Last night there was a twist in the Epstein row that nobody expected – and it’s really unclear how it’ll shake out
What’s going on with my ‘guys’, and in some cases, ‘gals’?
Last night there was a twist in the Epstein row that nobody expected – and it’s really unclear how it’ll shake out.
Meanwhile, Trump continued to call his most active supporters “stupid”.
And he’s so determined to reduce the trade deficit with Mexico that he’s convinced Coca-Cola to use real sugar – despite howls of protest from farmers.
Here’s all that, plus more things that happened in Trump world overnight.
1. The Epstein row took an unexpected turn last night
The Justice department last night fired a federal prosecutor who worked on the Jeffrey Epstein case – and signed the order to seal FBI documents relating to the case.
No explanation was given, but the prosecutor has a very familiar name.
Maurene Comey is the daughter of James Comey, the former director of the FBI who Trump infamously fired in his first term – and has pursued a furious vendetta against since.
As well as successfully prosecuting Epstein, she was involved in the cases against Diddy and Ghislaine Maxwell.
2. Make Coke Great Again
Clearly keen for the American people to see him concentrating on the important stuff, Trump declared he’d convinced the Coca-Cola company to start using real sugar in the beverage again.
While cane sugar – as is used in Coke in the UK – is undeniably superior to the corn syrup used to sweeten the drink in the United States, the farming industry had something to say about the announcement.
“Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn’t make sense,” said Corn Refiners Association President and CEO John Bode.
“Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit.”
A huge amount of America’s farming infrastructure is built around subsidising the cultivation of corn, which is used to make the high-fructose corn syrup used in hundreds of processed foods.
This is likely to have come not from Trump’s desire to make American Coke taste better – he famously drinks Diet Coke anyway – but from Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s obsession with removing processed foods from the American diet.
3. Trump was ‘surprised’ that Jerome Powell was made Fed Chair. This is odd for a very important reason
During an event with the Crown Prince of Bahrain last night, Trump was playing a bit of Hokey Cokey about whether he’ll try and fire the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell.
First of all, he’s not allowed to do that. The Supreme Court ruled on that a couple of weeks ago.
Yet he reportedly asked a group of Republican congressmen whether he should do it – even brandishing the letter he’d use to commit the putsch, it’s claimed.
Then, about 15 minutes after reports of the planned ouster were began to circulate, he went on camera with the boss of Bahrain and said, actually, nah. He had no plans to fire Powell, unless it was for something like fraud. And he went on a long rant about how Powell is supposedly overseeing the refurb of the Federal Reserve, and claiming there are cost overruns and huge spending planned.
It didn’t stop him having a lengthy pop at Powell, whom he’s mad at for not lowering interest rates.
And then he made a startling comment, that if it’d been Biden would have been used as evidence of mental decline.
“I was surprised he was appointed,” Trump said.
Which is odd…because he appointed him, during his first term in office.
He was re-appointed by Joe Biden for a second term, but he was a Trump pick in the first place.
4. He called his own supporters ‘stupid’
Trump had already had a pop at a chunk of his fans on Truth Social, saying they’d fallen for a “hoax” in believing another shoe was yet to drop in the Epstein investigation, and adding: “I don’t want their support anymore!”
To recap, Attorney General Pam Bondi is under mounting pressure from MAGA supporters to release more documents relating to the dead paedophile, which they believe include a “client list” of prominent associates.
But Bondi has denied any such list exists – despite having said in an interview that it was “on my desk waiting for review”.
And in the last few days, Trump has pivoted from “we’ve already shown you everything, stop talking about it” to “it’s all a hoax. Biden and Comey made it up.”
Last night in the Oval he doubled down – branding some of his most ardent supporters “stupid.”
“It’s all been a big hoax, it’s perpetrated by the Democrats, and some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net. That’s how they do the Democrats’ work.”
5. Elmo got defunded
Trump’s Republicans in the Senate passed a bill slashing $9 billion from public spending – including deep cuts to foreign aid, NPR and PBS.
NPR, for those who don’t know, basically invented good podcasts. And PBS? Well. PBS has been the home of Sesame Street since 1969 (Kind of. Netflix gets the episodes first these days). And it’s where people in the US of A can watch Downton Abbey and Doctor Who.
Anyway, Trump hates both of them because they report the news factually.
The legislation, which now moves to the House, would have a tiny impact on the nation’s rising debt but could have major ramifications for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and US food aid internationally.
It also could complicate efforts to pass additional spending bills this year, as Democrats and even some Republicans voice objections to broadly ceding congressional spending power with little idea of how the White House Office of Management and Budget would apply the cuts.
(Don’t panic, after the Netflix deal, Elmo will probably be fine. Dr Who fans probably less so)