🏆 Trump cold-called Norwegian minister about Nobel peace prize

📞 Donald Trump called Norway’s finance minister out of the blue last month to discuss tariffs 💰 – and to tell him that he wanted the Nobel peace prize 🕊, Norwegian business daily Dagens Næringsliv reported today.

🗣 “Out of the blue, while finance minister Jens Stoltenberg was walking down the street in Oslo, Donald Trump called,” Dagens Næringsliv reported, citing unnamed sources. “He wanted the Nobel prize – and to discuss tariffs.”

ℹ️ This was not the first time Trump had raised the prize in discussions with Stoltenberg, the paper noted.

💬 In a comment to Reuters, Stoltenberg said the call was to discuss tariffs and economic cooperation before Trump’s call with Jonas Støre, the Norwegian prime minister. “I will not go into further detail about the content of the conversation,” he added.

👥 Several White House officials, including treasury secretary Scott Bessent and trade representative Jamieson Greer, were on the call, Stoltenberg added.

#Trump #Nobel #Norway

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

President Donald Trump’s current job approval rating stands at 38%, with 60% of U.S. adults expressing disapproval of his performance. This is a modest decline from two months ago, when 41% approved.

And perceptions of some of Trump’s personal traits are more negative than they were following his election victory (or in 2024 preelection polling). For instance, 37% of Americans today say “cares about the needs of ordinary people” describes Trump well. That share is 8 points lower than it was shortly after the November election, and 5 points lower than it was in late-summer preelection polling.

#Trump #Poll

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🚓 Thames Valley Police has denied asking officers to check the 📱 social media of residents living near where JD Vance is staying.

Those living in or near Dean, near Chipping Norton 🏡, have been claiming their social media is being checked by officials for security reasons 🔍.

🇺🇸 JD Vance, the US vice president, is staying at Dean manor until the end of the week 📅 and a police presence has been heightened in the Cotswolds 🌳.

Along with the 🇬🇧 UK police, the Secret Service has come from America ✈️ to protect the Republican 🛡 and Dean has effectively been put into lockdown 🚫.

Responding to claims it is the police asking for social media details, Thames Valley Police’s spokesman said on Thursday morning ☀️ that no officers have been asked to do such a thing.

#Vance #UK

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

🚔 FBI agents – thrust into yet another role for which they are not trained – have been put on patrol duties with local police as part of President Donald Trump’s 🇺🇸 declaration of a crime emergency in Washington, DC 🏛.

In the past several months 📅, the agency’s rank-and-file, who specialize in complex threat investigations 🕵️‍♂️, have been assigned to fulfill a bevy of roles outside their lanes of expertise — spending overnight 🌙 and weekend shifts 📂 poring over old Jeffrey Epstein files looking for necessary redactions, assisting ICE 🛂 in finding and removing illegal immigrants, and now patrolling the streets of the nation’s capital 🚓.

While federal agencies including the FBI often link up with local police departments to help with specific investigations 🔍 and task forces or to build out certain tools they may need, such as gun tracing 🔫, agents are not trained or equipped for community policing, multiple federal law enforcement officials told CNN 📰.

FBI Director Kash Patel took office vowing to “let cops be cops” 👮. But in recent years, the FBI has touted how many new agents don’t come from former police backgrounds and instead come from backgrounds in technology 💻, law ⚖️ and other disciplines 🎓. One 2024 class of new agents included more than 44% with advanced degrees, according to an internal newsletter 📄.

“FBI agents are not police officers,” Former FBI deputy director and CNN law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe said Tuesday. “Most of them don’t come to the FBI from a background as a police officer. So they don’t have the training and the skillset and the experience of doing that work, which can be dangerous both for them and for the people they would be policing.” ⚠️

#Trump #FBI #Washington

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🇺🇸 Russiagate is back 🔍

US attorney-general Pam Bondi ⚖️ has ordered a grand-jury investigation into an alleged conspiracy by the Obama administration and the national-security services 🕵️‍♂️ to tie Donald Trump 🇺🇸 to Russia 🇷🇺.

Bondi’s move follows a criminal referral from director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard 📜.

It also comes after a slew of new information releases since early July 📅. These include Gabbard’s declassification of intelligence on the Obama administration’s conclusion that Russia sought to help Trump in the 2016 election 🗳; CIA director John Ratcliffe’s review of the intelligence-community assessment (ICA), ordered by then president Obama in December 2016 🏛; and a newly declassified annex to the Russiagate report, produced by special counsel John Durham in 2023 📂.

#Trump #Russiagate #Obama

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#Anchorage #IndependenceDay #Alaska #USRussia

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#Trump #Putin

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Zohran Mamdani leads in the New York City mayoral race 🗽 by almost 20 points in a five-person field as opposition to the state lawmaker’s bid continues to be split among multiple candidates, a new poll shows 📊.

The Siena College poll released Tuesday shows Mamdani leading by 19 points over his next-closest opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 44 percent to 25 percent. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa was considerably behind them with 12 percent, followed by incumbent Mayor Eric Adams with 7 percent.

Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani, and Adams, who passed on the primary entirely, both are still registered Democrats but are pursuing independent bids for mayor.

The poll was taken among registered New York City voters 🗳.

Pollsters found Mamdani with a solid lead among New York City Democrats, with 55 percent supporting him to Cuomo’s 32 percent. Sliwa had the backing of more than two-thirds of Republicans in the poll 🐘.

Mamdani’s lead among independents was more narrow, with 30 percent supporting him and Adams in second with 20 percent, according to the survey.

The State Assembly member, a democratic socialist, was the only candidate who has a net positive favorability rating among Big Apple voters — above water by 14 points with 46 percent viewing him favorably and 32 percent viewing him unfavorably 👍. Meanwhile, Cuomo was in the net negative by 17 points, Adams was by 28 points and Sliwa was by 12 points, the poll found.

Mamdani is the favorite to win the November general election in the heavily Democratic-leaning city. His critics are hoping that one of his opponents can manage to pull off an upset, but the poll’s results show the difficulty facing them.

Cuomo has called for the candidates to coalesce behind whichever of them appears to be the strongest in a head-to-head match-up with Mamdani based on polling next month, which surveys suggest would likely be the former governor. But Adams and Sliwa have been consistent that they will not drop out of the race.

The Democratic front-runner has yet to reach 50 percent support in polling of the general election with a four-person field — or a five-person field including independent Jim Walden — but his support appears to be ticking up a bit from earlier polls. Still, not much independent polling has been conducted of the race.

The Siena poll was conducted Aug. 4-7 among 317 registered voters. The margin of error was 6.7 points ⚠️.

The higher than typical margin of error is a result of the sample being taken as part of a larger sample of New York State voters and not being weighed as part of a likely voter sample.

#NY #Cuomo #Mamdani

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

Donald Trump’s Expanding Power and BLS Shake-Up 🇺🇸📊

It’s almost a cliché to say that Donald Trump has accumulated enormous power in the last six months 💪.

He has broken past traditional guardrails 🚧, skirted close to defying the courts ⚖️, secured big payouts from ABC and CBS 📺, collected $200 million from Columbia 💵, convinced elite law firms into settlements, and taken over law enforcement in Washington 🏛.

Example: Trump fired Erika McEntarfer as commissioner at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) after she reported a weak July jobs number — 73,000 📉.

He has now appointed E.J. Antoni, chief economist from the conservative Heritage Foundation 📈 and a Project 2025 architect, as the new BLS head. Antoni has been an outspoken BLS critic, holds a PhD in economics 🎓, and plans reforms — with numbers likely to please the White House.

#Trump #Media

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Donald Trump is preparing to offer Vladimir Putin access to rare earth minerals to incentivise him to end the war in Ukraine...

#Trump #Putin #Ukraine

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Trump’s Labor Statistics Pick Linked to Jan. 6 Footage 🇺🇸📊

President Donald Trump’s nominee to oversee the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was seen at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 🏛, according to footage — prompting a scramble from the White House to portray him as a bystander.

The president announced he was nominating Heritage Foundation economist 📈 and Project 2025 architect E.J. Antoni to the post.

#Trump #BLS #Riots

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First Lady Melania Trump Threatens $1 Billion Lawsuit Against Hunter Biden 🇺🇸⚖️

First lady Melania Trump is threatening to sue Hunter Biden for $1 billion 💵 after he falsely claimed that she was introduced to President Donald Trump by serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein 🚫.

The first lady's lawyer demanded that Biden “immediately retract the false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory statements made about Mrs. Trump.”

Hunter Biden had echoed claims first made by Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff, who said on a Daily Beast podcast 🎙 in late July that both Epstein and the president were involved with a “model agent” who introduced Trump to Melania.

The Daily Beast later published Wolff’s claims in a story — and has since issued an apology 📰🙏.

#Melania #Epstein #Biden

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

President Donald Trump 🇺🇸 has long tried to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire sex offender who died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges 🚫. Trump has called him a “creep,” insisted he was “not a fan,” and said that before Epstein’s death, they hadn’t spoken in years.

Yet a comprehensive CNN review 📑 of court records, photographs 📷, interviews 🎙, and other public documents paints a portrait of an enduring relationship until the mid-2000s, when Trump says he broke it off. Trump now repeatedly downplays his past friendship with Epstein, even as new material continues to surface.

In a 2019 interview, Epstein referred to Trump as his “closest friend for 10 years,” a claim echoed by three others who knew the men: Maria Farmer, one of Epstein’s first victims to speak publicly; Stacey Williams, a former model who dated Epstein; and Jack O’Donnell, a former Trump casino executive — all of whom used the phrase “best friend” to describe their bond.

Law enforcement authorities have never accused Trump of wrongdoing ⚖️ in relation to Epstein. In a statement to CNN in response to questions for this story, White House communications director Steven Cheung said of Epstein, “The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep.”

#Trump #Epstein

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

Prominent MAGA leaders are urging President Trump to back off his plans to review federal restrictions on marijuana, warning of a one-way ticket to societal ruin.

Why it matters: Reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug would open the door to expanded research and deliver a major boost to the legal cannabis industry, which is currently constrained by a patchwork of state laws.

As a Schedule I drug, marijuana is grouped alongside heroin and LSD as "drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse."
But many of Trump's allies are vehemently opposed to easing federal restrictions — portraying marijuana as a gateway to a smelly, lazy, dirty society.
Driving the news: Trump confirmed reports that he was considering reclassifying marijuana in the next few weeks, though he seemed torn between medical benefits and other side effects.

"Medical, for pain and various things, I've heard some pretty good things, but for other things, I've heard some pretty bad things," he told reporters Monday.
Trump also said in 2024 that he would vote for a Florida amendment that would legalize marijuana throughout the state. The amendment ultimately failed.
What they're saying: MAGA luminaries sounded the alarm after the Wall Street Journal reported on Trump's discussions with the cannabis industry — which has donated millions to his political groups — about possible reclassification.

"No country of potheads has ever thrived, or ever achieved anything at all. Every city that legalized it became an even bigger sh*thole basically overnight," The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh posted.
"America deserves better, our kids deserve better, I don't want to have to be smelling weed anytime I take my kids anywhere in a city or a national park," MAGA podcaster Jack Posobiec said on his podcast Monday.
Between the lines: The criticisms may echo old-school "Reefer Madness" rhetoric, but they also offer a revealing window into how MAGA defines virtue, masculinity and the "ideal" society.

MAGA is fixated on "Western civilization," casting the U.S. as the successor to ancient European civilizations who built historic empires on the foundation of hard work, meritocracy and the rule of law.
It also has a rigid definition of masculinity and traditional gender roles, with men as stoic breadwinners who reject indulgence in favor of a relentless grind.
In that context, the image of a bong-ripping couch potato is un-American — a departure from the whiskey-and-cigar era of 1950s mad men that MAGA reveres.
The intrigue: There are partisan connotations too. Weed is the "liberal intoxicant of choice," while tobacco and alcohol are more conservative-coded, argues podcaster Michael Knowles.

"We're all for cultivating virtue, either stoic or Christian, but it doesn't mean we don't like pleasure. It's just that we prefer traditional pleasures," Knowles told Axios.
"The left is more comfortable just kind of vegging out, but they should not be, because sloth is bad for the individual and for society," he added.
Reality check: Those broad characterizations and stereotypes aren't grounded in data. Both substances can be abused.

The other side: Not all of MAGA is on the same page. For a movement with a strong libertarian streak and deep skepticism of Big Pharma, reclassifying marijuana has clear appeal — especially as a non-traditional treatment for PTSD and other medical conditions.

"Rescheduling marijuana doesn't legalize it, but it does allow for more medical research," posted MAGA influencer Rogan O'Handley, who said rescheduling marijuana would hurt "Big Pharma" and "Big Prison."
Trump's "openness to rescheduling is research driven and shows he's listening to the countless veterans whose lives have been changed for the better by its medicinal benefits," MAGA influencer CJ Pearson added.

#Trump #MAGA

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

Trump awarded Gloria Gaynor the most prestigious award for performers - the Kennedy Center Award.

Trump noted that her hit I'll survive made an indelible impression on him and he listened to it a thousand times.

The Kennedy Center Award is considered one of the most prestigious in the field of art, it is awarded for outstanding achievements.

The song I will survive is considered one of the anthems of the LGBT movement worldwide.

#Trump #LGBtQ

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, and Prince Andrew were “all part of the same little group,” British historian and author Andrew Lownie said on The Daily Beast Podcast.

Lownie, the author of the forthcoming book Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, told host Joanna Coles about what drew the trio together.

#Trump #Epstein

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Trump Ready to “Sacrifice Ukraine” to Distract From Epstein Scandal, Biographer Claims 🇺🇸⚡️

President Donald Trump is desperately seeking a “big thing” to distract from Jeffrey Epstein — and is willing to sacrifice Ukraine to achieve it, his biographer Michael Wolff has revealed 📢.

In the debut episode of the new Daily Beast podcast, Inside Trump’s Head, the best-selling author told co-host Joanna Coles that the president is making “relentless” calls to aides and allies to demand something to get past the unending questions over his links to the dead pedophile and his surviving lover–turned–sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

And, Wolff disclosed, not only have successive plans failed or fallen flat, but Trump is now willing to give up Ukraine to Vladimir Putin when they meet in Alaska on Friday — to achieve the distraction he needs 🎯.

Inside Trump’s Head, a new twice-weekly podcast, will explore what is really motivating and shaping the world’s most powerful and most polarizing man, using Wolff’s unique access, insight and authority as the author of four best-selling books on Trump.

It grows out of the success of the Daily Beast podcast, on which Wolff has been a regular guest. Episodes of the podcast regularly draw more than 500,000 and even 1 million views on YouTube — and have set the agenda on Trump and Epstein.

#Trump #Epstein #Ukraine

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US Records Largest Monthly Deficit in History Despite Surge in Tariff Revenue 🇺🇸📉

Even with customs revenue quadrupling under new tariffs, record-high spending on benefits, healthcare and debt interest drove the largest monthly deficit in US history.

The US federal deficit surged to $291 billion (€248bn) in July, marking a +19% increase from the same month last year and one of the biggest jumps in recent years, according to Treasury Department data 💰.

It’s the largest spending total ever recorded for the month of July, though some other months — particularly during the peak of COVID-19 stimulus — saw even higher outlays overall 🦠.

Even though the country is now earning more from tariffs — customs receipts were multiplied by four, going from about $7.1 billion (€6.06bn) in July 2024 to roughly $27.7 billion (€23.7bn) this year — this was not enough to offset a sharp rise in spending 🏥📈.

#deficit #Healthcare

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

The Trump administration is cracking down on the Smithsonian Institution ahead of America's 250th anniversary celebration next year, requiring specific national museums and affiliated exhibits to "reflect the unity, progress, and enduring values that define the American story."

In a letter penned to Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch III, Trump administration officials laid out a review process that the institution will undergo in order to ensure alignment with President Donald Trump's "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" executive order.

"This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions," the letter reads.

#Trump #Woke #America250

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California Governor Gavin Newsom has decided to sharply escalate the conflict with Trump and the Republicans of Texas on the issue of redrawing local electoral districts.

Newsom wrote an ultimatum letter to the president demanding to stop gerrymandering in Texas.

#Trump #Newsom #California #Texas

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

#trump #war #putin

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#trump #nobel #prize #war #USA

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Trump wants to wrap up the war in Ukraine by October 10 - the day when the Nobel Peace Prize winner will be announced in Oslo, according to the media.

Trump is eager to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and is likely using this date as a deadline for completing all important processes.

#trump #nobel #prize #war

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

Once a dramatic feature of the White House entryway, the official portrait of former President Barack Obama has been moved to a decidedly less prominent position, underscoring the yearslong tensions between the 44th and 47th presidents.

Portraits of other recent predecessors with whom President Donald Trump has a contentious relationship, former President George W. Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush, have also been moved.

Trump directed staff to move the Obama portrait to the top of the Grand Staircase, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN, where it will now be out of view from thousands of visitors who tour the White House each day. One of the sources added that the portraits of both Bushes are also now in the staircase area.

#Trump #WhiteHouse #Obama

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Protests have already begun in Washington against the deployment of the National Guard and the subordination of the local police to the Trump administration.

#Trump #Washington #Protests

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The US Department of Homeland Security commented on the introduction of the National Guard in Washington, posting an illustration of the city from 1943 with the caption

"We can return [to that time]"

Does the Ministry propose to revive the segregation that was in effect in the city at that time, to go to war with someone, or to return the current maximum tax rate of 88% (compared to the current 37%?)

#Washington #Security

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

The governor of Texas literally says:

"If they try to balance our falsifications with their own falsifications, then we will falsify the elections even more actively"

#Texas #GOP #elections

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

President Trump watched the film "Civil War" by Alex Garland and was so impressed that he announced the deployment of National Guard troops to Washington and the transfer of the local police department under the direct control of federal authorities.

Trump explained his decision by the need to resolutely combat crime in the city. Which, however, just recently reached a 30-year low.

#Trump #Washington

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

When Melania Trump arrives in Britain for her husband’s second state visit next month, it will not just be the photographic pack straining every lens for clues as to her opaque mood or signs of froideur in their marriage. It will also be British officials.

Six months into his second term as US president, a period in which Donald Trump has pirouetted on just about every big international issue, mandarins in Whitehall have realised they need to focus less time on trying to tame him, and more on looking at his wife.

Trump’s recent golfing visit to the UK underlined the feeling that the first lady is the single biggest influence on her husband – and intend to adapt accordingly. They believe Melania was behind Trump’s recent volte-face declaring Palestinians in Gaza were starving; and the president acknowledged it was his wife who had said Vladimir Putin may not have been sincere about wanting a peace deal in Ukraine.

It is not just what the president says about the first lady in public, but the deferential reference to her views in private, according to sources who have spoken to the Guardian. One said: “Starmer has earned Trump’s respect and will tell him in the right way if he disagrees. But she is the one that matters.”

For Whitehall officials to reach such a conclusion about Melania’s influence requires quite a reassessment. The first lady has made a virtue of refusing to divulge the secrets of her political partnership. The more he talks, the less she tends to say.

Her banality-packed, bestselling memoir, Melania, revealed, according to one critic, “an extremely superficial, politically disengaged human being, the last kind of person who you would think of as a political wife”.

#Trump #Melania

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Donald Trump was preparing to deploy up to 1,000 National Guard troops to flood the streets of Washington, DC as federal agents began making arrests on Sunday night.

Trump was expected to announce the deployment during a White House press conference on Monday as he pushes for a federal takeover of the city amid a crackdown on crime.

'Be prepared! There will be no "MR. NICE GUY." We want our Capital BACK,' Trump warned on Truth Social.

Photos taken late on Sunday night showed several federal authorities working in coordination with one another including the FBI and Border Patrol.

#Trump #Washington

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⚖️ Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed Justice Department prosecutors to launch a grand jury investigationof whether Obama administration officials committed federal crimes when they assessed Russia's actions during the 2016 election, a senior Trump administration official said. 🇺🇸

📢 National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard claimed at a White House news conference last month that top Obama administration officials carried out a “treasonous conspiracy” against Donald Trump. Gabbard said she was sending criminal referrals to the Justice Department.

⚠️ A former senior Justice Department official condemned the move as “a dangerous political stunt.”

And a former senior national security official pointed out that multiple past reviews, including ones conducted by Republicans, found no such crimes.

🗣️ "There’s no logical, rational basis for this," said the official, who asked not to be named.

📅 The senior Trump administration official said that there is no exact timetable for when the grand jury will meet and that it could take months for the proceeding to begin.

📰 Fox News first reported Bondi's letter.

📝 The official said a letter signed by Bondi instructs an unnamed federal prosecutor to begin presenting evidence to a grand jury to secure potential federal indictments.

❓ But the letter does not say what the charges would be, whom the grand jury will investigate, or where it will meet.

#Obama #elections 🗳️ #Bondi #Trump #Russia #GrandJury #DOJ #Gabbard

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The Department of Health and Human Services will cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines that are being developed to fight respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a statement Tuesday that 22 projects, totaling $500 million, to develop vaccines using mRNA technology will be halted.

Kennedy’s decision to terminate the projects is the latest in a string of decisions that have put the longtime vaccine critic’s doubts about shots into full effect at the nation’s health department. Kennedy has pulled back recommendations around the COVID-19 shots, fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, and refused to offer a vigorous endorsement of vaccinations as a measles outbreak worsened.

#Kennedy #Health #vaccine

👂 More on Trump's Ear ⚠️

The Trump administration is considering publicly releasing the transcript of a Justice Department official's two-day interview with Ghislaine Maxwell last month, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News on Tuesday.

“We’re leaning toward transparency,”

the source said.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator and confidant, for nine hours of interviews over two days in July. Former prosecutors told NBC News last month that it was highly unusual for the Justice Department’s second-in-command to personally interview a witness.

Blanche made no public statements about what Maxwell said or what would come next in the Epstein investigation. Days later, Maxwell was transferred from a Florida prison to a minimum-security prison in Texas where the majority of inmates are serving time for nonviolent offenses and white-collar crimes.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in recruiting and trafficking minors for sex.

The Bureau of Prison’s own designation would have made Maxwell ineligible for the transfer, as BOP policy mandates that convicted sex offenders must be held in at least a low-security-level facility. The only work-around to the rule is if the bureau’s Designation and Sentence Computation Center issues a waiver.

#Epstein #Justice

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Zelensky is twice as popular in the United States as Donald Trump, according to a recent poll.

The Ukrainian dictator enjoys 18 per cent net favourability, with the US president at 16 per cent net unfavourability.

#Trump #Ukraine #Poll

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🗳️ Trump announced Vance as his successor 🇺🇸

US President Donald Trump's second term will be his last, as stipulated by the US Constitution. Therefore, the Republican Party needs a potential successor and a strong candidate. Trump believes that the current vice president, J. D. Vance, can take his post.

📊 Vance had previously been considered the favorite for the Republican presidential nomination, but experts also assumed that National Security Adviser and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had some chances. Trump did not ignore him either — he suggested that both Republicans run together, presumably Rubio as Vance's vice president.

🤐 So far, Trump has avoided naming a potential successor. Already in February, he called Vance very capable, but refrained from naming him a candidate.

🎖️ Vance, a former Marine, has taken on an important role in the Trump administration. He is considered a key figure in diplomacy and one of the most important representatives of Trump’s domestic and foreign policy.

📜 Thus, it seems that the possibility of Trump’s attempt to run for a third term is publicly excluded (for this, the US Constitution would have to be changed). In the past, the president flirted with this idea from time to time, but then he himself retreated from it.

#Trump #Vance #Democracy #Successor #USPolitics #Rubio

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The EU is not off the hook — Trump can reimpose the 35% tariff any time he wants

#EU #US #Trump #trade

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📢 The Clintons will be called to testify in the Epstein case ⚖️🛩️

The US Congress is seriously taking up the case of Jeffrey Epstein — the US Department of Justice will provide it with all the investigative materials regarding the deceased criminal.

👥 In addition, former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will have to testify before the House Oversight Committee in October.

🏛️ The Oversight Committee is the most important oversight body of the U.S. House of Representatives. It overseesthe activities of federal agencies, identifies violations, and has the right to call witnesses.

📅 Back in 2019, a Clinton representative said that the former president had stopped contact with Epstein early and knew nothing about his crimes.

🎂 However, like the current US President, Donald Trump, in 2003, Bill Clinton congratulated the pimp on his 50th birthday, the Wall Street Journal reported.

🛩️ There is also evidence that in 2002–2003, Clinton flew on Epstein's private jet four times and pressured Vanity Fair not to publish a report on Epstein’s crimes.

🧾 As part of the case, Congress will summon other high-ranking former officials —
former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller
six former justice ministers

📆 In the meantime, a Democratic senator is putting pressure on the Justice Department to disclose the investigative documents in the case no later than August 15, reports The Washington Post.

#Epstein #Clinton

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Trump's master class on communicating with journalists

The President of the United States climbed onto the roof of the White House. The journalists are shouting downstairs so that Trump can hear them.

#Trump #Media

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Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, alleging defamation over a recent article concerning a letter related to Jeffrey Epstein. This action marks the latest in a series of legal challenges Trump has launched against major media outlets, coinciding with his 2024 presidential campaign.

The dispute centers around a Journal report detailing a letter regarding Epstein’s birthday. According to Trump’s lawsuit, a reporter from the paper alerted the White House to the impending story, prompting a pushback from Trump’s legal team which they claim was based on false allegations. Trump alleges he personally spoke with media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who reportedly assured him he would “take care of it” – a promise Trump asserts went unfulfilled.

“Obviously,he didn’t have the power to do so,”

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform following the article’s publication.

Dow Jones, the parent company of the wall Street Journal, has stated it “has full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”

#Trump #Epstein

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The White House over the weekend bragged that President Donald Trump won yet another golf tournament just as a new video emerged that some say shows him cheating.

“Winning on and off the course,”

the White House wrote on X, along with an image of a scorecard showing Trump shot a 69 (67 after adjusting for his handicap) to win the men’s senior championship at his Bedminster club.

But the claim comes as Trump faces renewed accusations of cheating at the game, with many critics pointing to a video of him in Scotland last week in which the caddie casually dropped the ball for him.

The day before Trump’s latest tournament, sportswriter Rick Reilly ― who has golfed with Trump and authored an entire book detailing how he cheats at the game ― wondered aloud if the president would dare to declare himself the winner.

“Tomorrow is the Senior Champ at Bedminster,”

he wrote on X.

“Are you shameless enough to pretend you won it? Even after the whole planet saw you cheat in Scotland? Is your ego that sick?”

#Trump #Golf

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Commander-in-cheat or Cheater-in-chief? Trump accused of cheating at golf as The White House brags about him winning the men’s senior championship at his Bedminster club

“Winning on and off the course,”

the White House wrote on X, along with an image of a scorecard showing Trump shot a 69 (67 after adjusting for his handicap) to win the men’s senior championship at his Bedminster club.

The post came just as Trump was once again accused of cheating — there is a video of Trump in Scotland last week in which the caddie casually dropped the ball for him.

The day before the tournament at the Bedminster club, sportswriter Rick Reilly — who golfed with Trump and penned an entire book detailing how the president cheats at the game — wondered if Trump would dare to declare himself the winner.

“Tomorrow is the Senior Champ at Bedminster,”

he wrote on X.

“Are you shameless enough to pretend you won it? Even after the whole planet saw you cheat in Scotland? Is your ego that sick?”

After Trump won, he wrote in a follow-up:

“Guess we got our answer. What a child.”

And then another video surfaced, showing a caddie dropping the ball for Trump again — this time in Bedminster.

Reilly raged on X:

“So you know, it's NEVER legal for your caddy to drop a ball. YOU can drop one, but never on a green. And since this was a full-score event, its not legal for Trump to drag the ball into the hole. No, no, never.

Our president is a f*cking golf cheat.”

The sportswriter has previously pointed out that Trump only ever wins on the courses he owns, as more evidence that he cheats.

#Trump #golf #cheater

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The revisions to previous estimates of the size of U.S. payrolls gains for May and June that prompted President Donald Trump to fire Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Friday were by any measure extraordinarily large.

Indeed, the combined downward revision for the two months of 258,000 was the largest - outside of those during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic - since at least 1979.

#Trump #BLS

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"He reconciled Tom and Jerry, Harry Potter and Voldemort..."

In India, Trump and his peacekeeping "successes" were ridiculed.

#Trump #India #Satire

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"It wasn't suicide, it was targeted murder" – Jeffrey Epstein's brother ⚖️

Six years after the death of infamous billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, accused of sexual exploitation of minors 🧒🚫, his younger brother Mark continues to insist that Jeffrey did not commit suicide in prison — he was murdered 🕵️‍♂️.

Mark refers to the autopsy results conducted by the medical examiner he hired 🧬.

"It was not a suicide, but a targeted murder. He [Jeffrey Epstein] had three broken neck vertebrae — it looks more like a murder than a hanging,"

he said 💀🔎.

Despite this, the official version of the authorities remains suicide — this is the conclusion reached by the New York Forensic Medical Service 🧾🧑‍⚖️.

Mark points out a whole list of inconsistencies: the camera on the floor was not viewed 🎥❌, the guards fell asleep 😴, and at the time of Epstein's death, by a strange coincidence, there was no cellmate 🚪. According to him, even the doors of the cells in the block were left open 🛑.

"Someone could easily have entered, committed a murder and returned to their cell. There were only a dozen other prisoners there, they could have been interrogated, but none of this was done. If you want to fake suicide, you need to close the case quickly so that no one asks questions,"

notes Mark Epstein 🗣️🔐.

He also accuses the US authorities of covering up the case 🧩: in particular, Mark believes that

"Trump's people buried everything,"

while

Biden's team "did not dig up anything."

🤐

Trump was closely associated with Epstein, despite the fact that the US president now denies this 🤝❌.
#Trump #Epstein

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The Christmas business is typically pretty cheerful, but not this year: Companies that import and sell Christmas trees, twinkling lights and other holiday decorations say they've been hammered by tariffs.

Why it matters: You'll likely pay more for holiday supplies, and have fewer products to choose from — industry leaders are even warning about possible shortages.

#Trump #Tariffs #prices

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The Twitter crowd is having fun imagining the outcome of the Clinton-Obama Russia Hoax scandal

#HillaryClinton #RussiaHoax #AI

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Four months after Donald Trump shocked the world and roiled markets by unveiling a placard full of tariff rates at the White House Rose Garden, his revisions unveiled Thursday generated a more subdued response among investors.

But at an average of 15%, the world is still facing some of the steepest US tariffs since the 1930s, roughly six times higher than they were a year ago. Trump’s latest volley outlined minimum 10% baseline levies, with rates of 15% or more for countries with trade surpluses with the US.

So far, the global economy has held up better than many economists expected after Trump’s initial tariff blitz. A rush to beat the elevated rates spurred a front-loading of exports, aiding many Asian economies and shielding US consumers from price spikes.

That could all be about to change.

“For the rest of the world, this is a serious demand shock,”

Raghuram Rajan, former India central bank governor and chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, who is now a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, told Bloomberg TV on Friday.

“You will see a lot of central banks contemplating cutting as the rest of the world slows somewhat in the face of these tariffs.”

#Trump #Tariffs

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President Donald Trump’s second term White House has been marked by far less palace intrigue and personnel drama at the senior staff and Cabinet level than his first.

And yet, the firings are piling up.

More than a dozen high ranking officials across the administration have been forced to leave their jobs or had their nominations or promotions derailed in the first six months of Trump’s return to Washington. Nearly all of the ousters have come after individuals were targeted by outside allies who convinced the president that they weren’t sufficiently loyal. And in many of those cases, the axe came down after officials found themselves in the crosshairs of right-wing activist Laura Loomer.

In an interview with POLITICO, Loomer said she is now fielding tips from administration officials about colleagues they want exiled amid what she called “a serious vetting crisis,” predicting there are “hundreds” more she expects to purge.

“I’m happy to take people’s tips about disloyal appointees, disloyal staffers and Biden holdovers,”

Loomer said.

“And I guess you could say that my tip line has come to serve as a form of therapy for Trump administration officials who want to expose their colleagues who should not be in the positions that they’re in.”

Loomer has emerged as a blunt enforcer of allegiance to Trump.

“Donald Trump has always valued loyalty,”

said one presidential ally outside the White House granted anonymity to speak candidly about the approach to personnel.

“But what you’re seeing now is on another level — there’s zero tolerance for anything else.”

The purges have rippled through the Pentagon, the White House national security council and several other executive branch agencies. To a large degree, the firings align with the approach taken by the Department of Government Efficiency to slash the federal bureaucracy — or with eradicating diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that were a point of emphasis for the last administration. The at times ruthless firings also reflect the ethos of Trump’s sharp-elbowed personnel director, Sergio Gor, who has blocked several individuals whose MAGA credentials were at all suspect. Gor did not respond to a request for comment.

#Trump #MAGA

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China is increasing pressure on Western defense companies, limiting supply of key minerals, writes the WSJ

China is limiting the flow of critical minerals to Western defense manufacturers, delaying production and forcing companies to scour the world for reserves of minerals needed to produce everything from ammunition to jet fighters.

By limiting the flow of critical minerals, Beijing is actively demonstrating its influence on the American military industry’s supply chain, the publication notes.

#China #criticalminerals #USmilitary

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President Donald Trump’s paved makeover of the White House’s Rose Garden appears to be nearly finished.

The garden’s previously grassy lawn was fully covered by pavement as construction crews put the final touches on Trump’s project Friday. The last rows of pavers were put in place as workers taped off their edges.

It’s part of Trump’s bigger plan to add his own flourishes to the Executive Mansion and its grounds. His updates have already added flagpoles to the North and South Lawns, and he wants to build a new ballroom on the grounds.

The Republican president said in March he’d pave over the Rose Garden because the grass is always wet and is an inconvenience for women in high heels. The project was expected to be finished in August.The Rose Garden was created during Democrat John F. Kennedy’s administration. Presidents have used the space for everything from big announcements to Thanksgiving turkey pardon ceremonies.

It’s Trump’s second makeover of the garden just outside the Oval Office. In 2020, first lady Melania Trump announced an update that included a limestone walking path bordering the central lawn. It also improved drainage and added accessibility for people with disabilities.

#Trump #WhiteHouse

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