A member of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club joked about the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein selling Trump a “fully depreciated” woman for $22,500 in 2003.
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Trump Says Having a ‘Fight With the Wife’ Isn’t a Crime
President Trump suggested that offenses that “take place in the home” should not count against his record of crime reduction in Washington, saying his opponents are using reports of “a little fight with the wife” to undermine his crackdown, the New York Times reports.
The Epstein Letter Is Real
Jonathan Chait: “The president’s initial strategy of denying that the document exists leaves him with few options now that it has been made public.”
Aaron Blake: “The key fact here is that this comes from Epstein’s estate. In other words, for this letter to have been fake, someone would have had to plant it in Epstein’s possessions a long time ago, somehow.”
White House Denies It’s Trump’s Signature
“The White House is denying the authenticity of a newly released letter that President Donald Trump reportedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday, suggesting that the signature on the document does not match current documents,” NOTUS reports.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“They’re just not that different. They’re reporting the same fucking thing, starching it, trying to make it interesting, and then showing some guy who’s raising dogs in Alaska alone and some inspiring stories so we’re not just totally depressed about it. It’s the same fucking thing over and over.”
— Scott Galloway, on Pivot, predicting the end of the television network news business.
ICE Launches ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ in Chicago
“The Department of Homeland Security said Monday it has launched a new immigration enforcement operation in Chicago as part of the Trump administration’s effort to target “sanctuary cities,” and immigrant advocates said several people in heavily Hispanic communities had already been detained,” the Washington Post reports.
CBS Taps Conservative for New Ombudsman Role
“The new ownership of CBS News on Monday selected Kenneth Weinstein, a former chief executive of the Hudson Institute, a right-leaning policy think tank, to review complaints about its coverage in a new post as ombudsman at the network,” the New York Times reports.
Murdoch Family Resolves Succession Dispute
“Rupert Murdoch’s chosen son Lachlan will remain in charge of the family business, forestalling a predicted challenge from his siblings over the political bent of the conservative media empire,” CNN reports.
“Instead, three siblings are exiting the business altogether — in an ending worthy of a dramatic series finale.”
“The companies said that the Murdoch family’s existing trust setup is being replaced. Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch, described in legal filings as the ‘departing members,’ will receive about $1 billion each for their shares.”
A Visual Breakdown of the Trump Letter to Epstein
The Wall Street Journal analyzes the text and drawing Donald Trump gave to Jeffrey Epstein in a 2003 birthday book.
It’s very clear the Journal had this analysis ready to go.
Another Test of the Special Election Surge
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Trump’s Birthday Letter to Epstein Released
“Lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein’s estate have given Congress a copy of the birthday book put together for the financier’s 50th birthday, which includes a letter with Trump’s signature that he has said doesn’t exist,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA): “President Trump called the Epstein investigation a hoax and claimed that his birthday note didn’t exist. Now we know that Donald Trump was lying and is doing everything he can to cover up the truth. Enough of the games and lies, release the full files now.”
In all the coverage of this, only the Wall Street Journal has the picture — an indication they had it all along.
Hegseth in Puerto Rico
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior defense officials visited Puerto Rico on Monday, as the Pentagon looks to intensify military operations against drug cartels based in Latin American countries,” the Washington Post reports.
Reuters: Top Pentagon officials visit Puerto Rico as tensions with Venezuela soar.
Eric Adams Picks Ballot Line
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has abandoned his effort to appear on two ballot lines — “EndAntiSemitism” and “Safe & Affordable”— in November’s mayoral election, opting to only run on the latter, the New York Daily News reports.
Lawmakers Await Epstein ‘Birthday Book’
“The Jeffrey Epstein scandal will lead the news again this afternoon, much to the dismay of the White House and House GOP leaders. And President Donald Trump is in the middle of it all, as always,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The Epstein estate is expected to release the disgraced financier’s 2003 ‘birthday book’ and additional documents to the House Oversight Committee today.”
“Trump penned a congratulatory note and a picture of a hand-drawn naked woman to Epstein for his 50th birthday… Trump has denied writing the letter or sketching out the drawing, calling it a ‘fake thing.'”
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French Government Collapses, Again
French Prime Minister François Bayrou has lost the vote of confidence he called in his government, the BBC reports.
Bloomberg: “Parties across the political spectrum in France’s lower house joined forces Monday to overwhelmingly issue the rebuke to Bayrou, who called the motion in a failed attempt to rally support for his unpopular budget reforms. Just 194 lawmakers voted in support of the prime minister and 364 voted against.”
“President Emmanuel Macron will now have to decide whether to name a new premier or dissolve the National Assembly and call a new election, which would throw the country and markets into another period of chaos. The new government would still have to find a way to pass a new budget — an exercise that has now toppled the last two prime ministers.”
New York Times: “This was a demise foretold. Fatalistic in the face of a parliamentary impasse, Mr. Bayrou had, even before the debate began, invited his entourage to a ‘convivial moment,’ or farewell soirée, this evening. With four prime ministers in the past 20 months, and a fifth likely to be appointed now, the fall of French governments, once unusual, has become close to mundane.”
‘Cut Him Off’
Ezra Klein gives Democrats the rationale for allowing a government shutdown.
“I want to be very clear about what I am saying here. Donald Trump is corrupting the government — he is using it to hound his enemies, to line his pockets and to entrench his own power. He is corrupting it the way the Mafia would corrupt the industries it controlled. You could still, under Mafia rule, get the trash picked up or buy construction materials. But the point of those industries had become the preservation and expansion of the Mafia’s power and wealth.”
“This is what Trump is doing to the government. This is what Democrats cannot fund. This is what they have to try to stop.”
Chief Justice Allows Trump to Fire FTC Commissioner
Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ruled President Trump can fire a Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission while a lawsuit challenging her removal continues, the Washington Post reports.
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