Trump’s been asked so many times about a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell that its weird that he won’t rule it out. Meanwhile, the latest on Trump’s invasion, the shutdown and the Epstein files
Donald Trump openly mused that he’d be speaking to the Department of Justice about a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell.
The question of clemency for Maxwell has been asked of Trump many, many times.
So many times in fact that it’s weird that he doesn’t just say “No, I won’t give a convicted sex trafficker who was just denied leave to appeal by the Supreme Court a get out of jail free card.”
Yet every time he’s asked about it, he claims he knows nothing about it, or her, or her crimes.
Meanwhile, in Trump World:
- The White House continues to post openly racist memes
- Gavin Newsom had to remind people that states aren’t allowed to invade each other
- Stephen Miller either has a short memory, or hopes everyone else does
- So does Kristi Noem
- Ron DeSantis ripped up a Miami landmark because of the gays
Here’s everything you need to know…and more.
The Epstein Files
1. “I haven’t heard that name in a long time”
During an Oval Office Q&A, Trump pretended he didn’t really know anything about Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid to get out of prison.
And he indicated he would “speak to” the Department of Justice (DoJ) about granting a pardon to America’s most infamous living convicted sex trafficker.
The Supreme Court yesterday rejected Maxwell’s request to appeal her conviction, and asked about it in the Oval, Trump said: “Who are we talking about? You know I haven’t heard the name in so long…”
He went on: “I’d have to take a look at it… I’ll speak to the DoJ. I wouldn’t consider it or not consider it, I don’t know anything about it.”
Pressed on why Maxwell would be eligible for clemency, he said: “I don’t know, I’d have to speak to the DoJ. I’ll look at it. I have a lot of people asking me for pardons. I call him Puff Daddy has asked me for a pardon.”
He added: “I didn’t know she was even asking for it, frankly.”
2. Leavitt was similarly coy
Asked the same question earlier in the day, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had a similarly coy response.
“It’s not something I’ve heard discussed,” she said. “And we don’t comment on clemency requests that may or may not have been made. But I’m certainly not tracking that one at this time.”
The Shutdown
3. The White House continues to post openly racist things
Meanwhile, the US Government remains shut down for a sixth day, and the White House marked the occasion with another racist video.
This time, it was a TikTok of tumbling CGI sombreros, backed with the Jet2 advert sound – a development of their argument that Democrats have shut the government down because they want to protect illegal immigrants’ access to free healthcare.
(None of which is true).
It may not be a representative sample, but most of the top comments on the post are in the “America is a joke” and “release the Epstein files” genres.
4. Democrats challenge Republicans to a TV debate
The Democrats, for their part, are apparently energised by polling that suggests they’re “winning” the Shutdown, with most Americans blaming the Republicans for it.
Seeking to capitalise on this, Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries challenged Republican House speaker Mike Johnson to a televised debate on the impasse.
Johnson dismissed Jeffries’ challenge as “theatrics.”
Trump’s Invasion
5. Trump sends more troops to nonexistent warzones against court orders
Chicago went to court yesterday in a bid do block Donald Trump deploying troops to the city in the latest escalation of his invasion of Democrat-run parts of America.
Hours earlier a judge in Oregon had blocked plans to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, which the administration has repeatedly claimed is a “war zone”, even though it’s plainly not.
As many as 300 members of the Illinois National Guard have been called up, along with 400 more being sent from Texas.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said the potential deployment amounted to “Trump’s invasion,” and he called on Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott to block it.
Abbott pushed back and said the crackdown was needed to protect federal workers who are in the city as part of the president’s increased immigration enforcement.
6. There’s always a tweet
In a tweet from last February, Homeland Security Secretary – then North Dakota Governor – Kristi Noem gave a stern warning to Joe Biden, who was said to be considering nationalising the Texas National Guard.
At the time, Abbott was having a row with then President Biden, whom he argued wasn’t policing the border properly. So he ordered the guard to occupy a park on the Mexico border, erecting razor wire fences.
Problem was, it was interfering with the actual border control officers ability to…police the border. Before it all came to a head, Biden was reportedly considering nationalising the Texas National Guard so he cold order them to stand down.
Noem, backing up her pal Abbott, went on Fox News to argue nationalising the guard would be a terrible assault on states’ rights.
She even clipped it, tweeting: “If Joe Biden federalizes the National Guard, that would be a direct attack on states’ rights. Over the last several years, we’ve seen Democrats try to take away our Freedoms of religion, assembly, and speech. We can’t let them take away our right to defend ourselves, too.”
Awkward.
7. Stephen Miller has a short memory, or hopes everyone else does
Appearing on CNN, Deputy White House Prince of Darkness Stephen Miller appeared to have a very short memory.
After making up entirely nonexistent riots in Portland, a city where the edgiest protest so far has involved a man in a giant frog suit, he shouted: “When in our history have we tolerated unlawful riotous assemblies” around government buildings.
To which, about a million people posted photos along these lines:
8. ‘I think he might fear for his life’
Part of Trump’s problem with trying to make out places like Portland is a riot-ravaged hellscape, as opposed to – as one placard put it, “a bookshop with a city around it” – is that people have eyes and ears.
Similarly, people in Chicago have pointed out that while crime exits in the city, it’s not a lawless pit of nightly massacres and civil unrest that requires a military invasion to make safe.
His solution to this paradox, as far as Chicago is concerned, is to claim the violence is so bad that if the Governor admitted to it publicly he might be offed.
“I think he’s afraid for his life somehow,” Trump told reporters yesterday.
“I believe the politicians are under threat, because there’s no way anyone can say things are wonderful in Chicago.”
9. Newsom has to remind the government that states can’t invade each other
California Gavin Newsom took to Twitter last night, with a pretty plain message that it’s quite troubling needed saying at all.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott had tweeted at Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, saying: “I fully authorized the President to call up 400 members of the Texas National Guard to ensure safety for federal officials.
“You can either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let Texas Guard do it. No Guard can match the training, skill, and expertise of the Texas National Guard. They defend our country with pride. America must also know that Texas still has thousands of National Guard assisting with the Border security.”
In response, Newsom tweeted in all caps: “STATES CANNOT INVADE ONE ANOTHER.”
He added: “This is so simple — so fundamental to America — I cannot believe I have to type those words. America is on the brink of martial law.”
General weirdness and culture wars nonsense
10. ‘Hey Gen Z, you owe me’
The US President literally told an entire generation that they “owe him”, like a movie gangster banking a favour for the third act when he needs a body hiding.
In his first ever post on the platform, Trump said: “To all of those young people of TikTok…I saved TikTok, so you owe me big.”
He went on to suggest that maybe one of them would be President and would “do a great job.”
All of which assumes America is a functioning democracy in 20 or 30 years.
11. Desantis rips up iconic landmark because of the gays
Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has ripped up an iconic Miami Beach landmark because of the gays.
The “rainbow crosswalk” on Ocean Drive was a real work of art. Originally a painted rainbow crossing since 2014 to recognise Miami’s strong history with the LGBTQ community, the city repainted it every year in time for Pride.
In 2018 they decided it would be a better idea to come up with a permanent installation that didn’t need as much maintenance, so they went to design firm Savino Miller who came up with a lovely concept, paved with terrazzo (which Trump, if you recall his UN speech, is very fond of), and designed to mirror the neighbourhood’s art deco architecture.
The ribbon was cut in 2019, and more or less everyone locally really liked it.
But Republican Ron DeSantis, desperate for any kind of relevance after his disastrous pudding-slurping presidential run, has decided that even in Miami Beach, the gays aren’t allowed to have nice things, and launched a presumably quite expensive legal battle to force the city to tear the tasteful and popular icon out of the road.
Workers with the Florida Department of Transportation began tearing up the colorful pavers Sunday afternoon, just two days after Miami Beach officials learned they had lost their appeal against the state order. By Monday, the intersection was paved over in asphalt.
Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez said city public works employees collected all of the removed paving stones so that they can be repurposed in the future.
“This represented decades of people who endured housing discrimination, expulsion from the military, workplace discrimination, the stigma of HIV and AIDS, the fight for marriage equality, all the hard-won battles that took the LGBTQ community from being marginalized to now being a visible, celebrated part of the community,” Fernandez said.
12. Mine, baby, mine
Trump last night ordered approval of a proposed 211-mile road through an Alaska wilderness to allow mining of copper, cobalt, gold and other minerals.
The long-debated Ambler Road project was approved in Trump’s first term, but was later blocked by the Biden administration after an analysis determined the project would threaten caribou and other wildlife and harm Alaska Native tribes that rely on hunting and fishing.
The gravel road and mining project, north of Fairbanks, Alaska, “is something that should’ve been long operating and making billions of dollars for our country and supplying a lot of energy and minerals,” Trump said at an Oval Office ceremony.