Let's start with William Vaillancourt (DAILY BEAST) reporting on convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell's life in Bryan, Texas:
The
facility, nicknamed “Club Fed,” offers a “puppy program” with gym and
yoga classes. There are no cell blocks or guard towers. Prisoners can
use an outdoor running track, access music programs, intramural
competitions, social and cultural events, and even play table tennis,
according to prison consultant Michael Santos.
In
November, it was revealed that Maxwell is allowed an unlimited supply
of toilet paper, in direct contrast to the privileges extended to other
inmates. CNN also revealed that Maxwell has her meals delivered to her
and had lived in a four-person cell by herself.
“The
institution is run in an orderly fashion which makes for a safer more
comfortable environment for all people concerned, inmates and guards
alike,” Maxwell wrote upon her August arrival.
In
November, it was revealed that Maxwell is allowed an unlimited supply of
toilet paper, in direct contrast to the privileges extended to other
inmates. CNN also revealed that Maxwell has her meals delivered to her
and had lived in a four-person cell by herself.
“The
institution is run in an orderly fashion which makes for a safer more
comfortable environment for all people concerned, inmates and guards
alike,” Maxwell wrote upon her August arrival.
“The
kitchen looks clean too — no possums falling from the celling [sic] to
fry unfortunately on ovens, and become mingled with the food being
served,” she wrote.
Maxwell wrote to a relative in another letter: “I am much happier here and more importantly safe.“
And
she showed up Monday, via the internet, to be deposed by the House
Oversight Committee and refused to answer any and all questions. To
every question, she cited the Fifth Amednment and refused to respond.
So
why is she at Club Fed in Bryan, Texas? She never should have been
moved there and it's time to move her back. Bryan, Texas' prison is for
lower level offenders, not sex traffickers. She has made clear that
she will not respond to questions from Congress so it's past time for
her to go back to the higher level facilities that she belongs in.
After
Ghislaine Maxwell’s closed-door deposition before the House Oversight
Committee on Monday, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said she should be
transferred back to the maximum security prison in Florida she was moved
out of last summer.
Khanna, a member of the
committee, wrote on social platform X that Maxwell refused “to answer a
single question about the men who raped underage girls, saying she would
only do so” if she received clemency from President Trump.
He's right. She needs to be sent back to the maximum security prison she belongs in. She's a convicted sex trafficker. She never should have been moved to Bryan, Texas. It's time for her to return to a prison she belongs in.
She is "evil," after all.
That's what Donald Chump said. Julie K. Brown (MIAMI HERALD) reports:
President Donald Trump has repeatedly maintained that he had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes.
But
in July 2006, just as Jeffrey Epstein's criminal sex charge became
public, Trump called then-Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter to tell
him that Epstein's activities with teenaged girls were well known in
both New York and Palm Beach.
"Thank
goodness you're stopping him, everyone has known he's been doing this,"
Trump told Reiter, according to a 2019 FBI interview with Reiter
contained in the Justice Department's Epstein case files.
The
interview, conducted in October 2019 and not previously reported, has
shed new light on Trump's involvement in the early stages of the 2006
Jeffrey Epstein investigation in Palm Beach, Florida. It also raises
questions about how much Trump knew about Epstein and Ghislaine
Maxwell's crimes.
Reiter told FBI agents that
Trump revealed that Epstein's associate, Maxwell, was Epstein's
"operative," and that Trump said "she is evil and to focus on her,"
according to the report.
Trump told Reiter that
"he was around Epstein once when teenagers were present and Trump ‘got
the hell out of there,'" the report said. Trump also told Reiter that he
threw Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club.
That
stands in sharp contrast to what Trump told reporters in July 2019 when
he was asked if he had any knowledge that Epstein had molested girls.
"No, I had no idea. I had no idea," Trump said at the time.
He lied.
Cover up? Sarah K. Burris (RAW STORY) notes US House Rep Dave Min's statements to CNN:
This
"tells me Donald Trump was caught lying because he said that he did not
know about Epstein until like 2019," said Min. "He said he'd quit
affiliations with Epstein at some point. So the fact that, as early as
2005 or 2006, Donald Trump clearly and apparently knew something about
what was going on with Epstein and that he was continuing to send girls
from Mar-a-Lago to Epstein's employment. That tells us a lot about what
Donald Trump knew and when. And I think that's a smoking gun."
Min
said that Trump is desperately trying to distract from the Epstein
files. He said that it appears the Justice Department made a lot of "
unnecessary redaction of names, including, it looks like, Donald Trump's
name quite a lot." Trump, the administration and Epstein accomplice
Ghislaine Maxwell all maintain that Trump did nothing wrong throughout
his relationship with the convicted trafficker.
The other problem Min sees is that 15 percent of the Epstein files still remain hidden by the Justice Department.
"We
don't have any good reason for that. I'll take Rep. [Tom] Massie
(R-Ky.) on his word that he saw some documents, and that fits in with
the larger narrative that they're covering this up," Min said.
He
recalled this time last year, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI
Director Kash Patel were saying publicly that they would do whatever it
took to release all of the files and get to the bottom of the
trafficking ring.
"And
yet, sometime in May, reportedly, Pam Bondi told President Trump he was
in the Epstein files. That launched this whole cover-up. We saw them
then deny that the Epstein files existed. Ghislaine Maxwell had a weird
visit, a private visit from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who
used to be Donald Trump's personal attorney," Min recalled.
It
wasn't long after that that Maxwell was sent to a minimum security
prison camp that typically doesn't allow sex offenders. Maxwell told the
House Oversight and Reform Committee on Monday that she would reveal
everything if she were granted a pardon.
"So
this all reeks of a cover-up right now. And we need to release the
entire Epstein files. The DOJ needs to explain why they seem to be
redacting certain names of people who were implicated in the Epstein
files," Min added.
Rep.
Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Axios in an interview Tuesday that, when he
searched President Trump's name in the unredacted Epstein files the
previous day, it came up "more than a million times."
Why
it matters: At least one of the files Raskin found appears to
contradict what Trump has publicly claimed about his association with
Jeffrey Epstein, according to the House Judiciary Committee ranking
member.
That
document is a 2009 email exchange between Epstein and his associate,
Ghislaine Maxwell, in which Epstein recounted his lawyers' account of a
phone call with Trump, as Raskin previously told reporters.
"Trump
is paraphrased and quoted as saying, 'No, Jeffrey Epstein was not a
member of Mar-a-Lago, but he was a guest at Mar-a-Lago, and no, we never
asked him to leave,'" Raskin said in an interview at the Capitol.
Trump
has denied all wrongdoing in the Epstein matter, and maintained that he
kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago for poaching spa workers.
Congressional
Democrats introduced legislation on Tuesday that they said would
eliminate the statute of limitations that has shielded sex traffickers
such as the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Senate
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Representative Teresa Leger
Fernandez announced the proposal alongside Epstein victims and Virginia
Giuffre's family. The proposal — Virginia's Law — is named after
Giuffre, one of Epstein's most prominent accusers, who died by suicide
last year.
The bill's fate in the Senate and House of Representatives, which are both controlled by Republicans, is unclear.
However,
a bipartisan effort was successful last year to compel the Department
of Justice to release all unclassified files in its Epstein
investigation.
"Virginia's dream was to inspire
and empower survivors to come forward in a world that too often turns
away from abuse and pushes it into the shadows. She wanted to bring
light," said Sky Roberts, Giuffre's brother.
At WHO WHAT WHY, Russ Baker notes Chump's relationship with billionaire investor Leon Black:
But
certain things about Black are also true. The most salient point, to
me, is that Trump — so well known for being transactional — seemingly
rewarded Black, for something, by unexpectedly appointing his son
Benjamin to a significant administration post.
In
the early days of Trump’s second term, the high-flying investment firm
Black co-founded, Apollo Global Management, showed interest in taking on
a big chunk of the huge debt Elon Musk had incurred in buying Twitter.
This occurred while Musk and DOGE were front and center in the Trump
administration, centerpieces in Trump’s “showing results” to his base.
Musk had also, of course, just pulled out all the stops to get Trump
elected; his heavy independent spending in swing states is believed to
have contributed to Trump’s victory.
Shortly
after a news report on the Apollo interest in Musk’s debt, Trump
appointed Black’s son CEO of the US International Development Finance
Corporation (DFC). It’s interesting to note that Benjamin Black had not
been one of the names bandied about for the position.
Right after this appointment, Apollo purchased an unspecified but clearly substantial amount of Musk’s debt.
Normally,
one might simply assume that Black was doing Trump a favor because
Trump was president; getting on his good side would make sense. And
Trump is no stranger to quid pro quo.
However,
one needs to consider that Black, who had to leave his roles as CEO and
chairman of Apollo over the mess back in 2021 (when Black’s
relationship with Epstein was being scrutinized) faces potential
continuing legal, financial and reputational peril.
And that’s where the following seems so important:
Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent, not known for taking major actions without
Trump’s assent, has refused to release documents relating to Black and
Epstein — in particular, SARS (Suspicious Activity Reports) on huge sums
Black sent to Epstein. (SARS are documents filed by financial
institutions to inform government agencies of potentially illegal
activities.)
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is currently
investigating Black for allegedly paying Epstein between $158 and $170
million — ostensibly for tax and estate-planning services. Wyden
questions whether those enormous, outsized sums were truly for
legitimate professional services or played some other role. To determine
that, he very much needs those SARS.
In a
clumsy, fumbling attempt to distract from his withholding those crucial
documents, last August, Bessent very blatantly tried to shift suspicion
to Wyden, seemingly out of thin air.
Instead of
producing the Black-Epstein information, he pivoted to asserting that
Wyden is “very rich” and may be guilty of insider trading — and claimed,
seemingly with zero basis, that there may be SARS on Wyden. Wyden
slammed him back:
Epstein
seems to have been closer with Black than almost anyone else, except
possibly Trump — whom Epstein once referred to as his “best friend.”
Black first met Epstein in 1996 and found him to be a “fascinating guy.”
They lived two blocks apart on New York’s Upper East Side and on
numerous occasions had breakfast, lunch, and dinner together at
Epstein’s town house.
Black
also visited Epstein’s island in the Caribbean, and he once flew with
two of his children on Epstein’s jet to Boston to visit Harvard and MIT.
In 2011, the two men invested in a firm (Environmental Solutions
Worldwide), and two of Black’s sons served on the company’s board. It
was all very chummy until 2018 when Black cut relations with him over a
fee dispute.
A lawsuit alleges Black raped a
16-year-old girl (“Jane Doe”) in Epstein’s townhouse in 2002. His lawyer
claimed the charges were “totally made up, entirely uncorroborated and,
as pleaded, squarely violate the statute of limitations.” The alleged
victim’s law firm withdrew from the case in 2025. Another alleged victim
accused Black of rape in 2002, also in Epstein’s town house, and she,
too, withdrew her case.
With Epstein dead,
Black is one of the few people who might know more than anyone else
alive about things Trump would not want made public. Which could
potentially explain what Trump wants in return for his many favors to
Black: specifically, Black’s continued silence.
At
a time when Republicans hope to shift the Epstein focus to the
Clintons, it’s worth contemplating that yet another friend of Epstein
was Howard Lutnick, whom Trump appointed commerce secretary. Lutnick
claims he’d had “limited interactions” with Epstein. But documents show
they were actually business partners as recently as 2014, well after
Epstein was convicted and served time on Florida sex-trafficking
charges.
Later this morning, Pam Bondi testifies before the House Judiciary Committee. Hollie Silverman (NEWSWEEK) reports:
Survivors
of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam
Bondi asking 15 questions ahead of her scheduled testimony before the
House Judiciary Committee this week.
[. . .]
The
first question posed is: “Who approved the release of the documents
that exposed survivors’ names and identifying information?”
Members
of Congress gained access Monday to unredacted Epstein files at a DOJ
reading room, where they could make handwritten notes but were barred
from bringing devices or staff, according to the department and multiple
lawmakers.
House Judiciary ranking member
Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, said he saw “tons of completely
unnecessary redactions,” alleging the DOJ was “in a cover-up mode” while
allowing victims’ names to be exposed, after viewing unredacted records
Monday, CBS News reported. The department has said its review
prioritized victim protection and that any document flagged for
insufficient redaction is removed for further review.
House Democrats said they plan to question Bondi on redactions and file management during this week’s hearing.
Yesterday, the House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing. Appearing before the Committee were three witnesses:
Mr. Todd Lyons
Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), DHS
The Honorable Rodney Scott
Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), DHS
The Honorable Joseph Edlow
Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS
We'll note one exchange:
US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Commissioner Scott, did the ICU nurse Alex Pretti deserve to die?
Commissioner Rodney Scott: I cannot comment on an on going investigation, sir.
US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Do you believe that he deserved to die? Should he be killed by your agents?
Commissioner Rodney Scott: I'm not going to comment on an on going investigation, sir, before it's concluded and all the facts are available.
US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Do you agree with CBP Commander Bovino's statement that Alex Pretti was planning to massacre law enforcement agents?
Commissioner Rodney Scott: I'm not going to comment on an ongoing investigation, sir.
US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Director Lyons, did Renee Goode deserve to die?
Director Todd Lyons: Sir, I can't comment on ongoing investigations.
US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Director Lyons, do you agree with Secretary Noem and Vice President Vance's characterization of Renee Good as a domestic terrorist?
Director Todd Lyons: Sir, I can't speak to their comments as that they are their own. But I as an ongoing investigation, I can't speak to that.
US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Director Lyons, what did your agent mean when he said 'You raise your voice, I erase your voice in the video'? Just that we have seen. All of us have seen.
Director Todd Lyons: Sir, I'm not aware of that video that you have. Sir, I can't comment on what that officer said.
US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Does that statement -- if that statement -- if I show you the video of that -- does that statement reflect the value of your agency and does ICE respect and adhere to The First Amendment?
Director Todd Lyons: Yes, sir, ICE does respect and refer to The First Amendment, but doesn't respect that. Well, your statement, you said, doesn't represent the values of the men and women of ICE.
US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Commissioner Scott, does CBP respect and adhere to The First Amendment and Second Amendment?
Commissioner Rodney Scott: Yes, we do.
US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Don't you agree that Alex Pretti had every right to exercise his First and Second Amendment freedoms before being shot in the streets by one of your agents?
Director Todd Lyons: I believe every person in the United States has a right to their constitutional rights.
US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Look, I have heard and seen enough. I'm just sick and tired of your agents running around in our cities, in our streets, causing illegal activities. ICE and CBP thugs are roaming our streets, attacking our communities, using our children as bait, referring to people as bodies and numbers, targeting people for their accents and the color of their skin and killing American citizens all while showing zero remorse for their actions. Director Lyons and Commissioner Scott, do you think President Trump will pardon you and your boss, Kristi Noem, before he leaves office, just like he has for insurrectionist and his political allies? Do you believe that President Trump will pardon you? Because -- go ahead.
Director Todd Lyons: I'm not going to speak on behalf of President Trump but I'll tell you I signed up for this job to protect America and I'm very proud of the service that I provide and I don't need a pardon from anybody.
US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Well you better hope so. You better hope you get being pardoned because you will be held accountable for the absolute disregard of the law your agencies have shown over the past year. Your agencies have lost the trust of the American people with millions taking to the streets to protect the illegal actions of your agencies. And that's why I introduced a bill in the United States Congress to abolish ICE. ICE must be abolished. I also co-sponsored a bill to impeach Secretary Kristi Noem and I believe Christina must be impeached and this Congress must do everything in its power to carry out oversight actions against these rogue departments.
If you Google "You raise your voice, I erase your voice," you immediately get this at the top of the page:
Context and Meaning
- The Incident: The incident took place during tense, ongoing protests against federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota, following the killing of two U.S. citizens by federal agents.
- The Threat: The agent, seen in a video sitting in an unmarked vehicle, told a citizen, "I will tell you this... You raise your voice, I erase your voice". When the observer questioned if the agent was threatening to silence them, the agent confirmed, saying "Exactly, yeah".
- Significance: The statement was widely condemned by civil liberties advocates and social media users as a direct threat against First Amendment rights (freedom of speech and protesting). It was interpreted as a sign of intimidation by law enforcement, rather than a disciplinary action.
Public and Legal Reaction
- Intimidation Fears: The phrase became a symbol of public fear, with many arguing it showed federal agents treating lawful observation as a threat.
- "Un-American": The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) described the incident as "about as un-American as it gets," noting that the government cannot legally punish protected criticism.
- Ongoing Issues: The clip fueled further outrage against federal agents who have been accused of aggressive tactics, including stalking, pepper-spraying, and arresting individuals who record them.
The
incident has raised critical questions regarding the accountability of
federal agents and the protection of constitutional rights during public
unrest.
Director Todd Lyons is not aware of this video? This well reported video? That he should have learned about from the news and should have immediately followed up on? Roland Martin notes US House Rep LaMonica McIver's exchange at the hearing.
Federal prosecutors in Washington sought and failed on Tuesday to secure an indictment against six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video this fall that enraged President Trump by reminding active-duty members of the military and intelligence community that they were obligated to refuse illegal orders, four people familiar with the matter said.
It was remarkable that the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington — led by Jeanine Pirro, a longtime ally of Mr. Trump’s — authorized prosecutors to go into a grand jury and ask for an indictment of the six members of Congress, all of whom had served in the military or the nation’s spy agencies.
But it was even more remarkable that a group of ordinary citizens sitting on the grand jury in Federal District Court in Washington forcefully rejected Mr. Trump’s bid to label their expression of dissent as a criminal act warranting prosecution.
The move to charge the lawmakers — among them, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan — was, by any measure, an extraordinary attempt by Trump appointees to politicize the criminal justice system even for a Justice Department that has repeatedly shattered norms of independence from the White House and followed Mr. Trump’s directives to prosecute his adversaries.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Adam Schiff's office:
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) released the following statement following the release of files revealing that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was in business with Jeffrey Epstein, in addition to being in communication with him over many years, after repeatedly denying his ties to the convicted sex offender.
“Howard Lutnick lied to the American people about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. For months he’s claimed to have spent ‘zero time’ with him. Now, in the Epstein Files, we learn that the two were in business together years after Epstein was first convicted, with Lutnick even planning to visit Epstein’s private island.
“Lutnick’s lies about his business dealings with a convicted child sex offender, raise serious concerns about his judgement and ethics. Lutnick has no business being our Commerce Secretary, and he should resign immediately.
“We must not forget that this information only came to light months after the Trump Administration was required by law to release the Epstein Files. Damning revelations like these demonstrate exactly why Donald Trump and the Department of Justice have slow walked and obscured the release of this information from the beginning. The truth must come out, and I will continue to demand a full and independent investigation into how Trump’s attorneys at DOJ have handled these files, to ensure full accountability and that nothing is withheld. The victims of Epstein and his conspirators deserve nothing less.”
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The following sites updated:
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TV in the sixties and seventies7 hours ago
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Bad news for Chump7 hours ago
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Too damn old8 hours ago
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Junior destroys everything8 hours ago
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