Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said that 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 President Trump, CNBC reports.
Inside the GOP-Led Plot to Defy Trump on the Epstein Files
“Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is moving forward with plans to force a vote on requiring the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, despite attempts by President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to take steam out of his efforts,” Axios reports.
“The push by Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) has proven popular in Congress, with most Democrats and some on the GOP’s right flank supporting it.”
Conservatives Get the Cuts They’ve Wanted for Decades
“They tried under Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. Newt Gingrich gave it a go when he controlled the House, and Bob Dole did, too, when he held power in the Senate,” the New York Times reports.
“But for five decades, Republicans failed time and again to choke off federal funding for public broadcasting. Some were afraid of being accused of avicide (for ‘killing Big Bird’ of Sesame Street), while others appreciated their local public stations (and the airtime they personally received) — always stopping the party short of turning their threats against PBS and NPR into law.”
“That they have finally been able to do it now, voting on Friday to claw back $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funds, on one level speaks to the power of President Trump. His threat to support primary challenges against any Republicans who might try to block the cuts all but guaranteed they would go through this time.”
“But the willingness of congressional Republicans to vote for a complete cutoff of federal money to public broadcasting also says a lot about sweeping changes in media…”
The Epstein Week That Was
Punchbowl News: “It’s hard to see how this week could’ve gone worse for President Donald Trump and House Republicans.”
“Paralyzed by infighting over the scandal surrounding the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, GOP lawmakers spent the week alternating between bickering among themselves or lamely trying to blame the Democrats for the Epstein debacle. They never came close to figuring out what to do next or how to do it. And at the end of the week, House Republicans left town in the middle of the night with the scandal only getting worse, not better…”
“Trump tried falsely blaming Democrats for the Epstein scandal, including former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, as well as former Attorney General Merrick Garland and former FBI Director James Comey. The Justice Department even fired Maurene Comey – James’ daughter and a longtime federal prosecutor who worked on the Epstein case – this week.”
“Yet this seemed to make things worse, not better. It was a hugely uncharacteristic moment for Trump since his return to the White House. Trump has had an iron grip over the GOP and his base. This week showed that even Trump has limits.”
Top Secret Service Official Targeted in ‘Swatting’
“A top Secret Service official was the target of a ‘swatting’ incident at his home on the Fourth of July,” Axios reports.
“While the incident didn’t lead to any harm, it’s another example of just how difficult it’s become for law enforcement to reign in the the wave of hoax calls.”
New Mexico Launches Automatic Voter Registration
“For the last 30-plus years, New Mexico residents have had the option to register to vote while getting a new driver’s license or updating their vehicle registration,” the Albuquerque Journal reports.
“But the state is now automatically registering eligible residents to vote while they’re interacting with Motor Vehicle Division field offices statewide, under the latest Democratic-backed plan to expand voting access.”
How Sam Altman Outplayed Elon Musk for Trump’s Ear
Wall Street Journal: “Altman was estranged from Musk, his OpenAI co-founder, and Musk’s new position as ‘first buddy’ had kept Altman out of meetings at Mar-a-Lago and in the overflow room at the inauguration rather than on the dais with his fellow tech CEOs.”
“So Altman bided his time, quietly maneuvering around Musk. He put together AI infrastructure deals that Trump supported and avoided his former friend, who had sued OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, for allegedly betraying its mission.”
“Altman forged his own relationship with the president, dining with him at Mar-a-Lago in March and speaking to him on the phone from time to time. A longtime Democrat who had once compared Trump to Hitler, Altman told associates he now regretted his harsh criticism during Trump’s first campaign and term.”
Israel Seeks Help Moving Palestinians Out of Gaza
“The director of Israel’s Mossad spy agency visited Washington this week seeking U.S. help in convincing countries to take hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza,” Axios reports.
Republicans Keep Voting for Bills They Don’t Like
NBC News: “The move represents a trend in Congress during President Donald Trump’s second term. Republican lawmakers across the ideological spectrum keep casting votes in favor of bills even while warning that they’re deeply flawed and may require fixing down the road. In some cases, lawmakers explicitly threaten to vote ‘no’ on bills before eventually folding and voting ‘yes.'”
“It isn’t unusual for lawmakers to back legislation they call imperfect. But this year, that contrast has become more stark. It comes as Trump has solidified his grasp over the GOP base, resulting in lawmakers growing increasingly leery of crossing him and risking their political futures.”
Trump Leverages His Power to Reap Profits
“If one theme has emerged in President Donald Trump’s second term, it’s this: He’s leveraged the power of his office for personal gain unlike anyone before in history,” the AP reports.
“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.”
Chaos Theory
Dave Weigel: “Democrats love to describe the ‘chaos’ President Donald Trump is causing in Washington. Hakeem Jeffries, who likes to speak in alliterative triplets, calls this a time of ‘chaos, cruelty, and corruption.’ Midterm candidates say they were inspired to run to fight the ‘chaos.’ When I followed potential presidential candidates to South Carolina this month — Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear were just there, Ro Khanna en route — heads nodded at any mention of chaos or exhausting DC news.”
“Imagine that you’re not watching that news…. The administration wanted a suite of tax cuts by July 4, and it got them. It wanted DOGE to hollow out ‘woke’ federal agencies; after some embarrassing court reversals, it got that. It wanted to defund public media and end foreign aid, and it pulled that off with something any prior Republican administration could have done: Impounding the money, then getting a GOP majority to claw it back.”
“The anti-Trump ‘resistance’ has done what it promised in December, and made all of this harder. But month by month the administration is dismantling government programs that would be hard for anyone to reconstruct, and setting new priorities that will be hard to reverse.”
“Specifically: Republicans have learned, three times this century, that if they cut income taxes, Democrats will keep most of the cuts in place.”
MAGA Rallies Behind Trump’s Attack on the Media
Steve Bannon joined a growing chorus of MAGA influencers coalescing behind President Trump in the wake of the Wall Street Journal report about a ribald birthday letter bearing Trump’s name that was sent to Jeffrey Epstein, telling CNN that he believed the story had united a base that had been showing signs of fraying.
Said Bannon: “We are finally on offense. President Trump has had enough and is fighting back – against his real enemies.”
Bannon was one of several of Trump’s high-profile supporters who had been skeptical of the administration’s handling of the Epstein case.
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Trump Gets a Win in the Culture Wars
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Trump to Open Retirement Market to Crypto Investments
“Donald Trump is preparing to open the $9 trillion U.S. retirement market to cryptocurrency investments, gold, and private equity in a move that would spur a radical shift in the way Americans’ savings are managed,” the Financial Times reports.
“Trump is expected to sign an executive order as soon as this week that would open up 401k plans to alternative investments beyond traditional stocks and bonds.”
Kristi Noem Moves Into Public Housing
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has moved from her private residence into a U.S. military installation, “after her cozy living arrangement with senior adviser Corey Lewandowski” was exposed by the Daily Mail.
Weekly News Quiz
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Trump Celebrates CBS Cancellation of Stephen Colbert
Donald Trump celebrated CBS’s decision to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and attacked the two remaining broadcast network late night hosts, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, Deadline reports.
Said Trump: “I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.”
