Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 193
The Magnificent Seven
Wall Street Journal: “Behind the stunning downfall of two Democratic politicians this midterm cycle is a 29-year-old lawyer and progressive social media influencer.”
“Cheyenne Hunt played a key role in surfacing serious accusations of assault and sexual misconduct against Maine Democrat Graham Platner and former Rep. Eric Swalwell, the California Democrat who was also a leading candidate for governor.”
New York Times: “It is a question on which the left and right have largely diverged: In recent months, Democrats have sought to expel problematic men swiftly, while Republicans in the era of Trump have often batted back accusations and stood by their men.”
”There are notable exceptions in both directions, but the different approaches have cost Democrats talent and energy, and allowed some of the nation’s most powerful conservative figures to flourish.”
“The House Oversight Committee’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation will hit the one-year mark later this month, and the saga isn’t ending anytime soon,” Politico reports.
”No matter which party ends up in control in the next Congress, the Oversight panel will remain under pressure to continue to investigate the late convicted sex offender and the web of power players who may have been complicit in his crimes.”
“A longtime aide to Bill Clinton walked back a prior claim that the former president visited Jeffrey Epstein’s island, according to two sources familiar with closed-door testimony on Capitol Hill,” CNN reports.
“Doug Band, the former Clinton aide, is the 17th person to testify behind closed doors as part of the House Oversight Committee’s sprawling probe into Epstein’s orbit and how previous investigations were handled.”
“In 2020, Band told Vanity Fair that Clinton visited Epstein’s private island in 2003.”
The Atlantic: “Vance is correct about how Watergate would’ve landed today, but the lesson is not what he claims. Since 1974, Americans have become pessimistic about their leaders, deeply polarized in their partisanship, and distrustful of the media—all of which means that Watergate very well might pass quickly in today’s environment.”
“The best evidence is that the Trump administration weathers scandals on the Watergate level routinely.”
As Rep: Jim McGovern (D-MA) said: “We do a Watergate twice a day’ is a crazy way to confess your own corruption.”
“Former Apollo Global Management CEO Leon Black in prepared testimony for a House committee on Friday said notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein duped him out of more than $60 million in financial management fees,” CNBC reports.
“Black also said that he was misled by Epstein’s Jekyll-and-Hyde personality.”
“An investor who employed and was close to Jeffrey Epstein is scheduled to appear before members of Congress investigating the deceased sexual abuser,” CBS News reports.
“Billionaire Leon Black paid Epstein extraordinary sums that his spokespeople have said was for tax advice and estate planning.”
Financial Times: Apollo co-founder Leon Black to face US lawmakers over Epstein links.
“Members of the House Oversight Committee have discussed issuing subpoenas to people who could testify about secret settlements between some of Jeffrey Epstein’s friends and his accusers,” Politico reports.
“Some of Epstein’s accusers have signed confidential prelitigation settlements with friends of the sex offender whom they have also accused of misconduct.”
“A transcript of the testimony that Bill Gates gave to a House committee about his relationship with notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was released by the panel on Tuesday,” CNBC reports.
“Alan Dershowitz is scheduled to speak with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on July 20 as part of its ongoing Jeffery Epstein investigation,” Politico reports.
“When the Department of Justice released more than 3 million pages of documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, survivors, advocates and lawmakers quickly raised questions about an apparent discrepancy: the DOJ had said it collected more than 6 million pages of material during its investigation but was only releasing half that number,” CBS News reports.
New York Times: “At the time of his death, Epstein was alone in his cell in spite of clear guidance to the contrary, while the guards assigned to his section of the jail neglected to conduct their rounds for hours. The jail’s security-camera system partially failed, and the video it did record showed an orange blur — the color of an inmate’s uniform — moving toward Epstein’s corridor shortly before his death. After Epstein’s body was found, evidence from his cell was not cataloged carefully, and photographs and objects gathered there seemed difficult to reconcile with aspects of his autopsy report. Two pathologists present at that autopsy had differing interpretations of the injuries to his neck.”
“There were so many people with an ostensible stake, one way or another, in Epstein’s death. Was it possible that all of this just happened?”
“In a private meeting last week, a group of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and family members of the late Virginia Giuffre pointed House Oversight Chair James Comer to allegations from the Justice Department’s Epstein files to further investigate, arguing that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s suggestion there were no more leads to pursue in the case is not true,” CNN reports.
“The group brought documents from DOJ’s released Epstein files – an email detailing a list of men from the late convicted sex offender’s orbit, as well as Giuffre’s 2015 testimony to investigators – to help the Republican chairman refine his own probe and to argue there are allegations against powerful men that the Justice Department could pursue.”
“Democrats are planning to investigate President Donald Trump’s family businesses and subpoena acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to testify about Jeffrey Epstein if they win control of the House in November,” NOTUS reports.
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said that President Trump and many of his allies should be considered “traitors to the American people” for fighting against the release of the Epstein Files, The Wrap reports.
Said Greene: “I’m not surprised by this news… because I also had a very uncomfortable phone call with the president before the release of the Epstein Files, where he told me his friends would get hurt if the Files were released, and I’ll never forget that.”
NewsNation: “Jeffrey Epstein‘s former attorney Alan Dershowitz is expected to be called to testify about his connections to disgraced financier, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said Wednesday.”
The New York Times runs an excerpt of the new book from Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Regime Change.
“The president’s top advisers gathered in a series of Situation Room meetings as they struggled to contain a scandal engulfing Donald Trump himself.”
CBS News: “One of the world’s wealthiest men will appear Wednesday before the congressional panel investigating Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.”
“Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will sit for the transcribed interview after revelations about his relationship with Epstein rocked his philanthropic foundation.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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