Trump’s Closest Ally May Be Scamming Him

Lawyers for Donald Trump investigated allegations of noncriminal influence peddling against one of the president-elect’s top aides, Boris Epshteyn, according to a CNN report published Monday.

Per CNN, the internal review examined “multiple instances of Epshteyn allegedly requesting payment in exchange for promoting candidates for administration positions or offering to connect individuals with people in the upcoming administration relevant to their industry.”

Semafor reported on the inquiry as well, describing it as “closely held and … ongoing, with no findings to date.”

In one alleged instance, Epshteyn requested as much as $100,000 a month for his services, which he has at times attempted “to sell as a type of consulting.” In another, he reportedly suggested that Scott Bessent, whom Trump nominated for treasury secretary on Friday, “pay him to promote his name with Trump and others at Mar-a-Lago”—a proposal that Bessent declined.

“The way I see it is it’s very much a pay-for-play,” a source who had spoken to the investigating team told CNN. The source recounted another instance in which Epshteyn allegedly sought payment for “questionable consulting services”—that is, arranging to connect someone “with incoming administration officials relevant to their industry or lobbying firms that will be the most well-connected to the new administration.”

CNN cited “half a dozen sources” who confirmed the internal investigation. Internal investigators initially recommended that Epshteyn “be removed from Trump’s proximity and that he should not be employed or paid by Trump entities”—which the Trump team seems unlikely to act on at present, according to CNN.

In a statement to CNN, Epshteyn said, “These fake claims are false and defamatory and will not distract us from Making America Great Again.”

President-elect Donald Trump has endorsed Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s chief financial officer, in the special election for Matt Gaetz’s House seat. Just one problem: Patronis doesn’t live in Gaetz’s district.

Trump announced his endorsement via TruthSocial on Monday, writing:

A fourth generation Floridian from the beautiful Panhandle, and owner of an iconic seafood restaurant, Jimmy has been a wonderful friend to me, and to MAGA. As your next Congressman, Jimmy would work tirelessly alongside of me to Grow our Economy, Secure our Border, Stop Migrant Crime, Strengthen our Incredible Military/Vets, Restore American Energy DOMINANCE, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment. Should he decide to enter this Race, Jimmy Patronis has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, JIMMY, RUN!

Patronis responded dutifully to the endorsement, writing on X, “Put me to work, Mr. President!”

It seems neither Trump nor Patronis is dissuaded by the fact that the candidate doesn’t live in Florida’s 1st congressional district. (Legally, Patronis can still run, though it may be disturbing to constituents who call the district home.)

Patronis has been Florida’s CFO since 2017, appointed by former Governor Rick Scott. He made headlines in January of this year for an attempt to establish a “Freedom Fighters Fund” that would give Trump $5 million in Florida taxpayers’ money to help him with his many legal troubles, a move that was quickly shot down by Republican Governor DeSantis and Florida Democrats alike. Patronis was also one of the earliest Florida Republicans to endorse Trump in the Republican primary after DeSantis dropped out. That loyalty is now being rewarded.

Republican state House Representative Michelle Salzman, known for her incredibly strange and bigoted rhetoric, quickly withdrew her candidacy after Trump’s announcement, despite enthusiastically throwing her hat in the ring just last week. “Politics is an ever-changing chessboard,” she wrote on X. “Our first priority as elected officials should be our constituents. If we put them first, we all win! Jimmy has been endorsed by the leader of our party and that should be enough for us to get behind him.”

Gaetz’s seat was initially opened when the former representative resigned after being nominated for attorney general, likely in an attempt to nullify a damning House Ethics Committee report regarding allegations that he trafficked and had sex with an underage girl at a sex party in 2017. After denying all allegations and trying to rally Senate Republicans, Gaetz gave up and resigned from the nomination, as the skeletons in his closet were too vile for even Mitch McConnell.

Florida MAGA Representative Joel Rudman has also entered the race, although he’s yet to step down despite Trump’s endorsement. He posted a disturbing selfie on X and captioned it: “We are about to find out what kind of swamp creature the RINO establishment plans to run against me. Just like my predecessor @mattgaetz, I plan to give them both barrels!” Rudman said on X. “They will know they were in a fight! #fighter #tryme.”

The Republican primary in this special election is set for January 28.

The conservative who helped to push the Supreme Court to the right and overturn Roe v. Wade now has his sights set on crushing “liberal dominance” in America.

Leonard Leo was the architect of a decades-long effort to remake the federal judiciary in the right wing’s image through his membership in the Federalist Society and other conservative organizations. He helped to guide the careers of the top legal minds in American conservatism and ensure that they got jobs in politics and the courts.

Leo’s top achievement was ensuring a 6–3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court during Trump’s first term, but now he also wants to reshape American culture, he told NPR in an interview Monday morning. Specifically, Leo envisions a network for the conservative movement in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and other power centers the right sees as dominated by liberals, similar to the network he set up and used to change the judicial system.

It already has a name: the Teneo Network, which describes itself as a “talent pipeline” that seeks “to Recruit, Connect, and Deploy talented conservatives who lead opinion and shape the industries that shape society.” Leo plans to raise money from right-wing donors to identify, connect, and promote rising conservative stars, the same way he did for judges and lawyers.

“So in the case of Hollywood, for example, the idea is to recruit and identify talented young professionals who have a knack for content creation and other aspects of the production of entertainment,” Leo said.

“People who believe in a sort of family-centered entertainment, where there’s a high demand. And Hollywood recognizes that. And then really helping them find opportunities to use their skills to create that kind of entertainment in the Hollywood space and beyond,” Leo added.

Leo hopes that this will in effect “crush liberal dominance” by, in his words, making “sure that there’s a level playing field for the American people to make choices about the lives that they want to have in their country.” In Leo’s eyes, “left ideology” has such dominance in news media, business, and finance, and the right must reshape those sectors in the same way it did the judiciary.

As the past few years show, Leo’s effort with the legal system has largely been successful, with his like-minded conservatives not only holding important positions across America’s courts but also in politics. Leo has already inserted himself into culture-war battles such as the right-wing Bud Light boycott of 2023 and AIDS relief efforts, and has set himself up as a Republican power broker. He’s managed to evade accountability from Democrats in Congress too.

If Leo can get the same kind of dark-money funding to extend conservative influence to other centers of power in America that he got with the courts, he and fellow conservatives may end up asserting their dominance in this country. The question is whether liberals will see it coming.

The Trump team’s delay in signing standard transition agreements is raising ethics and security concerns, as well as questions about the incoming administration’s preparedness come Inauguration Day.

The president-elect’s transition team has not yet signed three memoranda of understanding—agreements the incoming administration typically completes with the federal government and current administration to ensure a smooth transition—Politico reported Sunday. This decision prevents Trump appointees from coordinating with the agencies they will run in a few months’ time. 

Beyond undermining the incoming administration’s preparedness—and awareness of classified information on threats to national security and public health—the holdup means Trump’s Cabinet picks have not undergone FBI background checks and that “potential ethical and financial entanglements of the transition staffers” helping the president-elect assemble his Cabinet remain unknown to the public.

Richard Painter, a former Bush administration official, said of the delay: “Until they sign this agreement, they’re not yet government employees. They can do anything they want. They can have any conflicts of interest they want. They could be taking money from foreign governments for all we know.”

One of the agreements Trump has yet to sign would heavily restrict how much individuals and entities can donate to his transition effort. And, in a considerable break with tradition, Trump has so far refused to reveal who his transition donors are. Since foreign nationals can donate to presidential transitions, this raises definite red flags, as anyone could be trying to curry favor—and influence—with Trump without the American people knowing.  

Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to the Biden administration on Thursday, describing the president-elect’s team’s “refusal to sign agreements with the outgoing administration” as an unprecedented decision and a threat to the American public, one that “hamstring[s] incoming officials’ ability to govern responsibly. 

“All Americans share an interest in presidential administrations being prepared to handle the basic governance of executive branch agencies, public health and safety threats, and national security emergencies,” Warren wrote.

A federal judge on Monday granted special counsel Jack Smith’s request to dismiss the biggest case against Donald Trump, the criminal indictment related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Smith had asked the judge to dismiss the case without prejudice, which means it could be reopened once Trump leaves office in four years. But for now, Trump is getting away without facing justice for his attempts to overthrow democracy.

“After careful consideration, the Department has determined that [the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel’s] prior opinions concerning the Constitution’s prohibition on federal indictment and prosecution of a sitting President apply to this situation and that as a result this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated,” Smith wrote in his motion to dismiss.

“For the reasons set forth in the accompanying Opinion, ECF No. 282, the Government’s Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 281, is hereby GRANTED, and the Superseding Indictment, ECF No. 226, is hereby DISMISSED without prejudice,” Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in a one-page order shortly after Smith’s motion.

Smith’s announcement on Monday comes after Trump’s sentencing for felony charges—based on his 2016 hush-money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels—was indefinitely postponed last week. The other two cases against him—one for election interference in Georgia and another for mishandling classified documents—have also been indefinitely delayed

This story has been updated.

* This piece has been clarified to note the nature in which Smith dismissed the case.

Representative Lauren Boebert apparently sees the need to supplement her income from Congress—she’s now taking fees to make videos on Cameo.

The far-right Colorado congresswoman and live theater enthusiast joins her former colleagues George Santos and Matt Gaetz on the platform, charging $250 for personal advice or a “pep talk.” She posted a welcome video outlining the services that she would offer through the celebrity video service.

“Hey, Cameo, it’s your girl from Colorado, Lauren Boebert,” she said in the video. “Whether you or someone you know needs an America First pep talk, if you want to surprise friends or family with a message for a special day, or if you just want to know my thoughts on whatever’s on your mind, Cameo is the place to connect with me.”

But there’s a reason why she only has former colleagues on Cameo: She could be breaking the rules for members of the House of Representatives. First, there’s an outside income limit of $31,815, so she’d have to watch how much money she makes, and second, under House rules, members are prohibited from receiving honoraria, defined as a “payment of money or thing of value for an appearance, speech, or article.”

Now, if Boebert was having her Cameo proceeds go to her campaign account, that would probably be in line with House rules, but that is prohibited by the video platform. So it would seem that Boebert should have some questions to answer from the House Ethics Committee, which has another crisis to worry about after Gaetz’s alleged sexual misconduct.

Santos also was under investigation from the House Ethics Committee due to multiple allegations of corruption while he was in Congress, and now that Boebert has joined Santos and Gaetz on Cameo, she’s created an association that she could have easily avoided. If she continues down a similarly corrupt path, Cameo could end up being her sole source of income.

Right-wing provocateur Christopher Rufo could help shape President-elect Donald Trump’s plan for higher education, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.

Rufo—a leading actor in right-wing culture wars, from the moral panic surrounding “critical race theory” to the hoax about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio—reportedly “has an invitation to Mar-a-Lago, where he will present the president-elect’s team with a plan to geld American universities by withholding money if they don’t pull back on diversity measures.”

A spokesperson for JD Vance told the Journal that the vice president-elect sees Rufo as “a leading voice in the movement to restore merit and excellence” to higher education, who “recognizes schools and universities exist to equip American students to face tomorrow’s challenges, not to indoctrinate them with the fringe beliefs of the far left.”

To see such lofty aims in action, one can look at how the New College of Florida has transformed since Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Rufo and other conservative activists to the school’s board of trustees in 2023 in his “war on woke.”

Under its new leadership, New College has undergone significant changes, most recently hiring a number of “ideologically aligned rightwing faculty and staff for a range of positions,” per The Guardian, including conservative commentator and comedian Andrew Doyle, who will teach a course on “wokeness.”

The overhaul of New College and Rufo’s actions as trustee have been met with resistance and sharp criticism from students and faculty. One such critic, a visiting history professor, was threatened by Rufo and later dismissed after co-writing an op-ed against the new administration, in what the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression called “a clear violation of the public college’s First Amendment obligations.”

According to the Journal, Rufo’s top concerns include ending race-based affirmative action at universities “with which the federal government does business” and defunding colleges “that continue to engage in DEI practices” in an effort to “recapture” them from the left—stances that resonate with president-elect’s thinking on higher ed.

Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, once wrote about how Israel is key to a necessary “American crusade”—and the Geneva Conventions should be thrown out the window.

The Guardian has reported that in his most recent work, The War on Warriors, Hegseth wrote that the U.S. military should completely disregard the international human rights treaties, which outline rules for how to treat civilians during war time.

“The key question of our generation—of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—is way more complicated: what do you do if your enemy does not honor the Geneva conventions. We never got an answer. Only more war. More casualties,” Hegseth wrote. “If our warriors are forced to follow rules arbitrarily and asked to sacrifice more lives so that international tribunals feel better about themselves, aren’t we just better off winning our wars according to our own rules?! … Who cares what other countries think?”

In his 2024 book, American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free, he wrote, “If you love America, you should love Israel.”

He goes on to liken his support for Israel to the Crusades, writing, “Our present moment is much like the 11th Century. We don’t want to fight, but, like our fellow Christians one thousand years ago, we must.… Arm yourself—metaphorically, intellectually, physically. Our fight is not with guns. Yet.”

Hegseth’s nomination aligns perfectly with President-elect Trump’s right-wing makeover of the federal government. And it doesn’t hurt that, like Trump, Hegseth has a serious allegation of sexual assault from 2017 hanging over his head.

Elon Musk admitted that X (formerly Twitter) is throttling link-based posts, essentially stifling news articles on the social media platform.

In a reply to a post Sunday from technology investor and writer Paul Graham, Musk confirmed that X’s algorithm deprioritizes links, telling him to “just write a description in the main post and put the link in the reply. This just stops lazy linking.”

Graham was not convinced, replying, “If I write a new essay and tweet a link to it, that’s ‘lazy linking,’ but if I tweet that I’ve written a new essay and then put the link in a reply, that’s somehow better?”

Musk didn’t reply to Graham, and later retweeted a post from user DogeDesigner explaining the change. A host of replies from other users to Musk’s reply, as well as Graham’s post, showed that this change is disliked by many X users, particularly in the technology and programming fields that Musk and Graham are a part of.

The fact that Musk replied at all is due to Graham’s standing in the venture capital and tech world (and probably his 1.2 million followers). Musk routinely ignores journalists, particularly critics, on X in favor of his fans and other right-wing accounts. He has frequently disparaged mainstream or “legacy” media outlets in favor of unverified accounts on X, and proudly spreads misinformation on the platform as long as it serves his worldview and political ends.

At times, Musk has shown favoritism on the platform and banned journalists on X when they run afoul of his beliefs, making his claims of being a free speech advocate look hypocritical. Several news outlets, such as NPR, The Guardian, and Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia have all quit X amid increased criticism from European officials.

Whether it’s due to Musk’s disdain for media outlets that criticize him or an attempt to keep users from browsing away from X, the tech CEO’s deprioritization of links has not only ruined the utility of a platform once prized for making it easy to follow news sources but has also increased the spreading of false information. It’s little wonder that competitors such as Bluesky, itself created by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, have grown exponentially since Donald Trump’s election.

In recent days, Republican politicians have taken to the airwaves, threatening blue states that fail to comply with the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies with the withdrawal of federal funding.

Fox News’s Mark Levin suggested Sunday to Donald Trump’s prospective “border czar” Tom Homan that “federal funding” would be a “very, very powerful weapon” for the incoming administration.

“If you have a governor who says, ‘I’m not gonna cooperate, I’m gonna block you,’ well then, federal funds should be slashed to that state, and I mean hugely so,” Levin said. “These states, much like the Confederacy, they want to go on their own, they want to do their own thing. To me, you got a powerful weapon among others, which is, OK, no federal funds. Boom.”

“And that’s going to happen. I guarantee … President Trump will do that,” Homan replied.

Also on Sunday, Fox host Maria Bartiromo asked Representative Marjorie Taylor Green if “sanctuary states and sanctuary cities will lose their federal funding” under Trump. Greene replied, “If they use their police officers and their resources to harbor and protect illegal criminal aliens, then absolutely. Those sanctuary states and cities are in danger of losing their federal funding.”

And just a few days earlier, Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News’s Hannity, “Sanctuary cities, you’re on notice, we should cut all your money off.”

Per Mother Jones’s Isabela Dias, law enforcement agencies and Democratic officials nationwide are increasingly “speaking out about their plans to thwart” Trump’s plans for mass deportation, which he intends to conduct via a national emergency and the deployment of the military.

In anticipation of the new administration’s immigration agenda, Democratic attorneys general “are preparing briefs and analyses and even identifying courts in which to file their lawsuits,” as well as “preparing to fight Trump over withholding federal funding from local law enforcement agencies in an attempt to induce them into carrying out deportations,” according to Politico.

The threats from members of the supposed party of “states’ rights” echo Trump’s first-term vow to defund sanctuary cities, which Politifact deems a broken promise as his efforts were “limited to Justice Department funds, and even those attempts [were] thwarted by courts.”