Oh Boy It Never Ends: DISCLOSURE DAY

DISCLOSURE DAY is a must-see. Steven Spielberg has made a lot of films. I used to enjoy them. JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, 1941, ET, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARC? Great movies. But then the slide begins for me. And he doesn't get another great film again until 1998's SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. After that? 2002's MINORITY REPORT is pretty good. Then nothing until 2012's LINCOLN. Then more generic films up until DISCLOSURE DAY.

It's a little bit more complex than some of his recent films and the tension is really good as Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor work to inform the world about aliens.

Now let me gripe. Mid-day Friday, Alexander Willis' report went up at RAW STORY:

Several survivors of Jeffrey Epstein were left “appalled” Friday following The New York Times’ essay that some said “whitewashed” the reputation of a key Epstein associate, an individual who, according to famed reporter Julie K. Brown, “enabled Epstein over the years.”

The Times published a guest essay Thursday about Kathryn Ruemmler, the former White House counsel to President Barack Obama, whose past ties to Epstein sparked her departure from Goldman Sachs earlier this year. She is not, however, facing any accusations of unlawful conduct related to Epstein.

Thursday morning, C.I. had already addressed this column and did so much better:

Thursday, June 11, 2026. Chump loves inflation -- even though it's killing Americans -- and continues to get beaten up in the polls, judges no longer trust the Justice Dept, Bill Gates offers closed door remarks about Jeffrey Epstein, NYT runs a column from an Epstein apologist that seeks to remake Goldman Sachs Kathy as an innocent young girl who did nothing wrong, and much more.

[. . .]

In other Epstein news, Kathy Ruemmler. Today, THE NEW YORK TIMES publishes a white wash of Kathy written by Ankush Khardori. Why?

He has outlets. He's pooh-pahhed Epstein at POLITICO for months now, for example. So why does THE TIMES need to share him this morning?

Rummler, I was told last Friday, would not be leaving Goldman Sachs as she had promised to do. That after June 30th, she would remain as an advisor. An advisor? She's going to groom others to work with pedophiles and tax cheats?

Ankush has written a 2,400 word column but nowhere in it does he stop to tell people this. And it's no longer whispered like it was on Friday last week. REUTERS reported on it yesterday:

U.S. Democratic lawmakers Elizabeth Warren and Raja Krishnamoorthi have flagged concerns to Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon over his reported plans to keep top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler as an adviser despite her links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Goldman’s legal officer Ruemmler resigned this ‌year after documents published by the U.S. Justice Department showed she accepted gifts from Epstein and advised him on how to address media inquiries regarding his crimes. Her resignation will be effective June 30, a source told Reuters.

Solomon has asked her to stay at the firm as an adviser, Bloomberg ‌reported on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Goldman Sachs ⁠declined to comment on the ⁠report.

In the letter, U.S. Senator Warren and U.S. Representative Krishnamoorthi raised concerns that the material released by the DOJ and other reporting suggest Ruemmler maintained extensive contact with Epstein years after his conviction.

From US House Rep Raja Krishnamoorthi's website:

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services on the House Oversight Committee, and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon demanding answers regarding reports that Solomon asked Goldman Sachs Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler to remain at the bank as an “adviser” despite her resignation following mounting public scrutiny of her close personal and professional relationship with convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

In the letter, Krishnamoorthi and Warren raised concerns that newly released Department of Justice materials and reporting suggest Ruemmler maintained extensive contact with Epstein years after his conviction for soliciting a child for sex, advised him on legal and public relations strategies, accepted tens of thousands of dollars in gifts, and maintained a far more extensive relationship with Epstein than previously publicly acknowledged.

“On January 30, 2026, the DOJ released a slew of documents, images, communications, and other materials related to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. According to reports, the documents reveal that Ruemmler and Epstein were in frequent contact between 2014 and 2019, just one year prior to her joining Goldman and long after Epstein’s conviction for soliciting a child for sex in 2008,” wrote Krishnamoorthi and Warren.

“According to reports, Ruemmler ‘educated [Epstein] on how the law differentiates between underage victims of sex crimes and adult prostitutes,’” wrote the lawmakers. “Ruemmler reportedly accepted tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from Epstein. These gifts are reported to have included a $9,350 Hermes handbag, $10,000 in Bergdorf Goodman gift cards, a Fendi coat valued at $4,200, and an Apple Watch.”

“Following the DOJ’s document release in January, Goldman Sachs has defended and supported Ruemmler publicly. In February, Ruemmler announced her resignation from Goldman Sachs, effective June 30, 2026,” wrote the lawmakers. “At the time, you stated that you ‘reluctantly’ accepted Ruemmler’s resignation. While Goldman Sachs has declined to comment on this matter, new reporting suggests that you ‘pressed’ her to reconsider her resignation and instead move to a new position within the firm.”

“The information uncovered in recent months not only raises serious questions as to whether Goldman Sachs either failed to conduct proper due diligence or viewed Ruemmler’s relationship with Epstein as appropriate when appointing her as the firm’s top lawyer, but now calls into question your professional judgment and fitness to continue leading one of the largest banks in the United States,” wrote the lawmakers.

Krishnamoorthi and Warren requested responses from Solomon by June 26 regarding Goldman Sachs’s prior knowledge of Ruemmler’s relationship with Epstein, the firm’s due diligence and defense of Ruemmler following the DOJ document release, Solomon’s reported decision to keep her at the bank, and the nature of any continued role, responsibilities, or compensation arrangement.

The letter is available here.

Ankush doesn't mention that in the sad tale he makes up for 'poor' Kathy. Why-why, Miami prosecutors -- she knew!!!! -- were overzealous! So why should she have been suspicious of a man who'd been convicted for sex with an underage girl? Why!!!! And Kenneth Starr was one of his lawyers!!!! Kenneth Starr!!!! Yeah, well Kenneth Starr being one of his attorneys should have made her immediately suspicious.

But she's just a girl, you understand. And so when she sounds friendly in all those e-mails to Jeffrey, well that's because she's a girl and girls aren't taken seriously wah wah wah so she had to talk like that, she had to!!!! She didn't know him, she didn't mean any of it!!!!

Ankush? We last noted him in the March 13th snapshot:

Dan's never felt the need to cover that story. In fact, he largely ignores the Epstein files and the scandal. But yesterday he brought on Ankush Khardori -- the POLITICO reporter we were calling out yesterday morning. The two lie and spin about how there's nothing there and there's no special favors going on and there's no to one arrest and blah blah blah this is how it happens.

No.

People are being protected and have been protected. There was Epstein's sweetheart deal. There was the 2019 decision -- yesterday's snapshot quoted James Comer of the House Oversight Committee talking about this -- by the US Justice Dept to call off New Mexico's investigation into Epstein and his ranch. There's the fact that Ghislaine Maxwell -- a product of upper society -- got moved from the prison she was in to a cushy prison that her crimes don't allow her to be in. There's the fact that the three statements about Donald Chump were not released until NPR began calling them out on not releasing them.

This isn't minor.

The Epstein Class has been protected throughout.

And for Dan and Ankush to pretend otherwise is sickening and shameful.

And Ankush is yet again protecting The Epstein Class. He's yet again providing excuses and justifications. There's no reason for THE TIMES to have published this guest column -- again, he writes for POLITICO -- but to have published it in full? Over 2,000 words?

It's nothing but an excuse for Kathy. It doesn't address reality -- either during Epstein's life or after -- and it offers all these little excuses that are meaningless.

She was not a "girl." She was a grown woman with government experience when she joined Goldman Sachs. She took gifts from Epstein. That's not undone by the fact that she took gifts from other clients. She also helped him. With regard to accusers, she helped him.

Let's drop back to the February 13th snapshot:

Rob Copeland, Maureen Farrell, Lauren Hirsch and Duy Nguyen (NEW YORK TIMES) explain:

She educated him on how the law differentiates between underage victims of sex crimes and adult prostitutes. “I think the point is that if she was underage, she could not legally consent to engaging in prostitution,” Ms. Ruemmler wrote to Mr. Epstein in 2015.

She offered advice on how to knock down the credibility of one of his accusers, writing in one email that Mr. Epstein’s lawyer could push the woman into a “perjury trap.”

Ms. Ruemmler signed some emails “xoxo” and swapped photos. She joked with Mr. Epstein about the weight of visitors at New Jersey rest stops and speculated about the sexual orientation of a well-known hedge fund billionaire.

And over a series of meetings, she sought his advice on personal and professional matters, (“men aren’t interested in women my age,” one email lamented).

In 2019, while interviewing for the job at Goldman, Ms. Ruemmler told Mr. Epstein that she was wearing gifts from him. “Am totally tricked out by Uncle Jeffrey today!” she wrote.

She lied about her relationship with Epstein. But let's grasp that she knew what she was doing. She knew she was lying about her relationship with Epstein. But she also knew what he was doing. Note this paragraph again:

She educated him on how the law differentiates between underage victims of sex crimes and adult prostitutes. “I think the point is that if she was underage, she could not legally consent to engaging in prostitution,” Ms. Ruemmler wrote to Mr. Epstein in 2015.

Wow. What a concerned and moral authority the woman was. Ruemmler was advising a man convicted of child prostitution "on how the law differentiates between underage victims of sex crimes and adult prostitution." She wrote, "I think the point is that if she was underage, she could not legally consent to engaging in prostitution."

I'm sorry, that doesn't fit with the fantasy, the 2,000 plus word fantasy, Ankush carves out for Kathy.

---------------------- End of excerpt of C.I.'s Thursday snapshot -------------------------

Alexander Willis doesn't even note Ankush's past efforts at attempting to cover up for Epstein.

Going out with C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"

Friday, June 12, 2026. Chump tries to prevent his name from being taken off The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, THE NEW YORK TIMES' Wednesday report on the administration's meetings to launch a cover up of the Epstein crimes continues to garner attention, Ghislaine Maxwell creates a crisis at her prison when her sweater goes missing, and much more.

Gregory Bovino, newly weaned from Chump's breasts, wants to be president in 2028 and is willing to tell any lies to get elected. But his campaign suffered a hit and it's only come out this week. Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) reports:

Former Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino's nascent 2028 presidential campaign suffered a blow when Jacob Engels, a controversial figure tasked with launching the candidate's online presence, was arrested at a budget motel and charged with felony methamphetamine possession.

According to reporting from The Bulwark's Will Sommers, Engels — a former protégé of Roger Stone and associate of far-right activist Laura Loomer — had taken the lead in promoting Bovino's candidacy before his arrest in River Falls, Wisconsin, on May 20.

Bovino, the polarizing face of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement operations, had pitched himself as a presidential candidate on X, writing: "If running for President is what it takes to actually get it done, then all options are on the table."

Though Bovino is lost to Chump now, Chump will apparently always have Speaker of the Closet Mike Johnson to defend him. Sarah Ewall-Wice (DAILY BEAST) notes:

House Speaker Mike Johnson fumed after Republicans failed to approve a short-term extension of a key spy authority provision, known as FISA, in a blow to President Trump.

The president posted on Truth Social on Wednesday, calling the extension “very important to our Military, and keeping the American People safe,“ but the vote failed dramatically on Thursday.

The bill did not even get a simple majority, let alone the necessary two-thirds majority, failing 198 to 218. 19 Republicans joined 199 Democrats to vote against the bill. Only seven Democrats voted for it. 15 members did not vote.

Democrats in both the House and Senate have balked at the president’s naming Bill Pulte, who has zero national security or intelligence experience, as his acting Director of National Intelligence, upending talks on a bipartisan Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) extension.

Johnson fumed to reporters after the attempt to pass the extension failed in epic fashion in the House.

He's a lame duck -- one (as Elaine noted last night) out of his first 100 days. Chump's going to have to learn to work with Congress if he wants to get anything done from now on. Stop attacking them. Stop insulting them. Start listening to them. But he's not able to listen.

No, I don't see much of a chance of that happening. I just see him continue to bully and bluster and throw his tantrums.

He threw one yesterday. Over The Kennedy Center. Julia Jacobs (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:

Lawyers for President Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday filed an appeal of an order to remove the president’s name from the institution.

The notice of appeal was filed as a legal deadline loomed for taking Mr. Trump’s name off the building’s marble facade. It also challenged a federal judge’s decision to temporarily block the president’s plan to close the center for two years of renovations.

Earlier on Thursday, the center’s board, which is composed almost entirely of Mr. Trump’s allies, voted to appeal the ruling, according to two people with direct knowledge of the meeting.

Finding that the board did not have the power to unilaterally change the name of the arts center, Judge Christopher R. Cooper of Federal District Court in Washington had ruled that Mr. Trump’s name must be taken down by Friday.

THE NEW YORK TIMES report by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swann continues to garner attention.

Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) reports:

The ranking Democratic member of the House Oversight Committee is calling for Vice President JD Vance to testify under oath about his involvement in the White House’s Jeffrey Epstein cover-up.

Appearing on MS NOW with host Ana Cabrera, a fuming Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) cited an explosive report in the New York Times on Wednesday that Vance headed meetings held in the White House Situation Room to deal with fallout from the Epstein files. According to Garcia, Vance, along with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles — who has also been in attendance at the secretive meetings — both need to be hauled before the committee headed by Rep. James Comer (R-KY).

“Well, look, obviously, [acting AG] Todd Blanche is near the top of the list [for testimony],” Garcia told Cabrera. “But there has been now new bombshell reporting where we have learned, as you know, that JD Vance, the vice president, has been holding meetings in the Situation Room, which is used for national security purpose just to discuss Epstein and looking at ways to exonerate President Donald Trump, coming up with a strategy on how they're going to use Ghislaine Maxwell to clear Trump's name.”

“And the vice president, for the very first time, is now implicated in part of this cover-up,” he accused. “He's meeting with Susie Wiles, he's meeting with [FBI Director] Kash Patel, he's meeting with Todd Blanche, he's meeting with [former Attorney General] Pam Bondi. And so it is now important that we, at some point, this committee has to talk to the vice president. We have to talk to Susie Wiles.”

Aurora DeStefano (2 PARAGRAPHS) adds:

Garcia added of former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who recently spoke with the Committee behind closed doors, “She said she wasn’t involved, she didn’t know what was going on. That’s also clearly not true. She was involved in some of these meetings, sometimes by telephone and is also a central figure in this reporting.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES revealed a cover up. The top of the federal government conspiring to kill the story because Chump didn't like it. Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) notes MS NOW's Sam Stein speaking on MORNING JOE:

But really, I think the most interesting and most troubling element of this, well, there's a lot of troubling elements of this, is Todd Blanche. Todd Blanche, at the time, is the deputy AG, okay? He is ostensibly part of the Justice Department and therefore should have some sort of separation from the White House. And yet he's sitting in the Situation Room throughout this, plotting ways to shield the president of the United States from public scrutiny and legal scrutiny.

US House Rep Melanie Stansbury posted to THREADS: "This is Trump’s Watergate. Today, the @nytimes released a truly stunning report on the Epstein cover-up by the White House. Collusion, breaking the law, evading subpoenas—it’s all in there." Ruth has noted:

Why was the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, and the FBI Director in meetings conspiring on how to avoid releasing material that would incriminate the president? His attorney? Fine. But it is not the Attorney General's job to protect the image of the president. This was an attempted cover up. And it is one that continues because acting Attorney General Blanche refuses to release the rest of The Epstein Files despite being ordered to do so by a law that Congress passed and that Mr. Chump signed.

We are in Watergate territory right now. The cover up is always worse than the original crime.

People are outraged learning what was happening in the Situation Room, where Blanche and others met and conspired to deceive the American people -- to lie to them, to trick them. All to protect Chump. Laura Esposito (DAILY BEAST) notes:

“All of this effort to protect Trump... Because he’s guilty. He did it. Over and over again. With Epstein. It’s a conspiracy to cover up Trump’s sexual assault crimes against minor girls,” political commentator Tom Joseph wrote on X on Wednesday.

Bill Kristol, director of Defending Democracy, also weighed in, taking specific aim at Blanche, the president’s former personal attorney whom Trump recently promoted to attorney general.

“One point very much worth noting: Todd Blanche was a central participant in the Epstein coverup,” Kristol wrote on X, alongside a link to the Times story. “As Deputy Attorney general, he was acting in Trump’s interest--not in the interest of the survivors, not in the interest of the law or of the truth.”

Behind closed doors, the Epstein crisis—which ultimately led many MAGA devotees to turn on the administration—had left Trump’s inner circle in full-blown panic mode, according to the report, an excerpt from Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s forthcoming book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.

The excerpt also detailed infighting among former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, Bondi, Patel, and Wiles as the administration struggled to contain a frustrated Trump, whom Epstein once described as his “closest friend.”

“Try as they might, Republicans will not succeed at sweeping this scandal under the rug,” Occupy Democrats wrote on X in response to the report. “The Epstein child-trafficking operation is the defining element of Trump’s life. He can delay and obfuscate, but eventually Democrats will retake power and the floodgates will be opened wide.”

Still on Blanche, Jake Tapper and Annie Grayer (CNN) report:

A group of Jeffrey Epstein survivors came out in opposition to Todd Blanche’s nomination as President Donald Trump’s permanent attorney general, citing his participation in secret White House meetings on how to contain the political fallout from the Epstein files.

In a new statement obtained by CNN, 19 women responded to The New York Times’s reporting that Blanche and other senior officials participated in Situation Room meetings to discuss how to respond to growing pressure for more transparency as the issue became a public relations crisis for the administration.

“We are deeply disturbed to learn that so many senior members of the administration gathered in the Situation Room to discuss the release of the Epstein files as a reputational problem, rather than an opportunity to pursue investigative leads and try to figure out what actually happened,” the survivors of Epstein’s abuse said in the joint statement. “These revelations confirm our worst fears about the administration prioritizing political expediency over justice for survivors and truth for the American people.”

The survivors raised specific concerns about Blanche, who played a key role in overseeing the release of the Epstein files after Congress passed a law mandating it, who has now been nominated by President Donald Trump to permanently serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

“We are especially concerned that Todd Blanche, the person nominated for the highest law enforcement position in the country, was at that table. Blanche has consistently minimized legitimate concerns about how the files have been handled, including problematic redactions and the exposure of survivors’ personal information. Blanche failed to deliver transparency, and he has gravely failed survivors. This is failing upward, plain and simple,” they wrote.

“We deserve better. We deserve truth, transparency, and accountability. We deserve to be taken seriously when we come forward. And we deserve an attorney general who will use the full power of that office to pursue justice, protect others, and ensure that what happened to us never happens again,” the women continued.

And the survivors do deserve better. Blanche has gone before Congress and repeatedly lied He's never told Congress that, as Deputy Attorney General he participated in plotting a cover up. He's pretended to care about the survivors but he doesn't care bout them. He's not bringing them up in the cover up meetings, he's not noting how they were harmed. He's just plotting for ways to trick the public and to kill the Epstein story.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee issued the following yesterday:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, demanded Chairman James Comer immediately arrange interviews of Vice President JD Vance, acting-Attorney General Todd Blanche, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and other senior Trump Administration officials following explosive new reporting from The New York Times revealing secret Situation Room meetings to orchestrate the White House’s cover-up of the Epstein files in order to protect President Trump. Vance reportedly presided over a meeting in the Situation Room to coordinate the handling of the Epstein files.

“We have been fighting the White House cover-up for months—and now we know Vice President Vance is leading Epstein meetings from the Situation Room. Vance gathered Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, Kash Patel, Susie Wiles, and the rest of Trump’s inner circle to figure out how to kill the Epstein story to protect the President, even debating a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell. Chairman Comer needs to bring the Vice President and the other top Administration officials before our Committee immediately,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.

In the letter to Chairman Comer, Ranking Member Garcia requested to bring the following Administration officials before the Committee:

J.D. Vance, Vice President of the United States;
Susie Wiles, White House Chief of Staff;
Tyler Budowich, White House Deputy Chief of Staff;
James Blair, White House Deputy Chief of Staff;
Karoline Leavitt, Press Secretary;
Steven Cheung, Communications Director;
Kash Patel, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI);
Dan Bongino, former Deputy Director of the FBI; and
Stanley Woodward, Jr., Associate Attorney General

According to reports, Vice President Vance presided over a meeting in the Situation Room about how to manage and kill the Epstein story, joined by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and other senior officials.

###

Anna Skinner (NEWSWEEK) notes of the NYT report five items that stand out to her (we're excerting three):

3. Officials allegedly discussed transparency moves they knew wouldn’t produce new files

One reported strategy involved petitioning courts to unseal grand jury records, even though officials acknowledged the request was unlikely to succeed and the materials would likely remain sealed. Even if unsealed, officials believed the records would offer little in the way of meaningful new information.

Why it matters: Critics will argue this suggests some officials were focused more on managing public anger than uncovering new information.

4. The White House was terrified of losing the MAGA base—not Democrats

The crisis emerged after DOJ and FBI findings undercut years of expectations about a secret Epstein “client list.” According to the Times report, the administration’s biggest fear was backlash from its own supporters and influencers, not Democrats.

Why it matters: Modern Trump-era scandals usually involve attacks from opponents. This was a rare case where pressure came from inside Trump’s coalition.

5. Officials reportedly considered using Ghislaine Maxwell as a way to defend Trump

Among the most eyebrow-raising accounts in the report is one detailing officials’ discussions of having imprisoned Epstein associate Maxwell interviewed in a manner that could help rebut allegations involving Trump.

Why it matters: Maxwell is one of the most infamous figures connected to the Epstein case, and the idea that her testimony might be used in political damage control would inevitably attract scrutiny.

No one brought up -- in the cover up sessions -- the women Maxwell harmed or the crime she committed when it was wondered if a pardon could be granted to her. No, the only thing the elves wanted to talk about was how Chump might face backlash for pardoning Maxwell.

She's in the news, by the way. Kelly Coffey-Behrens (THE BLAST) reports:

Ghislaine Maxwell is reportedly at the center of another eyebrow-raising prison controversy, and this time, it allegedly brought daily life inside her Texas federal prison camp to a halt. According to a new report, Jeffrey Epstein’s former associate unintentionally triggered hours of lockdown chaos at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, after reporting a personal item missing. The bizarre incident has only fueled new accusations that Ghislaine Maxwell is receiving preferential treatment behind bars.

Sources told the Daily Mail that the minimum-security prison camp was placed on lockdown in February after Maxwell alerted authorities that one of her belongings had disappeared. Hundreds of inmates were reportedly sent back to their dorms and kept there for several hours while prison staff searched the compound.

The situation allegedly began after Maxwell reported a zip-up fleece she purchased through the prison commissary had gone missing, claiming her ID badge and important papers were inside the pockets. However, the lockdown reportedly ended after another inmate came forward and explained there had been a misunderstanding.

“Max was saying she had her ID badge and important papers in the pockets. But nobody had stolen anything. This lady had picked it up to give it back to her,” a source claimed.

Despite the explanation, inmates reportedly remained confined for hours. “It was all an innocent mistake, but they still kept everyone locked down for four or five hours for their investigation,” the source added. “They do this a couple of times a month for a fight, a medical emergency, or a random count – but never for a lost sweater.”

Meanwhile María Teresita Armstrong-Matta (RAW STORY) reports:

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that President Donald Trump is a traitor for refusing to release the Epstein files to protect his associates.

Greene said Trump called her a traitor for urging transparency, but she countered, arguing those covering up the files — including the President — are the real traitors.

"He told me on the phone that his friends would get hurt, and that's why he's against releasing the Epstein files," explained Greene.

She criticized Trump for campaigning as a drain the swamp candidate while allegedly working to suppress documents.

Chump filed a lawsuit against THE WALL STREET JOURNAL last year when they reported on the birthday letter he wrote (and drew) to Jeffrey Epstein. It is Chump's signature. As he continues attempting to sue them, the paper has responded. Thomas Kika notes:

The Wall Street Journal is arguing that one detail matches its reporting about President Donald Trump's connection to Jeffrey Epstein.

In a new legal filing, lawyers for Dow Jones, the company that owns the Wall Street Journal, argued that Trump "cannot" dispute that a signature appearing on a typewritten note and a sketch of a naked woman sent to Epstein resembles his own.

[. . .]

The defense lawyers are telling the court to throw out Trump's lawsuit because "the article is true." After the Journal reviewed the letter and sketch with Trump's signature, Epstein's estate released the "Birthday Book" to the House Oversight Committee in September.

"The article is true because the description of the letter 'bearing Trump's name' in the article is an entirely accurate description of the letter as it appears in the Birthday Book," the filing read.

"The article states that the Journal 'reviewed' the letter before publication and described its contents in detail (which exactly match the contents of the letter released by Congress)," the legal filing argued, adding that Trump doesn't even dispute the resemblance of his signature to the one in the birthday book "because he cannot."

Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

Largest pharmacy benefit manager in the U.S. may be sending affiliated pharmacies inflated payments, elbowing out competitors

“[T]axpayers deserve to know that (government funds) are being used for their intended purpose, not for potential self-dealing by DHA contractors.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), wrote to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Keith Bass, urging him to follow through on commitments he made to release data that would allow Congress to evaluate whether Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefit manager in the United States and military pharmacy contractor, may be sending inflated payments to its own pharmacies and under-reimbursing competing pharmacies.

“[T]axpayers deserve to know that [government funds] are being used for their intended purpose, not for potential self-dealing by [Defense Health Agency] contractors,” said Senator Warren.

The Defense Health Agency (DHA) spends billions of dollars to provide TRICARE pharmacy benefits — as part of the military health care system — to 9.6 million service members, retirees, and family members. Since 2009, DHA has awarded Express Scripts an exclusive TRICARE pharmacy contract, which involves running the military’s retail pharmacy network and mail order program.

But Express Scripts also owns mail order and specialty pharmacies that participate in the TRICARE network. Reporting has revealed that Express Scripts appears to be charging the military $484 more, on average, to dispense generic drugs through Express Scripts’ own mail-order pharmacies than through competing pharmacies.

“[This] creates a clear conflict of interest,” said Senator Warren. As a result of onerous contract terms offered by Express Scripts, more than 13,000 retail pharmacies have left the TRICARE network since 2022, leaving hundreds of thousands of military families without an in-network pharmacy.

In a recent hearing, Senator Warren pressed Assistant Secretary Bass to commit to conducting annual audits of TRICARE’s pharmacy contract and providing Congress with the difference in reimbursement rates, fees, and other price concessions for Express Scripts-owned pharmacies and their competitors in the network. Bass agreed, but with no particular timeline in place.

“You gave me your commitment that you would do so. I appreciate your prompt attention to this matter and request that you provide my office with all relevant and pertinent data in accordance with these commitments by June 22, 2026,” concluded Senator Warren.

Senator Warren has led the fight for affordable health care and fair practices for military families:

In May 2026, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) pushed DHA head Keith Bass to commit to an annual audit of Express Scripts’ contract and releasing both pharmacy reimbursement data and the results of audits to Congress. Bass agreed to do so following Senator Warren’s questioning.
In October 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) asked Mark Cuban, founder of Cost Plus Drugs, and Dr. Jeanne Lambrew, Director of Health Care Reform and Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation, about the potential for greater transparency in the pharmaceutical industry to lower costs for taxpayers and military families. Cuban agreed with Senator Warren that requiring Express Scripts to report the difference in reimbursement rates between affiliated and unaffiliated pharmacies would save money and help smaller independent pharmacies stay in business.
In March 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Lieutenant General Dr. Douglas J. Robb of the U.S. Air Force about price gouging in the military’s prescription drug system. Lieutenant General Robb agreed that this taxpayer overcharging is “unfair” and said that Express Scripts needs to “follow what is the business policy and what is the contractual law.”
In June 2024, Senators Warren (D-Mass.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), U.S. Representative Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), and 20 other lawmakers wrote to the then Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and Director of the Defense Health Agency, raising concerns over Express Scripts’ exclusive contract to administer TRICARE’s pharmacy program, the healthcare system for the military, retirees, and their families.
In August 2020, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) and then-Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) requested information from five of the largest mail-order pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) about any delays or other problems with mail-order deliveries of medications as a result of operational changes at the United States Postal Services (USPS) by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Reports indicated that President Trump and Postmaster General DeJoy's sabotage of the USPS is resulting in significant delays for every type of mail - including life-sustaining prescription drugs for seniors, veterans, and millions of other patients.