Michael Ian Black's piece has one observation that cuts through everything else written about the Epstein files this week.
The senior officials who gathered in the Situation Room last July - Vance, Wiles, Blanche, Leavitt, Cheung, Patel - spent hours strategizing about how to protect Trump from the political fallout. They workshopped options. They debated whether to call Tucker Carlson or use DOJ lawyers instead. They reportedly discussed nipples in the White House Situation Room. One official described it as "surreal."
What none of them apparently did: ask whether the allegations against their boss had merit. Not once. Not raised. Not even Bongino, who is Black's unlikely near-hero for the piece - Bongino's objection was to the botched rollout, not to the underlying situation that made a rollout necessary.
The documentable facts now in the record: Trump flew on Epstein's plane at least eight times after claiming he hadn't. Trump denied writing the birthday letter, then the Wall Street Journal obtained it. Epstein's personal secretary testified to Congress this week that she arranged calls between Trump and Epstein shortly before the 2016 inauguration - after Trump claimed he had cut off contact in 2004.
These are not allegations about what happened on Epstein's properties. These are documented lies about a documented relationship. The people in that Situation Room knew the relationship existed. They chose to manage the politics instead of asking the question that the people they serve - the American public - would want answered.
Black closes with the names of Epstein's accusers who went public. That's the right place to close.
Epstein's phone directory from his computer: 14 phone numbers for Donald Trump.
Emergency lines. Car numbers. Numbers to Trump's security guard and his houseman.
EFTA00597791. The files had this the whole time.
HOLY SHIT 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
Eric Trump secretly messaged former MMA star Daniel Cormier. He wanted inside info on whether White House fights were rigged so he could bet on Polymarket.
Cormier shared the screenshots.
This is the Trump family in action.
WTF!
Pastor Robert Jeffress just stated that the man who cheated on two of his wives, one with a porn star, when she was pregnant, and raped a woman while being convicted of multiple felonies “has a better understanding of what the Bible teaches than the Pope"
Yes, these people are undoubtedly in a cult.
The fact that almost EVERY former confederate state is moving to completely eliminate Black representatives almost immediately after the SCOTUS decision should be more than enough proof that voting rights still need protection and racism is far from gone in this country.
Elon Musk’s DOGE “blatantly used” race, gender and other protected characteristics to execute the largest mass termination of federal grants in the history of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal judge ruled on Thursday. https://t.co/hwzwfkkLBS
AOC: All those maps were passed by the state legislatures. Virginia was an election of three million Americans. This court did not overturn a map, it overturned an election. It’s one thing for a court to check a legislature or an executive but the end-all and be-all of power in America should be the people.
I saw this video on Viola Davis' instagram this morning and everyone needs to see it.
The gutting of the VRA is the most significant attack on ALL civil rights in America in my lifetime, and after they already came for the women..
We better wake the fuck up. None of us is safe:
The massive Utah data center, called the Stratos Project, will be as big as 2,000 Walmarts, will need 9GW of electricity to run, and will generate the heat equivalent of 23 atom bombs detonating every single day in Hansel Valley. The expected impact of wildlife is catastrophic.
https://t.co/pZjrpcTaIe
After Jesse Watters of Fox complained about my story on Trump’s ridiculous reflecting pool project, I decided to do a fuller report on many of the ways Trump is ruining DC. CRY MORE @JesseBWatters ! 😂 cc @WashProbs