The GOP Effort to Hide the Epstein Files Just Hit a Disgusting New Low

Recently-elected Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva could deliver the tie-breaking vote to release the government’s files on alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. That is, if House Speaker Mike Johnson doesn’t delay her swearing in—and it looks like he’s planning to.

Grijalva, who won 68 percent of the vote in a special election for Arizona’s 7th congressional district earlier this week, is set to tip the scales for Democrats and their few Republican allies hoping to force the government’s hand on the long-awaited release of documents on Epstein. But when exactly she’ll be sworn-in isn’t set, and it’s cause for concern.

Grijalva could be sworn in when Congress is back in session on October 7, but if Johnson waits for Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to deliver the official vote certification she will have to wait until at least October 14, and be sidelined during the vote.

“I think that maybe it has to do with the fact that I am the 218th signer to push for a vote on the release of the Epstein files,” Grijalva told KGUN 9, adding that she planned to head to Washington next week to caucus with Democrats.

“I am going, even though I have no official capacity there yet, it is very clear I won this election by nearly 40 points,” Grijalva said. She also pointed out that when Representative James Walkinshaw of Virginia won a special election just a few weeks ago, he was sworn in without having to wait for certification.

In a statement, Johnson’s office said that the House would proceed with “standard practice” and wait for the “appropriate paperwork from the state.” So far, Congress has only received a letter from Fontes’s office saying that unofficial results show Grijalva the clear winner.

Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna are just one signature shy on their bipartisan bid to force a vote—which would likely go to the House floor and pass with Grijalva’s signature.

Against the grain of official statements by FBI leadership, Donald Trump has all but admitted—in his own words—that he was behind James Comey’s indictment.

The former FBI director was charged on Thursday with lying to Congress regarding his testimony to Senator Ted Cruz in a 2020 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The statute of limitations on the charges was set to expire Tuesday. Comey has maintained his innocence and has denied any wrongdoing.

The president didn’t hesitate to celebrate the charges. Rather than await the results of a fair and honest trial, Trump appeared to set the tone for the prosecution of the ex-federal official, openly slandering Comey as a “dirty cop” and a “destroyer of lives” who needed to pay a “big price.”

“Whether you like Corrupt James Comey or not, and I can’t imagine too many people liking him, HE LIED!” Trump posted on Truth Social Friday morning. “It is not a complex lie, it’s a very simple, but IMPORTANT one. There is no way he can explain his way out of it.”

“He is a Dirty Cop, and always has been, but he was just assigned a Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge, so he’s off to a very good start,” Trump continued. “Nevertheless, words are words, and he wasn’t hedging or in dispute. He was very positive, there was no doubt in his mind about what he said, or meant by saying it. He left himself ZERO margin of error on a big and important answer to a question. He just got unexpectedly caught.”

Trump had ordered the agency to imminently reorient its focus on prosecuting his political rivals earlier this week. Directly addressing Attorney General Pam Bondi on Truth Social, Trump demanded that the DOJ prosecute Comey, as well as California Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote. “They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”

Nonetheless, current FBI leadership attempted to claim that Comey’s indictment was the fruit of independent efforts made by the bureau. In a post on X, FBI Director Kash Patel argued that there was nothing political about the charges against his predecessor.

“Career FBI agents, intel analysts, and staff led the investigation into Comey and others. They called the balls and strikes and will continue to do so,” Patel wrote Friday morning. “The wildly false accusations attacking this FBI for the politicization of law enforcement comes from the same bankrupt media.”

It’s the first instance in 50 years—since Watergate—that a U.S. president has directly involved themselves in DOJ prosecutions, but it likely won’t be the last. Speaking with CNN Friday morning, Trump said there was no list he had made of his political enemies, but that he believed “there will be others” besides Comey who face the fire for their political opposition. “I hope,” Trump said.

Comey’s arraignment is set for October 9. He could face a maximum of five years in prison if convicted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took over Gazan residents’ mobile phones to broadcast his speech from the United Nations Friday, so they could listen to him deny that he has committed a genocide against them, live.

The prime minister was set to deliver his remarks to empty seats after dozens of dignitaries walked out ahead of his remarks, but announced that the IDF had taken the “unprecedented action” to take control of the phones of Gazan residents to broadcast his remarks.

A statement from the Prime Minister’s office on X said that Netanyahu had “appealed” directly to the residents of Gaza, urging the return of the hostages, disarming Hamas, and demilitarizing the region. “PM Netanyahu stressed that whoever does so will live while those who do not will be hunted,” the statement said.

Despite his bloodthirsty rhetoric, Netanyahu rejected a U.N. inquiry that concluded Israel is committing genocide and denied that Israel is causing starvation the region.

In fact, Israeli’s deadly siege in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people—including medics and journalists—as well as displaced nearly two million more, and caused widespread famine. Now, they are being forced to listen to him as well.

The Trump Justice Department’s indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is so flimsy that even Fox Business is second-guessing it.

“Well I don’t think there’s a case.… I’m as big a critic of [the Russiagate stuff] probably as there is, I wrote a book about it, I think it was a disgrace, and history will remember it that way,” conservative lawyer and National Review contributing editor Andrew McCarthy told Mario Bartiromo on Friday. “This indictment is not about that, and it seems to be premised on something that’s not true, which is that [former FBI Deputy Director Andrew] McCabe said that Comey authorized him to leak to The Wall Street Journal. If you look closely at what McCabe said, what McCabe said is he directed a leak to The Wall Street Journal and told Comey about it after the fact.”

Comey has been charged with one count of making a false statement during a Senate hearing and one count of obstructing Congress. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.

“What about the leaking in general? What about leaking a story that they may have known was a lie to the media?” Bartiromo asked, still trying to pin Comey for Russiagate. “Because, if you’re the director of the FBI, you need the evidence.… What was the origins of Russia’s collusion with Trump? They never really had any evidence of it, but they leaked it to the press?”

“Yeah but that’s not what this case is about,” McCarthy responded. “What this case is about is, Comey is accused of lying because what Ted Cruz said … was that Comey authorized McCabe to orchestrate the leak. And what the inspector general found … McCabe said that he directed the leak, and he told Comey about it afterwards.… The charge is that Comey authorized the leak, and he didn’t authorize the leak.”

McCarthy isn’t the only one who thinks it’s a weak case. Attorney General Pam Bondi and her Justice Department have reportedly expressed apprehension over the Comey indictment for the exact reasons McCarthy offered above.

Naples, Florida, has discovered one easy trick to bypass the bureaucratic delays Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has created at the Federal Emergency Management Agency: Get a wealthy friend and supporter of Noem to reach out to her.

Until August, the city had been exasperatedly waiting on relief to rebuild the Naples Pier, which was damaged by Hurricane Ian in 2022. According to a new ProPublica report, FEMA only finally responded—providing $11 million for reconstruction—once a deep-pocketed friend and supporter of Noem, named Sinan Gursoy, stepped in.

Prior to Gursoy’s intervention, ProPublica reports, the city was trapped in “bureaucratic purgatory.” It’s a story that’s familiar by now, as local and state officials face interminable delays in disaster relief—made worse thanks to a rule instituted by Noem, in which all DHS expenditures exceeding $100,000 require her approval.

In one communication this summer, a city official informed Florida Senator Rick Scott that they’d been told that “Secretary Noem would have to ‘personally’ approve the Pier project before FEMA funding would be obligated,” ProPublica reports.

Naples Mayor Teresa Heitmann was “feeling increasingly helpless” this summer, after she and city officials had pulled out nearly all the stops, including writing to FEMA, hiring Washington consultants, and seeking the help of Scott.

In early August, the mayor decided to fire off some texts to Gursoy, according to ProPublica. A wealthy Naples cardiologist and associate of Noem’s, Gursoy contributed at least $25,000 to Noem’s 2022 gubernatorial reelection bid in South Dakota, placing him among the campaign’s top disclosed donors.

“FEMA is holding us up,” Heitmann told Gursoy. “Kristi Noem could put some fire under the FEMA employees slacking.”

“Okay. I will get on it,” Gursoy replied.

On August 11, he told Heitmann he’d “just” texted Noem, after holding off while she was out of office. Not a day had passed before he told Heitmann she’d hear from Noem’s “FEMA fixer” soon.

“We are now at warp speed with FEMA,” a Naples official reportedly wrote in an email once things got moving. A FEMA representative told the city: “Per leadership instruction, pushing project immediately.”

On August 29, Noem took a government plane to Naples, where she reportedly walked the pier before dining with Gursoy at Bleu Provence, an expensive French restaurant, and staying at the four-star Naples Bay Resort & Marina.

A DHS spokesperson insisted to ProPublica that the Naples Pier aid “has nothing to do with politics.” Gursoy told the publication to “get lost.”

Notably, Noem’s top henchman at DHS, Corey Lewandowski (who is also rumored to be her paramour, which they both deny), reportedly has a house close to the Naples Pier. Lewandowski told ProPublica he was not involved in the decision, nor was he in Naples at the time of Noem’s trip.

While in Naples, Noem shared a self-congratulatory Instagram post of herself assessing the damage to the pier. “The iconic Naples Pier was destroyed in 2022, and the city is still waiting on answers from FEMA,” she wrote, adding, “Americans deserve better than years of red tape and failed disaster responses.” Apparently, some more than others.

Nearly half of the entire United Nations General Assembly walked out when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium Thursday, in protest of his ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. 

Dozens and dozens of delegates exited the hall as soon as Netanyahu appeared. Other attendees cheered them on while the assembly leader banged his gavel and called for “order in the hall.”

Netanyahu was forced to deliver his speech to a room that was damn near empty.

Moments like these indicate that Israel’s indiscriminate and grotesque actions in Gaza—over 65,000 dead men, women, and children—are finally shifting the world’s perceptions. The fact that countries like Canada, France, and the U.K. are (finally) acknowledging a Palestinian state is also indicative of that shift.  

Some leaders were even more outspoken at the General Assembly. 

“We need a powerful army of the countries that do not accept genocide,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Tuesday. “We must liberate Palestine.… I invite the armies of Asia, the great Slavic people who defeated Hitler with great heroism, and the Latin American armies of Bolívar.… We’ve had enough words; it’s time for Bolívar’s sword of liberty or death.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or Lula, made similar comments. 

“No situation is more emblematic of the disproportionate and illegal use of force than the one occurring in Palestine.… The Palestinian people are at risk of disappearing,” he said. “They will only survive with an independent state integrated to the international community.” 

At this point it seems like the United States is the only government that has yet to realize just how atrocious Israel’s actions have been, as our leaders continue to offer financial and rhetorical support. 

Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan got a grand jury to indict former FBI Director James Comey on two counts. But Halligan showed her inexperience Thursday as the jurors rejected a third charge, and she submitted the wrong documents to the judge.

It was Halligan’s fourth day on the job. She was formerly Trump’s personal lawyer, and recently led the president’s efforts to de-emphasize slavery at the Smithsonian museums.

Having never prosecuted a case before, Halligan scored the position after her predecessor failed to go after Trump’s enemies with sufficient zeal for the president’s liking, seemingly because of, well, sheer lack of evidence against them. Relatedly, in a memo this week, prosecutors advised Halligan not to pursue charges against Comey, citing insufficient evidence.

The newcomer went it alone Thursday, as MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian reports that Halligan “presented the Comey indictment all by herself to the grand jury,” a sign that she “may have a problem finding a prosecutor in office to work on the case.” The indictment was also signed only by Halligan, according to The New York Times, while “typically such filings are also endorsed by career prosecutors who have gathered the evidence in the case.”

The grand jury on Thursday voted to indict Comey on two of three counts sought by Halligan—false statements and obstructing a congressional proceeding.

Halligan failed to convince 12 jurors to vote for another false statements charge, related to Comey’s answers to Senator Lindsey Graham during a September 2020 hearing. (Comey had replied, “That doesn’t ring any bells with me,” when asked by Graham if officials informed the FBI that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign “was going to create a scandal regarding Trump and Russia” to distract from her email scandal.)

After the jury rejected that charge, prosecutors presented U.S. Magistrate Judge Lindsey Vaala with an indictment with just the two others. But, as The Washington Post reports, Halligan accidentally “gave the judge both indictments Thursday evening, prompting confusion.”

“This has never happened before. I’ve been handed two documents ... with a discrepancy,” Vaala said. “I’m a little confused why I was handed two things ... that were inconsistent.”

Halligan, per NBC, insisted she “did not see” the first document with the tossed indictment. Vaala observed, “It has your signature on it.”

The Justice Department is in an uproar against Attorney General Pam Bondi’s indictment of former FBI director James Comey.

Comey, who has drawn the ire of President Trump ever since he led the Russiagate investigation in 2016, has been charged with one count of making a false statement during a Senate hearing and one count of obstructing Congress. Bondi’s office also tried to get Comey on a second charge of making a false statement to Congress, but that was struck down. If convicted, Comey could face up to five years in prison.

But even Bondi’s own staff think this is a weak move designed to make Trump feel better in spite of the fact that the charges will be hard to prove.

“What I am hearing from DoJ sources: The Comey indictment is among the worst abuses in DOJ history,” MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian wrote Thursday on X. “Shocking. It’s hard to overstate how a big a moment this is.”

“Everybody is in shock,” former DOJ Director of Public Affairs Xochitl Hinojosa told CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront. “It doesn’t surprise them, though, because this is the way the Justice Department has been. Career officials have largely been either pushed out or silenced and are not in meetings about major decisions about cases.”

Hinojosa also commented on Bondi’s reasoning that “no one is above the law” in indicting Comey.

“That is what we all believe in, in that building,” Hinojosa added. “But the reality is that the actions over the last nine months are not the case. Donald Trump was charged on 44 counts. He is the sitting president of the United States.... And now Donald Trump is going after his political enemies.”

“I think this is a tragic day for America,” former White House lawyer Ty Cobb told CNN. “What we have here is a clear vindictive prosecution, a clear selective prosecution. We have a president for the first time in history ordering his Attorney General to indict his enemies,” Cobb said. “And the Attorney General, instead of being the independent force that she’s supposed to be saying: ‘Yes, sir. How fast can I get that done for you?”

Even Bondi herself seems to be feeling hesitant about going after Comey. CNN reported on Thursday that Bondi was apprehensive at best about the indictment, and some of her attorneys indicated similar feelings in a written memo. Bondi denies all of this.

Regardless, it’s clear that this indictment is the result of Trump personally calling for it, rather than some stringent, by the book investigation. Only time will tell how it’ll all play out.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has once again been caught on camera violently arresting people in the halls of immigration court. 

Conservative journalist Elaad Eliahu on Thursday filmed a man desperately holding onto his wife and children as about five ICE agents—all but one masked—surrounded them in a New York City immigration court. Two of them wrapped their arms around the man’s neck, putting in him a chokehold as they attempted to drag him away. The agents eventually ripped him away from his distraught, screaming family and detained him. It’s a gut-wrenching scene. 

After he was dragged away, the man’s wife walked up to the only unmasked ICE officer, pleading with him in Spanish. The agent just yelled “Adios! Adios!” in her face. She continued to beg him, until he quickly shoved  her into the wall, and then the ground, standing over her as her children screamed in horror. 

“I was back at 26 Federal Plaza today, where an ICE agent violently threw this bereft woman to the ground in front of her kids,” New York City Comptroller and former mayoral candidate Brad Lander wrote. “She had not touched him. She did not pose any threat. She had to be taken to the hospital.” 

“Seconds earlier, her husband had been abducted by masked ICE agents who did not identify themselves, did not present a warrant, did not give any lawful grounds for his detention,” Lander continued. “Every day, masked ICE agents are acting violently against our neighbors, illegally abducting them, holding them in cruel and inhumane conditions. Treating them as less than human and not deserving due process.”

There have been so many scenes like this since the Trump administration initiated its deportation campaign. Mothers, fathers, laborers, students, and community members have been ripped off the streets by men who often refuse to identify themselves, and sent to God knows where. And as of right now, there is no end in sight. 

Democratic Representative Ro Khanna has collected almost 50 signatures on a petition of lawmakers urging the Trump administration to acknowledge the State of Palestine. 

Since the letter was first reported early last month, dozens of House Democrats have signed on, and it now bears the names of 46 representatives, or more than one-fifth of the party’s House members.

“Just as the lives of Palestinians must be immediately protected, so too must their rights as a people and nation urgently be acknowledged and upheld,” the letter states, according to The Guardian.

Khanna says he hopes to have more than 50 before it is delivered to the White House on Friday. His office says he is accepting signatories until Friday at 4 p.m. 

“This week, the UK, France, Canada, and Australia officially recognized Palestinian statehood,” Khanna said in a statement. “We cannot be isolated from the rest of the free world. We must stand up for the dignity and rights of the Palestinian people. That is why I am pushing for the US to join in recognizing Palestinian statehood.”

The following are the 46 House Democrats who have signed on to the letter as of Thursday at 4 p.m. E.T., per Khanna’s office:

• Becca Balint — VT
• Donald Beyer —  VA
• André Carson — IN
• Greg Casar — TX
• Joaquin Castro — TX
• Judy Chu — CA
• Danny Davis  — IL
• Madeleine Dean — PA
• Diana DeGette — CO
• Christopher Deluzio — PA
• Mark DeSaulnier — CA
• Maxine Dexter — OR
• Lloyd Doggett — TX
• Veronica Escobar — TX
• Dwight Evans — PA
• Bill Foster — IL
• Maxwell Frost — FL
• John Garamendi — CA
• Jesús García — IL
• Sylvia Garcia — TX
• Al Green — TX
• Val Hoyle — OR
• Jared Huffman — CA
• Jonathan Jackson — IL
• Sara Jacobs — CA
• Pramila Jayapal — WA
• Henry Johnson — GA
• Marcy Kaptur — OH
• Ro Khanna — CA
• Zoe Lofgren — CA
• Stephen Lynch — MA
• Betty McCollum — MN
• James McGovern — MA
• Chellie Pingree — ME
• Mark Pocan — WI
• Mike Quigley — IL
• Emily Randall — WA 
• Mary Gay Scanlon — PA
• Janice Schakowsky — IL
• Bennie Thompson — MS
• Mike Thompson — CA
• Jill Tokuda — HI
• Paul Tonko — NY
• Nydia Velázquez — NY
• Maxine Waters — CA
• Bonnie Watson Coleman — NJ

As the destruction and humanitarian crisis wrought on Gaza by Israel draws increased international scrutiny, 10 countries recognized Palestinian statehood in the past week, bringing the total to 157 of 193 U.N. member states. 

“We encourage the governments of other countries that have yet to recognize Palestinian statehood, including the United States, to do so as well,” Khanna’s letter states. An August Reuters/Ipsos poll found that most Americans, 58 percent, agree. Trump, meanwhile, has dismissed recognizing Palestinian statehood, claiming it would be a “reward to Hamas.”

This story has been updated.