House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman James Comer said he wants Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to appear before lawmakers in July.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is working with the Department of Justice to bring in acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for an interview on his handling of the Epstein files release. Comer told reporters Wednesday that he is in “communication” with the Justice Department, as he entered a closed-door interview with Bill Gates […]
Add to the number of missteps Donald Trump’s White House has made with regard to the “explosive” Jeffrey Epstein files, Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles believed that the controversy would blow over after the FBI released a memo on their findings.She could not have been more wrong and she had been warned, according to the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.According to their forthcoming book "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump," Haberman and Swan wrote that a small group of White House and Justice Department officials drafted a memo designed to explain why the department would not release further information about Epstein. But the process of composing it was reportedly chaotic, with officials refusing to put their names on it and deep concerns emanating from FBI leadership.FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino had grown increasingly infuriated as they realized the scale of the crisis they were being blamed for managing. They repeatedly raised internal alarms that the Epstein controversy was gaining dangerous momentum with Trump's supporters.Bongino pushed hard for immediate release of surveillance footage from the federal facility where Epstein was found dead in his cell—a definitive gesture meant to satisfy the MAGA base's demand for transparency. But the Justice Department's "nothing-to-see-here" memo was being prepared for public release instead, the report notes.Bongino objected strenuously. He told Patel the memo would undermine their promises of transparency and he refused to put the FBI seal on the letterhead -- but he was overruled.Inside the White House, Trump had no interest in releasing anything, according to the upcoming book. Senior officials including Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair were initially dismissive about the scope of the Epstein crisis and reportedly told colleagues Republican voters "didn't care," citing early polling data from Trump's chief pollster Tony Fabrizio. The Epstein controversy, in their view, was driven by "fringe conspiracy theorists" and amplified by noisy online influencers—not a meaningful voting bloc. Engaging with it, they argued, would only amplify the story and lend it official legitimacy.Wiles, Blair, and Trump's inner circle had watched him weather countless scandals over years and they believed this wasn't "a storm," but instead "passing clouds."Bongino disagreed vehemently. "It's not an online story," he reportedly told White House advisers bluntly. "You don't understand."He was proven right almost immediately with Swan and Haberman writing, "The memo was an earthquake, and it was received by a part of the MAGA base as an outright betrayal.Instead of closing the Epstein file, the Justice Department's carefully worded document landed like a bomb in the MAGA base. A significant faction of Trump's most ardent supporters received it not as reassurance but "as outright betrayal" —an abrupt disavowal of the sinister conspiracy theories that Trump's closest confidants had hyped during the Biden presidency and promised to expose once Trump returned to power.
Epstein’s former attorney told NewsNation, “First I am hearing it,” and stated he has not received a formal letter to speak before the Committee.
Donald Trump called up the late conservative gadfly Charlie Kirk last July and berated him for letting one of his Turning Point rallies spiral into anger and conspiracy rumors about the Jeffrey Epstein files, reports the New York Times.According to reporting from Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, from their forthcoming book, “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump,” at the same time that Trump was trying to take heat off of Attorney General Pam Bondi for her handling of the Epstein Files, Kirk was on the road holding rallies that were roiled by the revelations trickling out of the FBI.The confrontation reflected deepening fractures within Trump's coalition as the Epstein controversy spiraled beyond the administration's control, Haberman and Swan wrote before adding that, while Trump was doing damage control on Truth Social, Kirk was holding court at his rallies where the Epstein Files were becoming a primary focus.Central to the fury was former Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino's war with Bondi over the files. Bongino reportedly told White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles: "She was the one on TV saying over and over they had all this stuff. There was never anything. We were always clear about that. But now everyone thinks we did something wrong. And I gave up everything."Bongino described the personal costs of the debacle. He had walked away from his high-rated podcast and millions of dollars, "and now it's all disappeared, because people think we screwed something up with Epstein.""This is going to be President Trump's Iran-contra," he reportedly lamented at the time.On July 12, Trump took to Truth Social to defend Bondi and urge his supporters to stop wasting "Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about." The post was a transparent attempt to quash the controversy—and it failed.Trump told aides he was furious with some of his most influential supporters, including Kirk, and former Fox News personalities Tucker Carlso and Megyn Kelly, all of whom were publicly demanding the administration "come clean on the files."Kirk's Turning Point USA event the day before had turned into an Epstein "grievance session," the Times is reporting, with speaker after speaker attacking Bondi's handling of the situation. Trump called Kirk directly and "scolded him."According to the Times, Kirk was "more attuned to the younger MAGA base" than perhaps anyone in Trump's orbit, and recognized that the Epstein cover-up—as it was now widely viewed—was capturing alarm among his constituency to a dangerous degree.Donald Trump Jr. and Vice President JD Vance, both deeply embedded in the hyper-online younger faction of the base through their X activity, shared Kirk's concerns. They urged the White House to reverse course and pressure the Justice Department to release more Epstein files, Haberman and Swan are reporting.
President Trump is losing his mind over a New York Times report detailing how the White House panicked over Jeffrey Epstein in multiple instances.Early Wednesday morning, MS NOW host Joe Scarborough mentioned the report on his show, Morning Joe. Less than an hour later, Trump attacked Scarborough on Truth Social, calling him “one of the most inaccurate detailers of truthful facts on television.”“His serious case on Trump Derangement Syndrome, often referred to as TDS, has made him a laughing stock among those who know what is going on in the ‘Wonderful World of Television,’’’ Trump posted.Scarborough’s show was still going on after Trump dropped his post, and the hosts called him out for basically confirming the Times’ reporting that mentioning Epstein triggers the White House.“Sometimes I go talk to you in the White House, and we disagree on things, but nothing deranged here, sir, unless you’re deranged,” Scarborough said to Trump. “If there’s any derangement, it would have to be on your side of the relationship, because I’m not deranged. Not about you. I just state the facts, and maybe that makes you deranged.“Ohhhh, that actually sort of affirms the reporting that this is something you cannot mention around the president of the United States,” Scarborough added. “We just read what Maggie and Jonathan wrote about Epstein. Is that what that was?”The Times article is a detailed look at how Trump’s inner circle met in the Situation Room to handle each development regarding Epstein and the government’s files on the billionaire sex offender. Shouting matches, arguments, efforts to get different officials fired, and clashing strategies are all outlined in the article, which is based on reporting from the forthcoming book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, by reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. The main thesis of the article is that Trump could not make the public forget about Epstein, no matter what he did, and he continued to prove that Wednesday morning.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Wednesday told the House Oversight Committee that he has “never victimized anyone” and never had an indication that Jeffrey Epstein engaged in criminal conduct. Gates, in prepared opening remarks for his voluntary interview as part of the committee’s investigation into the late sex offender, painted a picture of Epstein as…
The Microsoft co-founder has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of his former associate's illegal activity.
Microsoft co-founder to appear in closed-door session as part of lawmakers’ investigation into convicted sex offenderBill Gates testified in front of the House committee on oversight and reform on Wednesday, and told lawmakers in his opening remarks that he “never witnessed nor had any indication” that Jeffrey Epstein was “engaged in ongoing criminal conduct”.“I am here to answer your questions about my interactions with Jeffrey Epstein and to help contribute to the committee’s important work,” Gates said in his opening statement seen by the Guardian. “I support the release of all the Epstein files and sincerely hope that, through your efforts and those of others advocating on their behalf, the survivors of Epstein’s crimes can get the justice that they deserve.” Continue reading...