ProPublica reports the White House intervened on behalf of accused sex trafficker Andrew Tate during a federal investigation.

Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them. The official who delivered the message, Paul Ingrassia, is a lawyer who previously represented the Tate brothers before joining the White House.

Andrew Egger: “The president is running his usual playbook for slapping down internal enemies—the barrage of personal attacks, the accusations of sour grapes, the public brainstorming process for mean nicknames. But none of it seems to be having the usual effect. The shock-and-awe tactics are supposed to cow their target and set them crawling to Mar-a-Lago for forgiveness. But Greene seems unbothered. While Trump’s unsubtle declarations of open war against a Republican are supposed to function as marching orders for the broader MAGA base and Trump infotainment apparatus, Greene appears to be shielded by her own, hard-won MAGA cachet.”

“It is Trump, not Greene, who is beating a hasty retreat on the matter that sparked their fight in the first place.”

David Graham: “Endorsing the House vote is strange, given that Trump could simply release the files himself, but despite his attempts to downplay it, this is a big concession. Trump has given in only after his repeated attempts to derail the release have failed.”

“In changing course, however, Trump opens himself up to new political risks—and shows why he’s such a terrible political ally for House Republicans.”

People reports when an off-camera female reporter — later identified as a Bloomberg reporter — began to ask if there was anything “incriminating” in the Jeffrey Epstein emails, President Trump pointed a finger in her face and said: “Quiet. Quiet, Piggy.”

Dan Pfeiffer: “There is a liberal fantasy that Emperor Trump will one day have his no-clothes moment, when the fact that he is a con man, a fraud, and a clown becomes apparent to all. This idea — that we are just one revelation away from millions of Trump supporters taking off their MAGA hats and seeing the light — is the undercurrent of so much Trump discourse on MSNBC and elsewhere.”

“That moment is never coming. Polarization and partisanship are powerful drugs, and most of Trump’s base would follow him off a cliff rather than admit his critics were right. However, the coalition that put him back in office just over a year ago appears to be on the verge of collapse.”

The Atlantic: “On the morning after he won a second term as president, Donald Trump placed an unexpected call to his top fundraiser, Meredith O’Rourke. The night before, he’d told a ballroom of supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, that he had held his last political rally—’Can you believe it?’—and was ready to focus on governing. But his message to O’Rourke after the break of dawn was different. ‘I want you to keep going’ he told her…”

“Trump has kept careful track of the money coming in, regularly calling O’Rourke late at night for updates. He monitors who is giving, who is not, and the role of lobbyists who bundle donations, those familiar with his efforts told us. At times, the actual donation amount is less important to the president than the percentage of the donor’s overall assets.”