By Ben Meiselas
Following Donald Trump’s disastrous State of the Union address, he went quiet for an unusually long time. He’d eventually break his silence to launch a racist attack against Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Prior to this latest tirade, his regime fanned out across regime media platforms to praise the address and push a narrative of strength and success, when his appearance in the Capitol showed the opposite.
At the same time, new reporting has brought even more attention to the Justice Department’s cover-up of Epstein-related materials, including records connected to individuals who accused Trump of sexual misconduct when they were minors.
Before I dive deeper, I want to thank everyone again for making our People’s State of the Union such a massive success. MoveOn is now reporting that the event received more than 4 million views overall already, shattering expectations and making a massive statement. You made history last night — and on behalf of our entire team, we are incredibly grateful.
While Attorney General Pam Bondi was back on television asserting that the economy is amazing and that Trump’s leadership has made the country safer, a newly surfaced memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche continues to expose the depths of the DOJ’s Epstein protection racket.
The January 4, 2026 memo, originally flagged by journalist Lisa Rubin, instructed FBI personnel reviewing documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act to specifically flag certain categories of materials. Among them were FBI 302 forms, which are used to memorialize witness interviews.
Those are the very types of records that were previously reported as missing from document productions tied to Epstein-related investigations.
Some of those interviews involve survivors who accused Trump of sexual assault when they were just children. The existence of a directive to flag these records suggests an internal focus on managing or controlling how such materials were handled during the review process.
This development follows earlier reporting from NPR and independent journalist Roger Sollenberger that the FBI had interviewed a woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted by both Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump when she was between 13 and 14 years old.
Despite congressional mandates requiring disclosure of certain Epstein-related materials, no new documents concerning that individual have been released.
Legal analysts reviewing the memo noted its timing. Congress had set a December 19 deadline for compliance with transparency requirements. Blanche’s memo came weeks later, offering guidance that included tagging interview records like 302s during document review.
Meanwhile, regime allies have tried to distract and shift attention elsewhere.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan praised Trump’s speech in glowing terms during media appearances, while other Republican figures sought to pull the United States into a new war.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Fox, “I think the president is preparing us to defend America’s vital national security interests. We cannot tolerate a nuclear Iran.”
It’s worth noting that Thune is part of the Gang of Eight — the group of eight congressional leaders who receive the most sensitive classified intelligence briefings from the executive branch. The Gang of Eight met just yesterday with Trump’s CIA director to discuss Trump’s plans regarding war with Iran, so Thune’s comments cannot be viewed in a vacuum.
These war threats against Iran, focused on targeting the country’s nuclear program, fly in the face of Trump’s earlier claims that Iran’s nuclear capabilities had already been “totally obliterated.”
Anything to distract from Epstein and the economic disaster here in the U.S., I guess.
Polling released this week shows majorities of Americans expressing concern about the direction of the economy. Yet Trump allies continue to insist that conditions are great, dismissing the actual data and Americans’ lived experiences.
Independent data indicates that growth was higher during the Biden administration and that inflation had been trending downward before recent increases.
Still, Trump regime surrogates continue to blame every issue on Biden.
At the same time, Trump’s trade policy is in shambles following the Supreme Court’s ruling against his IEEPA tariffs.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that the regime is will expand global tariffs from 10% to 15%. Trump previously said he’d do this, but then he never signed the order. Consequently, the 10% tariffs went into effect.
Greer also indicated that the administration is examining whether existing trade agreements like the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement should incorporate new tariff frameworks, which would fly in the face of the entire agreement — an agreement that Trump himself signed and bragged about during his first term.
We’ll keep you updated on the news as the day progresses. I hope you are all incredibly proud of what you accomplished last night. Let’s keep this momentum going!
