, purportedly under Texas’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act.” Id. ¶ 42. That same day, Mr. Musk’s X Corp. sued Media Matters and Mr. Hananoki in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. See id. ¶ 45 (citing X Corp. v. Media Matters for Am., No. 4:23-cv-1175 (N.D. Tex Nov. 20, 2023), ECF No. 1).1 And in the “weeks and months” that followed, “X Corp., through its international subsidiaries, filed suits in Ireland and Singapore.” Id. ¶ 46

[snip]

And the Court again granted a preliminary injunction on August 23, 2024, concluding that the Missouri CID likely amounted to First Amendment retaliation. See Media Matters for Am. v. Bailey, No. 24-cv-147, 2024 WL 3924573 (D.D.C. Aug. 23, 2024). Media Matters and the Missouri Attorney General ultimately settled their dispute in February 2025.

We know that Bailey likes to use the power of government to infringe on Democrats’ constitutional rights.

Which makes his appointment as FBI Deputy exceedingly dangerous.

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Tick-Tock: Redirecting Attention from Epstein Coverup Conspiracy

[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

I’m going to let this collection of snapshots speak for themselves. Links to these stories will be furnished at the bottom of the post; some publication times are overseas and may not be the first publication time but an unspecified update time.

 

\

I know, I know — I screwed up and should have parked the two August 6 10:48 AM ET stories side by side. You get the drift; those two and the story between them are listed in Google News as published 19 hours ago from approximately 9:00 AM ET when I started pulling these together.

How conveniently the story about Vance’s canoe trip popped up just about the time the Epstein conspiracy meeting was making too much trouble for Trump and his conspirators, just about the time Team Trump was desperate enough to think about compromising one of their Epstein skeptics to change the direction of media and public attention.

UPDATE — 10:40 AM —

I want to point out KATV changed the headline as well as the lede of their story. The image above shows the original headline which is still evident in the story’s URL. The update changes the impetus of the story completely.

What I can’t tell is how long it takes for Google News to swap the original headline for the “updated” version of a story. Clearly it didn’t happen between 5:42 PM ET when the story was “updated” by The National News Desk and refreshed at KATV, and roughly 9:00 AM ET this morning when I took a screen capture from Google News.

What’s interesting is the “updated” story angle — Vance’s denial about the Epstein files meeting — emerged almost in tandem with the Ohio River story.

This may not be the only “updated” story out there.
___________________

Top Trump officials will discuss Epstein strategy at Wednesday dinner hosted by Vance
Updated Aug 6, 2025, 3:46 PM ET
PUBLISHED Aug 5, 2025, 10:04 AM ET
By Alayna Treene, Josh Campbell, Paula Reid, Kristen Holmes, Kaitlan Collins
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/05/politics/trump-blanche-epstein-maxwell-vance-bondi-patel-meeting

Trump Officials to Discuss Handling of Jeffrey Epstein Case: Report
Published Aug 05, 2025 at 11:07 PM EDT
By Anna Commander
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-officials-discuss-handling-jeffrey-epstein-case-report-2109432

Top Trump administration officials will meet to strategize on Epstein, Maxwell, CNN says [1]
Wed, August 6th 2025 at 10:26 AM Updated Wed, August 6th 2025 at 5:42 PM
By RAY LEWIS | The National News Desk
https://katv.com/news/nation-world/top-trump-administration-officials-will-meet-to-strategize-on-epstein-maxwell-cnn-says

Vance, Bondi, Patel to huddle at VP residence for meeting amid Epstein fallout [2]
By Breanne Deppisch, David Spunt, Jake Gibson
Published August 6, 2025 10:48am EDT | Updated August 6, 2025 2:07pm EDT
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/vance-bondi-patel-huddle-vp-residence-epstein-strategy-meeting

Vance expected to host Epstein strategy dinner with Bondi, Blanche, Patel
August 6, 2025, 3:32 PM
By Katherine Faulders
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/vance-expected-host-epstein-strategy-dinner-bondi-blanche/story?id=124407326

Vance To Hold Epstein Strategy Meeting With Top FBI, DOJ Officials
August 06, 2025 10:48 AM ET
By Reagan Reese
https://dailycaller.com/2025/08/06/jd-vance-fbi-doj-strategy-meeting-epstein-fallout-ghislaine-maxwell/

JD Vance’s Epstein strategy dinner with Kash Patel today: ‘Missing from this group is….’
TOI World Desk / TIMESOFINDIA.COM / Updated: Aug 06, 2025, 22:24 IST
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/jd-vances-epstein-strategy-dinner-with-kash-patel-today-missing-from-this-group-is-/articleshow/123145846.cms

JD Vance to host Epstein strategy dinner with top Trump officials, including AG Bondi, FBI boss Kash Patel
Published Aug. 6, 2025, 12:47 p.m. ET
By Breanne Deppisch, David Spunt, Jake Gibson
https://nypost.com/2025/08/06/us-news/vance-to-host-epstein-strategy-dinner-with-bondi-patel-blanche/

JD Vance to meet with top Trump officials to plot Epstein strategy – report
Wed 6 Aug 2025 13.20 EDT
By Anna Betts-New York
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/06/jeffrey-epstein-jd-vance-trump-meeting

JD Vance denies convening Trump’s top team to discuss Epstein
Wednesday August 06 2025, 7.25 pm BST, The Times
By Lara Spirit-Washington DC
https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/epstein-strategy-dinner-jd-vance-maxwell-xrmvz7qjt

JD Vance’s team had water level of Ohio river raised for family’s boating trip
Wed 6 Aug 2025 17.46 EDT
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner and David Smith
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/06/jd-vance-ohio-lake-water-levels

Trump Makes JD Vance Awkwardly Deny Secret Epstein Crisis Talks
Updated Aug. 6 2025 8:31PM EDT
Published Aug. 6 2025 8:02PM EDT
By Farrah Tomazin
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-makes-jd-vance-awkwardly-deny-secret-epstein-crisis-talks/

Planned dinner for Trump officials to discuss Epstein appears to have been moved amid media scrutiny
Updated Aug 6, 2025, 9:38 PM ET
PUBLISHED Aug 6, 2025, 3:55 PM ET
By By Kristen Holmes, Alayna Treene
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/06/politics/jd-vance-dinner-epstein-scandal

Trump team looking to Joe Rogan for help amid lingering Epstein-Ghislaine Maxwell fallout, report says
Thursday 07 August 2025 14:41 BST
By Oliver O’Connell
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-epstein-joe-rogan-vance-maxwell-dinner-news-live-b2803187.html

[1] See update at bottom of post above
[2] Headline from embedded video appears in Google News; article headline is different
___________________

*** NEED FROM YOU *** Any story about the Epstein files should be archived because they are subject to change. At least two of the stories above may have been manipulated so that the original headline doesn’t now appear in Google News.

To archive in the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive:
• Copy the URL of the news story.
• Go to https://web.archive.org/
• Paste the URL into the Save Page Now field at the lower right of the site and click on Save Page button
• When next page opens, click on Save Page, check the box to include error messages (this will tell readers when the page may have gone bad/been pulled)

Don’t let them try to sweep coverage under the digital rug!

###

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Ten Years Ago I Warned Republicans Had Few Means of Limiting the Damage Trump Would Do

Ten years ago today, I published this article, in which I predicted that Republicans would all fall in line behind Trump.

[S]o long as the base continues to eat up Trump’s schtick –the Republicans are going to be stuck with him, because they have few means of controlling him and even fewer to limit any damage he might do if provoked.

[snip]

If all proceeds as things appear to be proceeding — although, yes, it is far too early to say for certain that it will — Republicans will ultimately be applauding the prospect of President Trump. complete with the possibility he’ll appoint Dennis Rodman (drawing on his diplomatic trip to North Korea) as Ambassador to China. If and when Trump becomes the only viable opponent for Hillary Clinton, Republicans will be forced to accept their fate and hope for the best.

And with it, they may well recognize that their ideological celebration of the rich and of demagoguery have delivered them precisely the candidate they’ve asked for.

It’s a dizzying read for me, not least because I recognize a number of things (including the Russian plot to help Trump, but even more the resurgent authoritarianism of the right) had already kicked off, little visible until Trump caused a light to focus on them.

That said, what was already visible — not least, Trump’s demonization of immigrants as a means to grab attention and encourage the worst instincts among white Americans — carry through to this day.

 

 

In recent days Trump’s ability to grab and control attention has come under strain, in part because the very forces he unleashed refuse to be placated by bullshit.

 

 

But after Donald Trump largely confessed that he knew of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking but did nothing more than demand that Epstein stop recruiting at Mar-a-Lago, the press has largely ignored the import of that and moved on.

As a WaPo story quoting the White House declaring victory on Trump’s Epstein scandal notes today, Trump has managed to do this before.

“People forget,” the White House official said. “We’ve gone through these things for the last eight years.”

It’s been ten years, not eight.

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Did Trump Just Confess He Learned about Virginia Giuffre before Jeffrey Epstein Recruited Someone Else at Mar-a-Lago?

Update: In a Gaggle today, Trump did just confess this is about Giuffre and others.

Reporter 1: I’m just curious. Were some of the workers that were taken from you — were some of them young women?

Trump: Were some of them?

Reporter 1: Were some of them young women?

Trump: Well, I don’t wanna say, but everyone knows the people that were taken. It was, the concept of taking people that work for me is bad. But that story’s been pretty well out there. And the answer is, yes, they were. 

[inaudible]

Trump: In the spa. People that work in the spa. I have a great spa, one of the best spas in the world at Mar-a-Lago. And people were taken out of the spa. Hired. By him. In other words, gone. And um, other people would come and complain. This guy is taking people from the spa. I didn’t know that. And then when I heard about it I told him, I said, listen, we don’t want you taking our people, whether they were spa or not spa. I don’t want him taking people. And he was fine and then not too long after that he did it again and I said Out of here.

Reporter 2: Mr. President, did one of those stolen persons, did that include Virginia Giuffre? 

Trump: Uh, I don’t know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people, yeah. He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know. None whatsoever. 


Yesterday, Donald Trump offered an entirely new explanation for his falling out with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Not a fight, in 2004, over the purchase of the property from which Trump would soon earn a tidy profit from Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev.

For the better part of two decades starting in the late 1980s, Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump swam in the same social pool. They were neighbors in Florida. They jetted from LaGuardia to Palm Beach together. They partied at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and dined at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion.

And then, in 2004, they were suddenly rivals, each angling to snag a choice Palm Beach property, an oceanfront manse called Maison de l’Amitie — the House of Friendship — that was being sold out of bankruptcy.

[snip]

It is unclear whether Trump and Epstein were in contact after the house sale. That month, Trump left two messages for Epstein at his home in Palm Beach, according to records obtained by Vice News — the last known interaction between the two men.

Four years after he bought the Gosman mansion, Trump sold it to Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev for $95 million, more than doubling his investment.

Not a generic recoil from “a creep” (as if a guy who wanted to make Matt Gaetz his Attorney General would be turned off by Epstein).

But instead because Epstein poached two of his employees. Or rather and perhaps more importantly, Epstein “stole” one employee, Trump told him not to do it again, and then Epstein stole another.

What caused the breach with him? Very easy to explain. But I don’t want to waste your time by explaining it. But for years I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn’t talk. Because he did something that was inappropriate. He hired help. And I said, don’t ever do that again. He stole people that worked for me. I said, don’t ever do that again. He did it again. And I threw him out of the place. Persona non grata. I threw him out. And that was it.

Epstein did, in fact, steal at least one employee from Trump: Virginia Giuffre, back in the summer of 2000 (and so years before even the most public date given for when Trump broke with Epstein, 2004). Within a year, Maxwell allegedly forced Giuffre to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions.

But a 2020 book told of another, later, incident when Epstein recruited (or attempted to) at Mar-a-Lago, that time with the daughter of a member.

Donald Trump severed ties with Jeffrey Epstein after the disgraced financier hit on the teenage daughter of a Mar-a-Lago member, threatening the Trump brand of glitz and glamour, according to a new book published about the president’s Palm Beach club.

[snip]

Another club member explained that Trump “kicked Epstein out after Epstein harassed the daughter of a member. The way this person described it, such an act could irreparably harm the Trump brand, leaving Donald no choice but to remove Epstein,” said Sarah Blaskey, a Miami Herald investigative reporter who co-wrote the book with Miami Herald journalists Nicholas Nehamas and Jay Weaver and Caitlin Ostroff of the Wall Street Journal. “The Trump Organization did not respond to our requests for comment on this or other matters.”

A footnote in the book says the authors were shown the club’s registry from more than a decade earlier and that Epstein in fact had been a member until October 2007.

To be sure, it would pathological to describe the recruitment of sex trafficking victims as simply hiring someone’s help away from them. But it is the case that Giuffre, at least, went from employ at Mar-a-Lago (where her father was a more trusted employee) to years of financial payment from Epstein.

Calling that “employment” is precisely the kind of fiction Trump engages in all the time — to treat the financially-lubricated sex trafficking of women as mere employ.

What I’m interested in with the possibility that Trump cut off Epstein for recruiting at Mar-a-Lago is the timing Trump just laid out.

Epstein stole an employee (hypothetically, Giuffre, in 2000). Trump told Epstein not to do it again. And then — possibly the event that led to the 2007 removal — “he did it again.”

Right in-between those incidents, in 2002, Trump told New York Magazine that Epstein liked his girls (Trump called them “women”) young.

Epstein likes to tell people that he’s a loner, a man who’s never touched alcohol or drugs, and one whose nightlife is far from energetic. And yet if you talk to Donald Trump, a different Epstein emerges. “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump booms from a speakerphone. “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. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”

And then, according to WSJ, in 2003, Trump or his staff sent Epstein a birthday letter referencing secrets and enigmas, with Trump’s signature appearing like pubic hair.

“Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything,” the note began.

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.

If Donald Trump learned what happened to Giuffre and warned Epstein never to recruit sex slaves at Mar-a-Lago again, it would mean he was aware of what happened to Giuffre, aware years before law enforcement first started investigating Epstein. It would mean he learned Epstein was trafficking girls, which that New York Magazine quote sure seems to reflect, and rather than do something to make Epstein stop, Trump just told him not to do it at Mar-a-Lago.

It would also mean that whatever records the FBI has on their investigation into Prince Andrew — an investigation that led the Prince to stop traveling internationally — would reflect personally on Donald Trump. Not because of what Trump did, but because of what he didn’t do.

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DOJ Denied Jeffrey Epstein Blackmail … But Not Ghislaine Maxwell Blackmail

WSJ has confirmed not only that Donald Trump’s name is in the Epstein files — and that Pam Bondi told him that on some unidentified date in May.

When Justice Department officials reviewed what Attorney General Pam Bondi called a “truckload” of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein earlier this year, they discovered that Donald Trump’s name appeared multiple times, according to senior administration officials.

In May, Bondi and her deputy informed the president at a meeting in the White House that his name was in the Epstein files, the officials said. Many other high-profile figures were also named, Trump was told. Being mentioned in the records isn’t a sign of wrongdoing.

The officials said it was a routine briefing that covered a number of topics and that Trump’s appearance in the documents wasn’t the focus.

They told the president at the meeting that the files contained what officials felt was unverified hearsay about many people, including Trump, who had socialized with Epstein in the past, some of the officials said.

The detail that Trump was told means that Trump lied when ABC asked him about it on July 15 (as you watch the video, watch how Karoline Leavitt’s head swings around as Trump is asked).

On July 15, an ABC News journalist asked Trump, as he took questions from reporters at the White House, what Bondi told him about the Epstein files: “Specifically, did she tell you at all that your name appeared in the files?”

“No, no, she’s—she’s given us just a very quick briefing,” Trump responded. He also said Bondi had “really done a very good job” on the Epstein review.

DOJ, FBI, and the White House have now all issued statements that don’t address the issue. The Bondi/Blanche one that appears in this ABC piece emphasizes that there was nothing left to investigate — something totally contradictory from Blanche’s plans to do a proffer with Maxwell.

In a statement, Bondi and Blanche said, “The DOJ and FBI reviewed the Epstein Files and reached the conclusion set out in the July 6 memo. Nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution, and we have filed a motion in court to unseal the underlying grand jury transcripts. As part of our routine briefing, we made the President aware of the findings.” [my emphasis]

Consider how that emphasis compares with the full, most tortured paragraph, in the July 7 release.

This systematic review revealed no incriminating “client list.” There was also no credibleevidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.

As I wrote at the time, this very short paragraph was sandwiched between two actually credible sections stating that much of the material would implicate the victims and that Epstein killed himself (was allowed to kill himself) in prison.

So yesterday, DOJ and FBI released (or rather, made available to Axios without yet, apparently, releasing it via normal channels) a two-page unsigned notice (which may be on letterhead created for the purpose).

It included two main, credible conclusions:

  • Much of the material that FBI has depicts victims and any release of that material would retraumatize the victims.
  • FBI concluded (and Trump’s flunkies agree) that Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. DOJ released two files (one unalteredone enhanced, both with titles that do not even mention Epstein) showing that no one entered his cell the night he killed himself.

But there’s also a short, broader conclusion that is less sound.

This systematic review revealed no incriminating “client list.” There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties. [my emphasis]

Emphasis on credible?

Of course there’s a client list; one version of it was already released. There are also the names or descriptions shared by victims of the men who abused them. And while there may be no evidence in the FBI files that Epstein did blackmail Trump or anyone else, he had blackmail material on them.

DOJ’s current story emphasizes the third sentence: There wasn’t enough to open an investigation against uncharged third parties (whom we now know to include Trump). DOJ is less interested in talking about what was always clearly a dodge: no, there’s no client list, but there are people who, the evidence shows, raped one or some of Epstein’s victims, and that list could be released.

The second sentence looks a lot different, just a few weeks later.

There may be no credible evidence that Epstein blackmailed people.

But all this has been proceeding as Ghislaine Maxwell seeks a way out of prison. All this has been proceeding as the WSJ gets stories about Trump using his signature as pubic hair. All this has been proceeding as Trump’s defense attorney claims to be representing the interest of the country by meeting with Ghislaine — all while ignoring the victims.

That paragraph always looked like misdirection.

But now DOJ is misdirecting even from two of the three sentences in that paragraph.

Timeline

February 16, 2017: Alex Acosta nominated Secretary of Labor.

July 2, 2019: Jeffrey Epstein indicted.

July 12, 2019: Alex Acosta resigns.

August 10, 2019: Epstein dies by suicide.

June 20, 2020: Geoffrey Berman fired.

June 29, 2020: Ghislaine Maxwell indicted.

March 29, 2021: Superseding indictment.

November 16, 2021: Jury selection begins.

December 29, 2021: Maxwell convicted on 5 of 6 counts.

February 28, 2023: Maxwell appeals.

September 17, 2024: Second Circuit rejects appeal.

January 15, 2025: Maxwell delays appeal.

February 10, 2025: Dan Bongino promises he’ll never let Epstein story go.

February 21, 2025: Pam Bondi claims Epstein client list is on her desk.

February 27, 2025: Bondi orchestrates re-release of previously released Epstein files.

March 4, 2025: James Dennehy forced to retire.

March 14, 2025: Pam Bondi conducts emergency review of Epstein and Maxwell documents.

April 10, 2025: Maxwell files cert petition.

April 25, 2025: Virginia Giuffre dies by suicide.

Sometime in May: Bondi tells Trump he’s in the Epstein files.

May 7, 2025: John Sauer delays response; Bondi claims there are thousands of videos.

May 18, 2025: Kash Patel and Dan Bongino affirm that Epstein killed himself.

May 22, 2025: Epstein prison video created.

June 5, 2025: Elon Musk claims Trump is in the Epstein files.

June 6, 2025: John Sauer delays response.

July 7, 2025: Pam Bondi claims there’s no there there.

July 8, 2025: Trump loses it over questions about Epstein.

July 9, 2025: Undefined ABC query about Epstein leads to spat at DOJ.

July 12, 2025: Trump attempts to claim Epstein is a Democratic plot.

July 14, 2025: DOJ defends Maxwell prosecution; David Markus suggests Trump is reneging on a deal.

July 15, 2025: WSJ interviews Trump about Epstein book; Trump falsely tells ABC he has not been told.

July 16, 2025: Pam Bondi fires Maurene Comey, on Trump’s personal authority.

July 17, 2025: Trump yells at supporters who won’t move on from Epstein. WSJ publishes story.

July 18, 2025: Todd Blanche files to unseal grand jury materials; Trump sues WSJ.

July 21, 2025: Mike Johnson dodges week of work to give Trump “space” to fix his Epstein problem.

July 22, 2025: Blanche announces he’ll meet with Maxwell; Oversight votes to subpoena Maxwell for deposition.

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Trump’s Defense Attorney Todd Blanche Will Meet with Sex Trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to Make a Deal for His Client

Trump Defense Attorney Todd Blanche and Pam Bondi just announced that Blanche will meet with Ghislaine Maxwell and discuss potential cooperation deals with her.

Statement from @DAGToddBlanche: This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead.  The joint statement by the DOJ and FBI of July 6 remains as accurate today as it was when it was written.  Namely, that in the recent thorough review of the files maintained by the FBI in the Epstein case, no evidence was uncovered that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.  President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislane Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say.   Therefore, at the direction of Attorney General Bondi, I have communicated with counsel for Ms. Maxwell to determine whether she would be willing to speak with prosecutors from the Department.  I anticipate meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days.  Until now, no administration on behalf of the Department had inquired about her willingness to meet with the government.  That changes now.

Justice demands courage. For the first time, the Department of Justice is reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell to ask: what do you know? At @AGPamBondi’s direction, I’ve contacted her counsel. I intend to meet with her soon. No one is above the law—and no lead is off-limits.

So here’s what happened.

Maxwell delayed her appeal to SCOTUS until after the inauguration. Trump’s DOJ twice delayed the decision whether they were going to defend the appeal, finally filing their response on Monday.

That day, Maxwell’s defense attorney, David Markus, insinuated that Trump was reneging on a deal.

In a statement Monday, an attorney for Maxwell hinted at the swirling controversy surrounding the Trump administration’s decision not to release any further records related to investigations of Epstein.

“I’d be surprised if President Trump knew his lawyers were asking the Supreme Court to let the government break a deal. He’s the ultimate dealmaker—and I’m sure he’d agree that when the United States gives its word, it should keep it. With all the talk about who’s being prosecuted and who isn’t, it’s especially unfair that Ghislaine Maxwell remains in prison based on a promise the government made and broke,” wrote David Oscar Markus.

The next day, Tuesday, WSJ moved forward with a story implicating Trump in “daily secrets” with Jeffrey Epstein.

The following day, Wednesday, Pam Bondi fired Maurene Comey, the prosecutor who would be competent to assess any cooperation offered from Maxwell.

Friday, in a false show of transparency, Todd Blanche (filing under his defense attorney identity) moved to unseal grand jury transcripts that DOJ has in a form it could release immediately.

Meanwhile, Trump’s DNI Tulsi Gabbard created a false diversion to distract his rubes.

Yesterday, the Speaker of the House ceded his majority for a week to give Trump “space” to cover up his pedophile problem.

My belief is we need the administration to have the space to do what it is doing,

And today, Trump’s Defense Attorney Todd Blanche announces he will meet with Maxwell soon to make the kind of deal that could excuse releasing her early. Probably, he’ll ask her to implicate someone like Bill Clinton.

Absent that deal, it seems clear, the WSJ will continue to publish stories implicating the President in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking.

Update: Markus, in his Tweet about the deal, does Trump a real solid by suggesting Trump is taking action to “uncover the truth.”

I can confirm that we are in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully. We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case.” David Oscar Markus We have no other comment at this time.

Update: Oversight just agreed to subpoena Maxwell for a deposition in a voice vote. This could complicate Blanche’s plans.

Timeline:

February 16, 2017: Alex Acosta nominated Secretary of Labor.

July 2, 2019: Jeffrey Epstein indicted.

July 12, 2019: Alex Acosta resigns.

August 10, 2019: Epstein dies by suicide.

June 20, 2020: Geoffrey Berman fired.

June 29, 2020: Ghislaine Maxwell indicted.

March 29, 2021: Superseding indictment.

November 16, 2021: Jury selection begins.

December 29, 2021: Maxwell convicted on 5 of 6 counts.

February 28, 2023: Maxwell appeals.

September 17, 2024: Second Circuit rejects appeal.

January 15, 2025: Maxwell delays appeal.

February 10, 2025: Dan Bongino promises he’ll never let Epstein story go.

February 21, 2025: Pam Bondi claims Epstein client list is on her desk.

February 27, 2025: Bondi orchestrates re-release of previously released Epstein files.

March 4, 2025: James Dennehy forced to retire.

March 14, 2025: Pam Bondi conducts emergency review of Epstein and Maxwell documents.

April 10, 2025: Maxwell files cert petition.

April 25, 2025: Virginia Giuffre dies by suicide.

May 7, 2025: John Sauer delays response; Bondi claims there are thousands of videos.

May 18, 2025: Kash Patel and Dan Bongino affirm that Epstein killed himself.

May 22, 2025: Epstein prison video created.

June 6, 2025: John Sauer delays response.

July 7, 2025: Pam Bondi claims there’s no there there.

July 8, 2025: Trump loses it over questions about Epstein.

July 12, 2025: Trump attempts to claim Epstein is a Democratic plot.

July 14, 2025: DOJ defends Maxwell prosecution; David Markus suggests Trump is reneging on a deal.

July 15, 2025: WSJ interviews Trump about Epstein book.

July 16, 2025: Pam Bondi fires Maurene Comey, on Trump’s personal authority.

July 17, 2025: Trump yells at supporters who won’t move on from Epstein. WSJ publishes story.

July 18, 2025: Todd Blanche files to unseal grand jury materials; Trump sues WSJ.

July 21, 2025: Mike Johnson dodges week of work to give Trump “space” to fix his Epstein problem.

July 22, 2025: Blanche announces he’ll meet with Maxwell; Oversight votes to subpoena Maxwell for deposition.

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Mike Johnson Quit Work Early to Give Trump “Space” to Deal with His Jeffrey Epstein Problem

Amid a flood of Steve Bannon-sourced stories (in the NYTWaPo, and CNN) claiming Trump has solved his Jeffrey Epstein problem and a parallel flood of document dumps — including the MLK files (over the family’s objections) and a DOJ IG Report showing that Peter Strzok was not permitted to investigate Hillary Clinton as aggressively as he wanted — attempting to reclaim Trump’s authority to grab and redirect attention — Mike Johnson face-planted.

Johnson was considering his meaningless, non-binding measure calling on Trump to release the Epstein files he already promised to release, but when asked by CNN, he said he would instead give Trump “space” to deal with his Jeffrey Epstein problem.

Johnson told CNN on Monday the full House would not vote on a pending measure from members of his own party – a non-binding resolution calling for the release of additional Epstein files – before the chamber’s August recess, which is slated to begin at week’s end.

“My belief is we need the administration to have the space to do what it is doing, and if further congressional action is necessary or appropriate, then we’ll look at that, but I don’t think we’re at that point right now, because we agree with the president,” he said.

I mean, Mike Johnson could lend Trump Denny Hastert’s old office to provide space to work through his pedophile problem. Is that what he meant?

It got worse. Because Tom Massie — running around the House with a binder mocking Pam Bondi’s own — was unified with Democrats behind a binding measure, Republicans couldn’t even get a rule passed so as to do something productive with their last week of session.

So instead they quit.

The House Rules Committee came to a standstill Monday night as GOP leaders struggled to contain rank-and-file Republicans and their Democratic allies clamoring for a floor vote to compel the publication of materials related to the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.

Committee Democrats had planned to force a vote that evening on legislation that would call for the release of the materials, as the panel worked to tee up floor consideration on a slate of unrelated bills. It was poised to be a repeat of what transpired last Thursday inside Rules, which gummed up the works for several hours.

But rather than this time work through the Democratic disruption, Republicans chose instead Monday to recess the rest of the Rules meeting altogether, with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) saying it was “unlikely” that the panel would reconvene this week at all. Later, lawmakers said there were no plans to return at all.

This is a Big Fucking Deal.

Because Trump is running scared, the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein has — however temporarily — deprived Trump of his majority in the House.

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The Virgin Birth of the Epstein Book Story

The WSJ and Donald Trump are telling different versions of the genesis of the story on Trump’s birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein. But both are hiding the timeline of how the story came together.

As Trump’s “Statement of Facts” in his frivolous lawsuit claims, Joe Palazzolo sent Karoline Leavitt an email alerting her WSJ was going to publish.

12. On July 15, 2025, Palazzolo sent an email to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt advising of Dow Jones’ intent to publish an article which discussed a purported letter sent by President Trump to Epstein for Epstein’s fiftieth birthday.

WSJ says that one or both of them actually interviewed Trump during the evening on July 15 (it doesn’t describe the circumstances of the interview), and in that interview the President told [the Journal] he was going to sue.

In an interview with the Journal on Tuesday evening, 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,” he said.

“I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” he said. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”

He told the Journal he was preparing to file a lawsuit if it published an article. “I’m gonna sue The Wall Street Journal just like I sued everyone else,” he said. [my emphasis]

In a Truth Social post published shortly after the story, Trump claimed (using the passive voice) that Murdoch “personally, [was] warned directly by President Donald J. Trump” and that Karoline Leavitt warned Emma Tucker.

The Wall Street Journal, and Rupert Murdoch, personally, were warned directly by President Donald J. Trump that the supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was a FAKE and, if they print it, they will be sued. Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so. The Editor of The Wall Street Journal, Emma Tucker, was told directly by Karoline Leavitt, and by President Trump, that the letter was a FAKE, but Emma Tucker didn’t want to hear that.

None of those conversations appear in the lawsuit (nor is Tucker included in the suit, though CEO Robert Thomson, whom Trump claims was also “put on notice” is). It says that, seemingly in response to  in response to Palazzolo’s email and “that same afternoon,” some unnamed counsel (Alejandro Brito, who filed the suit? someone at the White House? he doesn’t say) sent an email warning that the “claim[] that President Trump authored the purported letter … was false.”

13. That same afternoon, counsel for President Trump sent an email to Defendants advising that the intended article was false in claiming that President Trump authored the purported letter, which he did not, and further warned Dow Jones to cease and desist from publishing, disseminating, or otherwise distributing such information, because it was false and defamatory.

14. None of the Defendants responded to the email. [my emphasis]

Trump doesn’t quote this email. But the claim the email refutes — that Trump “authored” the email — is not what the story says at all. It says this:

[Ghislaine Maxwell] turned to Epstein’s family and friends [for birthday emails]. One of them was Donald Trump.

[snip]

The letter [bears] Trump’s name

[snip]

It isn’t clear how the letter with Trump’s signature was prepared.

A non-existent claim that Trump authored the email is by no means the only thing in the lawsuit Trump makes up.

Mind you, this lawsuit, like the ones against CBS and ABC (the others that Trump boasted about having sued), is only ostensibly about factual claims. It’s really about power. As he said in a Truth Social post after filing the lawsuit, this is about “[holding] to account.”

We have proudly held to account ABC and George [Stephanopoulos], CBS and 60 Minutes, The Fake Pulitzer Prizes, and many others who deal in, and push, disgusting LIES, and even FRAUD, to the American People.

I have noted that Trump may be less interested in threatening News Corp with regulatory consequences than ABC and CBS; after all, he relies on the dominance of the Fox News bubble. But unless we’re misunderstanding this lawsuit (and we may well be), his goal is to force Rupert Murdoch to sit for a deposition or, in Murdoch’s attempt attempt to avoid that, to extort millions of dollars as tribute.

But to understand whether that would ever happen, it would help to know some more background that either side is revealing. Just as one example, was early reporting on this story the reason why Trump so feebly asked “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein” on July 8, a full week before the Tuesday exchanges about the truth of the story.

WSJ takes credit for the panic Trump expressed on July 16 — the day when, we now know, he knew the story was coming but we only knew rumors.

Earlier this week, after the Journal sought comment from the president about the letter, Trump told reporters at the White House that he believed some Epstein files were “made up” by former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden and former FBI Director James Comey.

He said that releasing any more Epstein files would be up to Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Whatever she thinks is credible, she should release,” Trump said.

But they don’t take credit for the very similar panic Trump expressed on July 12, the first time he attempted to slot the Epstein scandal in next to other things he falsely claims are hoaxes.

15. Instead, on July 17, 2025, Defendants published, or caused the publishing of, the article authored by Defendants Safdar and Palazzolo titled “Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album. One was from Donald Trump” (the “Article”).

Something put Trump entirely off his game before July 8 and it’s not yet clear whether he has resumed it with Tulsi’s conspiracy theories or not.

It’s not clear whether this story spooked him, or this story came about by the circumstances that spooked him a few weeks earlier (though it is clear that a story like this would take some time to fact check).

It’s not even clear whether Trump has a Jeffrey Epstein problem, or a far more pressing Ghislaine Maxwell problem.

Update: Ben Wittes’ thoughts about why Trump might be suing mirror my own. But as I said, I think the obvious answers may not be the correct ones.

A second possibility is that the story is true, but that Trump thinks—like Wilde and Hiss did—that it can’t be proven true. So he thinks he can use the litigation to intimidate the press and raise doubts about the truth of the allegations. This was a dangerous move for Wilde and Hiss, and it’s a dangerous move for Trump too. The discovery process never flatters a man like Trump; there are a lot of people who know things about his relationship with Epstein; and there are undoubtedly other documents out there as well that reflect on it. Creating a formal legal process in which Trump has to provide materials to an opposing litigant and answer questions about those materials is a profoundly risky game.

Possibility number three—which I suspect is the most likely one—is that the story is true and the litigation is just for show. Trump knows he can’t afford discovery. He also knows his suit has no merit. So while he gets a news splash out of filing the lawsuit, he will then—as he did with the Des Moines Register poll suit—quietly drop it sometime down the road, before the discovery can actually do him any harm. This way, he gets much of the intimidation benefit of the suit. He costs News Corp. some money. But he doesn’t put much at risk.

A final possibility is that Trump hasn’t really considered the risks at all; he’s just rage-suing. Rage-suing is somewhat like rage-tweeting, except that it involves lawyers. With rage-tweeting, public relations people and policy folks clean up the damage after the fact. In the case of rage-suing, lawyers do so—assuming they can. If this is what’s going on here, Trump could dig himself into a real hole. He could get a judge who doesn’t look kindly on this sort of thing. He could end up having to turn over a lot of documents. He could end up having to testify under oath, the very thing that got Clinton into trouble.

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