i think the president of the united states of america deserves to know whether his vice president jd vance is leaking details of the child trafficking and money laundering scheme the president was involved in to the press
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 23, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Hat tip to the multiple commentors who linked to the unpaywalled archive.com version –Per the WSJ, “Justice Department Told Trump in May That His Name Is Among Many in the Epstein Files”:
… In May, Bondi and her deputy informed the president at a meeting in the White House that his name was in the Epstein files, the officials said. Many other high-profile figures were also named, Trump was told. Being mentioned in the records isn’t a sign of wrongdoing.
The officials said it was a routine briefing that covered a number of topics and that Trump’s appearance in the documents wasn’t the focus.
They told the president at the meeting that the files contained what officials felt was unverified hearsay about many people, including Trump, who had socialized with Epstein in the past, some of the officials said. One of the officials familiar with the documents said they contain hundreds of other names.
They also told Trump that senior Justice Department officials didn’t plan to release any more documents related to the investigation of the convicted sex offender because the material contained child pornography and victims’ personal information, the officials said. Trump said at the meeting he would defer to the Justice Department’s decision to not release any further files…
The administration didn’t publicly announce the decision until weeks later on July 7, when the Justice Department posted a memo on its website. The statement, which was unsigned, stated that a thorough review had turned up no list of Epstein’s clients, no evidence that would lead to an investigation of uncharged third parties and no additional documents that merited public disclosure. It said that much of the material would have been sealed in a trial to protect victims and to block the dissemination of child pornography…
FBI Director Kash Patel has privately told other government officials that Trump’s name appeared in the files, according to people close to the administration.
Patel declined to answer an inquiry from the Journal about the Epstein case, but said in a statement that the memo on the Justice Department website explaining why the department wouldn’t release more Epstein documents was “consistent with the thorough review conducted by the FBI and DOJ.”
Details of Bondi’s meeting with Trump haven’t been previously reported. Trump’s advisers had for months, including during the presidential campaign, said they would release the files, and Trump, while at times equivocal, indicated he would support the release…
Absolutely Kash Patel.
— caverylittle.bsky.social (@caverylittle.bsky.social) July 23, 2025 at 4:34 PM
===
The real problem is that there's too many scheming Viziers to really keep track of now
— Cooper Lund (@cooperlund.online) July 23, 2025 at 4:24 PM
ETA: I personally found it significant that Annie Linskey is one of the ‘reporters’ on the WSJ piece. Linskey is a professional saboteur — I first ran across her when she was trying to kneecap Elizabeth Warren’s senate campaign against Scott Brown — so if she’s willing to have her name on an anti-Trump report, well…
Speaking of scheming Vizers! I really appreciate Mr. Charles P. Pierce’s brilliant summary of the case against the other top contendor. From Esquire, “JD Vance Visited the Murdochs Right Before the WSJ Dropped Trump’s Letter to Epstein”:
J Divan Vance, vice president of the United States, is a man of great ambition. He is also a man of great unpopularity. These things generally cancel each other out in the life of a politician. But Vance’s impression of his own importance is so solid that this rule no longer applies. And it appears that he may have found his own conservative Sanhedrin, one willing to pay the 30 pieces of silver it would take to sell out the boss, in the wilds of Montana. From the Associated Press:
Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday made a brief trip to Montana, where he spoke to media mogul Rupert Murdoch; his son Lachlan Murdoch, the head of Fox News and News Corp.; and a group of other Fox News executives, according to two people familiar with the trip. Vance met with the group at the Murdoch family ranch in southwest Montana near Dillon, according to the people. They confirmed the visit to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about it. It’s not clear why the vice president addressed the group or what they spoke about.
This meeting took place shortly before Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal published its scoop about the birthday letter allegedly written by the president to Jeffrey Epstein, which takes this little item out of the frontiers of classic MAGA paranoia and into the heart of the hopelessly mutated mainstream of American politics…
Vance’s sudden enthusiasm for Big Sky country adds an extra measure of turmoil into the already roiling stew of MAGA politics. The president is being belabored by large portions of his base over documents detailing his relationship with Epstein, perhaps the most notorious American human trafficker since the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. Many of those same MAGAnauts have no use for Vance, whom they view as a) the ambitious climber that he is and b) the tool of a new tech elite led by gazillionaire Peter Thiel, Vance’s one-man raison d’être as a politician…
It's worth remembering that according to the Journal, Musk was right. That means Trump confided in him, which I doubt; or it means the fact is common knowledge through a certain level of government. The Journal hints at the latter.
— Richard M. Nixon (@dicknixon.bsky.social) July 23, 2025 at 4:37 PM
====
Counter-argument, from the Oval Office Occupant’s current designated Liar-on-Fox:
Bessent: "Newspapers like the Wall Street Journal are not used to a high-functioning executive president. They are used to perhaps President Obama, who was not as economically sophisticated as President Trump." pic.twitter.com/RwzEIeHVev
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2025
Elizabelle
Pro tip: Popping a Milk Dud is really delicious with popcorn. Makes it kind of chocolate caramelly.
Alexa, pop all of the popcorn.
Baud
High functioning is a term of art in the sex trafficking community, apparently.
Steve LaBonne
You hate to see it.
rikyrah
It’s 94 degrees. Feels like 107.
Black Jesus, HELP!
me
I hope that Trump decides it’s Vance doing this even if it isn’t. Seeing him try to fire the VP sounds like fun.
dmsilev
It’s true that President Trump has presided over far more personal and business bankruptcies than President Obama.
MattF
MAGA spokesorcs leave me breathless. ‘Did that person actually say those words?’
Steve LaBonne
@me: Popcorn futures are through the roof.
Scout211
Lemme ‘splain the Bessent words:
“High-functioning executive President”
(He is only able to function when he’s feeling his Diet Coke and Adderal cocktail high).
“Economically sophisticated”.
(He’s a long-term white collar criminal).
Baud
bbleh
Gives me great confidence that the stewardship of Teh Economee is in the hands of such giants of integrity and sophistication as Scott Bessent …
prostratedragon
I call bullshit.
mrmoshpotato
What?! The fat, orange, fascist rapist is on a client list of a dead child sex trafficker?!
How is this possible?!?!?!
piratedan
u betcha DJT is high functioning, it’s courtesy of all of that executive time he uses to get himself up to speed on all of the issues…
it’s courtesy of a lifestyle that avoids Dijon Mustard and tan suits….
Steve LaBonne
Opinions differ as to whether Trump is a high-functioning idiot or a low-functioning imbecile.
Soprano2
My God, Bessent is all up in FFOTUS’S ass, isn’t he? As for worrying about mentions of him in the files, what were those 1,000 FBI agents doing if they weren’t looking for his name. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
bbleh
@prostratedragon: no it’s true; the focus was the appearance of Trump’s appearance in the documents.
Steve LaBonne
@Soprano2: The North Korean level of sycophancy around Trump is really something special.
Old Man Shadow
Don’t really get Murdoch’s game: shivving Trump with his newspaper while blowing him with his cable news network.
Ramona
@Elizabelle: Also, Raisinets with popcorn. Sometimes I wish I had not discovered my milk allergy.
Steve LaBonne
@Old Man Shadow: Softening him up out of sight of the illiterate MAGAs until it’s time to go in for the kill.
Ramona
@Baud: Are you kidding right now?
hueyplong
@Old Man Shadow: Kind of a downer to contemplate, but it’s possible Murdoch has been selected to land the plane, leaking this and that for a while and then concluding that it’s all a “nothingburger.”
Much more fun to contemplate some Game of Thrones maneuvering around the iron throne.
Baud
Baud
@Ramona:
Yes (to my knowledge)
Ramona
I so look forward to this summer’s weekly WSJ’s drip..
danielx
@Old Man Shadow:
Fox News viewers don’t read WSJ, but rich assholes do. That being said, Murdoch’s logic escapes me too – except that the Murdoch clan really isn’t all that fond of Orange Jesus, possibly for the excellent reason (among many others) that his word isn’t good.
Ramona
@Baud: Your mama is high functioning (to my best understanding of the meagre facts available to me!)
MattF
@hueyplong: Interesting to contemplate… but too complicated. We’re talking about a circle of old white male malignant narcissists. Not particularly smart or particularly inventive.
me
@Old Man Shadow:
I don’t think this is out of character for Rupert. The Sun and London Times will often take different sides on things in the UK despite being both part of News Corp.
suzanne
Ooooh, friends, this has me grinning from ear to ear!
hueyplong
@MattF: I happily sign on to your view.
bjacques
@hueyplong: Porcelain Throne, more like.
Is this one of those deals where everyone has to hold the shank so the screws can’t trace the DNA on it to a single person?
Ramona
@Steve LaBonne: Retaining the soft MAGA support so Fox retains credibility when they and their fellow-oligarchs slide Vance into the POTUS spot?
Scout211
Since Bondi knew state law, her request to unseal the records seems a little like fake news. Added: or maybe just fake Attorney General.
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah: 96, feels like 116.
mrmoshpotato
@me:
LOL!
Albatrossity
If Trump is “economically sophisticated”, then I am capable of levitation.
And I’m not
But I do second Elizabelle’s suggestion for Milk Duds!
mrmoshpotato
@MattF: How much they suck Dump’s fat, orange ass is impressive in a really fucked up way.
mrmoshpotato
Dupe.
pat
Bessent: “Newspapers like the Wall Street Journal are not used to a high-functioning executive president. They are used to perhaps President Obama, who was not as economically sophisticated as President Trump.”
How does anyone say that with a straight face? This left me with my jaw literally dropped.
Yeah, I don’t think Obama was able to bankrupt several casinos. Definitely not economically sophisticated.
hells littlest angel
It’s not proof, or even evidence necessarily, but I’m pretty sure it’s a fucking sign.
Ramona
I want Alex Acosta subpoenaed by Congress and asked to disclose the GWB DOJ official who leaned on him to give Epstein the sweetheart nonprosecution deal in 2007 or 2008!
mrmoshpotato
@Soprano2:
Looking for Hillary’s risotto recipe.
Steve LaBonne
@Ramona: If I had to guess, I think that’s the plan.
MattF
@hells littlest angel: My current guess is that it’s actually about some financial crimes. First, it’s always really about financial crimes. Second, follow the money. Third, Epstein’s main gig was financial advice— raping teenagers was a sideshow.
lowtechcyclist
@me:
Why not? Seems like the sort of thing a Unitary Executive can do, regardless of what the Constitution says. I mean, what does that stupid old document mean anymore, amirite, Justice Roberts?
Suzanne
@me:
I can imagine FFOTUS being aghast that Vance fucks couches instead of high-end prostitutes with faces full of filler.
lowtechcyclist
@Steve LaBonne:
So’s the popcorn, if you’ve got a strong enough popper. ;-)
Shalimar
They were best friends for 15 years, according to both of them. Of course, Trump is in the guy’s files. Were Bondi or Patel or Bongini or anyone else expecting he wouldn’t be? Why do they all sound shocked by what they found?
I assume “in the files” is just a euphemism for “holy shit, he did all of that?” Details of what the files say are really important to know here, and the more they won’t say the worse it most likely is.
JoyceH
@hueyplong: “land the plane”? The notion that Murdoch has the capability to put the lid on a developing scandal presupposes that there’s only one repository of information that the WSJ has exclusive access to. To the contrary- this thing has escaped containment. There’s about a thousand FBI agents who’ve reviewed what the DOJ has and they’re not all MAGA. There’s an unknown number of victims out there and many of them have long standing anger about how the thing has been swept under the rug. Heck, Epstein’s brother was on CNN yesterday.
That’s why it’s so funny that the House is going on an extended recess. You know who’s not going on recess? The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, heck, the Daily Beast and Teen Vogue!
bjacques
@Suzanne: sofa cushions are full of filler. Does that count?
Jackie
This just happened:
So what is the next step? Can Johnson squash this?
Moondoggus
@me:
Rupert cares about in thing: money
if he can max out on Fox and make more money saying the complete opposite on WSJ he’s fine with that.
personally i think he hates Trump, but Fox makes a lot of money fluffing the pedophile, so it continues
Suzanne
@bjacques: Sure.
I have put a great deal of detail into my Vance-fucks-a-couch fantasy. I see it as one of those 70s brown floral couches. And he’s facedown and flopping like a fish, and his forehead keeps hitting the arm.
Could be funny with one of those Nelson marshmallow couches.
Doc Sardonic
@Jackie: James Comer has to sign the subpoena, for it to be official. I expect that to happen in the never category
lowtechcyclist
@Ramona:
Makes sense to me. Regardless of JD’s unpopularity, he’d have more than three years as Unitary Executive before his lack of popularity can cost him an election. And since the Seditious Six say he hardly even needs Congress anymore, getting blown out in 2026 won’t be the big deal it was in, say, 2006.
I wonder what relations are like between Murdoch and Thiel.
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne:
This is why we need spoiler tags.
Jackie
@Doc Sardonic: Ugh. Comer an anti release the files rethug then?
Bupalos
@Jackie: Comer.
dmsilev
@Suzanne:
You should feed that to some of the AI image generator engines. They’d all spontaneously commit suicide rather than render such a …thing.
Jackie
@Bupalos: Caught it. My auto spelling knows Comey better than Comer, apparently.
Baud
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Bessent can say that crap and it doesn’t matter how much of it he pulled out his ass. He, and the rest of the right wing wurlitzer say it enough to the media and, nothing new to most people here, they’ll start parroting it as if it were the truth. It’s simply Rove’s “We create our own reality” model of propaganda.
The target audience for that isn’t “us”.
Bupalos
@JoyceH: I doubt there’s any there there as far as a “scandal” that can “come out.”
That’s not actually the problem for Trump, that he would be implicated. He might be or he might not be, but that’s not actually the problem for him. The problem is simply that he can’t deliver on the founding myth. For Trump to retain his hegemony on right wing power, he has to actually deliver heads on platters and a massive conspiracy that subsumes most of the government and hollywood. He has to release the epstein files and they have to show something that there is no chance that they show, an elite conspiracy that explains the ills of MAGAland, explains why government yields results that people don’t understand, explains why the school systems are falling apart.
In assessing the politics of this, I think folks are too invested in the idea of a harmful scandal. This guy already pervs on teens and brags about (at the least) gross sexual imposition. There’s not much scandal juice here. What there is, what he can’t get away from, is the exposure of his impotence or collusion. And that’s going to be the takeaway no matter what, it’s just a question of degree now.
SW
Murdock and Trump. Two dirty old bastards who have no reason or inclination to worry about the future.
mapanghimagsik
The world is boiling away, and here I am rooting for injuries.
TS
Pleased someone is standing up to him – just read this
Australia has lifted biosecurity import controls placed on US beef after a review determined the country had improved its safety measures – supposed reason
The trade restriction was one of the Trump administration’s key grievances with Australia. real reason
Soprano2
@Baud: Wwhatever happened to parent’s rights?
Baud
@Soprano2:
Republican Rights > Parents Rights > Children Rights
TS
@pat:
I guess they have deleted the history where Obama got the US & world economies out of the worst disaster since the 1929 collapse/depression.
Soprano2
@Bupalos: It’s an injury to his narcissistic ego; for someone like him, that’s the worst kind of injury.
mrmoshpotato
@Suzanne: That Nelson couch looks extremely uncomfortable for sitting.
Not sure how Vance would feel about fucking it though.
BellyCat
Pleased to see that you mentioned at least one outlet doing genuine reporting.
artem1s
financial advice on how to launder money too. maybe we finally have the answer to how someone can bankrupt not one, not two but THREE casinos?
BellyCat
@Suzanne: Oddly specific. //
WTFGhost
@Shalimar: I found it interesting that Patel didn’t go to *Trump* to say his name was in the files – he informed other administration officials.
Now, if Trump was in the files, and it was all a big nothing burger, I’m sure Patel would have run to tell Trump ASAP. To me, at the least, that means he wanted to prepare them for bad press.
Still, I wonder what it would feel like, to a guy like Patel, were he to find evidence that Trump did have sex with underaged women, after having crowed about how this kind of stuff was going to smear Democrats. Would he really have the moral grounding to decide this had to be released?
Probably not – otherwise, it probably would have been already.
Baud
We were worried about Elon Musk stealing our data, but what if he also stole the Epstein files?
The Audacity of Krope
If Dem electeds and their mouthpieces had 0.5 percent of that energy to put toward fluffing Biden…
The Audacity of Krope
@Baud: Make orthodontists rich again!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@pat: His face wasn’t actually straight. He was smirking
ETA: The site just made me re-enter my identifying info.
The Audacity of Krope
Yes, it was the site…not something that looked exactly like the site…
BWA HA HA HA!!!
Hoodie
“Not economically sophisticated” is a racist foghorn. Obama was the editor of the fucking Harvard Law Review. Of course, that was DEI. Bessent seems to be a particularly noteworthy prick in a cadre of colossal pricks.
Of course Trump is in the Epstein files. There are umpteen public domain photos and videos of those two perverts frolicking together. I doubt there’s any smoking gun re Trump diddling teens because the Biden DOJ would have prosecuted if there was. However, the uncontroverted fact is he was buddies with Epstein, damn well knew what he was up to and turned a blind eye to the whole sordid mess, including when he was president. That’s what Trump doesn’t want getting out. He didn’t give a shit about the girls that Epstein was abusing, including at least one of his own employees.
pharniel
@artem1s: It’s a solid bet that lots of Trump’s slush funds and other sensitive financials are in the files.
He’s always super upset when people get access to it, which can make him irrationally angry.
But we’re now in the “someone told a narccissit no, so it’s assert dominance time!” which is bad for business.
frosty
High-functioning. Economically sophisticated.
The obsequious lying flattery and ass-kissing just gets to me sometimes. No one anywhere near T***p has even a hint of self-respect. Vomit.
suzanne
@BellyCat:
I bought a couch recently. I’ve been thinking about couches a lot. Plus, I have an active visual imagination.
frosty
@Scout211: Thanks for the explanation. Everything he said is much clearer now.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@The Audacity of Krope: LOL. Yeah, I wondered why BJ wanted my credit card number and the name of my first pet.
m.j.
I know why Donny is afraid of the Epstein files. He killed one of Epstein’s sex slaves.
Trump has a known history of abuse. I think it was Katie Johnson (right?) who sued in 2016 saying she was both raped and beaten when she was 13. I believe Trump has been accused of beating at least one of his wives. These sorts of things can get out of hand and they did. He killed someone and someone else cleaned up.
catclub
I would say that the chances of ANYTHING causing Trump to resign… in favor of VANCE: are less than zero. Vance probably knows this. Does he think Trump will be impeached and leave that way? Does Vance think making Trump more unpopular will help him?
Nothing adds up except Trump’s razor: whatever is the stupidest possible reason. I have no idea.
suzanne
@frosty:
It’s fucken pathetic. A high school dick-measuring contest, every day, at the highest levels of our government.
In middle school, one dude drank piss off the bathroom counter for $5. I remember being horrified not really because he did it, but because he didn’t demand at least $20. Vance, Cruz, Rubio, and others make me think of that a lot.
The Audacity of Krope
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah, it’s for BJ’s new preferred poster program. We’re testing it out until I can afford this cute little seafront cottage…I mean….uh oh.
catclub
Yeah, sure. There is evidence in the Epstein files of that. You do know that the GWBush admin, the Obama admin, the first trump admin and the Biden admin DOJ all had their hands on this evidence and never brought up something like that?
pharniel
I forget where, possibly LGM but it was in the Before Times, did a rundown of Epstein’s assets & business, and concluded that he was a shitty financial advisor and most likely a fixer/clearinghouse.
Epstien was wealthy, but he wasn’t rich like his client base. He was still firmly The Help.
It is believable that Tump killed someone or all sorts of crimes against humans, but I don’t think he’d care about that even if there was a tape.
Going on the Financial Crimes thing, it’s more likely that he was a bagman for Epstein’s clients, including people who are part of The Cabal to Orange Blight’s base. Sure, Russian mobsters a plenty, but if you got enough Chinese CCP member’s money in there, or someone like Bill Gates, that could be a real scandal to the MAGA faithful.
Craig
@Old Man Shadow: because he can.
The Audacity of Krope
Trump was a prolific donor to both parties. Jussayin’
catclub
The money transfers to Epstein’s banks are the closest thing to a client list. There is a Dem Senator (Wyden?)
who is going after them.
WTFGhost
@mrmoshpotato: I think you could fit a Fleshlight in between the cushions, so, there’s always *that*. I mean, I’m not into a davenport damsel myself, so I don’t know if there’s something about the fabric stroke, the springs, that aching surprise about when and how they’ll squeak, which makes the possibility of GETTING CAUGHT add to the carnal excitement, maybe it’s the smells of families that have lived sitting on, and living in, the couch concubine.
I don’t want to speculate, but, I do want people to understand, sex positivity leaves no room for kink shaming, and I’ve yet to hear a loveseat lassie complain of not having wanted the extra attention.
Still, consider prophylaxis. Learning to use a condom, while masturbating, or getting some sofa sweetheart supplementation, means you won’t have any awkwardness when you find women don’t bareback much these days. It also avoids embarrassing, and difficult to explain, stains and (ahem) smells. And this is one of those times, where, (cue the music)
“If you’re running low on money and you need a prophylactic try Saran Wrap…(backup singers): SARAN WRAP!
It is helpful to apply some lube, if you’re not self lubricating when en flagrante delicto the “chesterfield cha cha”.
So, let us not shame the act of couch fucking in the privacy of one’s own… couch storage location, I dunno, and, let’s assume the couch owner (hopefully *you*) has given full informed consent, so, trust me, just buy the effing couch, and maybe you can do that banquette in the bogey as an encore, yes?
catclub
maybe prolific means frequent. If Trump gave 1/100th as much as Sheldon Adelson I would be amazed. He is a cheapskate of the highest order.
Shalimar
If Trump is only “mentioned” in the files a few times and no one directly accused him of raping girls, it will be a massive shock. There has been enough smoke coming out over the last decade to burn half of the West.
The way they phrased their revelations still are not that big a deal compared to what is probably there.
zhena gogolia
@The Audacity of Krope: We would be living in a very different world right now.
Hoodie
I hope everyone realizes that this whole thing could be ratfuckery. My spidey sense gets triggered with anything involving Murdoch. I’m concerned because he could be deliberately agitating people to get obsessed by the files, which in all likelihood will not be conclusive of anything. Trump is in them, but it probably is a lot of the stuff we’ve already seen. This could all lead to a phony buildup such that, when this stuff is finally revealed, the press sees that it’s a lot of the stuff they’ve already reported on and declares it a nothingburger or latches on to new evidence about some prominent Dems. They’ll then conveniently forget about the mountain of evidence that Trump likely knew about Epstein’s predations and didn’t do a damn thing about it, even laughed about it.
m.j.
@catclub:
Sure.
Names. Times. Locations. Meetings. Witnesses. Disappearances.
Add your own.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Such a boring world, no?
Captain C
@me:
I initially misread this as:
(I mean, just add Yakety Sax and acquire some popcorn and milk duds…)
Baud
Martin
Far be it for me to get in the way of Trump trying to get another one of his VPs hanged, but Vance seems entirely too dumb to do this as a machiavellian move, more likely he just blurted it out without thinking.
My money is still on Bongino. He was the true believer who was thinking of resigning when Trump didn’t release them.
Scout211
@Hoodie: Yes, that’s possible. But don’t forget the lies and conspiracies that Trump, his minions and even Bondi have been pushing to the MAGA masses about the “list” that would surely implicate the members of the “deep state” who were pedophiles or were protecting pedophiles.
If there is nothing there, then there is also nothing to the conspiracy that has been promoted for years. They already are not happy about it but if this new batch of releasing documents and subpoenas and jailhouse chats also finds nothing, they will not be happy at all.
JetsamPool
@MattF:
Financial crimes is a good guess, considering that the orange one’s financial details and personal health are the only national security issues the current administration cares about.
Putting on my conspiracy hat, I can brainstorm some embarrassing possibilities. Maybe there was an STD outbreak on Epstein’s island. Maybe the FFOTUS loaned money to Epstein and never got repayed, of vice versa. It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Wouldn’t releasing the files foreclose on the possibility of prosecuting anyone though? Not that the DOJ has any intention of doing anything, unless they can arrest a democrat.
Captain C
@Jackie:
Not sure, but that’s the kind of thing which could make people think there was some consciousness of guilt going on, including some of the cult members.
Captain C
@Suzanne:
Does he stop for a second and say “Darn!” or does he just keep going?
Jackie
I’m really curious about who’s feeding Murdoch and the WSJ about FFOTUS’s name through out the Epstein files. I see Bondi’s getting hysterical now, screaming it’s a witch hunt and fake news! Who was all over every department in FFOTUS’s administration digging into everything two months ago?
Muskrat and DOGE.
Martin
I would note for the people who think that the big donors prefer Trump because Trump is getting things done – I’m not convinced he’s doing the things they want done. Usually they want someone compliant, and Vance is about as obsequious an individual as I’ve ever seen.
Is there ratfucking afoot? When is there not in the GOP? But that’s sort of the problem when it seems like literally everyone has motive.
suzanne
@Captain C: I picture it more like he keeps saying “OW” but keeps going anyway.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
This is fucking scary. Just tearing down a basic health measure for no reason except RFK Jr’s lunacy.
different-church-lady
It looks like MSNBC has had enough of Dumbfuck Hitler’s shit. During Tulsi’s repugnant presser today the chyron read, “DNI DIRECTOR GABBARD JOINS WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING TO PUSH ELECTION CONSPIRACY THEORIES”.
different-church-lady
@mapanghimagsik: This is fine.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: OMG, yes. I long for it.
Hoodie
@Scout211: Maybe, but the play could be that Trump is in there with Clinton (and other Dems or prominent liberals) but the revelations might be new for the latter while the stuff about Trump could be duplicative of what’s already known. I doubt that’s likely, but it is a possibility. Vance could have been there to coordinate the ratfuck with Murdoch and/or to protect some SV or other monied individuals at risk from Epstein associations.
JMG
Murdoch is a MEDIA mogul. The Journal has always been in competition with the Post and Times as the national newspaper. Bezos is destroying the Post on behalf of his other businesses. The last of the Sulzbergers is rendering the Times more irrelevant by the day. Making the Journal the leading investigator of Trump is just good business. He can always make it Fox in print once his rivals are trounced.
lowtechcyclist
@WTFGhost:
Speaking of posts that needed a spoiler tag….
Captain C
This new reporting seems a rather pointed response by the WSJ to FFOTUS filing suit over the last article.
Captain C
@suzanne: Eventually it becomes part of the kink.
lowtechcyclist
@JetsamPool:
I just can’t see his base getting worked up about financial crimes. And as long as all his base are belong to him, no Republican is going to cross him.
cmorenc
@JoyceH: I would love to hear Teen Vogue’s take on Trump’s involvement with Epstein, given that their target demographic is the same as that of Epstein’s victims.
cmorenc
@catclub: Agree that Taco Don will never voluntarily resign – but Vance may calculate that covertly helping fan the Epstein matter has at least a 50-50 chance of eventually inducing DJT to suffer a fatal or severely incapacitating stroke or heart attack.
WTFGhost
@Elizabelle: Amazon wants to have a word with you about rendering an entire warehouse unusable while they excavate!
Me, I think it’s their own fault :-).
princess leia
“The Justice Department has determined women no longer may cite gender-based violence as grounds for seeking asylum in the US…Civil rights organizations condemned the decision…for discounting decades of precedent regarding the gender-based oppression women and girls suffer in many countries.”
catclub
The only thing his base cares about is exposing – or covering up for – the liberal elites who just HAVE to be there. As long as Trump keeps denying them their red meat, he is in trouble. He could confess to all the crimes and they would not care.
As long as he holds out he is now a sellout.
Hoodie
@catclub: why would Vance so openly meet with Murdoch? Doesn’t make much sense. He was probably there to try to kill the story or some more exotic ratfuckery. Another possibility is that it was a warning to Trump from Thiel or other players to stay in line and not do things like fuck with the Fed.
catclub
I have mentioned before that the best, legal way to send money to Trump is to get sued by Trump and settle. and repudiate your own reporting.
Princess
@Baud: interesting, from that article:
”
Democratic Rep. Summer Lee forced the vote in the GOP-led subcommittee, bringing a motion to subpoena the Trump DOJ for all records related to the Epstein investigation. The motion passed, 8-2, with three of the panel’s Republicans joining with Democrats.
GOP Reps. Nancy Mace, Scott Perry and Brian Jack joined with the subpanel’s four Democrats and the full committee’s ranking member Robert Garcia to approve the subpoena.”
Good for blog favourite, Summer Lee.
PJ
@danielx: A few things come to mind why Rupert would want Donald out now:
1) They got their tax cut already. That’s the only thing FFOTUS accomplished in his first term.
2) They are afraid (rightly) that his tariff plans will be disastrous, and if even if FFOTUS keeps wavering about them, it’s bad for business.
3) Trump’s been making noises about replacing Powell, and whoever he puts in his place will probably be an incompetent sycophant. That’s also bad for business.
JD, on the other hand, well, I’m sure he was glad to reassure Rupert and Co. that he will be a smooth hand on the tiller while regulations on everything are rolled back and natural resources and public assets are sold at low low prices to his special friends.
Princess
@Suzanne: And he gets terrible couch-burn but the moment it heals, he’s back at it again because he can’t help himself.
Shalimar
@catclub: We’re talking about people who believe Tom Hanks eats babies. They are gonna need to see some evidence against Tom Hanks so they can tell everyone they were right.
catclub
I agree with all those. 1)However, is there ANY circumstance that would induce Trump to resign?
He has no shame. He also has immunity as long as he is president.
2)Would the House and Senate Impeach Trump under any circumstances?
Does Rupert Murdoch know all this?
How does the plan get rid of Trump?
Jeffro
will never happen but the funniest thing in the world just occurred to me…
Obama: “hey Donnie..since neither of us can run again in 2028, and we CLEARLY have many, many issues and long-standing beef to settle…how ’bout we have a few televised debates? you know, for funsies? just so America can see who’s really on top of their game, etc etc…it’ll help us both pass the torch, right?”
PJ
@PJ: I don’t think JD is the WSJ informant, simply because it seems like Trump doesn’t give him access to much. But he would be delighted to take Trump’s place (terribly reluctantly, of course, FFOTUS was the greatest President ever) should things go that way.
Should all of this lead to FFOTUS actually being impeached and convicted (I know, I know, but a boy can dream), I wonder if MAGA would turn on Vance; again, one can dream . . .
Martin
@lowtechcyclist: Unless it was Epstein paying Trump for access to MAL or his modeling agency to recruit girls. Trump doesn’t need to be one of the johns to be implicated.
Jackie
@princess leia:
Gender-based violence is becoming more “acceptable” in this MAGA country… as a woman and mother/grandmother of girls, I’d suggest they seek asylum to Canada – as one alternative.
PJ
The amount of money supposedly flowing through Epstein’s account (at least 1.5 billion, according to Wyden) is way more than would account for simply giving rich men access to girls. The notion that’s been floated that Epstein was working for (or selling information to) foreign intelligence services seems like a more lucrative part of the business.
WTFGhost
@princess leia: Trump always was a friend of the taliban.
@Princess: It’s possible he feels religious or other guilt over his habits, and he cherishes the burn as penance/punishment, so it might be part of the experience that’s necessary – without the pain, it would be something filthy, but with it, it’s… forgiven. And it’s okay to have fantasies like that, because although sex isn’t shameful, the idea that it would be shameful… oh, never mind, lots of weather out there… plenty of it hot I hear, though, sometimes, it ain’t just the heat, it’s the horror.
MobiusKlein
As a High, Functioning, Mathematician, I too dismiss the WSJ as a shitty rag.
Jackie
@PJ: Musk is probably the WSJ informant.
Captain C
@catclub: They might be hoping to give enough Republicans the courage to defect one way or another in order to paralyze him from doing the harm they don’t like.
Martin
@PJ: Depends. Epstein was the financial manager for the arms middleman in Iran Contra, so he did have those kinds of connections, but at the same time him getting control of Les Wexner’s fortune (Les’ previous financial manager was killed by the mob) and being granted power of attorney has big ‘give me control of your money if you don’t want a video of you fucking a 14 year old turned over to the National Enquirer’ energy. Note, Les is still alive. He turned over POA when he was 54.
Both can be true.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jackie:
Sadly, good luck with that. Any asylum claim from an American to Canada, for example, would be denied. Because the US is still considered a “safe country by global standards” by them. “Just move to a blue state”, is what they and other developed countries would tell them.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia lived in a blue state, Maryland. That didn’t protect him from the reach of the federal government
Jackie
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Not when they have to cross the southern border. That’s become a no-go for most asylum seekers.
I’m saying women from other countries can’t and shouldn’t expect FFOTUS’s America to give safe haven from sexual assault.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jackie:
Gotcha. Still, things aren’t going great for American women either
Jackie
duplicate
Jackie
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
THAT’S my point. If America isn’t safe for American women and girls, it’s certainly NOT SAFE for women and girls from other countries fleeing from sexual assault and abuse or domestic violence.
Melancholy Jaques
@Hoodie:
Reminds me of the Duke brothers explaining commodities to Billy Ray Valentine.
Martin
@Jackie: Can we at least admit that there are degrees of safety? Is anyone going to seriously argue that the US is more dangerous to women than say, Afghanistan? You can’t set a standard that the only valid place of safety is the safest country on the planet. People should be able to seek a better place, without being able to reach the perfect place.
Jackie
@Martin: Of course. But what countries are on the banned list from seeking asylum? Any country that’s not lily white complexioned and flaxen haired/blue eyes are pretty much on the list.
frosty
@Princess: Scott Perry?? I agree with Scott Perry on something?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Martin:
On a similar note, what about trans Americans? Do you think that that the danger/systematic oppression they’re currently facing should qualify them for asylum in other countries?
Jackie
@frosty: I was thinking the same thing – about Nancy Mace.
Martin
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I’m not a great person to ask because I think anyone who doesn’t present a legitimate threat should be able to migrate. I’m very close to open borders, but I also recognize that’s not a mainstream view, and I’m receptive to arguments for more controlled immigration.
So yeah, I think trans individuals should be able to get citizenship in whatever country they seek to go to.