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Former Obama White House counsel faces House questioning over Epstein ties

12 days agoCenter Left

Kathryn Ruemmler welcomes closed-door interview and says she had no knowledge of ongoing criminal activitylKathryn Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel under Barack Obama, is testifying on Wednesday morning before the House committee on oversight and reform about her ties to Jeffrey Epstein as part of the panel’s investigation into the convicted sex offender.Ruemmler came under scrutiny earlier this year after her name appeared thousands of times in the records related to Epstein that were released by the justice department under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. She announced in February that she would be resigning from her role at Goldman Sachs as chief legal officer effective on 30 June. Continue reading...

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Judge blisters Todd Blanche with warning over fights to hide Epstein 'co-conspirators'

Raw Story

56 minutes ago

Judge blisters Todd Blanche with warning over fights to hide Epstein 'co-conspirators'

A federal judge warned that sealed records in a sex-trafficking suit against the bank that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein used could expose Justice Department documents and court files identifying alleged co-conspirators.U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff issued the protective order Monday in Jane Doe v. FirstBank Puerto Rico, a suit alleging the bank was Epstein's longest banking partner and knowingly funded his sex-trafficking operation.The order placed all parties on notice that the court is "unlikely to seal or otherwise afford confidential treatment" to any discovery material introduced as evidence at trial, even if it had previously been designated confidential.Rakoff added that he retains "unfettered discretion" over documents filed in connection with any motion — meaning records could become public before trial.That warning lands as the Justice Department is separately fighting to keep co-conspirator identities hidden. Last month, according to court records, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was ordered by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to release more Epstein files — including the unredacted names of potential co-conspirators — or explain why he refused.On July 2, Blanche refused, arguing in a court filing that releasing more materials would harm Epstein's victims and offering instead to share additional details with a judge behind closed doors.In a separate proceeding, a federal judge has also ruled to keep the identities of two women permanently sealed. Prosecutors had identified them as Epstein 'co-conspirators' whose names had been publicly associated with his alleged sexual assault of girls and young women for two decades, the Associated Press reported.In a 2019 court filing, prosecutors said Epstein paid the two women $100,000 and $250,000 in late 2018.From 2011 through 2019, the new lawsuit alleges, Epstein sexually abused the FirstBank suit's lead plaintiff on at least 100 occasions — including forcibly touching her, raping her, and forcing her to engage in sexual acts with other women.Epstein and his co-conspirators constantly reminded her of his power and influence, the complaint alleges.FirstBank processed wire transfers to pay "co-conspirators whose role in the venture was the recruitment, transportation, and control of women and girls," the complaint alleges. The late-2018 payments to the two sealed women fall within the $21 million in transactions the suit says the bank processed after JPMorgan exited Epstein in 2013.First BanCorp, FirstBank's parent company, said in a statement that both firms "categorically deny the claims alleged in the complaint and intend to vigorously defend against them."Defendants FirstBank Puerto Rico and First BanCorp have until July 30 to file a motion to dismiss the case.

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Former Trump aide: No one who works for him actually likes him

Alternet.org

1 hour ago

Former Trump aide: No one who works for him actually likes him

President Donald Trump’s former communications director has a news flash for the Republican’s supporters — none of the people who work for him actually like the man.“Getting fired after 11 days was brutal, but there was also a genuine sense of relief,” Anthony Scaramucci posted on X on Monday. “Yes I had a shortcoming. I failed at the job. There was humiliation in it, but there was also relief.”He continued, “Here's what I've observed about everyone around Trump. Nobody likes him. I don't think his family members like him. I don't think his cabinet members really like him. They kiss his a—— because he's powerful.”Scaramucci concluded, “The people who genuinely like him are one or two electron orbits away, close enough to feel the warmth, far enough to avoid the heat. I don't know a single person in his inner circle who came out unscathed.”Scaramucci has been an outspoken critic of Trump in recent years. Indeed, in July alone, he issued a warning to Trump’s staffers in which he argued on X that “there’s one thing every rising star in Trump’s orbit eventually learns the hard way. He eats his young. And if you don’t believe me, ask Pence, ask Pompeo, ask Nikki Haley.”Also in July, he blasted the Trump administration for engaging in insider trading.“Answer these questions: Are you allowed to insider trade in Congress?” Scaramucci posted on X. “Can the president do his so-called businessman’s deals? Is any of this actually legal?”He continued, “My opinion is: It smells terrible and it should be stopped. But we’ve lost our sense of shame. Trump said 2 things: 1. It’s peanuts and not that much money. 2. Nobody cares. That second one is the one that should keep you up at night.”Scaramucci finished by writing, “Hopefully people actually do care. Hopefully they show up in November and send these guys a message.”Similarly in July, Scaramucci opined that Trump may be compromised by his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin.“If Trump is disavowing NATO and breaking an 80 year tradition — something’s wrong,” Scaramucci speculated on X. “If Trump is praising Vladimir Putin, whose entire economy is slightly smaller than the state of Texas — something’s wrong. If Trump is disavowing the 1994 defense agreement where we told Ukraine to give up their nuclear weapons and we’d protect them — the agreement that got him impeached in his first term — something is wrong.”He observed that while Trump frequently criticizes other world leaders, he keeps a wide berth from Putin.“It’s hard to watch as an American but it’s obvious,” Scaramucci said. “Why does he own him? That’ll probably come out someday.”In response to the AlterNet piece on Trump and Russia, White House spokesman Davis Ingle replied, “Anthony Scaramucci lasted 11 short days in the White House. He makes lightweights look credible.”Speaking with this journalist for Salon in 2018, Scaramucci argued that Trump was elected in 2016 because of Americans’ concerns with the cost of living.“What I saw was in a generation we went from aspirational working class families, like the one I grew up in, to [desperate] working class families,” Scaramucci said. “What I saw is a decline in wages causing some level of economic asphyxiation for a very large group of people. And so Trump being out there, going into those areas, explaining the policies that he’s going to put in place, and then executing on some of those policies. I mean it’s not me saying, it’s just go look at ‘The Wall Street Journal.’”

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House Administration Committee chairman doesn’t rule out mail-in ballot ban in third party-line bill

Washington Examiner

1 hour ago

House Administration Committee chairman doesn’t rule out mail-in ballot ban in third party-line bill

EXCLUSIVE — House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-WI) did not rule out the inclusion of a ban on mail-in ballots in Republicans’ third-party-line budget bill. During an interview with the Washington Examiner on July 23, Steil said that conversations have already begun over what policies the House Administration Committee wants to include in its […]

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Republicans Come Up With New Talking Points to Dodge Trump Questions

The New Republic

1 hour ago

Republicans Come Up With New Talking Points to Dodge Trump Questions

The Senate GOP is offering new guidance to party lawmakers on how to rhetorically juggle Donald Trump’s second term agenda with the public furor it has caused.Internal party messaging reviewed Monday by Politico indicates that Republican leadership is still trying to salvage public perception of the president, on issues ranging from the Iran war to the SAVE America Act.“On Iran, directly connect the President’s negotiations and strikes to keeping the Strait open and keeping prices low,” one line item read, according to Politico reporter Jordain Carney.The internal memo also warned Republicans that the “media will try to divide Republicans by asking your boss to pick a ‘side’ in any given question.”“It’s crucial to reject these false choices. Reject the false choice between the President and Senate leaders: express support for both,” the memo reads.The memo advised Republicans on how to handle the ongoing drama between Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who last week snapped at White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt for suggesting that the president’s patience was “running out” with the conservative senator’s inability to force the SAVE Act through the upper chamber.Offering potential responses, the memo suggests that Republicans nonetheless claim that Trump and Thune are “united and doing an excellent job.” It also recommends that Republicans claim the duo have made American life “affordable,” and have worked together to make Americans “safer by closing our border, deporting violent criminals (Laken Riley Act), cracking down on fentanyl, and strengthening our military.”“And we all agree that we have to defeat the radical Democrat socialists, who are threatening to undo our progress,” it added.Meanwhile, the White House seems content with quietly advising midterm-bound Republicans to distance themselves from the president’s talking points as his popularity plummets.“The understanding is pretty damn implicit: The president is going to say what the president is going to say,” a Republican operative working on the party’s midterm races told MS NOW Monday on the condition of anonymity. “You’re not going to have candidates or lawmakers running out to defend the president’s handling of the economy or the war—polling shows that most people don’t agree with his handling.”

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Newly discovered invoice catches Trump aide in huge Epstein lie — report

Raw Story

2 hours ago

Newly discovered invoice catches Trump aide in huge Epstein lie — report

Jeffrey Epstein's relationship with a firm once run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick may date back 11 years further than previously known, according to a newly unearthed document flagged by independent journalist Kaitlyn Pierce, who writes under the name Kait Justice.Lutnick told The New York Post last year that he had cut off all ties with Epstein in 2005, but the Justice Department's release of Epstein-related files quickly contradicted that claim. The files showed Lutnick visited Epstein's private island in 2012 and that the two maintained contact through at least 2018.Lutnick and Epstein were also discovered to have been “in business together as recently as 2014,” per CBS News, with the two of them both signing onto a deal to acquire stakes in a now-defunct technology company called Adfin. Lutnick was explicitly asked by the House Oversight Committee in May whether he was aware of any other business dealings between Epstein and Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial services firm he once ran before handing off control to his sons after joining the Trump administration. Lutnick said, “to the best of my recollection,” there were no other business dealings between Epstein and Cantor.Justice, while searching through millions of Epstein-related files, stumbled upon a telling FedEx invoice that she suggested may undercut that claim.“I did not expect to find Epstein in Cantor’s records,” Justice wrote in a report published Monday on her Substack.The invoice is dated July 27, 2001, and reveals that Darren Indyke – once Epstein’s personal lawyer – had sent an overnight envelope from Epstein’s office in New York City, New York, to a Robert F. Mace at Cantor Fitzgerald Securities, located on the 104th floor of the One World Trade Center. Mace was Cantor’s employment lawyer, and would be killed in the 9/11 attacks just 53 days after being sent the envelope from Epstein.“The invoice clearly doesn’t tell us what the envelope contained, but it does place Epstein’s office in direct contact with Lutnick’s firm 11 years before the relationship Lutnick described to Congress supposedly began,” Justice wrote. “Cantor’s customer and trading records could show whether Epstein or any of his companies had an account there, what they bought or sold through the firm and when the relationship actually began.”Justice uncovered another Epstein-related correspondence when sifting through Cantor’s history: a 2009 email to Epstein with a message attributed to a Rich Barnett.“HOward [sic] Lutnick would like to speak to you...one of his employees asked me if Howard could have your number so he may call you,” the emailed message reads. “Would you like me to give him your number? They did not give me Howard's number....”Justice could not verify the identity of Barnett, though his identity appeared to cause confusion during the House Oversight Committee’s interview of Lutnick.“Barnett makes the story stranger because no one can seem to agree about whom he worked for. When congressional investigators showed Lutnick the 2009 message, he said Barnett worked for him at Cantor, was ‘on my staff’ and handled construction matters,” Justice wrote. “Committee counsel later described Barnett as an Epstein employee. Epstein’s records establish Barnett’s employment on that side, but the public transcript does not show investigators producing Cantor payroll, contracts or payment records that could determine whether Barnett also worked for Lutnick or Cantor.”

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WATCH: Chuck Schumer's cameo in the White House's new video will shock you

Blaze Media

4 hours ago

WATCH: Chuck Schumer's cameo in the White House's new video will shock you

One of the White House's most recent social media posts has gained outsized attention — but likely not for the reasons the administration hoped for. On Sunday night, the White House X account posted a spoof video with major themes of the administration in the style of "Rick and Morty," a popular sci-fi cartoon for adults. 'Your boos mean nothing, I’ve seen what makes you cheer.'Captioned "Hop in ... best dimension yet," the video covers a broad sweep of increasingly fantastic scenes. Reminiscent of the far-out opening credits of "Rick and Morty," the White House's version features some hallmark symbols of the MAGA movement, including but not limited to a MAGA hat, a Diet Coke can, and a floating "1+1+1=3 wins," an apparent reference to the past three presidential "wins" of the Trump administration.The cartoon video shows a number of different scenes, including President Trump and Vice President JD Vance running along the White House colonnade and Trump waving from a balcony of the White House.Then, the scenes get more bizarre. RELATED: Trump approval rating SOARS in new poll The next scene shows an immigration agent with "Homan" on his name tag handcuffing a winged demon. Before the final scene, there is a cut of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaking at a podium, surrounded by green portals to other dimensions. Schumer then removes his face to reveal that he is a robot underneath a mask. Trump and Vance can then be seen flying through the air in a spaceship being chased by a large dragon with red, laser eyes. The scene cuts to black with a lightning strike, which then forms the word "MAGA" in red lettering.The 36-second video, which is approaching nine million views on X but has gained only a little over 40,000 likes, clearly touched a nerve. While some commenters were pleased with or were pleasantly surprised by the White House leaning into the referential crossovers with popular culture, others were not so impressed. Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) drew a sharp contrast between the fantasy of the video and the increasing costs burdening real families across the country: "People can’t afford gas, groceries, rent, and healthcare and this is the weird embarrassing crap the official White House account is putting out."Others questioned if there is an actual audience for this type of content from official government accounts. Scott Greer, for example, simply asked, "Who is the audience for this?"Another account pointed out that this type of content could potentially be flooding out valuable content from other accounts online: "Babe wake up the White house is posting coal again."Despite some of the negative online comments, White House officials have seemingly held their ground. Kaelen Dorr, the head of digital strategy for the White House, referenced a line from "Rick and Morty" as a comeback: "Your boos mean nothing, I’ve seen what makes you cheer."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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Mitch McConnell's office releases another photo of him as questions linger

Blaze Media

4 hours ago

Mitch McConnell's office releases another photo of him as questions linger

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky wrote in a statement Monday that he is still recovering from a fall in June and released a photo of himself in an apparent attempt to quell suspicion about his absence. The photo shows a smiling McConnell alongside his wife, Elaine Chao. It was reportedly taken on Sunday from a rehabilitation facility. Unlike the previous photo released, he is not holding a newspaper or any other item that might help verify when it was taken.'He is not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office.' McConnell released a statement in the press release lamenting that he would not be able to attend the annual Fancy Farm Picnic, a massive church fundraiser in Kentucky that has been running for more than 140 years."I'm still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky, keeping up with intense physical therapy per my doctors' orders," he wrote. "As always, I appreciate all of your continued well wishes, and I'm looking forward to getting back to the Senate and to Kentucky soon," he added.The Office of the Attending Physician, the specialized unit that provides health care to members of Congress, also released a statement on his condition. "Since his discharge from hospital care, he has maintained a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation, including multiple sessions a day designed to rebuild strength and reduce the risk of future falls," the office said. McConnell's bout with childhood polio continues to affect his health, the office added. "He is not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office," it concluded. Chao reportedly traveled to China days before McConnell's fall, and three days after his hospitalization, the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. shared a photo of Chao with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. She has since returned to Kentucky. RELATED: Kentucky governor makes unusual request as mystery deepens over Mitch McConnell's health Mitch McConnell press release McConnell has been heavily criticized by Democrats as well as some in his own party for being far too secretive about his condition. "Allowing speculation to continue in the media is not fair to the Senator or to Kentuckians," reads a statement from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D), "and my hope is that this provides him the opportunity to share the information in a transparent manner, direct from the source." McConnell previously announced that he was not running for re-election. He is the longest-running senator for Kentucky and has the longest record of leading the U.S. Senate.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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Senate Republican committed 'political malpractice' on CBS' Face the Nation: conservative

Raw Story

4 hours ago

Senate Republican committed 'political malpractice' on CBS' Face the Nation: conservative

A conservative economic expert warned Monday that a Republican lawmaker worth millions had made a mistake after a CBS interview.Jessica Riedl, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and budget policy expert who has worked on four different presidential campaigns, described why Sen. John Kennedy's (R-LA) message on "Face the Nation" could backfire for the Republican Party with midterms looming."Americans aren't even willing to pay for causes they believe in and that directly benefit them (trust me, I'm a federal budget expert)," Riedl wrote on X. "Telling them to pay significantly for causes that most don't even care about (and right before an election!) is political malpractice."During the interview, Kennedy — who is worth an estimated $21 million — had claimed that Americans need to hang on, despite rising cost of living and the rapid increase of energy costs in the fallout over the Iran war."If we can stand the pain of the rising cost of energy, we need to stay the course — at least for a few more months," Kennedy said.Political commentators and critics pointed out Kennedy's comments."It would probably be easier for people to accept the pain if wages rose above the cost of inflation and all of these higher prices. but in one of the richest countries in the world, apparently that's not a thing anyone cares about doing for Americans," Beth Bourdon, criminal defense attorney and writer, posted on X."'Kill a few chickens to scare the monkeys.' We need some fresh faces in the Senate," progressive commentator and veteran Mason wrote on X."No!! Why are we paying the electricity bills of data centers? Why are we paying for the water? Why are we paying for a stupid a-- war that wasn’t planned for properly? Why are we even at war? We can’t pay for everything!! The well is running dry!!!!!!!" X user LizzyR, who self-describes as "fact-checking, for voters," wrote."Translation: Republicans will do nothing to reign [SIC] in Trump. Gas prices will continue to rise. More Americans will die and Trump with [SIC] continue to waste billion [SIC] of dollars a week in a failed war with Iran," political and media consultant Marty Taylor, executive director of New Blue USA PAC, wrote on X.Americans aren't even willing to pay for causes they believe in and that directly benefit them (trust me, I'm a federal budget expert).Telling them to pay significantly for causes that most don't even care about (and right before an election!) is political malpractice. https://t.co/G4z00EC1nv— Jessica Riedl 🧀 🇺🇦 (@JessicaBRiedl) July 27, 2026

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Former Obama White House counsel faces House questioning over Epstein ties

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Former Obama White House counsel faces House questioning over Epstein ties

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