Trump’s Biden Threat Just BACKFIRED & DOJ Employee Arrested For Assault with a Deadly Sandwich in DC
PDS Published 08/14/2025
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We’ve gotta talk about this billion-dollar lawsuit between the Trumps and the Bidens.
And maybe a little Epstein thrown in there as well.
Right, so this starts with an interview the former president’s son, Hunter Biden, did a few weeks ago with the journalist Andrew Callaghan.
With them getting into the Epstein scandal, and Hunter making this provocative claim. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 02:24 - 02:35 (original source)] Caption: [Hunter Biden:] “According to his biographer, Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania. That’s how Melania and the first lady and the president met.” [Andrew Callaghan:] “Really? Epstein made the intro?” [Hunter Biden:] “Yeah. Yeah, according to Michael Wolff.”
Now on the other side, the Trumps have maintained that they were introduced not by Epstein, but by a modeling agent at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998. [Quote, find “1998”]
So apparently they saw that clip and decided to pursue legal action.
With Melania’s lawyer reportedly sending a letter to Hunter and Callaghan demanding they take down the video and that Hunter apologize.
With it calling the Epstein claim false, defamatory, disparaging, inflammatory, malicious and extremely salacious.
Adding that “the video has since been re-published by various media outlets, journalists, and political commentators with millions of social media followers that have disseminated the false and defamatory statements therein to tens of millions of people worldwide.”
“Consequently, you have caused Mrs. Trump to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm.”
Hence, she’s threatening to sue for as much as a billion dollars if they don’t do what she’s asked.
And Donald Trump added his opinion too, telling Fox News:
“You know, I’ve done pretty well on these lawsuits lately. And I said, go forward. Jeffrey Epstein has nothing to do with Melania and I introducing. But they do that. They make up stories.” [Quote]
But many legal experts say they’re gonna have a hard time proving defamation here, not only because Melania is already such a public figure, but also because Hunter qualified his claim with “according to Michael Wolf” twice, and then added: [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 02:35 - 02:49, 02:55 - 02:59] Caption: “I only can go by what people are saying, and I don’t know. The thing that is like, I’m loathed to do, is feed into another goddamn conspiracy theory. … I think it’s an important story. I think it’s an important story because of the victims.”
But Melania’s attorney claimed that Wolf is a “serial fabulist,” and that when they sent a cease and desist letter to The Daily Beast for publishing his comments about Melania, the outlet retracted the article and apologized last week. [Quote, find “Daily Beast”]
So the attorney argues that the timing suggests malice on Hunter’s part, and added:
“Given your vast history of trading on the names of others—including your surname—for your personal benefit, it is obvious that you published these false and defamatory statements about Mrs. Trump to draw attention to yourself.” [Quote same link]
But today, Callaghan had Hunter back on to respond to the allegations, and this is what we got.
[Clip, 01:05 - 01:11, 01:16 - 01:20; Clip, 00:38 - 01:19] Caption: [Andrew Callaghan:] “So now we’re here, maybe to give you the platform to apologize to the first lady.” … [Hunter Biden:] “Fuck that. That’s not gonna happen. … I don’t believe in guilt by association alone, but the connections are so glaringly obvious that I think they’re trying to use other things to distract. And I also think they’re bullies, and they think that a billion dollars is gonna scare me, which is, the fact of the matter is, if they’d like to go, I have this to say to them: if they want to sit down for a deposition and clarify the nature of the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and the president and the first lady want to do that, and all of the known associates around them at the time, whatever time that they met, I’m more than happy to provide them the platform to be able to do it.”
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It’s been mere days since Trump launched his takeover of D.C., and now he already wants to extend federal control of the city and make it more permanent.
Right, as we talked about Monday, the president announced that he was officially declaring a public emergency in D.C. over what he claimed were surging crime rates.
Even official data shows that overall crime is actually falling in the city, and violent crimes have hit a 30-year low.[]
And while Trump has dismissed the real data as fake, experts and D.C. officials widely say the claims and figures he has pushed to justify his actions are cherry-picked, misleading, or outright false.
But, despite that, Trump invoked the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which allows the president to temporarily take federal control of the D.C. police force during a declared public safety emergency.
With the president also sending 500 federal law enforcement officers from numerous agencies to the streets of D.C. and mobilizing 800 National Guard members.
But, VERY notably here, the home rule only allows Trump to take control of the D.C. police force for a maximum of 30 days — anything beyond that requires Congressional approval.
And during an event yesterday, Trump was asked if he is planning to seek that authorization from Congress, and he responded:
“We think the Democrats will not do anything to stop crime, but we think the Republicans will do it almost unanimously. So we're going to need a crime bill that we're going to be putting in, and it's gonna pertain initially to DC. It's almost —we're gonna use it as a very positive example, and we're gonna be asking for extensions on that, long-term extensions, because you can't have 30 days. 30 days is that's by the time you do it. We're gonna have this in good shape.” 30:45 - 31:13
Now, notably here, despite Trump’s claim that Republicans will approve this extension “unanimously,” experts note that this would likely be done through a joint resolution, which is usually subject to the Senate filibuster.
Meaning that he would need 60 senators to approve it — something that could be tough given broad Democratic opposition to the takeover.
But Trump also floated the possibility that he would try to circumvent Congress entirely:
“Well, if it's a national emergency, we can do it without Congress, but we expect to be to Congress before Congress very quickly.” 30:37 - 30:44
“We're gonna do this very quickly, but we're gonna want extensions. I don't want to call a national emergency. If I have to, I will, but I think the Republicans in Congress will approve this pretty much unanimously.” 31:29 - 31:39
Meanwhile, this also comes as Trump administration officials have announced the deployment of more National Guard troops in D.C.
Right, while Trump has mobilized 800 troops, they aren’t all being sent in at once, with just a limited number trickling into the Capitol on Tuesday.
But yesterday, an Army spokesperson said that, within the next few days, the D.C. National Guard will build up to sending out 100 to 200 soldiers at any given time.[]
Now, key thing here, the National Guard troops are mostly intended to support federal law enforcement officials and help keep the peace.
And they actually aren’t able to make arrests because the Constitution strictly limits the use of the military for civilian law enforcement.
But, of course, the National Guard is just one part of the whole equation here.
Right, it’s a big deal to have federal troops patrolling, and it certainly contributes to the overall police state vibe.
But it’s the local police and federal enforcement officers who actually have the real power to achieve Trump’s goal of making D.C. “essentially crime-free.”
And as for how that’s going so far, you had Trump officials saying that a federal task force that includes some local officers made 23 arrests on Monday evening, and 43 others were arrested on Tuesday.
And since then, it’s been widely reported that, as of Wednesday, the total number of arrests had reached just over 100.
With a White House official telling Fox News that the actual number was 103, meaning that another 37 were arrested on Thursday.
But, VERY notably here, statistics from the D.C. Metropolitan Police show that, in the first 10 days of August 2024, the department made 635 arrests — or an average of about 63 per day.
And while Trump’s takeover is still in its early stages, the number of arrests made since it kicked off is DRAMATICALLY LOWER than before.
But it’s not because there were way more crimes last August — the stats show that it is virtually the same as this August.
Which is why you have many people speculating that Trump’s D.C. takeover won’t dramatically increase arrests and reduce crime because there’s just not that much more the feds can actually do.
Especially because there are concerns about how serious the crimes are that people are being arrested for.
Right, while we don’t have a breakdown of the arrests yet — and who knows if we ever will — one that has gotten a lot of attention is a man who is now facing felony assault charges for throwing a Subway sandwich at a federal law enforcement official.
Yep, you heard me right.
According to reports, the sandwich-throwing took place on Sunday night, just before Trump announced the public emergency, but after he had already deployed hundreds of federal law enforcement agents, which he did on Friday.
But the charges against him were announced yesterday in a video posted on X by Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
With her describing how the man in question had been screaming at and berating a federal officer before throwing the sandwich, and adding:
“He thought it was funny. Well, he doesn’t think it’s funny today because we charged him with a felony: assault on a police officer. And we’re gonna back the police to the hilt! So there! Stick your Subway sandwich somewhere else!” 00:43 - 00:58
Yeah, you tell them, Jeanine! You crack down on those horrible, violent criminals! This is totally what Trump was talking about!
But, in all seriousness, what does she they think she’s accomplishing with that video?
But, anyway, amid news of the charges, we saw a video of the incident going viral online yesterday.
And there, you can see the man in question holding the deadly sandwich and yelling at a group of federal law enforcement officers.
Calling them “fascists,” screaming profanities, and repeatedly yelling “shame!” while pointing at the officers.
With the video later showing the man approaching the officers and continuing to scream at them for a while before throwing the sandwich into an officer's chest and running away with the officers in pursuit.
But the whole sandwich debacle isn’t the only reason that questions have been raised about the effectiveness of Trump’s federal takeover.
For example, last night, nearly 100 protestors descended on an ICE checkpoint in Northwest D.C. where more than 20 officers were reportedly pulling over drivers for minor traffic violations, like seat belt violations or broken taillights.
And this despite the fact that officers at the scene told onlookers that agents were checking for “driving eligibility” and “status,” with a bystander also claiming that they had been asking about immigration status.
Which, you know, would make sense given the fact that they are literally immigration enforcement agents…
But, according to The Washington Post, just two people were detained, though it was unclear why.
So, with that, you had a lot of people condemning this whole operation as a waste of resources and taxpayer dollars.
With D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson slamming the arrest reports as “a bunch of traffic stops” and arguing that the Trump administration was just trying to hide how unnecessary the federal takeover is, adding:[]
“I’m looking at this list of arrests and they sound like a normal Saturday night in any big city.”
But, at the same time, other top D.C. leaders have not been so critical.
Right, as we talked about on Monday, while D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, has had a kind of wishy-washy stance on the whole ordeal.
Pushing back on Trump’s claims about crime and calling the takeover an “authoritarian push” and an “intrusion on our autonomy.”
But then also saying that she welcomes federal resources, arguing they could help drive down crime, and deflecting questions about whether she believed Trump’s crackdown will be good for the city.
And that general sentiment has also been echoed by the D.C. Police Chief, as well as other top D.C. officials, who have said that Trump’s order has — at least so far — been playing out as a relatively collaborative partnership.
With D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson saying that, by all indications, federal agencies were not “trying to boss MPD” around and were actually looking for ideas about how they could be helpful.
But the semi-optimism of leaders hasn’t stopped the concerns of D.C. residents about federal enforcement taking over their city or how effective this whole thing will ultimately be.
And even Bowser has amplified that last concern, telling reporters after a meeting yesterday with Attorney General Pam Bondi and other federal partners that Trump’s team hasn’t even provided a clear metric for measuring the success of his efforts.
Beyond, you know, making D.C. “essentially crime-free.”
But, of course, all of this is a developing situation, and we’re just going to have to continue to keep a VERY close eye on it.
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A growing number of countries (1, 2, 3, 4) are planning to recognize a Palestinian state and now a far-right Israeli minister has announced his plan to put a stop to it:
A massive West Bank settlement that would effectively split the territory in half.
This, as the IDF is getting ready for another new offensive into a starving Gaza.
But starting in the West Bank, Israeli settlements are illegal under international law according to pretty much everyone but Israel.
But despite that, according to an Israeli anti-settlement group called Peace Now, about 700,000 settlers live in roughly 160 settlements across the West Bank as well as East Jerusalem.[]
And that number? It’s growing fast.
Right, we’re now reportedly riding the largest wave of government-led settlement activity since before the 1990s peace process that set up the current system for administering the West Bank.
Right, since entering office in late 2022, Netanyahu and his government have authorized more than 30 settlements.
And some of these, notably, were so-called outposts built without government permission that were then granted authorization retroactively. []
And actually, on that note, since the start of 2023, settlers have also reportedly built more than 130 of these unauthorized outposts.
That is more than they had built in the previous two decades combined. []
And on top of all that, the Israeli military has been demolishing Palestinian homes and installing hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints across the territory.
All while at times being found complicit and even actively involved in a wave of record-breaking settler violence.
Right, according to UN Data, settlers carried out more than 750 attacks on Palestinians and their property during the first half of this year alone. []
That’s an average of nearly 130 every month – which is the highest monthly average since the UN started compiling these records in 2006. []
And so you even have outlets like the New York Times writing today that:
“With the world’s attention on Gaza, extremist settlers in the West Bank are carrying out one of the most violent and effective campaigns of intimidation and land grabbing since Israel occupied the territory during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.” []
And that’s the important context for this plan being spearheaded by the Israeli finance minister – an extremist by the name of Bezalel Smotrich (Bets-uh-lel Smote-rich).
It’s actually a version of a plan that’s already been on hold for decades because of international opposition, with the main argument being it has the potential to prevent the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.
See, it would involve the construction of more than 3,000 housing units in what is known as the “E1 Area.”
And building in this location would effectively cut off the West Bank from East Jerusalem;
divide the territory into northern and southern regions;
and ultimately prevent the development of a connected urban area linking East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Ramallah (Rah-MAH-lah)-.
With Smote-rich claiming the land had been given to the Jews by God, saying
"This is Zionism at its best - building, settling and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel."
And then adding that his aim is “to ensure that by September the hypocritical leaders in Europe will have nothing to recognize” – claiming the E1 settlement project would “bury” the very idea of a Palestinian state. [][]
And with that, you also had him thanking Donald Trump and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee for their backing.
Now, that said, the plan? It hasn’t technically received final approval yet, but it’s expected next week, with Smotrich saying:
“[Netanyahu] backs me up in everything concerning Judea and Samaria” – which is the biblical name for what is now the West Bank. []
And so in response, you have groups like Peace Now speaking out, saying:
"“It is clear to everyone today that the only solution to the conflict, and the only way to defeat Hamas, is through the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.” []
But you also have people like UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese – who’s been sanctioned by the US – coming out and saying that recognizing a Palestinian state shouldn’t distract from taking other action to stop mass death and starvation in Gaza.
A place, of course, where she, other experts, and leading Israeli human rights organisations have argued Israel is committing a genocide against the Palestinian population.
And with that, you’ve had her repeating her call for an embargo on all arms sales to Israel and an end to trade agreements;
also demanding accountability for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity;
as well as pushing for the complete Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory by a September 17th deadline set by the UN general assembly.
A deadline that is obviously unlikely to be met.
Right, last week, the Israeli government approved a plan to expand the war by taking control of Gaza City – a plan that went against the recommendations of the Israeli military. []
Though, of course, that hasn’t stopped the military from approving a new framework for what it called “aggressive” Israeli ground incursions in Gaza City – even as it has already stepped up its bombing of the territory in preparation.
With a targeted strike near a hospital earlier this week killing six journalists – including four Al Jazeera staff correspondents.
With that bringing the total number of journalists killed since October 7th, 2023 to 192 according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. []
Journalists have also been detained and have claimed to face beatings, humiliation, and hunger – which is in line with other reports we’ve seen of Palestinian detainees being tortured and abused.
And connected to that, Israel has detained hundreds of Palestinians on suspicion of direct involvement in the October 7th attacks – with at least 200 remaining in custody.
But not a single person has been charged or prosecuted yet.
Plus, the country Israel is reportedly holding roughly 2,700 other Palestinians it says are suspected of being affiliated with Hamas or other militant groups in Gaza. []
Israel has also claimed in recent weeks that it's doing more to get humanitarian aid into Gaza – but it’s again getting pushback.
Right, this week, you have more than 100 organisations signing a new joint letter again calling on Israel to stop the "weaponisation of aid" into Gaza;
rejecting claims by Israeli authorities that there is no limit on humanitarian aid entering Gaza;
And saying most major international NGOs have been unable to deliver a single truck of lifesaving supplies since March 2nd. []
With them saying they are increasingly being told they are "not authorised" to deliver aid unless they comply with stricter Israeli regulations introduced around that time.
And specifically, they say, they risk being denied entry “on the basis of vague and politicised criteria, such as alleged “delegitimisation” of the state of Israel.” []
Israel, on the other hand, has argued that any delays in delivering aid occur, quote:
"...only when organisations choose not to meet the basic security requirements intended to prevent Hamas's involvement. []
And with all that, while that’s the latest news, it’s also following a pattern that’s been playing out since this all started.
So we’ll have to wait and see how things go from here.
