Leaked emails suggest Donald Trump offered to fund a 2006 Jeffrey Epstein-backed modeling venture — an offer that was described in the correspondence as “ridiculous and insulting.” The messages involve Epstein, his aide, and Elite Model Management co-founder Alain Kittler, and note Trump’s possible stake and debts in the proposed company.
Watch the video below.
President Donald Trump’s push for Indiana Republican state lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional districts failed spectacularly on Thursday after the majority of GOP state senators rejected the proposal, leading Indiana Gov. Mike Braun to voice his disappointment on social media in a post that was resoundingly ridiculed for its inaccuracies.
“I am very disappointed that a small group of misguided State Senators have partnered with Democrats to reject this opportunity to protect Hoosiers with fair maps and to reject the leadership of President Trump,” Braun wrote Thursday in a social media post on X.
“Ultimately, decisions like this carry political consequences. I will be working with the President to challenge these people who do not represent the best interests of Hoosiers.”
Braun’s post was immediately slapped with a “community note,” a crowd-sourced fact-checking service on X, which disputed Braun’s description of the dissenting GOP state senators as being a “small group,” given that 21 out of the 40 GOP state senators voted against the redistricting effort.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom joined in the dog pile as well, hitting Braun with a dig over his loyalty to Trump and his endeavors.
“Your knee pads are in the mail,” Newsom wrote Friday in a social media post on X. “Xoxo.”
Trump appeared to issue a threat to Indiana lawmakers that should they rebuke his plan, federal funding would be withheld from the state, at least according to a now-deleted post from Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwich (R), and in follow-up comments Beckwich made to Politico. Trump also announced that he would campaign against disloyal Indiana Republicans in their primaries next year.
Much has been said about Trump being firmly rebuked by Indiana Republicans, with some – such as prominent conservative Jeffrey Blehar with the National Review – citing the incident as proof that Trump had lost his near-total control of the GOP.
Your knee pads are in the mail. Xoxo https://t.co/X5cV4xtsBT
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) December 12, 2025
Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was expected to get another round of embarrassment from Senate Democrats, according to reports Friday.
President Donald Trump's former attorney and pick for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia has continued her role — despite calls for her to resign — while the Trump administration has pushed forward her nomination in the Senate, according to The Daily Beast.
Two Virginia senators were expected to block Halligan "using internal veto power by refusing to return a blue slip that indicates support for a home-state judicial nominee," Semafor reported.
Virginia Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner have not said they would block her specifically, but Warner told Semafor it would be "very hard" for her to get approved.
A judge ruled in November that Halligan was never officially appointed to her position, ultimately dismissing the DOJ cases against former FBI director James Comey and Letitia James after finding her appointment was invalid. Trump's Justice Department tried again to indict James for a second time and failed Thursday after a grand jury in Virginia refused to return a fraud indictment against James.
Last week, three judges slammed Trump's Justice Department for keeping Lindsey Halligan's name on court documents. A district court judge and two magistrate judges in Alexandria, Virginia, said in an open court to prosecutors that they didn't think Halligan's name should be on any of the new criminal case filings, including guilty plea documents or indictments, following a decision last week that stated she is not the U.S. attorney.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed paperwork on Friday seeking the ouster of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg before he can hold a contempt hearing aimed at Department of Homeland Security officials who ignored his legal directive on deportations.
At the center of the dispute is Boasberg ordering DHS to halt deportation flights containing immigrants months ago, which was ignored by Donald Trump administration officials. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, in recent days, said she overruled the judge.
Noem, who was grilled mercilessly by Democrats in a hearing on Thursday that concluded when she walked out on questions by claiming she had to get to a meeting that had already been cancelled, is at the center of next week's court hearing.
According to a report from The Hill, Attorney Pam Bondi's DOJ is asserting that there is a “strong appearance that the district judge is engaged in a pattern of retaliation and harassment, and has developed too strong a bias to preside over this matter impartially.”
The filing contends, “This long-running saga never should have begun; should not have continued at all after this Court’s last intervention; and certainly should not be allowed to escalate into the unseemly and unnecessary interbranch conflict that it now imminently portends.”
Boasberg is expected to hear testimony from former DOJ employee Erez Reuveni, who turned whistleblower about the refusal to halt flights that took more than 100 Venezuelans to a high-security prison in El Salvador, where Noem notoriously had her photo taken in front of prisoners at a later date.
According to the Hill, “The testimony will inform Boasberg as he considers referring Trump administration officials for criminal contempt after finding his March order to turn around deportation flights being carried out under the AEA was violated.”
You can read more here.
Donald Trump’s own ranks unraveled again Friday as Julianne Murray, his acting U.S. attorney in Delaware, abruptly resigned and blamed a “flawed” Senate Blue Slip process for blocking her future in the role. Her exit stunned Trump allies, prompting attorney Alina Habba to sound the alarm that political pressure and partisan maneuvering are forcing out qualified Trump picks and eroding the Justice Department’s integrity.
The Blue Slip process is a Senate tradition in which a slip is sent by the Senate Judiciary Committee to the two home-state senators of a federal judicial nominee requesting feedback before a nomination proceeds to a full committee hearing and vote.
Watch the video below.
Trump appointee’s resignation sparks panic over political pressure on DOJ
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) claimed the FBI arrested the wrong person in the Jan. 6 pipe bomb case.
The Kentucky Republican and frequent foe of President Donald Trump claimed Friday afternoon on X that an FBI whistleblower approached him to claim that suspect Brian Cole Jr. couldn't possibly have planted pipe bombs in early 2021 at the headquarters for the Republican National Committee and the Democrat National Committee.
"This is the third disclosure I’ve received from current and former employees of the government regarding the pipe bomb case in recent weeks," Massie posted. "These brave moral people could lose their jobs and wreck their careers, but they care deeply for our country. So at the risk of editorializing, I will summarize what I learned from this newest disclosure in order not to disclose the identity of this whistleblower."
The 30-year-old Cole lives in a community where several employees of the FBI, Secret Service and police also reside, and the whistleblower said they must have seen him on one of his frequent walks around the area.
"He wanders around his neighborhood several times a day while walking a dog," Massie wrote. "Other than walking his dog, he doesn’t engage in any other activities outside his home. He does not interact with anyone. He doesn’t wave or acknowledge others or even say hello. He does not even look at other people when he walks by. He appears to live in his own world."
"He’s never been observed walking around in an angry or agitated state," Massie added. "His demeanor is detached and vacant."
Cole always wears headphone while walking around the neighborhood, the whistleblower told Massie, who speculated he wore those to drown out surrounding noise, and did not appear interested in anything happening around him.
"His behavior is awkward," Massie wrote. "It’s obvious he has a mental disability, and likely lives in a permanently vulnerable, intellectual, and emotional state. It’s well known that individuals with mental conditions are susceptible to providing inaccurate and unwarranted 'confessions.'"
"Based on the observations of several neighbors, the suspect does not appear to have the mental acumen to plan, prepare, and execute a complex bombing plot by himself," Massie added.
The FBI conducted a surveillance operation Nov. 13 on Cole's street that many readily noticed, Massie said, and the whistleblower raised questions about how his Dec. 4 arrest was carried out.
"Not only were neighbors not evacuated during the arrest and search of the alleged bomber’s home, they were required to remain in their homes," the congressman wrote. "If the suspect had in fact been engaged in making bombs and stockpiling bomb materials, the proper safety precautions were not taken."
"My personal conclusion: The FBI employee disclosing this information to me doesn’t believe the FBI has arrested a person who is capable or motivated, or even interested enough in affairs outside of his own small world, to execute the J6 pipe bomb plot on his own," Massie added.
Donald Trump is considering an executive order to speed up federal marijuana reclassification, potentially moving it from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III, the Washington Post reported. The idea prompted resistance from House Speaker Mike Johnson, and no final decision has been made. Trump can only direct agencies to expedite the process, echoing earlier steps taken — but never finalized — under President Joe Biden.
Watch the video below.
Trump weighs marijuana reclassification despite pushback from Speaker Johnson
President Donald Trump's top two FBI leaders have sparked concerns with their closed-door meetings with a high-ranking Ukrainian official.
The secret meetings between Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky's top peace negotiator, Rustem Umerov, and FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino have injected new uncertainty into talks to end that country's war against Russia and caused alarm among Western officials about their purpose and intent, reported the Washington Post.
Umerov has flown to Miami three times in the past several weeks to meet with President Donald Trump’s top envoy, Steve Witkoff, to discuss ending the war, but four sources told the Post that he also meet privately with Patel and Bongino.
Umerov and other Ukrainian officials may have approached Patel and Bongino seeking protection from potential corruption charges, some believe, while others fear the new communication channel could be leveraged to pressure Zelensky's government into accepting a Trump-proposed peace deal that would require significant concessions.
Ukrainian Ambassador Olha Stefanishyna confirmed Umerov’s meeting with the FBI officials but told the newspaper he “only covered national security related issues” that could not be disclosed publicly.
An FBI official told the Post that Patel and Bongino had discussed with Umerov their shared law enforcement and national security interests, including white collar corruption in Ukraine, but insisted that any suggestion the talks were inappropriate is “complete nonsense."
Ukraine is facing a far-reaching corruption scandal after investigators alleged that $100 million had been stolen from the country’s energy sector, and eight people, including Zelensky’s former business partner, have been accused of embezzlement, money laundering and other crimes.
“They do have a massive corruption situation going on there,” Trump told reporters this week. “People are asking this question: When do they have an election?”
Ukraine remains under martial law, postponing presidential and parliamentary elections, since Russia's 2022 invasion, and there is speculation that Umerov, who serves as the country's national security adviser, may be implicated in the embezzlement investigation.
“A person who has grown a tail with corruption allegations shouldn’t chair fateful negotiations until they cut the tail,” said Ukrainian opposition lawmaker Volodymyr Ariev.
President Donald Trump continues to receive bad news about his support from voters, with a Friday report from Axios revealing some 2024 supporters in a key swing state now think "he's full of it" and have some familiar complaints about his leadership.
North Carolina is a state Trump won in all three of his presidential races, and one that has only gone for a Democratic nominee twice in the last 50 years. It has also elected Democratic governors in all three of the past presidential election cycles, though, giving it a reputation as a potential swing state.
In a report from Friday, Axios viewed the results of surveys conducted with 14 North Carolina voters who chose Joe Biden in 2020 but switched to Trump in 2024. Of these respondents, 11 said that they now disapprove of his performance as president, while 12 of them said that the economy is worse now than when Trump took office. The survey pool includes 11 independents, two Democrats and one Republican.
When pressed about Trump's handling of affordability, the respondents were largely not buying his claims that the economy is surging and the cost-of-living crisis is a Democratic "hoax" against him.
"I just think he's full of it, and he's always blaming Biden for everything instead of taking responsibility for what he's done," Karen L., a 61-year-old independent from Wilmington, said.
"Gas is more expensive, groceries are more expensive," another independent, 54-year-old Stephen J. of Cornelius, added. "But then you have to factor in, you know, this is someone who is chauffeured. This is someone who's shopped for. So I think that there's a disconnect between the average, everyday American people and the president."
Some of the complaints that emerged in the surveys echoed similar ones made against former President Biden during his time in office. Rich Thau, president of Engagious, the firm that ran the surveys, said he felt a sense of "déjà vu" from the results they received.
"The same complaints swing voters voiced about Biden — about inflation's toll, and his physical decline — mirror what many are now saying about Trump," Thau explained.
Out of the 14 respondents, 11 said they had heard stories of Trump falling asleep during meetings, with independent Erica M. of Wilmington expressing similar concerns about Trump's true physical health being hidden from the public, as were expressed about Biden.
"I would just say he is too old. I mean, same thing with Biden," David D., 61-year-old independent from Waxhaw, said. "I don't know if it's any huge medical issue. I mean, you get to be 80 — this is not — CEOs aren't 80 for most companies. He just needs more sleep."
"It's not that him falling asleep is out of the ordinary given his age," Evan D., a 31-year-old independent from Charlotte, added. "But it is the most important job you could have in the country, so you probably shouldn't be falling asleep."
A decision by Democrats to release yet another batch of Jeffrey Epstein photos, this time including one of Donald Trump with his arms around six women who had their faces blacked out, was a calculated move to bait him, according to one conservative journalist.
Appearing on MS NOW on Friday afternoon, David Drucker of The Dispatch suggested Democrats set a trap for the president, hoping he will rage about the Epstein scandal that continues to cast a cloud over his presidency and divide the MAGA base.
Coming at the end of a week that included Trump holding a rally in a small Pennsylvania resort town in an effort to tamp down on complaints about the economy, which have sent his approval numbers into a death spiral, Drucker claimed Democrats are trying to get in Trump's head.
“David, politically speaking, what do you think this accomplishes?" asked host Chris Jansing.
“Look, I want to reiterate that we're talking about some horrible crimes with victims that continue to be victimized because of the longevity in the public sphere of this case,” he began. “But I could imagine, despite the bipartisan pressure to release all of the information that we usually refer to as the Epstein files, if you're Democrats in the House of Representatives, some of the political benefits are that it continues to raise the specter of Donald Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.”
“Just doing that is likely to get Trump to lash out, distract him from discussing things that voters are in many ways more interested in, such as the economy,” he elaborated. “It also puts more pressure on Republicans in Congress to sort of reiterate the fact that they have broken with the president and also want more information or not, or defend him."
“And so it can have the benefit, from a political standpoint, of continuing to sow some divisions among Republicans on Capitol Hill, even though they, at the end of the day, they all collectively supported the release of this information.”
- YouTube youtu.be
President Donald Trump claimed credit Friday for brokering a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia while a frenzy grew over the newly released Jeffrey Epstein photos.
House Democrats released a massive trove of photographs of Trump and other rich and high-profile people palling around with the late financier and sex offender.
The president has not yet commented on the news and instead shared about his international efforts to bring peace to two countries in conflict.
Trump posted this on his Truth Social platform:
"I had a very good conversation this morning with the Prime Minister of Thailand, Anutin Charnvirakul, and the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Manet, concerning the very unfortunate reawakening of their long-running War. They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim. The roadside bomb that originally killed and wounded numerous Thai Soldiers was an accident, but Thailand nevertheless retaliated very strongly. Both Countries are ready for PEACE and continued Trade with the United States of America. It is my Honor to work with Anutin and Hun in resolving what could have evolved into a major War between two otherwise wonderful and prosperous Countries! I would also like to thank the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, for his assistance in this very important matter."
The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division announced a lawsuit against a Georgia county, where President Donald Trump faced charges for election interference until recently.
In a statement on Friday, the DOJ said it was suing Fulton County in Georgia, along with four states — Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Nevada — for voting records from the 2020 election. Trump lost in all of the localities that were sued.
"States have the statutory duty to preserve and protect their constituents from vote dilution," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement. "At this Department of Justice, we will not permit states to jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections by refusing to abide by our federal elections laws. If states will not fulfill their duty to protect the integrity of the ballot, we will."
Trump has long claimed that the 2020 election was rigged against him.
An October subpoena demanded "all used and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files" from Fulton County.
According to the complaint, the Fulton County Clerk's office has not responded to the subpoena.
Former Republican strategist Rick Wilson warned Friday that MAGA influencer Steve Bannon could be under fire next after a new batch of images showed Bannon with late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was also seen with filmmaker Woody Allen and President Donald Trump.
Bannon, a former chief strategist and senior counselor to Trump, has been a central ideological figure in shaping the MAGA movement, using his podcast "Bannon's War Room" to push his right-wing, nationalist and populist ideology.
Wilson responded to the photos after they were released Friday by House Oversight Committee Democrats who received the images from the Epstein estate late Thursday. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said that more images were handed over that are "incredibly disturbing" and have not been released yet. Only about 20 to 30 photos so far have been released so far.
"New Epstein photo tranche is bad for Bannon," Wilson, co-founder of the Lincoln Project, wrote on Threads.
People commented on his statement:
"Clinton and Bill Gates too. But the difference is @thedemocrats don't care who's on the list. if they were involved with CHILDREN they all deserve to be called out and prosecuted if possible," health journalist Liz Seegert wrote on Threads.
"Those photos are from like 2015-2018, too, not 1995," Dr. Pete Meyers, Principal Innovation Architect at Moz, wrote on Threads.
"I’m up for any sentence that includes 'bad for Bannon,'” user Patrice Friend Ostradick wrote on Threads.
"It is completely inexplicable that 100 adults in the Senate and 435 adults in the House allow this criminal abuser liar cheater convicted felon sociopath insurrectionist rapist sadist to continue to dismantle the United States. Now we know why?" User Gernilee Carter wrote on Threads.
"Good news for John McCain, tho," activist Jeff Tiedrich wrote on Threads.
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