Marjorie Taylor Green's the wealthy woman who had a hissy
fit when that got exposed recently. She must be a stock wiz or else
she's guilty of insider trading. You've seen her, right? Doesn't look
like a stock wiz, does she? More problems for her in the financial
area. Namrata Sen (BENZINGA) reports:
The
financial disclosure of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has
reportedly come under scanner due to the omission of her book agreement.
Greene
reported earning $178,229.99 in 2024 from Winning Team Publishing, a
conservative publishing house co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. that
released her 2023 memoir MTG. However, she did not list her contract
with the publisher on Schedule F of her disclosure, which requires
lawmakers to report all agreements, including those related to book
royalties, reported Forbes.
Although
Greene's book was released in 2023, attorney Brett Kappel, an expert in
campaign finance and government ethics, said she should have reported
the deal in 2024 since she continued to receive payments from it.
Under
federal rules, any agreement that provides "continuing compensation
payments" must be disclosed on Schedule F. Kappel added that an
"ownership interest" in intellectual property—such as a book, also
requires disclosure if it generates more than $200 in income during the
reporting period.
Rep.
Marjorie Taylor Greene disclosed stock trades made just before former
President Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs, prompting
accusations of potential insider trading.
Greene
purchased up to $315,000 in stock from major companies and sold U.S.
Treasury bills days before the policy shift; she claims a financial
advisor manages her investments.
The
controversy emerges as Greene prepares to host a town hall in Cobb
County, where attendees must show ID and disruptive behavior will not be
tolerated.
The Georgia representative
is a member of the House Homeland Security Committee which oversees
ICE, and since her investment on April 8, the stock has rocketed,
research platform Quiver Quantitative, which tracks politicians’ investments, noted.
“Marjorie
Taylor Greene bought stock in Palantir on April 8th,” the platform said
in a post on X. “We reported on this right away, because Greene sits on
the House Committee on Homeland Security. $PLTR has now risen 142%
since her purchase.”
On April 11, the artificial intelligence software company was awarded a contract by ICE
to support the Trump administration’s sweeping anti-immigration agenda,
including designing a system to track self-deportation and identify
individuals for deportation.
Greene has previously shrugged off criticism as “laughable” and clarified that her financial adviser controls her investments.
Tuesday, August 19, 2025. Chump plans to steal the 2026 mid-terms while
Bernie Sanders attacks Kamala Harris with lies for the second time this
month. That's not how we pull together and big tent.
Let's start with Reese Waters from yesterday.
And TABITHA SPEAKS from last week.
We are tired of it. White progressives,' we are tired of it.
We're
tired of you lying about Kamal and we're real tired of you refusing to
get that Bernie has a Black problem. We don't worship him like you do,
we don't cut him slack for his racism.
A lot of
us are trying to do what I am which is big tent, big tent, big tent.
Avoid trashing other Dems as much as possible, work on pulling the party
together, stand up to the enemy that is Chump.
But then you get crusty lipped Bernie attacking Kamala Harris.
And let's be clear, though I know some of you White 'progressives' nodded a long with Bernie's attacks, he's lying.
He is distorting Kamala and her campaign.
We
saw that go down last fall and we have not forgotten. You need to your
old man to stop trying to stir up s**t because this doesn't end well.
Some
of you White 'progressives' nodding along with Bernie due so because of
the crap-fest that passes for 'independent' media on the left.
It
was something to see in the fall, to watch Kamala be attacked for not
doing this or that by White media like COMMON DREAMS when, in fact,
Kamala was doing what they were saying she wasn't. COMMON DREAMS ran an
article attacking her for not talking about women's health when she'd
just done that -- talked about women's health -- to ESSENCE magazine.
But White 'progressives' apparently can't read a publication if the
target audience is Black women.
We could go though this with multiple examples, but I'm just going to note two.
Starting with the US presidential elections, I believe the whine goes something like this: "Kamala hasn't done any interviews!"
That's
what the mail brought me yesterday. Page 48 kicks off Caroline Wanga's
six page interview with the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.
The two discuss a number of issues including the economy. I'll note
this from the interview
Kamala Harris: I
have been working on that issue for years -- with my colleagues from the
CBC [Congressional Black Caucus] when I was in the Senate and now as
Vice President. Why? Because Black women in the United States of
America are three to four times more likely to die in connection with
childbirth than other women. And we know that there are a variety of
reasons for that. But we also know that this is a health care crisis of
the highest order, and it has received very little attention
proportionate to the seriousness of the matter. So, I worked with my
colleagues when I was in the Senate. We passed a number of ills. When I
came in as Vice President, I continue to work on it. And one of the
things I found is this: For women on Medicaid, which states can provide
for postpartum care for two months up to 12 months -- and I realized
when I came in as Vice President, only three states would extend
Medicaid coverage for postpartum care from two months to 12 months. I
don't have a problem shaming people sometimes, so I challenged the
states to extend it. And now 46 states have extended Medicaid coverage
for postpartum care. There is a direct connection between this and
Black maternal mortality. But back to the other point about freedom of
choice. The majority of Black women in America live in the South You
know that in the South, we have some of the highest rates of Black
maternal mortality. In the South, except for the state of Virginia,
every state has an abortion ban. And what I find hypocrisy upon
hypocrisy, by some of these extremists, is that the same ones saying
they're passing these abortion bans because they care about women and
children have been completely silent on the issue of Black maternal
mortality. Don't come to us, gaslighting us about where you've been and
where you haven't been, on important issues that relate to what we know
every day affects our sisters, our mothers, our aunties, our
grandmothers -- and could affect our daughters.
A few comments. The interview is not online. I have no idea if it will be posted or not. Currently at ESSENCE, Jasmine Browley has an article about Kamala and the opportunity economy that went up this week and Robyn Mowatt looks at political style.
Second, the cover notes "COLLECTOR'S EDITION." If you're a subscriber
like me, you may grimace. But they used a real sticker that peels off
-- not a paper label that's basically glued to the cover -- and it's
very easy and doesn't tear the cover when you remove it. After I
removed it, I scanned for the image above (notice no tear in the lower
corner) and took the cover off the magazine. It's now framed and up in
my home office.
The Kamala Harris' campaign is
making its most direct appeal yet to Black men, rolling out new
policies, boosting programming and a targeted media blitz to win over a
crucial part of the electorate. With Republicans eyeing Black male
voters in a big way this election, the vice president's team is on the
move and not leaving anything to chance.
On Monday, Harris introduced her "Opportunity Agenda for Black Men." The
plan centers on providing up to 1 million fully forgivable loans of up
to $20,000 for Black entrepreneurs and investing in training,
mentorship, and apprenticeships for Black men in high-demand industries.
Harris is also pushing for the legalization of recreational
marijuana—paired with a focus on ensuring Black men access wealth and
jobs in that market.
"This agenda is a further realization of Vice President Harris' Opportunity Economy.
An economy where people don't just get by, but get ahead. Where Black
men are equipped with the tools to thrive: to buy a home, provide for
our families, start a business and build wealth," said Congressman and
Harris-Walz Campaign Co-Chair Cedric Richmond in astatement shared with
ESSENCE.
"Donald
Trump could care less about equipping hardworking Americans with the
tools needed to get ahead. From being investigated by the Department of
Justice for refusing to rent to Black tenants to falsely accusing the
Central Park 5 and calling for their execution to spreading the racist
birther conspiracy theory against President Obama, at every step of his
life, Donald Trump put Black men down for his own personal brand. If he
wins in November, he is telling us exactly what he'll do to Black men,
Richmond added.
I'm glad
ESSENCE exists. I'm a longterm subscriber to the print edition. But
it's an amazing, less than a month away from an election, ESSENCE can
report on this very important proposal but COMMON DREAMS can't and
won't. Nor IN THESE TIMES. Nor THE PROGRESSIVE -- an outlet with a
token or two but the tokens know what they're allowed to cover, they
know who's running the plantation. That's a very important proposal and
it's one that deserves serious exploration. But so-called news outlets
in 'independent' media can't be bothered.
Search
in vain for any amplification of that coverage from ESSENCE at COMMON
DREAMS, THE NATION, IN THESE TIMES, THE PROGRESSIVE, etc etc.
The most minor story in THE NEW YORK TIMES will get amplified but say "ESSENCE" and watch the White flight take place.
Bernie doesn't know what he's talking about.
And how does he help anyone by attacking Kamala to begin with?
She's not in the White House. Donald Chump is.
That's supposed to be our focus but along comes Bernie to try to beat up the Black woman with lies.
We're sick of it. Black people have had enough of this s**t.
I
know Black women who plan to site out 2026 because of the way Kamala
and we were disrespected by the left or 'left.' I know Black women who
are slowing leaving a staycation and trying to get back involved -- and
that group is going to bolt if you don't stop the attacks on Kamala.
White
'progressives' like Sam Seder had 801 topics they cover every week but
they refused to cover the very real topic of the attacks on Kamala
during the election and the attacks on Black women supporting Kamala
during the election. I'm not referring to the right-wingers attacking,
I'm referring to people who claimed to be of the left.
You
think you can ignore the topic. But when you do, you just make clear
to Black people how little you truly care about us and our issues.
Bernie
is nothing to praise and I could take him down every day -- his faux
support for immigrants, for example, is a very easy stance to expose
(he's anti-immigrant and has long been that and we can look at how
little support he has given to immigrants seized by ICE in Vermont).
I'm trying to focus on defeating Chump and saving the country.
But
if Bernie keeps attacking Kamala, you're going to find out just how
angry Black people are -- still are -- over the stunts so many of you
White progressives played last fall.
You want
us to pull together as a big tent? Stop the attacks on Kamala. Stop
lying. We've had enough and we're not going to take much more of this.
We're
supposed to have a common enemy. If you think that's Kamala Harris,
you are part of the effort working to ensure that MAGA remains in power
for decades.
On Monday morning, President Trump returned to a longtime fixation, posting on
Truth Social that he was “going to lead a movement to get rid of
MAIL-IN BALLOTS” by “signing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to
the 2026 Midterm Elections.”
The post came just after Trump’s Friday summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin—not known for
his love of free and fair elections—who allegedly counseled Trump that
“your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,” a message
Trump promptly relayed to Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
Trump already led a movement to get rid of mail-in ballots, helping to push for a spate of anti-voter state laws both in the run-up to the 2020 election and after his loss.
But each successive crackdown strips voting rights from disabled and
aging voters, who disproportionately rely on absentee ballots and voter
assistance laws to participate in democracy.
Some experts question whether the White House even has the power to
take further steps to ban voting by mail; a plethora of lawsuits would
likely follow any executive order against it.
Obviously,
on the list of awful things Trump has done in his second term, building
a huge White House ballroom, paving the Rose Garden, and adding tacky
gold trinkets to the Oval Office rank pretty low. But the changes, and
the taunting ways Trump and his team have shown them off, reflect the
broader themes of his second term. It’s like Trump has cast himself in
an HGTV show about how to make your home reflect your kinglike abuses of
power and quest for revenge.
Here’s a running list of Trump’s most ridiculous White House renovations.
Look at the list and marvel over just how much destruction Chump is carrying out.
It
reminds me of something from Nora Ephron's screenplay for WHEN HARRY
MET SALLY . . . Carrie Fisher's character is moving in with Bruno
Kirby's character. He has a wagon wheel coffee table. She does not
like it and does not want it in their apartment. He doesn't see the
problem. She says something like, "Everyone thinks that they have good
taste and a sense of humor but they couldn't possibly all have good
taste."
Exactly.
Chump was the K-Mart of builders. He had no taste. He has no taste.
How
much longer can responsible people work for President Trump’s
Department of Health and Human Services under the leadership of
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?
That question
arises every time Kennedy pulls funding for vaccine research or purges
respected scientists at the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S.
Preventive Services Task Force or the Food and Drug Administration.
[. . .]
On
the other hand, it seems inevitable that Kennedy’s pronouncements will
increasingly become intolerable. Some CDC employees already worry that
the recent deadly attack on their building in Atlanta was motivated by
“RFK Jr’s lies about vax safety and CDC scientists.”
He
is disgusting. We need real scientists and we need real doctors but
quacks like Junior don't care. They pretend they know better when they
don't know a damn thing.
Monday, August 18, 2025. Chump's ICE gestapo arrests six-year-old girl
in New York while shooting up a family in a car in California, pedophile
Ghislaine Maxwell's move to Camp Fed bothers the residents living near
the facility as well as inmates living in it, and much more.
The crooks of ICE, untrained and they don't respect the law
because they don't know the law. Chump and Noem hired them because
they're so stupid. How stupid are they? They fired on a family today.
They fired guns at a family. That's how damn stupid they are. They are
a danger to the people and they need to be taken off the streets
immediately. KTLA reports:
A Saturday morning confrontation between federal immigration agents
and a local family in San Bernardino escalated into gunfire and a
seven-hour standoff before ending without arrests, according to both
advocates and police.
The incident began at about 8:40 a.m. on Aug. 16, when Immigration
and Customs Enforcement agents stopped a man near 1030 N. Mountain View
Avenue, according to the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice.
The advocacy group said the agents, who did not present a warrant,
fired three times at the man’s vehicle before he returned home with his
family and called 911.
"I was thinking the bullets were gonna run through the back window
and hit any of us," said a man who wanted to be identified only as
Martin.
Martin says he was in the back seat at the time while his
brother-in-law sat in the passenger seat and his father-in-law, who is
an unauthorized immigrant, drove. He took video and photos of the
situation, which he shared with CBS News Los Angeles.
Images shared by Martin showed bullet holes on the exterior of the
vehicle. His video showed an officer shattering the glass on the
driver's seat window and the officer appearing to punch the driver in
the face.
This is what you get with the idiots
of ICE. Untrained and unrestrained, failures who couldn't get a job
anywhere else and are now happy to terrorize people on the streets.
Doomed to lives of self-medication and suicide.
That's retired
DC Metropolitan police officer Michael Fanone on MSNBC yesterday
discussing ICE and the harm it's doing, "Silence is complicity. Quit
your job."
Clark County officials gathered to address students’ safety concerns from traffic to immigration fears.
Las Vegas Valley residents had the chance to hear from elected officials at Manny Cortez Elementary School.
“It is no secret that many families who are part of our immigrant
community are afraid right now.” said Brenda Zamora, CCSD VP Board of
Trustees.
Stories of ice agents showing up to California campuses have created an
increased fear that kids who go to school may not come home.
Wow.
And an earlier generation thought they had it bad with duck-and-cover
drills in the 50s. Kids today have to worry that they or their parents
or their classmates or their classmates parents might be grabbed at
schools. Think it can't happen? It has happened. In fact, it happened
again last week. Thomas Smith (NEWSBREAK) reports:
Federal immigration authorities have taken into custody a 7-year-old
New York City public school student, making her the youngest-known local
student detained under the second Trump administration.
Dayra, an Ecuadorian student at P.S. 89 The Jose Peralta School of Dreamers
in Queens, and her mother were separated from her 19-year-old brother
during an immigration check-in on Tuesday at 26 Federal Plaza, according
to the family and advocates. Her last name is being withheld because
she is a minor.
“We were all very scared,” said Patricio, Dayra’s
mother’s boyfriend who lives with the family, in Spanish. “Because we
knew they were going to arrest them.”
A 6-year-old girl living in Queens, along with her mother and teenage
brother, are hundreds of miles away from each other after federal
agents grabbed the family members following a routine check-in at
immigration court in New York City last week.
"School is supposed to start in three weeks. Dayra and her mother
should be buying school supplies," Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, a
Democrat representing Jackson Heights, told News 4.
Instead, Dayra, a student at PS 89, the Jose Peralta School of
Dreamers in Queens, and her mother are in a detention facility nearly
2,000 miles away in Texas.
Krishnan says the family, originally from Ecuador, showed up to 26
Federal Plaza on Tuesday for an immigrant check-in last week.
"It is horrific to find out that ICE has detained and taken into
custody and separated a family with a 6-year-old girl and her older
brother Manuel, who is 19," Krishnan said Saturday.
What
a proud moment for Chump. He's arrested a six-year-old child. What a
great deal that says about him and how he deserves no honors, no Nobel
Prize. He's only earned protests and calls for his removal from
office. What kind of grown up garbage sees arresting a six-year-old as a
success? As separating her from her family as praise-worthy? Only an
idiot fool.
Up until recently, Jess didn’t worry about her family being
targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE, from her
understanding, only targeted immigrants with criminal records.
Originally
from Ecuador, Jess, her husband and their two young children lived in
Hudson, awaiting a court date for asylum in 2027. Once gaining asylum,
immigrants can apply for a chance to live in the country permanently.
Working
as a mechanic early one morning, Jess’ husband had been walking from
one car to the next when he was approached by a person asking for his
license. Then six more people encircled him.
Jess
was at home with their children when she received the phone call from
her husband. He told her he had been detained by ICE. Jess immediately
called her brother, who told her to talk to an attorney to help her
clarify her husband's situation. Aside from a traffic ticket, the
Star-Observer found no prior convictions or charges for Jess’ husband.
“He
was taken, so very close to our home. At that time, I was shocked,”
Jess said. “I didn't know what to do and I just wanted to cry.”
Asked
about ICE action in western Wisconsin, an ICE spokesperson said the
department conducts daily operations at this point in addition to
investigative work. “We just don’t have the bandwidth to have to
research every city, location, all of that stuff,” the spokesperson
said.
ICE arrests have sharply risen in
every state since Donald Trump won reelection, according to the New
York Times. In ICE custody, Jess’ husband was taken to Sherburne County
jail in Elk River, Minnesota.
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC — an organization at Syracuse University that compiles federal data —
found the average daily population of the Sherburne County jail had
been 1 ICE detainee from October 2023 to September 2024. Since then,
that number has risen to 57 as of Aug. 4 of this year. After Trump
retook office, the detention center reached double digits in average
daily population in February for the first time since August 2022.
Allegations of women being mistreated by federal immigration officers and men posing as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers
have prompted nearly three dozen Democratic lawmakers to demand
Homeland Security officials immediately launch an investigation and
change the way the federal agency does its job.
In a letter sent this week by members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus
to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, acting ICE director Todd
Lyons, White House border czar Tom Homan, and associate director
Jennifer Fenton of ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility, DWC
members expressed “grave concerns” over how masked agents are treating
women during federal immigration enforcement operations.
“All our lives, we are taught to fear masked men in unmarked vehicles,”
the letter stated. “We learn we should run from such men to avoid being
kidnapped, sexually assaulted, or killed. Yet, ICE is increasingly
conducting raids and arrests in masks, plain clothes, without visible
identification or badges, using unmarked vehicles – tactics that cause
confusion, terror, and mistrust among the public.”
And ICE 'impersonators' -- we hope they're impersonators -- are terrorizing women:
Citing several past incidents involving men who were posing as
federal immigration officers, DWC members said ICE has been complicit in
allowing attacks involving impersonators to continue.
“These tactics invited perpetrators of violence against women to take
advantage of the chaos by impersonating masked ICE agents in order to
target and sexually assault women,” the lawmakers wrote.
ICE impersonators have been arrested in multiple states following
incidents of men posing as federal officers. Instances have included
complaints filed by women in Maryland, North Carolina and New York who
said they were raped, robbed and assaulted by men pretending to be
enforcing immigration laws.
A Latina woman said she was raped by a Washington, D.C., man posing as
an immigration officer after she was forced into a car, according to WUSA. She added that she had been threatened with deportation if she didn’t comply.
In North Carolina, a migrant woman told police she was raped and kidnapped by a man who claimed to be a federal immigration officer and threatened to deport the woman if she did not comply.
In New York, police said a man posing as an ICE officer attempted to rape a 51-year-old woman
after he reportedly approached the woman and said “immigration” but did
not show a badge. Police said that the man allegedly pulled the woman
into a basement stairwell and assaulted her.
The thugs of ICE The American people are seeing this. And they're
seeing who the heroes are -- the people fighting back, the activists
working to end this persecution, the clergy staing this is not right and
this is not acceptable. Aleja Hertzler-McCain (NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER) REPORTS:
San Diego Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Pulido noticed the way a father held
his young daughter and stood close to his wife and teenage daughter in
the courtroom. The love and care they had for each other was palpable on
Tuesday (Aug. 12), when Pulido accompanied the asylum-seeking family
for an immigration court hearing.
“As an immigrant, I got emotional because of that connection I have
with my own family — I put myself in his shoes,” said the Catholic
bishop, who was born in the Mexican state of Michoacán before
immigrating to Yakima Valley in Washington as a teenager. He finished
high school there, worked picking produce and eventually was ordained a
priest.
Immigrants are facing court appointments with newly heightened levels of fear as the Trump administration has begun
sending agents to detain migrants as they leave the courtroom. If
immigration judges dismiss their cases, they can immediately face
expedited removal proceedings without a chance to make their case for
asylum. Previously, a 10-day response time to the dismissal was
allowed.
Guided by their faith, clergy like Pulido and other representatives from
religious groups are accompanying immigrants to court appointments to
provide comfort and information and, in cases where their worst fears
are realized, to pick up the pieces of a shattered American dream.
The 31-year-old "Nuevayol" singer posted a video with commentary of ICE agents conducting a raid on the island to Instagram.
"Look,
those motherf— are in these cars, RAV4s. They’re here on [Avenida]
Pontezuela," he said of the officials arriving in the Puerto Rican city
of Carolina. "Sons of b—, instead of leaving the people alone and
working."
Since the onset of President Trump's second term, the U.S. territory has
been subjected to ICE raids, which have targeted the island's largely
Dominican immigrant population. For years, immigrants from the
neighboring Caribbean island have been allowed to open bank accounts and
obtain special driver's licenses that indicate their immigration
status. The AP estimates that there are over 55,000 people from the Dominican Republic currently living in Puerto Rico.
Meanwhile,
Chump's buddy Ghislaine Maxwell remains in the news following the
sweetheart deal Donald made to send her to Camp Fed. Dylan Chryst Watkiss (KBTX) reports:
Over 20 protesters gathered at 101 Texas
Avenue earlier to protest the recent transfer of Jeffrey Epstein’s
accomplice and longtime partner, Ghislaine Maxwell to the Federal Prison
Camp Bryan a few weeks ago.
“It’s
communicating to folks driving by that, hey, there’s people concerned
about something. Whether or not they’re necessarily on the same page, it
doesn’t really matter. I think it’s important to show that active
participation in our democracy, even if it’s in this little way,” said
Brazos Valley Community Coalition Founder, Serena Wedeking about the
protest.
Maxwell was moved to the
minimum-security prison at the beginning of August. She is serving a
20-year sentence for her role in the Jeffrey Epstein crimes. The move to
what has been called one of the nation’s most comfortable prisons has
struck some as odd considering the severity of Maxwell’s crimes and
length of her sentence. Protesters hoped to spark conversations around
Maxwell’s move and beyond.
Those inside the prison aren't too thrilled about Maxwell showing up either according to CNN:
[. . .] Maxwell's presence has caused discomfort among some inmates, who are
reportedly uneasy about sharing space with someone linked to Epstein's
notorious activities.
Inmates have allegedly been advised by
prison officials to exercise caution when discussing Maxwell,
particularly those participating in a work-release program.
And survivors are not staying silent. They are trying to warn as many people as they can.
National Center on Sexual Exploitation survivor services coordinator
Teresa Helm has called for the release of federal documents tied to
Jeffrey Epstein’s case. She stressed the need for greater
accountability, particularly following Virginia Giuffre’s death. Helm
argued that political motivations should not hinder the pursuit of
justice.
Giuffre,
who accused Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, died by suicide at 41. Her
settled lawsuit against Prince Andrew was a key moment in exposing
sexual exploitation.
Following
FBI and DOJ claims that no “incriminating client list” exists, demands
for document disclosure have grown. Giuffre’s family stated, “Virginia
was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex
trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors.”
It's
not going away and Chump's distractions and efforts to fool the
American people are just not working. Grand jury testimonies don't get
released and also aren't very detailed and this one wouldn't have
featured any details not already in the public square.. The grand jury
is what decides whether or not a case should move forward, not a body
that determines guilt or innocence. It was all an effort to distract by
Chump. And, as Steven Harper notes, even the judge was straight forward about that:
Trump has tried desperately to walk away from the Epstein conspiracy
theories that he had pushed to energize his MAGA base. But nothing has
worked. As the MAGA core cracked, pressure mounted and he made a hollow
pledge: Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the courts’
permission to release grand jury materials relating to Epstein and
Maxwell.
As
I observed previously, that was a head fake toward transparency
because: 1) grand jury materials are a tiny slice of the Justice
Department’s files on Epstein; and 2) the courts could refuse to release
anything at all.
And
the courts have done just that. So far, Bondi is now 0-for-2 in her
effort to obtain judicial release of the Epstein-Maxwell grand jury
materials.
Bondi’s
latest rebuke came on August 11 in New York. In a blistering opinion,
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer called out Trump’s subterfuge. The court observed that the “special circumstances” required for releasing Maxwell’s grand jury materials are not present:
The
Government’s invocation of special circumstances, however, fails at the
threshold. Its entire premise—that the Maxwell grand jury materials
would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein’s and
Maxwell’s crimes, or the Government’s investigation into them—is
demonstrably false.
The court continued:
A
member of the public familiar with the Maxwell trial record who
reviewed the grand jury materials that the Government proposes to unseal
would thus learn next to nothing new.
Turning the government’s words back on it, the judge ruled:
A
“public official,” “lawmaker,” “pundit,” or “ordinary citizen” “deeply
interested and concerned about the Epstein matter,” Motion to Unseal at
3, and who reviewed these materials expecting, based on the Government’s
representations, to learn new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s
crimes and the investigation into them, would come away feeling
disappointed and misled. There is no “there” there.
Judge Engelmayer’s most insightful and telling passage was also his most direct:
The
one colorable argument under that doctrine for unsealing in this case,
in fact, is that doing so would expose as disingenuous the Government’s
public explanations for moving to unseal. A member of the public,
appreciating that the Maxwell grand jury materials do not contribute
anything to public knowledge, might conclude that the Government’s
motion for their unsealing was aimed not at “transparency” but at
diversion—aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such.
Judge
Engelmayer’s powerful condemnation is remarkable. He blasted Bondi’s
attempt to use the court as a vehicle for Trump’s deflection,
distraction, and diversion playbook.
Then there's the con game James Comer and many other Republicans in the House of Representatives are attempting: Elie Honig (INTELLIENCER) explains:
At bottom, the House’s investigative effort is unserious. If this were
truly about seeking meaningful answers, Comer could have started with a
subpoena to Alexander Acosta — the disgraced former U.S. Attorney (and
former Trump Cabinet secretary) who was presented a case involving at
least three dozen child victims and chose to let Epstein off the hook for petty state-level charges and a 13-month sentence, much of it served out of custody. In the process, Acosta’s office misled
Epstein’s victims, assuring them in writing that the matter was
“ongoing,” even after the softball deal had already been executed.
This week, Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna — the same person who introduced legislation to engrave Trump’s face on Mount Rushmore — publicly raised the possibility
of Acosta’s testimony. “At any time, he can be called to testify,” she
noted correctly. When Congress returns, we’ll see if Comer heeds Luna’s
words or pretends he never heard them.
And then there’s the House subpoena
to the Justice Department, calling for the release of “the full,
complete, unredacted Epstein Files.” (The House later came to its senses
and agreed to necessary redactions of victim names and identifiers.)
Comer
might not have thought this one through; his document subpoena places
another Trump loyalist, Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a bind. The AG
can choose to produce the requested documents to Congress. But she has
conspicuously declined to disclose them so far, even though she could
have released the vast bulk of the files on her own accord. Or Bondi can
resist and challenge the subpoena in court. But that would make the AG —
who claims to be all about “transparency and lifting the veil” — look flatly obstructionist.
These are not the “worst of the worst,” yet these immigrants are treated worse than murderers and child molesters.
Trump
has pardoned all these types of criminals. Right now, after talking to a
Trump lawyer, super sex predator Ghislaine Maxwell is serving out her
time in a luxury prison in Texas. And all she had to do, presumably, was
give Trump some names on a silver platter, which she likely gladly did
in exchange for a few favors. I’ll bet that in a month or two her pardon
will be forthcoming — in exchange for her testimony against some of
those names.
Yes, our president and his Justice Department are
really going after the “worst of the worst.” Watch out all you
jaywalkers out there. If you’re brown, Trump will hunt you down. You are
a hardened criminal, after all. Ask Kristi Noem, the head of Homeland
Security.
