Today in Politics, Bulletin 297. 1/30/26

… DOJ released a massive amount of Epstein files documents today. One section that had numerous specific criminal allegations against Trump was posted and then hours later after people began to post screen shots it was taken down. We have a link to the section about Trump that was deleted, which is here. Later in the day they put it back up but who knows for how long this time.

… DOJ disclosed that there are over 6 million documents total, but they are only releasing half of them because they determined the other half were either “irrelevant” or fell under one of the exceptions in the statute.

… There are a few of the screen shots pertaining to Trump.

… Meidas DC Bureau Chief Pablo Manriquez: “Republican Senators keep asking me what's in the new Epstein files, so I show them the deleted spreadsheet. ‘That's dark, man ... fuck,’ said one, who then declined to comment on the record.”

… One email from Epstein that was in the files: "trump is likely to be [asked] questions soon about me…supposedly a girl said that donal= had sex with her at my house when she was underage. =C2. she said she has a witness."

… One report documented that a survivor told FBI agents in an interview that Ghislaine Maxwell “presented” her to Trump and made it clear she was “available.”

… Also, despite claiming in an interview last October that he cut ties with his neighbor Epstein in 2005 after he saw his massage room, Howard Lutnick is all over the files with Epstein well after that date. One post showed him going to Epstein island in 2012.

… Another document showed that Epstein make a $50,000 donation in honor of Howard Lutnick to a charity in 2017. But Lutnick claimed he refused to have anything to do with Epstein after 2005.

… Another email from Epstein: “Attached is a resume of Lutnick’s nanny. I am trying to arrange a time via Peter for you to meet her.”

… This is what Lutnick told Fox in Oct about his visit to Epstein’s house in 2005: “So he invites us in and he says, ‘Do you want a tour?’ We said, ‘Great!’ He's got a really big house. So he gives me a tour in the living room, and then across from it is double doors. And he opens the doors and there's a massage table in the middle of the room. And candles all around and stuff. I say to him, ‘Massage table in the middle of your house? How often you have a massage?’ And he says, ‘Every day.’ And then he gets like weirdly close to me and he says, ‘And the right kind of massage.’”

… “Now my wife is standing here. So she looks at me and I look at her and we say, ‘I'm sorry, we have to go.’ And we left. And in the 6 or 8 steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again. So I was never in the room with him socially, for business or even philanthropy. If that guy was there, I wasn't going because he's gross.”

… That story doesn’t exactly match up with what we saw in the files today.

… Dep. AG Todd Blanche held a press conference today about the release. Q: “Can you assure the American public that President Trump, like every other prominent person whose name came up in the Epstein files, that all documents, photos, and anything relevant to him connected to the case is being released? Blanche: I mean, yes. I can assure that we complied with the statute and we did not protect President Trump. But there’s a hunger or thirst for information that will not be satisfied by a review of these documents and there’s nothing I can do about that.”

… Q: “Can you explain Tulsi Gabbard’s role in DOJ activity regarding the Fulton County election office search? Blanche: She happened to be present in Atlanta. I saw the same photo you did. She doesn’t work for the DOJ or FBI. In this admin we coordinate everything we do as a group so her presence shouldn’t be questioned.”

… Q: “Where are the guns in the Pretti shooting? Are they in the FBI’s possession? And who has the phone that Pretti used to film? Blanche: I don’t know. I don’t have answers to those questions.”

… Q: “For transparency, would you commit to releasing the body cam video from federal officers involved in the Pretti shooting and their names? Blanche: I’m not committing to anything.”

… NBC: Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested by federal authorities and charged with federal civil rights crimes in connection with a protest at a Minnesota church service earlier this month. DHS said in a statement that Lemon was charged with conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshipers.”

… Statement from Lemon’s attorney Abbe Lowell: “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done. The first amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”

… “Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful MN protesters, the Trump justice dept is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case. This unprecedented attack on the first amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this admin will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.”

… Seth Stern with Freedom of the Press Foundation to Guardian: “This is a naked attack on freedom of the press. Lemon’s arrest under a bogus legal theory is a clear warning shot aimed at other journalists. The unmistakable message is that journalists must tread cautiously because the govt is looking for any way to target them.”

… MS NOW: “Career DOJ prosecutors in both MN and LA refused to be involved in charging Don Lemon and the other journalists who covered the Minneapolis church protests. The prosecutors believe the evidence does not support the charges.”

… CBS: “The FBI is now leading the investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, with ICE’s HSI branch supporting the investigation. The decision to initially place HSI in the lead investigative role was unusual and raised questions among current and former fed law enforcement officials, given that HSI is not typically tasked with investigating officer-involved shootings and is not structured or equipped to handle core elements of such cases, including ballistics analysis, forensic processing, firearm examinations, video review and large-scale witness canvassing.”

… “HSI historically has investigated crimes with an international or immigration nexus, including human trafficking, drug smuggling, child exploitation and the theft of stolen artifacts.”

… “NOTUS visited half a dozen hotels across Minneapolis this week, conducting interviews in Spanish and speaking to concierges and cleaning staff to hear from those caught between their customers and protesters. All said that, so far, federal agents staying at their hotels have been respectful — but each one said they had been shaken to the core when some agent inevitably asks, “Where are you from?”

… “Why would they ask that? That’s not small talk,” said a second woman at another location, who said she now tries to book all federal agents staying at her hotel in rooms grouped together on the upper floors, to keep them from terrifying guests and to minimize interactions with staff.”

… “At a third hotel, a concierge told NOTUS half the cleaning staff stopped showing up for work when federal agents descended on the city in Dec. To protect the remaining 3 housekeepers from getting pulled over by deportation patrols on their commute in each morning, the hotel’s maintenance technician took it upon himself to be their carpool chauffeur.”

… “Another hotel employee said federal agents at her hotel are subsisting on microwavable bowls of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, because it’s become so difficult for them to find restaurants willing to serve them.”

… Kristi Noem was on Fox trying to explain why she called Alex Pretti a “domestic terrorist” in her initial press conference: “That situation was very chaotic and we were being relayed information from on the ground from CBP agents and officers that were there. We were using the best information we had at the time, seeking to be transparent.”

… Philly DA Larry Krasner was on CNN after Fetterman criticized him for saying he would arrest federal agents if they violated the law in his jurisdiction: “Fetterman, first of all, is not a real Democrat. He sold out to the Republicans a long time ago - to the extent he even can keep track of what he’s doing. Sadly, there’s some things going on with him.”

… Krasner: “John Fetterman has completely sold out the principles on which he ran for office. I voted for John Fetterman, but what he’s been doing for quite some time, for whatever reason, and we all know there may be a few reasons, is completely unacceptable for anyone who actually believes in democracy and who actually believes in the rule of law.”

… Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) blocked a late-night senate vote to avoid a shutdown and threw tantrum in Maj. Leader John Thune’s office before launching into a wild tirade on the floor today. MS NOW: “Senate vibe check. Lindsey Graham just stormed into Leader Thune’s office. He said he has a hold.”

… Lindsey is upset because the House voted unanimously (very rare these days) to strip the provision out of the OBBB they passed last fall that allows senators to sue the DOJ over their phone records being subpoenaed by Jack Smith, and he put a hold on the bill to try and put it back in.

… Punchbowl: “Lindsey Graham has a hold on the funding deal over the House provision repealing the Arctic Frost provision authorizing payouts to senators. Graham just met with Thune and is fired up. This is basically a one-man crusade at this point. Most Senate Republicans are fine with the repeal.”

… Politico: “GRAHAM’S REVENGE: It sure seemed like the Senate was ready to vote last night after Trump and Democrats struck a compromise — enactment of 5 of the full-year appropriations bills and a two-week Homeland Security stopgap — to buy time for both sides to negotiate new guardrails for the admin’s immigration enforcement activities.”

… “Then Graham made his move. He refused to go along with the plan over a House-backed provision that would repeal a law allowing senators to receive cash payouts if they had phone records seized by former special counsel Jack Smith. John Thune said there were issues coming from members of both parties, though Graham appears to be the main problem.”

… Graham then took to the floor and was ranting about getting revenge on Mike Johnson: “You could have called me about the $500,000. I would be glad to work with you. You jammed me. Speaker Johnson, I won’t forget this. I got a lot of good friends in the House. If you think I’m going to give up on this, you really don’t know me.”

… Graham continue his rant: “I’ve been told the WH doesn’t like this. And I told the WH last night, I don’t care if you like it or not. I’m close to President Trump. I don’t work for him.”

… Graham: “Donald Trump is suing the IRS for $10 billion because somebody may have leaked his records! You should sue. If our govt can’t be sued by people—only by people not in it then people like us are wolves and are lambs to the slaughter!”

… I think he got a little scrambled on the wording of his metaphor there, but he was on a roll.

… Meidas asked Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) about Lindsey’s stunt: “This will be a Republican shutdown if we do this.”

… Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) on the 2-week CR for DHS to all for continued negotiations about ICE with a tight window: “I’m not going to vote for a bunch of so-called reforms that are designed to cripple ICE, nor do I think my Republican colleagues will. I hope I’m wrong, but what I smell coming is a long, long shutdown for DHS.”

… CNBC: “Donald Trump, his two eldest sons, and his family business sued the IRS and the Treasury Dept over alleged leaks of their confidential tax information. The plaintiffs seek at least $10 billion in damages, according to the lawsuit in Miami federal court. The civil complaint alleges that the IRS and Treasury failed in their obligation to prevent the leak of those tax records by former IRS employee Charles Littlejohn in 2019 and 2020.

… A spokesman for Trump’s legal team told CNBC in a statement, “The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated employee to leak private and confidential information about President Trump, his family, and the Trump Org to the NYT, ProPublica and other left-wing news outlets, which was then illegally released to millions of people. President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.”

… This is now the second major lawsuit filed by Trump against the govt where Pam Bondi will have to decide whether to settle the lawsuit with Trump’s attorneys and for how much. Trump is asking taxpayers to pay him billions of dollars in damages for the two lawsuits with Bondi deciding whether he gets the money or not from us.

Another long day in a long week with news flying in from a lot of different places. Looking forward to my day off tomorrow where we are going to northern NH to take a trip on a “Snowcoach” up Mt. Washington, check out a Snow Sculpting Competition, then go on a horse-drawn sleigh ride on a farm. Lots of snow there so should be very fun and very cold.

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.

… NYT on the premiere of Melania’s movie last night at the Kennedy Center: “Half the president’s cabinet showed up. Pete Hegseth, Brooke Rollins, Doug Burgum, RFK Jr. and others. RFK Jr was asked for his thoughts on Trump putting his name on the building next to his uncle: “It was made as a memorial for the nation because my uncle is deeply committed to the arts, and I think President Trump is also committed to the arts.”

… Right-wing Daily Wire: “Spotted in the MAGA-studded crowd at the Kennedy Center for “MELANIA” screening: Hegseth. Rubio. Scott Turner. Kelly Loeffler. Alina Habba. Calley Means. Eric Adams. Kash Patel. Lee Zeldin. Many others!”

… WaPo: “The suggested dress code was ‘business attire,’ though few who walked the carpet seemed to heed it. Alina Habba was a notable exception in her Badgley Mischka pantsuit with pearl-encrusted cuffs. The entrances were otherwise a fashion show of MAGA-fied glamour: dresses long and tight, hair curled, heels high.”

… Trump looked bored and uncomfortable as he stood there with Melania taking questions about the movie: “She comes from a faraway country, a wonderful country, clean, beautiful, safe. Doesn’t have problems like others have. But she comes from a