WHINE AND PUNISHMENT

Trump is on the brink of firing a top prosecutor who hasn’t brought criminal charges against Trump’s enemies, according to multiple press reports, as the White House retribution tour rolls on.

• Fresh from rejoicing over the takedown of comedian and gadfly Jimmy Kimmel, President Donald Trump has a new target in mind. This time, he’s raging at a career prosecutor with the nerve to refuse to bend to his will. That would be the well-respected U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Erik Siebert. Siebert has notably failed to bring criminal charges against two of Trump’s least-favorite people, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and former FBI Director James Comey.

• Trump has been thundering insults at James for months, largely thanks to her successful civil fraud lawsuit last year, which resulted in a fine of almost half-a-billion dollars for Trump and his sons. While that specific penalty was tossed out by an appeals court, which called the fine “excessive,” the higher court upheld the finding that Trump committed fraud. And Trump has been salty about the whole thing ever since.

• Siebert has been unable to find evidence that James committed mortgage fraud when she purchased a home in Virginia in 2023, according to ABC News, the New York Times, and other outlets. But Trump officials pushed Siebert to bring charges against her anyway, sources told ABC News. Siebert has also been unsuccessful in building a case against Comey, in a probe into whether Comey lied under oath about leaks to the news media, according to the Times.

• As of Friday afternoon, a debate was raging in the White House over what to do, and a final decision to fire Siebert had not yet been made, according to the New York Times and Washington Post.

• Asked about Siebert in a White House press event on Friday afternoon, Trump said: “Yeah, I want him out.” Trump said he lacks confidence in Siebert because the prosecutor has the backing of two Democratic senators he dislikes. But Trump declined to say whether he definitely plans to fire Siebert, insisting that he was “not following it very closely.” He added: “We’re gunna see what happens.”

Firing a career prosecutor who refuses to accuse the president’s personal enemies of crimes would bring the U.S. one big step closer to tinpot despot territory.

• Siebert is a widely-respected lawyer with a solid reputation, according to Gene Rossi, a former prosecutor with two decades of experience in the same Virginia office, who now works as a defense attorney.

• “It’s very disturbing when a man of Siebert’s character is being asked to do the wrong thing,” said Rossi, who has trained 500 prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia. “He’s a career prosecutor with the highest integrity, ethics and moral compass that you’ll ever find.”

• A lawyer for James slammed any attempt to remove Siebert as a “a brazen attack on the rule of law,” in a comment to the Washington Post. “Firing people until he finds someone who will bend the law to carry out his revenge has been the President’s pattern — and it’s illegal. Punishing this prosecutor, a Trump appointee, for doing his job sends a clear and chilling message that anyone who dares uphold the law over politics will face the same fate.”

If Trump does push Siebert out, it’ll be just the latest example of using the power of the government to pursue personal vendettas.

WHAT ELSE?

At least three dozen teachers, professors or school staffers have left their jobs or been fired for alleged social media comments after Charlie Kirk’s murder, according to an NBC News analysis. The backlash is part of a right-wing movement to punish people who allegedly made light of Kirk’s death.

COVID shots may be harder to get this fall for healthy kids and adults. A CDC panel stacked with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s hand-picked advisors voted against recommending COVID vaccines for all adults, and to favor “individual decision-making” instead. It’s just the latest move by RFK Jr. to do away with vaccines. Nothing says “Make America Health Again” like bringing back preventable diseases!

A federal judge tossed out Trump’s $15 billion defamation suit against the New York Times and several of its reporters just days after it was filed. U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday called Trump’s filing a “tedious” “megaphone for public relations” puffing up Trump’s accomplishments on “The Apprentice” and beyond but containing no real evidence. Trump has a month to rewrite the complaint. But was reading this lawsuit more tedious than watching “The Apprentice,” judge?

Trump asked the Supreme Court to reinstate a rule that would forbid transgender people to reflect their gender identity on their passports. Shortly after Trump took office, the State Department put in new rules restricting passport holders to listing their sex at birth on their documents.

A GOP resolution honoring murdered right-wing activist Charlie Kirk divided House Democrats. The measure passed with broad support, with 95 Dems voting in favor. But 58 Democrats voted “no” and 38 voted “present,” with many Dems concerned that they would be seen as supporting Kirk’s message while condemning his killing.

Congress is hurtling closer to a government shutdown after the Senate rejected a pair of stop-gap spending bills today. Democrats are preparing to take a stand on several issues, including GOP health care cuts and Trump’s using rescissions to renege on existing spending deals. Government funding expires Oct 1, unless the two sides agree to a deal.

Light at the End of the Email…

New dinosaur fossil just dropped! Paleontologists reported the oldest and most complete fossil of a pachycephalosaur in China. The dome-shaped skull was made for head-butting, scientists speculate. This latest find is thought to be between 115 and 108 million years old. We here at What A Day had no idea that headbutts were such an integral part of Earth’s ancient heritage!

The birth of a baby bonobo at a zoo in Leicestershire, England is being called an “extraordinary moment” by experts. Bonobos, endangered by poaching and habitat destruction, share nearly 99% of their DNA with humans. Bonobos: they’re just like us!

Watch this giraffe help a young couple get engaged in California!

Electric cars that run on free sunlight, with solar panels on their roofs? Several startup companies are getting close to rolling them out. One called Aptera Motors may soon begin shipping a $40,000 car that can get up to 40 miles a day from only sunshine. Now there’s a downright sunny thought.