The Trump Epstein Files Situation is So Bad
PDS Published 02/02/2026
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Trump’s DOJ is exposing victims, protecting the perpetrators (possibly including Trump himself) and still failing to meet its legal obligation to release ALL of the Epstein Files.
That’s what you have many saying now that the department has released another 3.5 million pages of documents – along with 2,000 videos and 180,000 images – more than one month after the December 19th deadline set by Epstein Files Transparency Act.
With officials claiming they have now fully complied with the law – even as survivors, lawmakers, and watchdog groups say they are withholding roughly half of the records held by the government.
And that’s not the only way the law may have been broken.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act tasked the government with releasing the files but also with protecting the victims.
Which was one of the DOJ’s original excuses for refusing to release them – even as survivors called for their release.
And when the department published the new batch of files on Friday it claimed more than 500 attorneys and reviewers had contributed to this effort. []
Except those files? When they were released, they contained the full names of dozens of victims as well as nearly forty unredacted nude images of young women and possibly teenagers.
The photos appeared to be part of a personal photo collection, some seemed to have been taken on Epstein’s private island, and the bodies and faces of the people in them were fully visible.
As far as the names? According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, several women’s full names appeared more than 100 times in the files – including more than two dozen who were minors when they were abused. []
You have some files hiding someone’s name but then a duplicate file somewhere else making the name public.
And some had personally identifying details such as bank information and home addresses posted without redaction as well.
And overall you had lawyers representing more than 200 victims saying that they reported “thousands of redaction failures on behalf of nearly 100 individual survivors whose lives have been turned upside down by the DOJ’s latest release.”
With them actually asking federal judges to order the immediate takedown of the Justice Department’s entire Epstein files website – writing in a letter:
“...DOJ committed what may be the single most egregious violation of victim privacy in one day in United States history.” []
“It is no longer ethical, moral, or responsible to attempt to remedy these violations through DOJ’s torturously tedious game.”
“This was never a complex undertaking. DOJ has possessed the names of victims that it promised to redact for months.”
“There is no conceivable degree of institutional incompetence sufficient to explain the scale, consistency, and persistence of the failures that occurred.” []
Now, with all that, it seems that many, if not most of these mistakes, have been corrected.
But, of course, that’s not all that reassuring to those whose privacy has already been so flagrantly violated – especially when the department did in fact take a lot of time to heavily redact many of the files.
Hell, there’s even one image where a redaction box appears over the face of Donald Trump – even though it just seems to be a shot of him giving a public speech.
Which, of course, makes a lot of people wonder who the DOJ is really trying to protect.
But to that, you had deputy attorney general Todd Blanche – you know, Trump’s former personal defense lawyer – saying:
“We did not protect president Trump, we did not protect or not protect anybody. I think that there is a hunger or thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents.” (18:02-18:15)
Blanche also appeared both confused and angry when a reporter asked if the public might learn the identities of men who abused young women with the help of Epstein:
“Is the public going to learn about men that abused these girls? Like what does that mean?” (20:44-20:50)
“If we had information, we, meaning the DOJ, about men who abused women, we would prosecute them.” (21:06-21:14)
“There is this built-in assumption that there is somehow there is this hidden tranche of information about men that we are covering up or that we are choosing not to prosecute. That is not the case. I do not know if there are men out there that abused these women. (21:19-21:33)
That’s right…he doesn’t know if “there are men out there that abused these women?”
Which is just an insane thing to do because as much as we don’t know exactly who and to what extent others were involved in Epstein’s abuse there is ample reason to believe there are others who need to face consequences – either for being directly involved in abuse or having knowledge of it and doing nothing.
And the big question for many is whether American president Donald J. Trump is one of them.
And with that, of course, there’s nothing explosive in these files.
But his name? It does come up a lot.
The New York Times identified more than 5,300 files containing over 38,000 references to Trump, Melania, Mar-a-Lago club, and other related words and phrases.
And the previously released Epstein files included only 130 files with Trump-related references. []
That said, some of the new files are copies of emails and other records that the DOJ or the House Oversight Committee released late last year. []
And many are just news articles and other publicly available materials that landed in Epstein’s inbox. []
Also, notably, none of the files include any direct communication between Trump and Epstein.
Which isn’t all that surprising because only a few of the files date back as far as the early 2000s when the two of them were known to be friends.
But as far as what is new, you have one file showing that a man who worked for Epstein told investigators that Trump – along with high-profile figures including the former Prince Andrew and Robert Kennedy – had visited Epstein’s home.
Another contains handwritten notes from an interview conducted in 2019 – about one month after Epstein died in his cell.
And they say that a victim, whose name has been redacted, remembers being driven to Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump – and that Epstein said to Trump at the time:
“This is a good one, huh?
Another file shows that Epstein emailed a private investigator in 2001 suggesting he had plans to call Trump to talk about Virginia Giuffre. []
It’s not clear if that call ever took place but it’s notable because Giuffre?
She was one of Epstein’s most well-known victims, she died by suicide last year, and she said that she had been lured into Epstein’s web when she worked at Mar-a-Lago.
And with that, said last summer that he ended his relationship with Epstein at least in part because Epstein “stole” Giuffre from him.
Although, as Trump has noted, Giuffre never accused him of anything.
There are multiple documents including allegations that Trump raped a child in these new files – but many of these are based on unverified tips received by the FBI.
And so some outlets are actually not publishing them at all due to doubts about their credibility.
I will talk go over some of them because of how serious they are and the fact that they concern the president of the United States.
A man who had a well-documented friendship with Epstein, has been found civilly liable for sexual abuse, and can be heard on tape saying he can grab women by the pussy because he’s famous.
And also, besides that, some of these allegations mirror ones made by a Jane Doe in a lawsuit that was filed against Trump in 2016 – alleging that he and Epstein raped her when she was thirteen – although he denied the claims and the suit was later dropped.
This includes one complaint made by phone in July of 2016, which seems to have been made by the same lawyer who represented the Jane Doe. []
And there’s another document, which now appears to have been taken down, which includes a complaint summary from an FBI tip claiming her female friend was “....forced to perform oral sex on President Trump approximately 35 years ago” – saying:
...she was approximately 13-14 years old when this occurred, and the friend allegedly bit President Trump while performing oral sex.”
“The friend was allegedly hit in the face after she laughed about biting [him]. The friend said she was also abused by Epstein.” []
The file also says that that investigators “spoke with caller who identified [redacted] as friend” – adding:
“Lead was sent to Washington Office to conduct interview." []
But it’s unclear what, if anything, came of this.
Another tip summarized in the same-now deleted file claimed that Trump held "calendar girl” parties at Mar-a-lago where Epstein would bring in children and Trump would “Auction them off.”
It says that guests included, Elon Musk, Trump’s eldest children, and Alan Dershowitz.
The document also references Bill Clinton – alleging that he attended Epstein parties and that he, Trump, and others appear in videos of “criminal activity.”
But unlike some of the others no contact information was provided for this tip, and there’s no evidence, timeline, or other verification attached.
But that of course has not stopped them from going viral online and attracting the attention of politicians.
With Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego, for example, writing:
“There needs to be a thorough investigation of each and every one of these claims.”[]
In Trump’s defense, the DOJ released a statement saying:
“Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false, and if they have a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.” []
But besides Trump, there are of course lots of other rich and powerful people who come up in the files – some also in connection to direct allegations of sexual abuse.
For example, there are documents describing claims against convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein.
WIth one slide deck appearing to be an FBI presentation of Jeffrey Epstein investigations describing an allegation that Epstein “told [an accuser] to give Weinstein a massage, during which Weinstein [told] her to take off her shirt.”
And that when she refused, Weinstein threatened “to get women to come force her too.” []
The same slide includes allegations Epstein told [an accusor] to give Wall Street billionaire Leon Black a massage while Black was naked – and that Black made another “female” perform oral sex. []
And it also mentioned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick – although not accusing him of sexual abuse, instead describing how one source reported that Lutnick “made his money through Ponzi schemes and money laundering.”
And notably, Lutnick comes up elsewhere in the files.
With emails appearing to show Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and his wife accepted an invitation to Epstein’s island in December 2012 and planned to arrive by yacht with their children.
Which, notably, is several years after Lutnick previously said he broke contact with Epstein.
Emails also appear to show that Elon MUsk has lied about his past dealings with Epstein.
Right, Musk has famously claimed that “Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and I REFUSED.” []
But one new file appears to show that he emailed with Epstein to try and plan a visit to Epstein's island in late 2013 and early 2014. []
Asking in one email: “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?”
Now, with that, it's not clear if the island visits took place.
And Musk has continued to defend himself – claiming Epstein “hounded [him] relentlessly” to go to his “pedo island.”
And really his denials continue to sound like an admission that he knew something fucked up was happening there.
But as far as other big names, we also gotta mention Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates.
Right, there’s one new email in which Epstein suggests that he helped Gates get drugs to “deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls” and that he helped facilitate “illicit trysts, with married women.”
Another name worth noting is Hollywood filmmaker Brett Ratner.
Right, he hasn’t been so busy since being accused of sexual assault, but he just directed the newly released “Melania” documentary.
And the new files include a series of photos of Epstein's New York townhouse, sitting with Epstein and women who have been redacted.
As well as a modeling agent who associated with Epstein and who also died by apparent suicide in 2022 in prison awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Others who come up in the files with some apparent ties to Epstein are Billionaire Richard Branson;
Google co-founded Sergey Brin;
New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch;
and former White House counsel under Barack Obama Kathryn Ruemmler.
And on the subject of Democrats, Bill Clinton’s name also appears in the new files several times, mostly communications between his staff and Ghislaine Maxwell about travel and dining plans in the early 2000s, before Epstein was convicted in 2008.
And, of course, the Clintons have denied any wrongdoing and refused to comply with subpoenas from the House Oversight Committee – meaning there’ll soon be a vote to hold them in contempt.
You’ve also had right-wing outlets like Fox News trying to link Zohran Mamdani to Epstein – sharing what’s described as a “resurfaced” photo linking him to an Epstein-connected publicist.
With the image showing the New York City mayor at luncheon for the movie “Get Out” hosted by Peggy Siegal – a Hollywood publicist who has already faced backlash for her relationship with Epstein.
But anyways in the photo is also Mamdani’s mother – filmmaker Mira Nair.
And as Fox News and other right-wing outlets have noted, she is in the files!
In a 2009 email, Siegal wrote to Epstein about an after-party at Ghislaine Maxwell'’s townhouse Nair attended for a film she had directed.
But of course there’s a lot more scrutiny on people who have much more well-established links to Epstein.
Outside the US, one of the most well-known associates of Epstein is the UK’s former Prince Andrew, whose title was stripped because of all this, and he also appears in this new batch of files at least several hundred times.
Including in the form of these kinds of disturbing photos of him kneeling over a woman on the floor and placing his hand on her stomach.
The files also show that his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson emailed Epstein for his advice just two months after she told London's Evening Standard newspaper she would have "nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again." []
And with all that, you’ve actually had British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and several other officials calling on Andrew to testify before Congress.
This as a guy named Lord Peter Mandelson has already announced his resignation from Starmer’s Party after emails revealed he also had a relationship with Epstein.
Elsewhere, a top official in Slovakia resigned his position after photos and emails revealed he had met with Epstein in the years after Epstein was released from jail.
And the crown princess of Norway has now had to publicly apologize for keeping ties with Epstein.
And ultimately, the fallout from this is global, and the extent of Epstein’s connections seems to just keep growing.
But the question is still which of those connections knew or was involved and will they ever face real consequences – a question that Trump’s DOJ no longer seems interested in answering.
WIth Blanche continuing to push back on the idea that there’s anything more to be found out, saying in an interview on CNN:
“There's a lot of correspondence. There's a lot of emails. There's a lot of photographs. There's a lot of of of horrible photographs that appear to be of taken by Mr. Epstein or or people around him. But that doesn't allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody.” (1:44-1:58)
But you have Democrats slamming the DOJ for still keeping around half the files locked away, and Rep. Robert Garcia, adding:[]
“This is outrageous and incredibly concerning.”
“They are in violation of the law. We are demanding the names of Epstein’ co-conspirators and the men and pedophiles who abused women and girls.”
Other lawmakers have also been concerned by Trump’s repeated mentions and said:
“What we’ve seen is sickening, with serious allegations involving the president himself. If this is what they’re willing to release, imagine what they’re still hiding. Our investigation is just getting started.”[]
And then yesterday, you also had Ro Khanna announcing that he and his Republican colleague Thomas Massie requested to meet with the DOJ to learn more about the heavy redactions and see portions of the files without these blackouts.
And Khanna also threatened Pam Bondi with impeachment.
“It is not good enough. (3:06-3:08)
“If we do not get the remaining files, if we do not get the remaining 302 forms, the remaining prosecution from 2019, if the survivors are not happy, then Thomas Massie and I are prepared to move on impeachment and contempt.” (3:22-3:36)
But words are words, actions are actions, and we’ll have to see what it will really take to get some consequences, and if that day will ever actually come.
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And then, jumping back into the chaos, we now know who murdered Alex Pretti.
With Propublica revealing their identities as 43-year-old Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa [Hey-zoos Oh-cho-uh], who goes by Jesse, and 35-year-old Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo [Ray-moondo] Gutierrez. [Image and image]
Both men are from South Texas, and neither are new hires; right, Gutierrez joined in 2014 and Ochoa joined in 2018. [Quote, find “SWAT”]
With Gutierrez reportedly working on a special response team, which conducts high-risk operations like those of police SWAT units. [Same quote and image]
And as for what we know about Ochoa, his ex-wife said he graduated from the University of Texas-Pan American with a degree in criminal justice and had for years dreamed of working for the Border Patrol. [Quote same link, find “dreamed” and Image]
With her adding that by the time they split apart in 2021, he had become a gun enthusiast with about 25 rifles, pistols and shotguns. [Same assets]
Now in response to this, you have Trump’s DHS accusing Propublica of “doxxing” its officers and putting their and their families’ lives in “serious danger.” [B roll, 00:26]
But the outlet counters that concealing the identities of masked law enforcement agents is highly unusual, if not illegal, and prevents them from being held accountable for their actions. [Same B roll]
So critics of the agency are saying, hey, let’s make ‘em famous; their names are Jesus Ochoa, Raymundo Gutierrez, and Jonathan Ross, the one who shot Renee Good.
And the resistance isn’t letting up; we saw protests in dozens of cities over the weekend, including Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Portland. [B roll, 01:29]
With federal judges also pushing back, ordering the Feds to release unlawfully detained immigrants, or at the very least give them a bond hearing, in countless cases. [Same B roll]
Which brings us to a very positive update in the case of Liam Ramos, the five-year-old boy allegedly used as “bait” by federal agents to lure his family out of their home. [Image]
Because on Saturday, a court ordered ICE to release him from the Texas detention facility where he’s been holed up with his father for weeks, reportedly getting very sick. [Headline]
And the next day, ICE actually complied, releasing both the boy and his father, who were personally escorted back to Minneapolis by Democratic Representative Joaquin [Wah-keen] Castro. [Image]
Though that’s not to say Liam’s family is in the clear; right, Deputy AG Todd Blanche actually suggested quite the opposite on ABC. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 03:19 - 03:33] Caption: “The immigration law, the body of immigration law, is much different than our typical criminal process because of the administrative nature of what we do every day, and so to the extent that we need to appeal that judge’s decision, I promise we will.”
But also, Liam’s just one kid; right, his school district, though celebrating his release, noted that there are still four more of its students stuck at the same detention facility. [Image]
In fact, the Marshall Project said back in December that at least 3,800 children under age 18, including 20 infants, had been booked since Trump took office. [Quote, find “20 infants”]
With the director of the immigrants’ rights clinic at Columbia writing in an op-ed for The New York Times:
“The children at Dilley with whom I’ve worked over the past year range in age from 2 to 16 years old. … A 2-year-old boy was breastfeeding in detention. One 6-year-old boy had leukemia. An 8-year-old girl began wetting the bed. A 14-year-old girl engaged in self-harm. All of these children and their parents were detained despite being eligible for release — ICE has the authority to release these families, who are not flight risks, on parole — and while seeking asylum and other humanitarian protections in the United States. None of these children or their parents had a criminal history anywhere in the world.” [Quote]
This as numerous reports have detailed the facility’s awful conditions — dirty water, worms in food, inadequate medical care, a lack of meaningful educational services, lights kept on 24 hours a day, guards threatening to separate families. [B roll]
In fact, it’s just been reported that two people there have active measles cases, with DHS quarantining anyone suspected of having contact with them and barring all movement within the facility. [Same B roll and Quote, find “quarantined”]
With Senator Chris Murphy responding: “This is the facility I was denied entry to a week ago - even though I'm the top Democrat on the committee that funds DHS and I gave them plenty of notice. I told you they were hiding something. They were.” [Post and B roll, 01:08]
Meanwhile, there’s a ton of scrutiny on another ICE facility in Baltimore.
With immigrant advocates long claiming that detainees had little to no contact with loved ones or their lawyers, little access to food and water, and were denied access to medication. [Quote, find “loved ones”]
And now, a video’s been circulating that reportedly shows a severely overcrowded holding room with some people on the floor. [B roll, 00:57]
So Maryland Representative April McClain Delaney managed to get inside to see for herself, and this is what she described. [Same B roll]
[Clip, 01:12 - 01:30, 01:42 - 01:53] Caption: “It was not a large room, not much bigger than the room that we are currently in, with probably fifty people, concrete floors, a bench around the perimeter, and a makeshift kind of bathroom in the middle that had minimal privacy. … It’s really only meant to hold people for twelve hours, and it is being used to hold people for twenty-four, forty-eight, seventy-two hours or longer.”
Meanwhile, according to The New York Times, at least 32 people have died in ICE custody just since Trump took office; right, that’s more than Biden’s entire four-year term. [Quote, find “32”]
But rather than tamping things down, Trump’s ramping them up, with DHS looking to put all that Big Beautiful Bill money to use.
Right, as of December, ICE was reportedly planning to buy industrial warehouses in 23 towns and convert them into detention facilities that would hold some 80,000 people at a time. [Headline]
And since then, they’ve faced political resistance and public boycotts, with warehouse sales in Oklahoma and Virginia falling apart apart after the owners backed out of the deals. [Headline and headline]
But warehouses or not, Trump’s determined to bring the Minnesota model to other states.
With several hundred federal immigration agents arriving in Maine last week to arrest Somali immigrants. [Headline/image]
Leading many to hunker down inside their homes, avoiding work, school and stores in fear of being snatched off the street by masked men and ferried off to Texas or some other state. [Image]
And according to ICE, they arrested some 200 people, some of whom are reportedly just asylum seekers with no criminal history. [Quote, find “200” and “asylum seekers”]
Then, after barely a week, Republican Senator Susan Collins announced that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had told her the surge of ICE activity in Maine had ended. [Quote, find “informed”]
Though so-called “normal” operations would continue, so it’s unclear how safe immigrants there actually are.
And even if ICE has left Maine, it looks like they may be coming to Ohio next.
Because according to MS NOW, the Trump administration is eyeing Springfield — yes, that Springfield. [Headline]
[Clip, 00:01 - 00:11]
Right, last year, Kristi Noem revoked temporary protected status for over 330,000 Haitians nationwide, setting the expiration date for midnight tomorrow. [B roll, 01:07]
And Springfield is home to an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians, so they’re reacting the same way Maine’s Somalis are, with a local pastor telling 10TV:
“They are making preparations to stay inside, not to come out of their homes. They are afraid for their children. Just yesterday, I had some Haitians in our church give me power of attorney in case they become separated from their children so we can take care of them.” [Quote]
With the historian Timothy Snyder sounding the alarm about this over the weekend, writing on his Substack:
“To all appearances, and according to local sources, the city is two or three days away from a federal ethnic cleansing, grounded in a hate campaign organized by the vice-president and American Nazis.” [Quote]
Then describing the playbook here: “Mental chaos has been created where there was none before. And then that mental chaos becomes the justification for physical chaos: Trump’s ‘large deportations,’ ICE raids that will, in fact, wreck an improving local economy. And once that physical chaos has been created, it will be blamed on the immigrants who are no longer there. … At that point, so to speak, the lie is supposed to become ‘true.’” [Quote same link]
You even have Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine coming to the defense of his Haitian residents, saying:
“These people are working and they are hard workers, so I think from a public policy point of view, it is a mistake. It is not in the best interest of Ohio for these individuals who are working and who are workers to lose that status. Having said that, this is not my decision. This is a decision for the federal government, for the president of the United States.” [B roll, 01:02]
But they’re not totally helpless against Trump’s onslaught, because any day now a district judge is expected to rule on whether Noem’s revocation of TPS for the Haitians was legal. [Quote, find “any day now”]
Plus Democrats in Congress are struggling to reign ICE in using what leverage they have.
[Leads into Lily’s shutdown piece]
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In fact, the fight to limit ICE's sweeping power has now officially caused a government shutdown.
Right, as expected, the government entered a partial shutdown on Friday at midnight after Democrats refused to vote for a broader funding bill — which included over $64 billion for DHS — unless there were reforms to ICE.
Now, very notably here, this shutdown is not nearly as broad as the record-long 43-day closure we saw at the end of last year — and it’s also not expected to last nearly as long.
Right, when lawmakers finally struck a deal to reopen last time, they set January 30 as the deadline to fully fund the rest of the government.
And they were actually on track to meet that deadline.
Right, a group of bipartisan lawmakers announced that they had reached a deal, and while some Democrats vowed to vote against a bill that funded ICE in the wake of the Renee Good killing, the measure ultimately passed the GOP-controlled House.
But then, two days later, Alex Pretti was shot and killed, prompting massive outrage in Washington.
With Senate Democrats then demanding that Republicans separate the DHS funding from the larger package so that they can negotiate their demands for ICE while funding other key parts of the government.
Right, for some quick context here, usually the way spending bills work is that lawmakers will write a bunch of smaller appropriations bills that fund different departments, and then they’ll smoosh those bills together and pass them in larger packages.
In fact, 6 of the 12 smaller appropriations bills have already been signed into law, ensuring that any shutdown would be partial.
And on Friday, the Senate approved a deal — backed by Trump — that would pass five of the remaining appropriation bills to fund huge chunks of the government.
But instead of approving new dollars for DHS, the measure just extended its current funding levels for two weeks so lawmakers could negotiate ICE reforms.
And while that bill successfully passed the Senate 71-29, House lawmakers had already left Washington, so the chamber was unable to convene and vote on the measure in time, triggering the current partial shutdown.
Now, notably here, while the shutdown is only partial, the package that is being held up funds enormous chunks of the government — in fact, departments that are impacted here make up a majority of discretionary funding and include some of the largest federal agencies.
Right, in addition to DHS, the funding that’s been put on hold includes $838.7 billion in defense spending, as well as money for the departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and State.
But, as far as what happens next, you had House Speaker Mike Johnson telling reporters yesterday that the House will aim to pass the Senate bill when lawmakers return.
With Johnson expressing optimism that the lower chamber will be able to end the shutdown “at least by Tuesday.”
But that could still be an uphill battle — right, many House Dems have opposed the short-term extension passed by the Senate, with some saying they don’t think Trump and Republicans will negotiate in good faith or agree to bold enough changes to ICE.
Right, among other things, Democrats want to enact provisions that would bar agents from wearing masks, require body cameras, ban random sweeps and searches without warrants, and prevent children from being taken from their families.
But, beyond that, some Democrats just don’t want to vote for a bill that includes ANY money for DHS — even just an extension of current funding levels.
So, in order to pass this bill, Johnson will likely need near-unanimity from his razor-thin majority — but even that might be hard.
Right, many Republicans — including Johnson himself — have said that they oppose placing new restrictions on ICE or other immigration enforcement concessions.[]
But, even if Johnson is able to get enough votes to pass this measure, there’s no guarantee that Democrats and Republicans will be able to come to any kind of agreement on ICE reforms and funding in the short extension window.
Right, if the bill does go through, while the other agencies would get necessary funding, lawmakers would only have until February 13th to reach some kind of deal for the future of DHS.
But given how divided everyone is, there are absolutely no promises, and if they can’t reach an agreement, DHS could shut down starting on February 14th.
Though, notably here, while other key parts of the department would be shuttered — like, for example, FEMA — ICE would still be able to continue operating because Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill allocated $75 billion to the agency.
Right, but on that point, there’s also the Trump of it all — right, even if Democrats and Republicans can magically reach some kind of agreement, he would have to sign off on any final deal, and it’s hard to imagine he would back any kind of reforms to his beloved Gestapo [feeding into Star’s write-up on UAE].
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And speaking of Trump himself, we should also talk about him accepting what some are calling an obvious bribe from a foreign government just days before his inauguration.
Right, the Wall Street Journal just uncovered a half a billion dollar deal between an Abu Dhabi prince and the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture. []
The specific prince we’re talking about is the Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Ta-noon bin Zai-ed al Nay-awn) - or the “Spy Sheikh.”
This guy is the brother of the United Arab Emirates president, the government’s national security adviser, as well as the leader of the UAE’s largest wealth fund. []
He oversees an empire valued at more than a trillion dollars - making him one of the most powerful single investors in the entire world.
And, for a while now, he has also been pushing the US to allow the UAE access to tightly-guarded AI chips.
Under the Biden administration, he was shot down time and time again - the UAE was only allowed a limited number of chips over concerns that those chips could find their way to China. []
In fact, a major area of concern was one of Tahnoon’s own companies, the AI firm G42, and its close ties to sanctioned Chinese tech giants.
And those concerns lingered despite the company saying they’d severed ties with China a couple years ago.
Especially considering the UAE and other companies under the Spy Sheikh’s umbrella hadn’t yet done the same.
Anyway, this door was firmly closed for the UAE under Biden.
But when Trump won the election, that door opened again and the Tahnoon immediately jumped on it.
He held several meetings with Trump and other US officials in the months following the election.
Which led to a meeting last March at the White House - where Tahnoon reportedly told US officials he was very excited to work with the US on AI as well as a number of other issues. []
Flash forward 2 months after that meeting, the Trump administration committed to giving the UAE access to around 500,000 of the most advanced AI chips per year. []
Making Tahnoon’s vision of one of the world’s largest AI data center clusters significantly more attainable.
Proponents of the deal called it the key to opening the floodgates of investment into the US and helping elevate American technology to the global standard. []
But others call this a major coup by the emirates ruling family - they hurdled over longstanding US national security concerns and positioned themselves to compete with the most powerful economies in the world.
So already there are some red flags waving but Wall Street Journal takes it a step further and makes this whole thing stink of tried and true corruption.
Because what hadn’t been previously reported is that months before the chip deal was made, in the days leading up to Trump’s second inauguration, the Spy Sheikh’s emissaries signed a half a billion dollar deal with a Trump family crypto venture. []
The crypto company is called World Liberty Financial and a Tahnoon-backed investment firm named Aryam Investment 1 purchased a 49% stake in it.
And the $250 million Aryam paid upfront was reportedly split 3 different ways and the biggest chunk of it - $187 million to be specific - is slated to flow into Trump family entities. []
So you can see how this revelation is starting to cause some concern.
Alongside the money, the purchase also gave Aryam 2 seats on the World Liberty board.
And the reason that’s worth mentioning is because those same two executives on the World Liberty board are also on the board of a Tahnoon-backed investment firm named MGX. []
Which would later go on to use World Liberty’s stablecoin to complete a $2 billion investment in Binance.
And that deal made World Liberty one of the world’s largest issuers of stablecoins and reportedly set them up to generate tens of millions of dollars a year in revenue. []
Anyway, Team Trump was very quick to jump in saying there is no conflict of interest for anyone involved here.
With a spokesman for World Liberty saying that Trump has not been involved in World Liberty since taking office and that this deal doesn’t grant anyone any sort of access to government decision-making or influence over policy. []
And the White House came right out and said,
“President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public,”
“There are no conflicts of interest.” []
With the official White House counsel adding,
“The President has no involvement in business deals that would implicate his constitutional responsibilities.” []
But those reassurances aren’t stopping experts from raising the alarm.
With Kathleen Clark, a law professor and former ethics lawyer, saying that even just the deal between World Liberty and Aryam could violate the emoluments clause of the Constitution.
With Clark saying that clause is intended to make sure no US government official is, quote, “in the pocket of a foreign government.” []
And she added,
“This sure looks like a violation of the foreign emoluments clause, and more to the point, it looks like a bribe.”
Before going on to say that this, quote, “should be a five-alarm fire about the federal government being for sale.”
With a former top White House attorney adding,
“My advice as an ethics lawyer would have been clear: You don’t do business deals with the families of the leaders of foreign countries. It taints American foreign policy.” []
We also saw prominent Democrats speaking out against this as well.
Including Senator Elizabeth Warren who said the Trump family and their business partners, quote, “sold out American national security in order to benefit the president’s crypto company.” []
Adding,
“This is corruption, plain and simple. Congress needs to grow a spine and put a stop to Trump’s crypto corruption.” []
But it seems unlikely the relationship between Trump and the UAE is going to slow up anytime soon.
Right, we just saw MGX become one of a handful of investors selected to operate TikTok in the US. []
And we know that members of the Trump administration were back in Abu Dhabi just a couple months ago to discuss Gaza and Trump’s plan for a Board of Peace. []
So we’re just going to have to wait and see how things play out from here.
But I would love to know your thoughts about this in those comments down below.
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Then, in other news today, we should talk about how Markiplier’s independent horror film could change Hollywood.
Right, his new film “Iron Lung,” which is based on a video game, just released over the weekend and made around $18 million domestically, putting it in second place behind Sam Ray-me’s “Send Help.”[]
And this is huge, because he just did this himself, there was no studio or distributor behind the film, he pulled this off alone.
Initially, “Iron Lung” wasn’t even going to get a very wide release, but based on fan demand, it wound up on 4,000 screens.
Right, Markiplier just told fans in a comment that if they could call their local theaters and request they play it, that would be great.
And that turned into a massive campaign and eventually, a massive release.
So you had Markiplier telling Variety:
“They just went to town on it. That’s what makes me tear up. They leapt at an opportunity to help me, and that’s what I’ll never forget. That’s why I’ll always swear by YouTube and internet content creation as a platform.”
“I don’t care about making a profit on the things that I do for this…I’m able to afford to take these chances that a lot of people aren’t able to take…I was perfectly content if it never got past 50 theaters, which, for an independent release, is not bad. If it went to 100, I thought maybe I could get it to 200. I’d be happy with that.”
And obviously, it ended up playing in far, far more than that.
And for a second there, “Iron Lung” even seemed like it could come in at the top spot, because at the Friday box office, he led for that day with a $9 million haul.
But then, his stats became temporarily harder to track as some box office charts just stopped listing his film, with Markiplier saying on Instagram:
“This is Saturday, right? I swear I was on this list. But Iron Lung isn’t here anymore. There is no numbers for Iron Lung, they took me off the chart. And I thought maybe there was a fluke, maybe something just went wrong. But here is Sunday, I wake up this morning, which reports the day before’s numbers, I’m just gone, I’m not even above Hamnet.” (0:17-0:39)
“Why’d ya take me off the chart? I feel like I deserve to be on the chart!” (0:53-0:57)
And so this turned into tons of backlash and conversation from people who thought an independent creator was being snubbed and iced out by the mainstream, but you had Forbes saying it likely was just a glitch of some kind. []
Right, because it is now back on the charts, and on Box Office Mojo, which is the most used chart, it apparently never left in the first place.
And last night, while it seemed like it was a neck and neck race for the weekend top spot between Markiplier’s film and Sam Ray-me’s “Send Help,” he really tried to push people to keep the momentum up:
“Sam Raimi chasing me up my own ass. In the final hours. (laughing) So if you got some free time tonight and you want to see Iron Lung, tonight would be the night to make it count. And then Disney won’t have the number one movie for the tenth week in a row.” (0:12-0:34)
But in the end, “Send Help” beat “Iron Lung” in both domestic and international sales, which Markiplier said he kind of knew was coming.
“I milked it a lot. I said it a lot, it was funny. I knew Sam Raimi’s movie was going to pass me by the end of the weekend.” (0:05-0:11)
But you have some noting that for tons of reasons, you could argue Markiplier is still the bigger success story.
Because one, Markiplier didn’t have 20th Century Studios behind him.
Also, when you count international sales, he made nearly $22 million on a $3 million budget, that is huge.[]
And so far, it seems fans are liking it, right, it has an 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and while some have compared that to its 50% critics score, []
Others like MrBeast have noted:
“it’s literally only 10 critics that gave it the 50%. The sample size is too small and why I think the popcorn score is a better metric if you’re trying to see if something is worth watching imo.”[]
Which, for what it is worth, it is not unusual for smaller films to have a more limited pool of critic reviews for its Tomato score, [][]
And it is also not unusual for there to be a wide gap between the critical and audience reception of a film, too, [][]
And in Markiplier’s case, more reviews for “Iron Lung” are rolling in that are not listed on Rotten Tomatoes, so his score could change.
And because his movie is such a success story you had outlets like Forbes saying this:
“may represent a future of filmmaking where more creators dabble in the space and drag their fanbases along with them.”[]
Markiplier also hoping it serves as a push for indie filmmaking in general, that it shows there is an audience for it.
With critics even adding:
“hoping that Iron Lung is the final nail in the coffin of that whole “young people don’t want to go to the movies” mishegoss. if anything it proves that next-gen audiences would rather think of YouTube as a pipeline for movie theaters than a potential replacement for them.”[]
And so I would love to know your thoughts, especially if you saw the movie, and if you think this could be the start of a new way to make films,
Where content creators can bring their audiences on their own terms.
