David McAfee

David joined Raw Story in 2023 after nearly a decade of writing about the legal industry for Bloomberg Law. He is also a co-founder and a commissioning editor at Hypatia Press, a publisher that specializes in philosophical works that challenge religion or spirituality.

'Save your documents': Dem lawmaker gives Trump official an ominous legal threat

A Democratic lawmaker on Sunday told a Donald Trump official to "save his documents" in preparation for a court battle.

On Saturday, "WE CAUGHT HIM!" were the first public words from Rep. Eric Swalwell, who has been targeted by Trump's administration, after a report revealed that a Trump nominee sourced the investigation from a conservative news site.

Reuters exclusively reported over the weekend that, "A mortgage fraud probe of a Democratic congressman began last month after William Pulte, the Republican head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, referred allegations from a conservative news site to his agency’s inspector general for possible criminal investigation."

The report continues:

"On November 12, The Gateway Pundit published an article alleging U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell had improperly listed his Washington, D.C., home as his 'principal residence' on mortgage paperwork... An email reviewed by Reuters shows Pulte sent a link to the article to the FHFA’s acting inspector general that day, urging him to take all appropriate action 'including - if warranted -engagement with the Department of Justice regarding potential mortgage, tax or other fraud related to the representations made in mortgage documents or other items in the below article.' That same day, Pulte also referred the issue to the Justice Department, said a source familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly."

Swalwell celebrated the report on Saturday, saying, "WE CAUGHT HIM!"

The following day, he took things even further. Swalwell said, "Save your documents, Pulte."

"We will see you soon," he added. "Next time, don’t come for me unless I call for you."

'Voters saw through it': Lawmaker who beat Karoline Leavitt in election drops inside tip

A Congressman who beat Karoline Leavitt in an election issued an apology on Sunday for unleashing the White House spokesperson upon the world, and gave some insider tips for how to beat her tactics.

Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH), who is running a tight race for Senate, sent a campaign email over the weekend with a simple apology:

"I’m sorry about Karoline Leavitt."

According to Pappas, "A few years ago, Karoline Leavitt ran against me for Congress here in New Hampshire. Her campaign was steeped in extreme MAGA rhetoric and zero connection to the actual issues Granite Staters face every day. Voters saw right through it and rejected her agenda by nearly 10 points."

But that wasn't the end of things, because her campaign gave her national visibility, according to the lawmaker.

"Unfortunately that race turned into a national audition. Now the same talking points and spin that New Hampshire voters dismissed are being used daily from the White House briefing room," he wrote before dropping insider tips. "So if you’re wondering how the rest of the country ended up having to listen to Karoline Leavitt, it’s because New Hampshire proved something important first: Her extreme ideas don’t hold up when you put them in front of real voters."

However, he added, "that hasn’t stopped the MAGA machine from trying."

"National Republicans are pouring money into New Hampshire because they think they can break through and notch a win here to cling to their Senate majority," he wrote next. "They’ve lined up behind John Sununu, an NRSC-backed candidate who will vote with Donald Trump and MAGA leadership when it matters most. It’s a new candidate reading from the same old playbook."

'The night turned sour': Cabinet official called 'poor baby' after his dinnertime freakout

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent hosted a dinner for his predecessors at which he believed he was being "unfairly" criticized for his actions in Donald Trump's administration, leading one journalist to label him a "poor little baby."

The Washington Post on Sunday published a story called "Market-savvy Treasury chief Scott Bessent emerges as unlikely MAGA warrior," in which it reported, "Wall Street accepts partisan jousting as price of influence with Trump."

"President Donald Trump’s combative treasury secretary in recent days has attacked prominent Democrats by name on social media, described inflation as largely a blue state problem, and lampooned three Democratic governors as 'Grinches' and 'radical leftists' suffering from 'Trump Derangement Syndrome,'" the outlet reported. "The jousting shows that compared to his predecessors in both parties, Bessent is unusually eager to engage in partisan combat. He attended the president’s campaign-style rally in Pennsylvania this month, a rare move for a treasury secretary. In a recent appearance at the New York Times’ DealBook conference, he responded to questions about Trump administration practices with gibes about former president Barack Obama and Hunter Biden, the son of another former Democratic president, and echoed his boss’s attacks on the press, claiming that he no longer reads the Times."

The report goes on to suggest a possible origin for the official's change in tone.

"Bessent’s sense of grievance deepened in April, at a traditional dinner for the new treasury secretary hosted by several of his predecessors. Normally an evening of rarefied clubbiness, the night turned sour as some attendees, including Lawrence Summers, who held the job under President Bill Clinton, harshly — and in Bessent’s view — unfairly criticized the administration’s tariff plans, the associate said," the report states.

Journalist John Harwood flagged the dinner story and wrote only, "Poor little baby."

'Let that one sink in': Ex-prosecutor ties Trump 'wingman' report to missing Epstein files

Donald Trump's name was held back from most of the much-anticipated files release on Jeffrey Epstein, and that could be related to a recent New York Times report describing the now-deceased sex abuser as the president's most reliable "wingman," according to a former federal prosecutor.

Legal analyst and ex-prosecutor Joyce Vance published an article called "Redacted: Donald & Jeffrey" in which she blew up an excuse used by the DOJ to avoid producing required files under an Epstein transparency law. Specifically, she noted that the DOJ has said it won't be able to release all files due to ongoing investigations.

But those investigations are into Democrats, including Bill Clinton, and Vance noted that the DOJ was more than willing to drop files related to the former Dem leader.

"New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush noted that it took Bondi a mere 217 minutes following Trump’s directive to report that she had opened an investigation into Clinton and other Democrats. But since Trump is not under investigation, records that mention him should be fair game for release. There would be no reason to withhold them," the attorney wrote. "Instead, the Justice Department focused on materials regarding Bill Clinton, who is explicitly part of the investigation Trump demanded that his Attorney General open. Any claim materials are being withheld because of the new investigation are highly suspect."

But there might be a reason the DOJ doesn't want to release stuff connecting Trump to Epstein, according to Vance.

"On Friday, ahead of the drop from DOJ, The New York Times ran a story headlined: 'Don’s Best Friend’: How Epstein and Trump Bonded Over the Pursuit of Women.' It started, 'The president has tried to minimize their friendship, but documents and interviews reveal an intense and complicated relationship. Chasing women was a game of ego and dominance. Female bodies were currency.' 'Female bodies were currency.' Let that one sink in," she wrote. "Further down in the story, the phrase appears again, used to describe the 'intense' bond between the men, the basis for a friendship where 'Neither man drank or did drugs. They pursued women in a game of ego and dominance. Female bodies were currency.'"

She went on to explain, "The NYT story from Friday described Epstein as 'perhaps [Trump’s] most reliable wingman.'"

"Regardless of the precise nature of the relationship, Congress has spoken. It has required DOJ to release the files, and the Justice Department has, shamelessly and openly, failed to do so, partially complying in a manner that is blatantly political," she wrote.

'Trump can barely walk!': Critics sound alarm as president 'struggles' down stairs

U.S. President Donald Trump caused a disruption online this weekend after a video showed him "struggling" down some stairs.

Conservative MAGA influencer Paul Villarreal (AKA Vince Manfeld) posted the video of Trump without noting the manner in which he guided himself down the staircase of Air Force One.

"President Trump exited Air Force One tonight in West Palm Beach. He is headed to Mar-a-Lago," the influencer wrote.

But critics of the president were quick to point out the strange manner in which his slowly meandered down the stairs while grabbing onto his right leg.

Activist Amy Siskind said, "Trump can barely walk! C’mon media - do your damn jobs!"

That led a MAGA user, Proud American Lady, to defend the president, who is 79 years old.

"Trump walks just fine for a 80 year old man, he of course doesn't run down or up stairs being careful not to fall and break a bone. Older people don't heal like younger age people do," the user wrote. "You're pathetic person."

But Siskind wasn't the only one. Lots of other observers pointed out Trump's move to pat his right leg repeatedly.

One user, rayninonme, wrote, "What’s with the 'c’mon little buddy - you got this' pat pat pat on his right leg?"

One self-described USAF veteran, @davegreenidge57, chimed in:

"I’ve seen Trump pat his right leg like that before. I used to think of it as just a nervous habit. But now I’m not so sure. His whole right side stays pretty much immobile while he goes down the stairs. Maybe he’s trying to stimulate it?"

Ribelle, a critic of the president, said the video showed "Trump struggling on little stairs off AF1 as he begins 16 day vacation while Americans struggle to afford everything, millions of health insurance premiums double, triple."

'He's sundowning hard': Observers panic about 'incoherent' Trump's 'slurring' new speech

Donald Trump's latest speech set off a firestorm of people online saying the address was "slurring" and "incoherent."

Trump's remarks in North Carolina on Friday raised red flags for many. One of the most-cited examples was him saying, "I took cognitive tests. By the way, not easy. The first question is like what is this and they show a lion, giraffe, fish and a hippopotamus. And they say which is the giraffe."

Garry Kasparov responded to that, asking, "Who is running the country?"

National security analyst Barry R McCaffrey also pounced on that, saying, "This is our President. The most powerful nation on earth. The poor man is incoherent. Three more years. Dangerous future ahead."

That led Dem lawmaker Ted Lieu to ask, "Why do doctors keep giving Trump cognitive tests?"

Popular liberal influencer Spiro’s Ghost also seized on that same testing line, simply writing, "oh my god."

That same account also flagged another quote from Trump's remarks:

"I renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, right? That was a good one. I checked... for my whole life, I didn't do it in my first term because I was the hunted. I had bigger problems. I had these animals trying to attack me at Mar-a-Lago," he said. "They went into my wife's closet... it sounds strange, but they looked at her drawers."

The disjointed nature of the story Trump told led Spiro’s Ghost to wrote, "Wait…is he so dementia laden that he is saying that he couldn’t change the name in his first term (2017-2021) because of Mar-A-Lago raid in 2022?!? WUT???"

In another awkward moment, Trump was talking about insurance companies when he said, "They are totally beholden" and then said the letters "i-n."

Governor Newsom Press Office pounced on that, writing, "He’s sundowning hard."

Trump also caught attention with his rant against Marjorie Taylor Greene, which led ex-prosecutor Ron Filipkowski to say, "If you listen to this rant and think this demented, malevolent, addled, rambling old fool is fit to be president, you might be a MAGA cultist."

Commenting on another Trump quote, "Her undergarments, sometimes to referred to as panties…. I think she steams them," activist Amy Siskind said, "Listen to him slurring and sounding nuts!"

"Why isn’t his mental health a top story every single day?!?" she asked.

'So many files!' SNL's Trump reveals why he added his name to the Kennedy Center

Donald Trump's character on Saturday Night Live slurred his way through a speech that mentioned Jeffrey Epstein and cognitive tests, as well as revealed why he added his name to the Kennedy Center for performing arts.

Addressing the nation, James Austin Johnson's Trump character discussed upcoming plans to add his name to additional buildings. After unveiling the "Trump Washington Monument," he said, "People are saying, 'Sir, why are you putting your names on so many buildings?"

Answering his own question, he said, "Because we had to take it off of so many files... Epstein... redacted."

"We had so many Trumps in there we had to put them somewhere," he added, noting that "redacted" is his second-favorite "r" word.

'Incredible': Internet stunned by Erika Kirk's 'slip of the tongue' on Charlie's 'grift'

Erika Kirk stunned the internet with an apparent slip of the tongue in which she implied her deceased husband Charlie was a "grifter."

Honoring a student at a Turning Point USA event, Erika Kirk said, "Despite the devastating loss of Charlie Kirk, my incredible husband... Caleb has persisted with the same grift - gift - grit... it has been a long day."

"Trust me you're not a grifter, honey," she said to the student. "It's all good."

That comment set of alarm bells on X.

Influencer Shadow of Ezra said, "Erika Kirk had an incredible slip of the tongue moment when honoring an honor student."

The Millennial Snowflake called it the "Freudian slip of the century."

Epstein survivor accuses Trump admin of 'grave and indefensible' error that risks her life

Donald Trump's administration committed a "grave and indefensible violation" with a mistake it made in the production of certain Epstein files, according to a survivor of the deceased financier's abuse.

Lawyer and journalist Aaron Parnas flagged the letter from the Epstein survivor on social media. Parnas wrote, "Jane Doe Epstein Survivor, who reported Epstein to the FBI in 2009, sent the following letter to the Department of Justice today after it failed to redact her name in the release of the files. I have confirmed her name is currently not redacted in multiple public files."

The letter itself says in part, "I am a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein. I write to place the Department of Justice on formal notice of a grave and indefensible violation arising from the December 19, 2025 release of records under the Epstein Files Transparency Act."

"In that release, my name and/or identifying information was disclosed publicly without proper redaction," the letter reads. "At the same time-and astonishingly-the DOJ and FBI continue to withhold my own FBI file."

PatriotTakes, which purports to track right-wing extremism, saw the letter and wrote, "Pam Bondi was more worried about protecting Trump than the victims."

NEW: Jane Doe Epstein Survivor, who reported Epstein to the FBI in 2009, sent the following letter to the Department of Justice today after it failed to redact her name in the release of the files.

I have confirmed her name is currently not redacted in multiple public files. pic.twitter.com/bzWNAVNjr4
— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) December 21, 2025

'I was astonished': White House insider says Susie Wiles called Trump a liar about Epstein

Susie Wiles was quick to call Donald Trump out for "a lie" about Jeffrey Epstein, according to a journalist who recently published a bombshell piece on the White House Chief of Staff.

Chris Whipple, who recently wrote an article for Vanity Fair profiling Wiles and her team in the White House, appeared on a podcast with former GOP strategist Rick Wilson Saturday. Whipple gave several details from his months-long investigation into Wiles.

At the end of the interview, Wilson asked Whipple what he heard about the Epstein files from his perch on the inside of the White House.

Detailing his on-the-record conversation with Wiles, Whipple said, "She was... she said, 'Look, the president was wrong.'"

"Trump as we all know has been going around saying that Bill Clinton went to the island supposedly 28 times... well, maybe whenever Trump uses the word supposedly, when he qualifies anything in any way, maybe he knows he's lying," Whipple said. "But she called it a lie."

Whipple added, "I was stunned-astonished she would even go there with me."

"We talked all about the Epstein files and about how Trump is in the Epstein files, and all over it, and she said they were playboys," he added. "She said Trump isn't in the files doing anything awful, but she also says there's nothing incriminating about Clinton in the files."

Republican lawmaker drops brutal seven-word takedown of JD Vance's Epstein moves

JD Vance once had a lot to say about the Epstein files, and one Republican lawmaker on Saturday reminded the vice president of his words.

Vance has largely been silent about the release of Epstein files by Trump's DOJ, which was required under a law passed by lawmakers and signed into law by President Donald Trump himself. The administration has been accused of breaking the law with the release, which some analysts have referred to as "botched."

GOP rep. Thomas Massie over the weekend recalled a prior "version" of Vance, and threw it in the V.P.'s face.

Massie dug up a still-published post from Vance in 2021. At that time, Vance wrote, "What possible interest would the US government have in keeping Epstein’s clients secret? Oh…"

Then Massie stepped in with seven words as a response.

"I miss this version of JD Vance," he wrote on social media.

'The statute is crystal clear': GOP congressman gives evidence Trump admin is breaking law

The Trump administration is breaking the law, according to a Republican congressman who provided evidence of such on Saturday.

GOP rep. Thomas Massie over the weekend noted that Trump's DOJ hasn't followed the proper protocol in accordance with a law passed by lawmakers and signed into law by the president himself. The law required the DOJ to provide internal communications about any omissions related to the Epstein files, but the DOJ instead provided a letter.

Massie flagged that development along with the actual case law on social media.

"Compare Language of Epstein Files Transparency Act directing DOJ to provide internal communications regarding their decisions Versus DOJ letter to Congress asserting privilege to omit materials related to decisions, because they weren’t specified by law," he wrote.

The Republican further added, "THEY ARE FLAUNTING LAW."

Legal analyst Ryan Goodman agreed with the rebel Republican, writing on Saturday, "Congressman Massie is correct."

"The DOJ assertions for withholding information from Congress and the public wouldn't survive first contact with the courts," he then added. "The statute is crystal clear."

'We caught him!' Target of Trump probe celebrates as president's nominee exposed

"WE CAUGHT HIM!" are the first public words from a Democratic lawmaker who has been targeted by Donald Trump's administration after a report revealed that a Trump nominee sourced the investigation from a conservative news site.

The report continues:

Swalwell celebrated the report on Saturday, saying, "WE CAUGHT HIM!"

"Great reporting here on Trump and Team going after me and anyone who speaks out," he added. "This shows the allegations against me and others are nonsense. My lawsuit against them is not."

'We downloaded everything': Trump legal nemesis drops threat after Epstein files deleted

A former White House ethics lawyer who has been a persistent thorn in the side of Donald Trump put the president on notice on Saturday over a new report about files released on Jeffrey Epstein.

MS NOW executive producer Kyle Griffin started things off by sharing a report from AP:

"BREAKING: At least 16 files disappeared from the Justice Department’s public webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein — including a photograph showing Trump — less than a day after they were posted, with no explanation from the government and no notice to the public," he wrote Saturday.

"The missing files, which were available Friday and no longer accessible by Saturday, included images of paintings depicting nude women, and one showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photograph of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell," the article states.

That led to a threat against Trump by Norm Eisen, who has taken Trump to court and beaten the president on multiple different issues over the years.

"We downloaded everything.... Trump can run but he cannot hide..." he wrote Saturday.

'Stirring and unnerving': Lawmaker puts Trump on spot over 'one piece' of Epstein evidence

There is "one piece of evidence" in the Epstein files that is raising questions Donald Trump must answer, according to a Democrat in Congress.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, who recently said Republican lawmakers in the House are ready to abandon the president because of the fallout over files related to convicted child abuser Jeffrey Epstein, flagged the piece of evidence on MS NOW on Saturday.

Asked whether the Trump administration is breaking the law, Swalwell replied, "Yes, this is a violation of the law."

"Don't the American people deserve to know if Donald Trump is connected in a serious way to the most notorious child sex trafficker ever? That's what Americans want to know. And Donald Trump is doing everything to keep us from knowing that."

He added, "There's one piece of evidence that was released that's so stirring and unnerving."

Elaborating, he says, "It's a memo to Jeffrey Epstein, and it says, I have a female for him. And what is blacked out is the name of the person who called to tell him that. And to the president, I ask, don't you want the country to know who what sick individual called and offered that to Jeffrey Epstein?"

He then said, "Democrats have been demanding for a year that Donald Trump release the Epstein files. Instead, he released George santos. That's where his focus is right now."