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ATTORNEY GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
Trump’s top cop refused to answer basic questions about Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein or corruption in his administration. The truth can’t hide forever, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) told What A Day.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is technically in charge of the Department of Justice. But you wouldn’t know it from her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, her first since her confirmation, in which she performed an astonishing spectacle of calculated ignorance about the basic workings of her own agency. Bondi repeatedly refused, over a period of hours, to answer simple questions posed by Democratic lawmakers — even when her evasiveness made President Donald Trump or his cronies look downright terrible.
What are politicians really telling us, when dodging a question makes them look bad… but they do it anyway? Traditionally, that means: The truth looks even worse. Just consider the range of questions Bondi wouldn’t answer:
Did the FBI find pictures [ [link removed] ] of Trump with half-naked young women? She avoided the question.
Did Bondi talk to anybody [ [link removed] ] in the White House about the DOJ’s scandalous indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, which Trump publicly urged in an apparent frenzy of revenge against his personal enemy? She declined to answer.
Did border czar Tom Homan keep that alleged $50,000 cash bribe [ [link removed] ], which was reportedly handed to him in a to-go bag from the fast-casual dining chain CAVA? “You’re welcome to talk to the FBI,” Bondi shot back.
“It’s equal parts gangster and Gong Show,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), one of those doing the questioning, told What A Day afterwards, with a reference to the comically dumb 1970s gameshow [ [link removed] ]. “The gangster part is what makes it dangerous. This is genuine abuse of the law enforcement process to get over on political enemies and exact political retribution. That’s pretty bad. On the other hand, they suck at it.”
This playbook for attacking Trump’s enemies could become a trend throughout his presidency, Whitehouse warned. Trump’s handpicked U.S. attorneys will fish around for “weirdo MAGA squads” who will prosecute anyone the president dislikes, he said. “That’s a rotten place for the Department of Justice to be.”
Will Trump’s officials get away with this behavior?
“I think they’ll end up getting in trouble,” Whitehouse said. “I think a lot of this ends up calamitously for the Trump administration, as the lawyers go through these sham prosecutions and tear them to pieces publicly.”
There isn’t much Democrats can do right now to force Bondi to answer their questions. Democrats’ plan, for now, is to put questions on the record and use the Freedom of Information Act to dig up any secrets being hidden, the senator said.
Bondi came prepared “to hide things that mattered and dump, I guess, I’d call it squid ink,” Whitehouse said. “You know how a squid works when it feels endangered? It squirts out a little ink blob and then jets away and hopes that people get distracted by the blob of squid ink.”
Trump’s team may try to hide these dirty details in inky darkness. But eventually, as one veteran D.C. reporter put it, “the truth emerges [ [link removed] ].”
WHAT ELSE?
Today marks two years since Hamas staged the surprise terror attack [ [link removed] ] on Israel that killed some 1,200 people. Since then, Israel has reportedly killed or injured over 10 percent [ [link removed] ] of the population in the Gaza Strip. Negotiations to end the war are ongoing, amid recent cautious optimism that peace could come soon. I recommend reading this remarkable piece from USA Today: “Visualizing two years of death and devastation in Gaza. [ [link removed] ]”
The Supreme Court appears set to strike down [ [link removed] ] a law banning conversion therapy for gay and transgender minors in Colorado — i.e., the process of using therapy to try to change kids’ sexual or gender identity. The case, which focuses on a therapist’s desire to counsel patients dealing with gender identity in line with her religious views, has the potential to shape the future of free speech in America and have major consequences for LGBTQ rights. Colorado and over 20 other states have banned conversion therapy, which an United Nations once said could amount to torture [ [link removed] ].
Furloughed federal workers may not be entitled to backpay [ [link removed] ] after the shutdown ends after all, according to a White House memo. Lawmakers of both parties disputed this assertion [ [link removed] ], and Democrats in particular argued that the law doesn’t allow Trump to pick and choose who gets paid. This threat is Trump’s latest attempt to pressure Democrats to reopen the government by holding federal workers’ livelihoods hostage, while Republican lawmakers refuse to negotiate to extend healthcare subsidies.
On that note, staffing shortages are causing [ [link removed] ] flight delays at airports across the country. There were zero air traffic controllers at Hollywood Burbank Airport in California yesterday, and airports in Newark, Phoenix and Denver also saw delays due to staffing. More than 5,800 flights were delayed yesterday, according to a flight-tracking website.
A group of Chicago journalists and unions sued [ [link removed] ] the Trump administration, alleging that federal agents used “extreme brutality” against protestors during recent demonstrations. “Never in modern times has the federal government undermined bedrock constitutional protections on this scale or usurped states’ police power by directing federal agents to carry out an illegal mission against the people for the government’s own benefit,” the lawsuit reads.
How dangerous is HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [ [link removed] ] to the nation’s health? Well… SIX former surgeons general are all raising the alarm together about his loony, anti-scientific, wild-eyed, hold-my-beer-style medical ideas. “Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this,” the group wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. “Rather than combating the rapid spread of health misinformation with facts and clarity, Kennedy is amplifying it. The consequences aren’t abstract. They are measured in lives lost, disease outbreaks and an erosion of public trust that will take years to rebuild.”
Trump claimed he has “never heard of” Bad Bunny [ [link removed] ], [ [link removed] ] the third-most streamed artist in the world [ [link removed] ]. “I don’t know who he is, I don’t know why they’re doing it — it’s, like, crazy,” Trump told Newsmax last night. What does he think about Bad Bunny being chosen for the NFL Halftime Show? “It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Shield your eyes, kids: [ [link removed] ] Trump and Vice President JD Vance returned to TikTok after a monthslong hiatus. “To all of those young people of TikTok, I saved TikTok, so you owe me big,” Trump said in a video. Remember: Congress voted to ban the app due to national security concerns. I wonder how Republicans feel about this??? I doubt we’ll ever know!
Light at the End of the Email…
Progressive activist David Adler and other Americans [ [link removed] ] were released from Israeli prison, after they were detained for taking part in the Global Sumud Flotilla carrying aid to the Gaza Strip. “They will be sleeping through the night, and their flights home are arranged for the morning,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) tweeted. Adler spoke with Zeteo shortly afterwards about his detention [ [link removed] ].
Solar and wind power around the world outpaced [ [link removed] ] electricity demand this year, according to a report from an energy think tank. Renewable sources of energy also created more power than coal for the first time in recorded history, the report found. Take that, dirty rocks!
Three professors in the U.S. won the Nobel Prize [ [link removed] ] for their work on quantum mechanics. The scientists are associated with UC Berkeley, Yale University and UC Santa Barbara. The Trump administration has targeted all of these universities, so this is a great example of why the U.S. shouldn’t do that! I think Trump is just jealous because he can’t get a Nobel…
Young Germans are meeting up in public parks [ [link removed] ] to eat pudding with forks, as part of a viral social media trend. It’s called “Pudding mit Gabel,” which literally translates to “pudding with fork.” Why are the kids doing this? “We thought it was kind of funny that someone had the idea to do it,” one recent attendee said. “And we thought, ‘Why not?’” The people yearn for community!
Do you love the undead? [ [link removed] ] AMC Networks is auctioning off over 1,000 prop items from the hit series “The Walking Dead” this month for its 15-year anniversary. Some eye-catching items include the guitar played by Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun), an original 1971 Pontiac Tempest featured in the series premiere, and *spoiler* a pickaxe used by Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) to kill her abusive husband in the first season.
Experts are confused as to why Duke [ [link removed] ], [ [link removed] ] an 11-year-old golden retriever, likes to steal items from around his household and drag them to his bed. The list includes china plates, a 12-pack of toilet paper, and a lamp. “Every night and nap time, he will go get something to sleep with — something weird,” his owner said. That’s a good boy.
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