SECRETARY OF THE STENO POOL PETEY HEGSETH IS RAGING AT SENATOR MARK KELLY AGAIN BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT SENATOR KELLY ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING WITH HIS LIFE. HEGSETH? HE'S WORRIED PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT HOW HIS SKIN IS BREAKING OUT AND HOW HE'S GOT A TRIPLE CHIN NOW DAYS.
DESPITE THE WEIGHT GAIN, PETEY CONTINUES TO WEAR HIS SUITS FAR TOO TIGHT TO SHOW OFF HIS CURVY AND FEMININE FIGURE.
Pete Hegseth is an evangelical Christian, so he does not respect other religious faiths or any person who is not a Caucasian. He considers female Caucasians to be inferior to males.
He has purged the Department of Defense of senior admirals and generals who are either female or black.
He is a bigot who disparages all ethnic groups other than Caucasians, opposes their immigration, and wants them to be deported.
He imposes his evangelical Christian beliefs on military personnel: i.e., a captive audience that is not allowed to disagree with anything he says.
This violates the First Amendment to the Constitution in that as a representative of the U.S. government, he imposes religious beliefs and opinions on his subordinates.
REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, PETEY RESPONDED, "F**K YOU! I'M THREE SHEETS TO THE WIND! IT'S SUNDAY NIGHT AND I'M SO DRUNK THAT I CAN'T STAND UP! IF YOU WERE AS HATEFUL AND BIGOTED AS I AM, YOU'D STAY DRUNK AS MUCH AS YOU COULD TOO!"
Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, appearing on The Daily Beast Podcast, said the 79-year-old president seems to be “more senile” now than he was during his first term.
“I’m no doctor. I’m no psychologist. I’m no child psychologist, which might be more appropriate for the president,“ Moulton told host Joanna Coles. ”But he definitely seems to be getting worse. He really seems to be getting worse. He seems to be getting more senile. I mean, you don’t talk about cognitive tests a lot if you’re not taking cognitive tests, and you only take cognitive tests if your doctors are concerned about your cognitive abilities.”
“Everyone declines, whether we like it or not, at that age... I think it’s just that much more dangerous,” Moulton explained. “Most people can see that Donald Trump is dangerous—that he’s dangerous for our troops, for our country, for our economy, for our national security. I mean, there’s a long list. But he definitely seems more dangerous now than he was even in his first term.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a unique challenge to Donald Trump after the president went on a bizarre tangent in public once again.
Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Trump interrupted his address to explain the difference between “sea” and “see.”
“Drug traffic coming into our country is way down,” he said. “By sea, by ocean, by water. A lot of people say, ‘What do you mean by sea? Is it see, like vision?’ No, it’s sea, S-E-A,” he continued, spelling the word out loud.
Responding to the odd interlude in an X post, Newsom expressed concern that “Little D’s” brain was in decline.
“‘LITTLE D’S’ BRAIN IS DECLINING RAPIDLY IN REAL TIME,” Newsom wrote in Trump’s own all-caps style.
“TODAY HE WAS CONFUSED BY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ‘SEE’ AND ‘SEA.’ VERY SAD!”
“HIS HANDLERS ARE TERRIFIED AND DESPERATELY TRYING TO HIDE IT FROM THE PUBLIC. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DESERVE THE TRUTH,” he wrote, before issuing a challenge for the president to agree to a live cognitive test on national television.
“FOX NEWS CAN HOST,” Newsom suggested. “SEAN ‘SLUMPY RATINGS’ HANNITY WOULD BE PERFECT. I’LL EVEN LET HIM GIVE ‘LITTLE D’ THREE LIFELINES!”
Outlining the parameters for the test, Newsom said that it would take place during primetime, and that no teleprompters or notes would be allowed.
“‘PERSON, MAN, CAMERA, TV, SQUIRREL, ELEPHANT, GIRAFFE,’” he added. “LET’S SEE WHO PASSES!!!”
It's scary to realize how far gone his brain is and how close he is to the nuclear codes. It's scary to grasp how far gone he is and that he's made the decision to start the war with Iran and made the decision to continue the war. Max Burns (THE HILL) offers:
Does anyone in America know what President Trump is doing in the Strait of Hormuz? Does Trump himself know?
On Sunday, he boldly announced “Project Freedom,” his scheme to escort commercial ships through the shuttered strait. He then swiftly reversed course just two days later, declaring that the strait would remain closed, even as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was selling Project Freedom to the press. As Hegseth touted a plan that no longer existed, Trump again changed his timeline for ending his increasingly unpopular war in Iran.
Trump’s impulsive and contradictory actions in Iran have confounded his generals, his Cabinet and the public since the war began 10 weeks ago. Trump is now so bogged down that he is confounding himself, too. It is time for Congress to exert some constitutional authority and wrap this debacle up before regular Americans endure even more financial suffering.
He doesn't know what he's doing. That's why he's offered so many differing reasons for the war. It's why he blows hot and cold on it, why he says it's too hard and he needs a break. He's not up to the job because he doesn't have the mind for it. He gets louder and he bellows but that's all that happens. TACO. NACHO. He doesn't have the mind anymore. It's gone.
Senator Mark Kelly continues to be persecuted by Chump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Kelly, along with other members of Congress, taped a PSA explaining that those enlisted did not have to follow an illegal order. This is a part of training. But it upset Chump and Hegseth (Hegseth had made similar statements when he was on FOX "NEWS" about how troops did not have to obey illeal orders). For a number of reasons, the court system sided with Kelly; however, Hegseth and Chump refuse to let it go.
A U.S. federal appeals court at a hearing on Thursday appeared skeptical that the Trump administration’s could legally punish Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Kelly over public remarks he made urging service members to refuse unlawful orders.
Members of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit expressed criticism of the government’s efforts to censure Kelly, a retired Navy captain and Arizona Democrat, over more than an hour of questioning.
"These are people who serve their country. Many of them put their lives on the line," Circuit Judge Florence Pan told a Justice Department lawyer. "You're saying that they have to give up their retired status in order to say something that is a textbook example — taught at West Point and the Naval Academy — that you can disobey illegal orders?"
U.S. Circuit Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Florence Pan, and Cornelia Pillard, respectively appointed by Presidents George H.W. Bush, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama, formed the panel, a fact that Law&Crime pointed out after Hegseth finally filed the promised appeal of his loss. Despite technical difficulties with the court's publicly posted audio stream, Pillard and Pan's grilling of a DOJ attorney was enough to glean which way the wind is blowing.
"I mean, this is really basic," Pillard told the government. "You are not disagreeing that the video at issue that is the fulcrum of this case, Senator Kelly never says the words disobey lawful orders, right? I mean, that's uncontroversial. I understand you have a whole theory, but he doesn't say that, right?"
"Not in isolation, expressing —" the DOJ lawyer began to answer, before agreeing the judge was "correct."
In the lead-up to oral arguments, Kelly filed a brief recounting how President Donald Trump accused him and five other Democrats — Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., Reps. Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. — of engaging in "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" when they appeared in a video in November, condemned lethal military strikes on alleged drug smugglers' boats in international waters, and stated, "you can refuse illegal orders."
[. . .]
All along, Kelly said "you can refuse illegal orders" referred to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and Pillard picked up on it.
"He says you have a duty to disobey unlawful orders, right? That is something that is taught at Annapolis to every cadet, right?" the judge asked.
The DOJ shot back that the "only reason" Kelly said what he did was because the sitting senator and astronaut had a "specific intent to influence active duty service members" and that "Captain Kelly was not purporting to give a speech in Annapolis on military law."
"How do we know that?" Pillard followed up.
Because Hegseth said so, the DOJ replied.
Because crazy Hegseth with his multiple marriages and screwed up view of Christianity said so?
Hegseth is crazed and insane. A FOX "NEWS" weekend host who found a fool in Chump who would support him. Hegseth's in over his head. He was the one who should have been fired for Signal-gate. Every week since then, he's made one blunder after another. Sometimes he's made them daily.
Going after Mark Kelly was a huge mistake. Kelly doesn't back down. And now that's something the entire nation understands, that Kelly's a fighter. It's raised his political profile and might even land him in the White House. Leo Shane III, Connor O'Brien and Lisa Kashinsky (POLITICO) report:
On the campaign trail, Kelly has amassed a war chest that has fueled talk of a presidential bid. He kicked off the year by hauling in roughly $13 million in the first quarter of 2026.
Kelly has said he’ll “seriously consider” mounting a candidacy in 2028. He was on the short list of running mates for Vice President Kamala Harris’ unsuccessful run against Trump in 2024. She eventually chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“He’s got the backstory. He’s a hot commodity right now,” said Pete Giangreco, a longtime Democratic strategist who has worked on multiple presidential campaigns. “He’s done it in a way that has excited the base of the party but is also a talking point that can win a general election because this is about courage and standing up for the Constitution and making sure we have a military that is not politicized.”
Another Democrat in the video, Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, is also weighing a run for the party’s presidential nomination. Slotkin serves with Kelly on the Senate Armed Services Committee and is a former CIA analyst and Pentagon official.
Donald Chump Con artist and grifter supreme. So it's easy to forget Melania. She's just as much a grifter as he is. Se came to this country and got in illegally in that she was admitted on a genius grant and she was no genius. She lied about her college, she lied about everything. She wasn't a model, she was a nudie girl, taking off her clothes for the camera.
She's bonded at the hip with Chump which means she'll be going to hell with him.
In the meantime, she tries to con us with her nonsense like her 'documentary' or some two-bit jewelry that she overprices and then tries to sell to the deeply stupid.
Attendees at a White House event burst into laughter on Wednesday
after First Lady Melania Trump praised her husband’s “empathy.” Her
husband is known for regularly insulting and bullying U.S. allied
leaders and political opponents, as well as lying about his own repeated
failures, but not for his empathy.
“Most know my husband as the strong commander-in-chief, but his
empathy transcends the role-” she said as the crowd began laughing. She
continued, “-and shape of a caring leader-” as her husband then smiled
and shrugged, drawing even more laughter from the crowd.
Amid the laughter, she concluded, “- who constantly remembers each and every American soldier is someone’s child.”
Analyses of Donald Trump’s behavior, particularly from critics,
former staff, and mental health professionals, frequently suggest
narcissistic personality traits, which characteristically include a lack
of traditional empathy. Observers describe him as highly egocentric,
often prioritizing self-aggrandizement over public consolation during
crises.
She needs to stop lying. She also needs to stop attacking the First Amendment. She never seems more like the foreigner who needs to be deported then when she's trying to get people fired for exercising free speech.
Thursday, May 7, 2026. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait tell Chump "NO!" forcing
him to shut down Project Freedom, his war of choice continues to
destroy the US economy, James Comer makes nice with liar Howard Lutnick,
Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer respond to Chump, Time Square sees a
new billboard of Chump and Epstein with the tagline “What are these two
hiding?" and much more.
Yesterday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee issued the following:
Washington,
D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the House Committee
on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., Ranking
Member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Rep. Angie Craig,
Ranking Member of the House Committee on Agriculture, Rep. Jared
Huffman, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, and
Rep. Don Beyer Jr., Senior House Democrat on the Joint Economic
Committee, sent a letter to President Trump demanding answers
on how his illegal war with Iran is driving up the cost of living for
everyday Americans. Consumer prices have reached their fastest growth in
almost two years as a spike in oil costs feeds into our economy, and
the war has already cost taxpayers approximately $2 billion per day
during the initial phase of attacks.
In the
letter to President Trump, the Members wrote, “As your illegal war with
Iran continues into its third month with on and off again negotiations
and naval blockade, you have unleashed chaos, undermined our national
security, and escalated the conflict by threatening war crimes including
wiping out an entire civilization and destroying civilian
infrastructure. It is clear that you chose to start your war without
coherent or realistic strategic objectives, and with no plan to prevent
Iran from expanding its strategic control over the Strait of Hormuz. The
impacts of your war will be felt for years, and the consequences of
your reckless decision to drag America into war are increasingly falling
on the American public.”
America is not starving. There’s plenty of beef, wheat and eggs.
At the moment, food inflation is lower than core inflation, but
Americans are still living with higher prices, up around 20% since 2022.
President
Donald Trump is right when he says the U.S. doesn’t rely on the Strait
of Hormuz for its agriculture needs. But Europe and Asia do — and so
they will outbid American farmers for fuel and fertilizer, forcing food
prices higher for everyone, including Americans.
Anyone
who knows a farmer has heard stories of the “worst year ever” — but now
American farmers are facing their most serious crisis since the 1980s.
Production costs
were already rising before the Iran war and the closure of the Strait
of Hormuz. Many farmers are still waiting on loans, unable to lock in
fertilizer prices before they spiked.
A newly released Farm Bureau survey
of 5,700 U.S. farmers said 70% of farmers won’t be able to afford all
the fertilizer they need this year. Many are reducing planted acres.
This potentially means less food moving through the supply chain — and
higher prices for what does make it to market.
While
U.S. consumers are already navigating the household budget impacts of
the Iran war at the gas pumps, they could also be facing a year or more
of steadily increasing grocery costs if the Middle East conflict drags
on.
That was among the findings of a Purdue
University analysis that predicts the broad energy shock precipitated by
a sustained war could add three to six percentage points to grocery
inflation over the coming 12-18 months.
Cathy Bussewitz (INDEPENDENT) notes, "The
price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. climbed 31 cents in
the past week, spiking to an average of $4.54 per gallon Wednesday, a
price 52% higher than before the war with Iran began, according to AAA
data. The main reason drivers are paying more at the pump is because the
war has stranded oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow
passage through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil normally
passes." And Leroy Marion (AUTOBLOG) explains, "The
Iran conflict is now hitting the auto industry far beyond fuel prices.
According to a report from Nikkei Asia, aluminum prices in Japan have
jumped more than 20 percent since late February amid major disruptions
to supply chains across the Middle East. The Strait of Hormuz remains
heavily affected, making exports difficult, while some regional smelters
have reportedly suffered damage during attacks."
The gas situation? Joe Perticone (THE BULWARK) has noticed a curious situation wherein rising gas prcies are causing smaller responses from certain politicians:
Rising
gas prices often provide a convenient index for dissatisfaction with
the current president, even if the increases have little to do with the
administration’s policies.1 When a war breaks out in major oil- and
gas-producing regions, prices go up. When gas prices rise, so do the
anxieties of political candidates who belong to the party in power. And
this year, that includes many Republicans whose campaigns are crucial to
maintaining a GOP Senate majority.
At
the onset of the Trump administration’s unilateral military action
(war) against Iran, gas prices in the United States skyrocketed, which
immediately spooked Republicans concerned with holding on to their
Senate majority. In the two months since the opening of hostilities,
prices have fluctuated in some states while continuing to climb in
others, with those around the Great Lakes seeing particularly
challenging increases.
“We’re gonna be fine, we
got plenty of oil,” Mike Rogers, a Republican candidate for Senate in
Michigan, said in March. “You’ll get your oil, because we’re going to
pump our oil right here in America, and we got plenty.”
Six
weeks later, though, GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan reported gas prices
leaping upward in several middle-American states. In Rogers’s Michigan,
they went up 88 cents. In Ohio, they climbed 94 cents. In Wisconsin, 33
cents. And in Indiana, prices grew by a calamitous dollar and nine
cents.2
On Thursday, Rogers addressed the issue
once again. When Newsmax host Ed Henry asked the candidate, “Are you
nervous . . . about these stubbornly high gas prices?” Rogers finally
acknowledged the reality of higher costs at the pump:
Listen,
high prices of anything hurt people in Michigan. . . . Iran is about
stopping their nuclear program, stopping their ballistic missile program
so they can’t hurt others. I think most Americans are there. We all
want this to come to a quick end—I think including the president of the
United States. The president’s also taking really direct actions to try
to bring those prices down and I support those actions to bring those
prices down. I’ll tell you this, Ed. I get around and talk to voters all
around this state. The main thing about affordability is they do not
trust Democrats.
Well,
Rogers sure doesn’t trust Democrats on affordability, at least. That
might be why he framed the situation so differently when gas prices
surged to four dollars per gallon during the Joe Biden administration.
“I’m
not sure we can survive $3.99 a gallon going forward,” Rogers said in a
2024 video campaigning against Democrat Elissa Slotkin. “Listen, the
[Democratic] agenda moving forward on gas prices is only gonna make that
worse. We must get America back on track.”
Along with rising prices, another thing Americans are agreeing on with regards to Chump's war of choice is rhetoric. Conor Murray (FORBES) notes:
Most
Americans disapprove of an image President Donald Trump posted that
appeared to depict himself as Jesus, while many more had a favorable
view of Pope Leo XIV’s calls for peace amid the Iran war, a Washington
Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found, as Washington and the Vatican continue
to fracture over the conflict.
The
poll found 87% of Americans disapproved of the post Trump made on Truth
Social last month that appeared to depict himself as Jesus, which
sparked criticism and allegations of blasphemy, even from some on the
right, though Trump said he thought the picture depicted him as a
doctor.
Eighty percent of Trump
2024 voters and 79% of Republicans surveyed had a negative reaction to
Trump’s Jesus post, the poll found.
Sixty-nine
percent of Americans disapproved of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
praying for U.S. troops to inflict “overwhelming violence of action
against those who deserve no mercy.”
But Pope
Leo’s call for Americans to contact their representatives and urge them
to find a peaceful solution to the war in Iran earned a more positive
reception, with 66% of poll respondents having a positive reaction.
87%
disproved? Yeah and that number may climb higher. I said when the
post was in the news that this was one of those things that people think
about and in a week or two get angry about. You're just not used to
seeing that kind of blasphemy and certainly from a president of the
United States.
In
the latest saga between the president and the pontiff, Trump baselessly
accused Leo of “endangering Catholics” by supporting Iran’s nuclear
weapons program.
“I think he’s endangering a
lot of Catholics and a lot of people, but I guess, if it’s up to the
Pope,” Trump said Sunday. “He thinks it's just fine for Iran to have a
nuclear weapon.”
The Pope hit back at the
claim Wednesday without directly referencing the president. “The mission
of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, to preach peace,” he said. “If
someone wants to criticise me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do
so truthfully. For years, the Church has spoken out against all nuclear
weapons, so there is no doubt on that point.”
Pope
Leo XIV said Tuesday that people are free to criticise him but the flak
should be based on the truth after President Donald Trump launched a
new attack on him, saying his opposition to the United States and
Israel's war against Iran was putting Catholics in danger. Trump, who
last month said the pope "weak on crime" and "terrible for foreign
policy" following his criticism of the war, said at the weekend that Leo
was "endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people" because "he
thinks it's just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon". The American
pontiff, on the other hand, said the Catholic Church has been opposed to
nuclear weapons under his leadership and long before. "The mission of
the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, to preach peace," Leo said outside
the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo. "If someone wants to criticize
me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so truthfully.
Not for nothing is Donald Trump known as the “TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out)
President”. He announces major decisions and issues dire threats on
impulse or whim – and occasionally out of pure spite – and then scraps
them.
But even by this own shameless standards Trump’s abandonment of his so-called Project Freedom to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is the granddaddy of all TACO somersaults.
The
official White House version is that Project Freedom is being “paused”
for “a short period of time” to see if a peace deal with Iran can be
reached. “Great progress” has been made towards that end, claimed Trump,
without a shred of evidence.
The president has performed so many U-turns and flip-flops he makes Sir Keir Starmer, criticised for more than a dozen policy climb downs, look like a model of constancy and resolution by comparison.
A
more likely explanation is that he was told that Project Freedom never
had a hope of working and was almost guaranteed to make the war much
worse not end it. Experts were near unanimous in warning that it was
likely to end the fragile ceasefire between the US and America and renew
the ‘hot war’ between them.
Ben
(MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) explained this morning that Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
responded to Chump's Project Freedom by announcing that the US could no
longer use their airspace or airbases.
Unfortunately for Trump, it’s easier for the Iranians to keep the choke
point closed than it is for the Americans to force it open. This is not
because the Iranian navy is stronger or more capable than what the U.S.
can field, or that Tehran’s coastal defenses are indefatigable, but
rather because corporations tend to be risk-averse
creatures that are sensitive to the threat environment. Most shipping
companies are not going to risk their reputations, their very expensive
wares and the lives of their employees if there is a decent possibility
of getting hit by a missile or stopped by the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps. The numbers bear this out — weekly passages through the
strait reportedly dropped 11% over the past week, and only two U.S. merchant ships transited the area in the 24 hours Project Freedom was in effect.
Every
week brings fresh disaster for the Tr*mp administration, but this week
is already off to a galloping start in that area. We dealt with Pentagon Pete’s fury at being next on the chopping block, unless fellow screw-up Kash Patel beats him to the punch, and that’s to say nothing of RFK Jr.’s imminent departure from Tr*mpland, along with his MAHA base.
But
that’s nothing compared to what just happened in Tr*mp’s home turf,
where a massive billboard was just erected to once again draw attention
to Tr*mp’s Epstein ties. The people haven’t forgotten, and Tr*mp’s
Epstein problem is not going away despite his constant distractions,
from Greenland to Venezuela to Iran.
The
billboard features images of Tr*mp and Epstein appearing to look at each
other with shifty eyes, accompanied by the text “What are these two
hiding? Eyes on Epstein.”
But the real kicker?
The ad is placed smack in the middle of Times Square.
For
all to see. Just like the friendship between Donald Chump and the late
Jeffrey Epstein was out there for all to see for decades and decades.
Going back to the 80s, the two were roll dogs, partners in crime, thick
as thieves. And then they had a falling out. For years, Jeffrey
Epstein abused and assaulted and trafficked people of age and underage.
And it is people. Girls, women, boys, men. New Mexico findings in the
last months have made that clear. Though some of the names of Epstein
Island visitors made that clear before hand and there were at least four
adult males who had stated that they were survivors. One of those, of
course, has stated Chump assaulting him when he was a child.
Yesterday,
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick appeared before the House
Oversight Committee. How well Lutnick knew Epstein has been in dispute
because of the cute and self-serving narrative Lutnick told Miranda Devine
last fall was contradicted by the release of some documents in The
Epstein Files. Joe Sommerlad (INDEPENDENT) explains:
The
secretary told Pod Force One presenter Miranda Devine in October last
year that he had been a neighbor of Epstein’s in New York and once
visited his Upper East Side brownstone in 2005 but was appalled when his
host made a creepy comment about receiving “the right kind of massages”
during a tour of the property.
“In the six to
eight steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I
decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person
ever again,” Lutnick said.
However, the release
of the Epstein files by the Department of Justice in late December and
January revealed that the men had remained in contact and appeared to
have been in communication until at least 2018. Inclusion in the files
is not an indication of wrongdoing.
Lutnick
subsequently told the Senate Appropriations Committee on February 10
that he and his family had had lunch with the billionaire on Little St
James, his private Caribbean island, in December 2012.
The
government’s January release of the Epstein files intensified scrutiny
on Lutnick and led to some calls for him to resign, as documents showed
communications and business deals between the two continuing as late as
2018—long after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution in
2008, and one year before his indictment and subsequent death in
prison.
Those documents contradicted previous
claims Lutnick had made, as the Commerce secretary said in October 2025
that after touring Epstein’s penthouse in 2005, he “decided that I will
never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”
Prominent
people who were close to Mr. Epstein have been scrutinized in recent
years for their visits to Little St. James, but Mr. Lutnick’s planned
visit had not been previously disclosed. Reached by phone on Friday, Mr.
Lutnick said he could not comment about the island visit because he had
not seen the latest Epstein documents.
“I spent zero time with him,” Mr. Lutnick said. He then hung up.
The documents suggest the visit did occur.
On February 10th, Lutnick would admit before the Senate Appropriations Committee that he had stayed on the island with Epstein.
Despite that history of lying, he was treated like a Queen by the Committee Chair James Comer. For example, Stephen Groves (INDEPENDENT) reveals,
"The interview was not being recorded on video, as the committee has
done with depositions for others, including former President Bill
Clinton and Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state. Comer said the
decision not to video the interview, for which Lutnick volunteered, was
keeping with the committee's practice." Per David Edwards (RAW STORY), it's worse:
House
Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) was peppered with questions about
why he let a member of President Donald Trump's cabinet give a
deposition on Jeffrey Epstein without video recording it, while refusing
the same opportunity to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and
former President Bill Clinton.
Comer Pyle refused to allow Bill and Hillary to appear without being recorded. Edwards report continues:
"Why just a transcript?" Pergram demanded to know.
"Do
you have any concerns about the secretary's conflicting statements and
why not do this as a videotape?" a second reporter pressed.
"Well,
this is, you know, with this transcript, he's coming in voluntarily,
first of all," Comer said in defense of the process. "So we didn't
video, we don't video people that come in to volunteer."
In addition, he was not under oath and he was not deposed, he was interviewed.
According
to two people familiar with his testimony, Mr. Lutnick said in his
opening statement that he had met Mr. Epstein only three times: once for
coffee and a tour of Mr. Epstein’s home in New York after they became
neighbors, once when Mr. Lutnick and his family were invited to Mr.
Epstein’s island and once to discuss a construction project on Epstein’s
home in New York that might have had an impact on Mr. Lutnick’s
residence.
After hours of questioning,
Democrats told reporters that Mr. Lutnick did not admit to misleading
Americans about his ties to Mr. Epstein, including when he said on a
podcast last year that he was never in the room with Mr. Epstein again
after their first meeting.
Speaking with
reporters in the hallway outside the closed session, Representative
Yassamin Ansari, Democrat of Arizona, said that Mr. Lutnick repeatedly
characterized their interactions as “meaningless and inconsequential.”
But, she added, she was not satisfied with his explanation as to why he
visited Mr. Epstein’s island, particularly years after their first
interaction, which Mr. Lutnick said made him and his wife uncomfortable.
[. . .]
The
documents released by the Justice Department suggest Mr. Lutnick had
another encounter with Mr. Epstein at his house in 2011, years after Mr.
Lutnick claimed to have cut ties with him. The records also indicated
that the men invested in the same privately held company together and
dealt with each other on neighborhood and philanthropic issues.
Following closed-door testimony from Howard Lutnick before the House oversight committee on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Democrats called the commerce secretary’s performance “embarrassing”.
“If Donald Trump
had seen the video transcript, he would have fired Howard Lutnick,”
said congressman Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California.
[. . .]
According to Suhas Subramanyam, a Democratic representative of Virginia, the commerce secretary said “he
could remember nothing about the visit to the island. Couldn’t remember
why he was there. Couldn’t remember anything he saw.”
Oversight
Democrats also said that Lutnick did not answer their questions about
whether he spoke with Donald Trump ahead of giving testimony before the
panel today.
“I feel very comfortable
saying that Howard Lutnick is a pathological liar who is enabling the
most egregious cover-up in American history,”
congresswoman Yassamin Ansari told reporters, while noting that the
commerce secretary told lawmakers it was “inexplicable” that he visited
Epstein’s private island. Lutnick described his encounters with Epstein
as “meaningless and inconsequential,” Ansari added.
May
29th, Pam da Bimbo Bondi is scheduled to appear before the House
Oversight Committee after blowing them off in April. Monday, Democrats
on the Committee issued the following statement:
Washington, D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, wrote
to Chairman James Comer after Oversight Republicans finally announced
that Pam Bondi would testify in a transcribed interview before the
Oversight Committee, just minutes after Oversight Democrats took action
to hold Bondi in contempt. The letter raises concerns to Comer that
Bondi’s testimony must be filmed and made available to the American
people in the interest of transparency, that Oversight Republicans must
enforce the Committee’s subpoena if Bondi refuses to fully cooperate,
and raises concerns about the participation of Assistant Attorney
General Harmeet Dhillon as Bondi’s attorney. In March, the Oversight
Committee secured a bipartisan subpoena forcing Bondi to sit for a
deposition, which she skipped on April 14, 2026.
“Oversight
Democrats kept the pressure on Oversight Republicans, and now we
finally have a date for Pam Bondi to testify in front of the Committee.
Republicans must make sure Bondi’s testimony is transparent and
videotaped with a timely public release of the video, and we must
enforce the subpoena if Bondi does not fully cooperate. Oversight
Democrats refuse to let Bondi off the hook,” said Ranking Member Robert
Garcia.
In the letter to Chairman James Comer,
Ranking Member Garcia wrote, “We understand that you have agreed to hold
this as a transcribed interview, rather than a deposition. While we
believe a deposition is the best available forum, as Chairman, this is
your decision. However, if you choose to move forward with a transcribed
interview, I am concerned with three aspects:
1. The videotaping of Ms. Bondi’s testimony. Ms. Bondi’s testimony must be filmed and made available to the American people.
2.
Ms. Bondi’s willingness to provide substantive and complete testimony.
If Ms. Bondi refuses to answer questions, we must compel her testimony.
Ms. Bondi has been subpoenaed, and all questions posed by Members must
be answered.
3. Harmeet Dhillon’s participation
as Ms. Bondi’s attorney. Ms. Dhillon is a current DOJ employee, and her
representation raises serious ethical concerns and conflicts of
interest.”
On April 29, 2026, Rep. Robert
Garcia, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform,
and all Democratic Members of the Committee filed a resolution
to hold former Attorney General Pam Bondi in civil contempt of Congress
after she failed to appear for her legally-binding, bipartisan subpoena
to be deposed on the Epstein investigation and the White House’s
cover-up of the Epstein files. The resolution instructs the chairman of
the Oversight Committee to file a lawsuit to compel Bondi’s testimony.
In
March, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform secured a
bipartisan subpoena for then-Attorney General Pam Bondi following a
motion by Congresswoman Nancy Mace supported by all Committee Democrats,
joined by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, Rep. Lauren Boebert, Rep. Michael
Cloud, Rep. Scott Perry, and Rep. Tim Burchett. The bipartisan subpoena
passed the House Oversight Committee 24 to 19. On April 14, 2026, Pam
Bondi refused to appear for her deposition before the Oversight
Committee, despite the lawful bipartisan subpoena the Committee issued.
The subpoena remains legally binding, even after Bondi was fired. The
subpoena followed the Department of Justice’s botched release of the
Epstein files and the continued White House cover-up.
Senator
Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries have
responded to another AI image shared by President Donald Trump's White
House.
On Tuesday, May 5, the official White
House X account shared an AI photo featuring Schumer, 75, and Jeffries,
55, wearing sombreros and drinking margaritas near the United
States–Mexico border. As part of the AI image, fake Schumer and Jeffries
were seen smiling in front of a faux sign that said, "I love illegal
immigrants."
"Happy Cinco de Mayo to all who celebrate!" the White House wrote via X on Tuesday.
Schumer
responded with his own image of Trump, 79, posing next to convicted sex
offender Jeffrey Epstein. While the OG image is real, it was doctored
to show both men wearing sombreros.
"Happy Cinco de
Mayo, @WhiteHouse!" Schumer captioned the X post. House Minority Leader
Jeffreies seemingly approved of the message when he shared his
colleague's photo on his own profile.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:
Questions come as Trump sons’ drone company Powerus receives new Air Force contract
Washington, D.C. — In new Questions for the Record
following last week’s Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, U.S.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), pressed Secretary of Defense Pete
Hegseth about President Trump’s sons’ ties to defense contractors and
how the DoD is handling these financial conflicts of interest. The
questions come as a follow-up to last week’s hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and days after reports indicated that Powerus, a drone company backed by the Trump sons, had recently obtained a new Air Force contract.
Shortly after President Trump was elected to his second term, his
son, Donald Trump Jr., announced he was joining venture capital firm
1789 Capital. After Trump Jr. joined the firm, the firm’s portfolio
companies reportedly won more than $70 million worth of contracts from
the Trump Administration, including:
$45 million awarded to Cerebras Systems in April 2025 to improve artificial intelligence chip connections;
$10.8 million awarded to PsiQuantum in April 2025 for quantum chips;
$4.9 million awarded to Firehawk Aerospace in August 2025 to develop rocket engines; and
$10 million to Vulcan Elements for magnets in 2025.
Several of the Trump Jr.-connected companies had never received such large DoD contracts prior to 2025. In early March, reports revealed
that the Trump brothers are also investing in drone company Powerus,
which is “vying to meet fresh demand from the Pentagon and fill a hole
left by the administration’s ban on new Chinese drones in the U.S.”
In March, Senators Warren and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) released answers
from the Defense Department revealing that the Department seems to have
no effective process in place to prevent conflicts of interest and
corruption involving President Trump’s family and the Pentagon’s
awarding of defense contracts. To date, Hegseth has not detailed any
plan to protect the military’s contracting process against conflicts of
interest.
These instances highlight Secretary Hegseth’s unwillingness to
protect the military’s budget and contracting process from potential
corruption. Senator Warren’s new Questions for the Record will require
Secretary Hegseth to address these failures in writing.
Senator Warren’s questions for Secretary Hegseth include:
Justifications for loans and contracts offered to several companies in which the Trump family is financially invested;
Whether Donald Trump Jr. has held any role in vetting candidates for top Pentagon positions; and
Details of any conversations Secretary Hegseth had with the Trump
family or their representatives regarding military contracts leading up
to his confirmation.
Senator Warren has led the fight to root out corruption at the Defense Department:
In April 2026, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) pressed Secretary Hegseth
on allegations that Trump administration officials are engaging in
possible insider trading by placing bets on the Iran War through
prediction markets.
In April 2026, Senator Warren questioned Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg
on his conflicts of interest, which may be enabling him, his immediate
family, and his network of associates to benefit from secretive DoD
contracting decisions related to its Golden Dome missile defense
program. Senator Warren urged Feinberg to take immediate action to
mitigate the conflicts.
In March 2026, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) released a new response
from DoD indicating that there are no effective processes in place to
prevent possible conflicts of interest and corruption involving
President Donald Trump’s family and the Department’s awarding of defense
contracts. In a new letter, Senators Warren and Richard Blumenthal
(D-Conn.) pressed Secretary Hegseth on this failure and pushed for
answers regarding Trump’s sons’ latest investment in Powerus, a drone
company.
In January 2026, Senators Warren (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Andy Kim (D-N.J.), pressed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
on potential conflicts of interest surrounding the awarding of multiple
lucrative Department of Defense (DoD) contracts and loans to companies
associated with President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
In July 2025, Senators Warren (D-Mass.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), wrote to former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin seeking an explanation and further information
on his recent decision to start a strategic advisory firm. Austin had
publicly promised Senator Warren during his 2021 confirmation process
that he would not become a lobbyist after his government service ended.
In July 2023, Senator Warren (D-Mass) wrote to then-Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Heidi Shyu,
following reporting that DoD’s new Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) is
relying on consultants who will continue to work for private defense
consultants and defense investment companies. Senator Warren raised
concerns that DoD lacked the necessary safeguards to prevent conflicts
of interest in the OSC.
In December 2020, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) reintroduced the Anti-Corruption & Public Integrity Act, to strengthen ethics laws and crack down on government officials’ conflicts of interest across the government.
