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On Friday, Trump did his best to divert attention from his failing agenda and health. Looking past the jangly keys dangled by the White House, the important stories on Friday are these:
The DOJ failed to deliver the complete Epstein files to the House Oversight Committee, as required by a valid subpoena.
The FBI conducted a retaliatory raid on the home of Trump’s former National Security Advisor, John Bolton.
Trump fired the general in charge of the Defense Intelligence Agency for contradicting Trump on the extent of damage inflicted on Iran’s nuclear processing facilities in the June bombing raid by the US.
Trump ordered a halt to construction of a nearly complete wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island on “national security grounds,” just as US demand for electricity is peaking due to massive growth in AI processing and storage needs.
ICE / Homeland Security finally released Kilmar Abrego Garcia so that he could await deportation proceedings from home in Maryland, after which ICE notified Abrego Garcia that he is subject to deportation to Uganda in 72 hours.
Trump again appeared in public with heavy bandages and makeup on his right hand to conceal . . . bruising? I.V. punctures?
Trump took the bait dangled by Gavin Newsom and fired back at the California Governor, who immediately responded with a screenshot of Trump’s post, captioned, “Triggered!,” and “Such low energy! SAD!”
There is more, but here is the point: The increasingly authoritarian moves by Trump are both a cause for concern and a signal that he is becoming more desperate by the day.
The Epstein scandal isn’t going away, and the pathetic release of information on Friday is only raising more questions and suspicions. Firing intelligence officers for telling the truth is madness that risks our national security. Shutting down nearly complete wind farms will increase energy prices. Compounding national outrage over the treatment of Abrego Garcia will alienate more swing voters. And showing his thin skin in response to Gavin Newsom’s attacks only invites more of the same and betrays weakness.
The Epstein Scandal isn’t going away.
The DOJ delivered a partial, heavily redacted set of documents to the House Oversight Committee on Friday—four days late and a mile short. See The Hill, Epstein files: DOJ sends docs to Oversight, releases Ghislaine Maxwell transcript.
Members and staff of the House Oversight Committee are reviewing the partial production as we speak. We should expect that the first production was strategically selected to avoid implicating Trump. That was certainly the case with the release of Todd Blanche’s interview with Ghislaine Maxwell.
The transcript shows that the interview was a joke. Far from attempting to get at the truth, Todd Blanche treated Maxwell as a friendly witness to whom he suggested the answers Trump was looking for.
Although many media outlets led with the headline that Ghislaine Maxwell said she never saw any inappropriate behavior by Trump, most failed to note that Maxwell claimed her relationship with Epstein was “non-existent” from 2009 through his arrest in 2019.
Here is a snippet from the transcript of the interview:
TODD BLANCHE: [W]hen he gets out of jail, between that time 2009 or '10, and 2019, what’s your relationship like with Mr. Epstein?
GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Almost nonexistent.
If Maxwell had a “non-existent” relationship with Epstein for the last decade of his sex trafficking enterprise, her claim that she never witnessed inappropriate behavior by Trump is baseless. She simply doesn’t know, one way or the other.
The original transcripts of the interview are here: Volume I and Volume II.
Trump’s personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, who now works for the DOJ, conducted an interview with leading questions designed to exonerate Trump. Here is a sampling from pages 97 to 101 of the first volume:
TODD BLANCHE: Before her – so now going back in the '90s. You don’t believe that Mr. Epstein was abusing masseuses?
Ghislaine Maxwell’s Attorney, DAVID MARKUS: Underage?
TODD BLANCHE: Or over age? I mean, . . . you always assumed the masseuses were over age, right?
GHISLAINE MAXWELL: I did. [¶]
GHISLAINE MAXWELL: I am sure he [Epstein] must have had relations with masseuses, who knows when.
TODD BLANCHE: But you’re saying . . . that as far as you sit here today, you would describe that more as consensual? Meaning the masseuse did this willingly?
If Todd Blanche were a junior associate at a law firm and was tasked with interviewing someone convicted of sex trafficking and asked those questions, he would have been fired. Of course, Blanche is an experienced attorney, so his incompetence was deliberate.
To be fair, not all of Blanche’s questioning was so inept—only when it mattered.
Moreover, Blanche never used evidence from Maxwell’s trial to challenge her claims of innocence in the interview. (“I did introduce him to women. I did, but not underage women. I did look for masseuses… I did not check their credentials.)
Nor did he ask Maxwell about her own abuse of females under 18 years of age. Blanche, of course, had trial testimony from victims that described Maxwell’s participation in sexual relations with minors. See Courthouse News Service, (11/30/2021), First minor victim testifies in Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking trial.
Todd Blanche should be ashamed of himself—and brought up on disciplinary charges before the bar—for participating in a political sham designed to exonerate Trump by eliciting self-serving denials from an indicted perjurer. See Sealed Indictment, US vs. Ghislaine Maxwell.
The transcript fooled no one and was a transparent, desperate, failed attempt at distraction.
FBI raids John Bolton’s home and office.
John Bolton was National Security Advisor during Trump’s first term. Bolton later became a fierce critic of Trump, most notably in his book entitled The Room Where It Happened.
During his first term, Trump accused Bolton of illegally disclosing national security information in his book. Bill Barr initiated an investigation into Bolton, which was dropped by Merrick Garland.
On Friday, the FBI raided Bolton’s home and office, conducting an eight-hour search of two small spaces. As the search was ongoing, FBI Director Kash Patel and Vice President JD Vance both posted comments on social media, saying “No one is above the law . . .@FBI on a mission.”
The politicization of the raid by Patel and Vance removed any doubt that the raid was political retribution. Even the stodgy Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal was outraged. See WSJ, Trump’s Vendetta Campaign Targets John Bolton
Per the WSJ Editorial Board,
It’s unlikely that Mr. Bolton broke any laws on national secrets, and he certainly didn’t share any with us over our long association with him. But perhaps Mr. Trump intends for the process itself to be the punishment, even if there is ultimately no criminal charge. Mr. Bolton has to pay for legal counsel, and his family has to endure the anxiety of being under federal government siege.
The real offender here is a President who seems to think he can use the powers of his office to run vendettas. We said this was one of the risks of a second Trump term, and it’s turning out to be worse than we imagined.
The WSJ Editorial Board’s opinion is remarkable because it says that Bolton “didn’t share any [national security secrets] with us over our long association.”
Trump’s political retribution is plain for all to see. The only question is whether anyone in the Republican Party has the backbone and conscience to raise an objection to Trump’s abuse of the power of the presidency.
Don’t hold your breath.
Trump fires the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency for contradicting the claim that the US bombing “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear processing facility.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth fired the Lieutenant General who served as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The DIA issued a damage assessment report on the Iran bombing raid that contradicted Trump’s claims of total success. See AP News, Hegseth fires general whose agency’s intel assessment of damage from Iran strikes angered Trump.
The DIA reported that Iran’s nuclear program was set back only a few months by the bombings, contradicting Trump’s claim that the nuclear processing facility was “totally obliterated.”
Trump’s penchant for firing subject matter experts who contradict his lies is a self-defeating strategy. Trump can lie about job reports or bomb damage assessments as much as he wants. Sooner or later, reality will manifest itself in ways that Trump cannot deny. It is only a question of time.
Trump orders halt to construction of wind farm off Rhode Island coast.
Trump campaigned on a promise to end clean energy in the US and return to coal and oil as energy sources. On Thursday, his administration announced that it was ordering a halt to construction of a wind farm off the Rhode Island coast. The reported reason for the order was “national security concerns.” The project was nearly 90% completed and could have provided power for 350,000 homes in Rhode Island. See NYTimes, Trump Administration Orders Work Halted on Wind Farm That Is Nearly Built.
The shutdown of the Rhode Island project is a small part of Trump’s attack on solar and wind projects across the US. The closures, revocation of permits, and tariffs on turbines negatively affect the clean energy industry—which has lost 60,000 jobs because of Trump’s attacks. See April-2025-Clean-Energy-Jobs-Report.pdf.
States that are most threatened by Trump’s anti-clean energy attacks include Georgia, Texas, Ohio, Kansas, and Louisiana. The vast majority of new clean energy jobs created under President Biden were in congressional districts represented by Republicans. (Per the report linked above, there were 210,710 new jobs created in 152 Republican-held districts as a result of Biden legislation.)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was released and immediately threatened with deportation to Uganda
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was released on Friday and is heading to his home in Maryland. Immediately after his release, he received a 72-hour warning that he might be deported to Uganda. See CBS News, Kilmar Abrego Garcia could be deported to Uganda, official says.
The 72-hour notice allows Garcia time to petition for a writ of habeas corpus to prevent his deportation.
The cruel vendetta against Abrego Garcia will only serve to raise the level of outrage and opposition to Trump in immigrant communities that already feel betrayed by the deportation of long-term US residents who are leading peaceful, productive lives.
Personal request re charging cable for electric vehicle
I recently purchased an electric vehicle—a Ford F150 Lightning, not a Tesla! I will take a 300-mile-plus road trip next weekend and have discovered that about 90% of available fast chargers along my freeway route are the Tesla-style Level 3 superchargers.
My vehicle’s charging port is located on the opposite side of the vehicle compared to a Tesla, meaning the charging cord from a Level 3 supercharger cannot reach my charging port.
If anyone in the Los Angeles area owns a NACS to CCS1 Extension Cable (for Level 3 fast chargers), I would be deeply appreciative if I could borrow it over the Labor Day weekend. (I have ordered an extension cable, but it will be delivered while I am on the road!)
If you have an extension cable for a Level 3 Tesla Supercharger and are willing to lend it for four days, please contact me at rbhubbell@gmail.com. (Please note that I am not looking for a Level 2 extension cable or a NACS to CCS1 adapter. I have both of those items.)
Thanks!
Concluding Thoughts
Gavin Newsom is getting under Trump’s skin—provoking Trump to attack Newsom, which drew another mocking response by Newsom. See HuffPo, Trump Melts Down After Days Of Newsom’s Relentless Trolling.
Mocking Trump won’t stop him, but it will help deflate his carefully curated air of invincibility. That is a good thing, especially as Trump continues to conceal bruising on his hands. See Daily Beast, Trump Hand Makeup Raises New Health Questions After Cankles Concern. (See included photo.)
Of course, no one wishes ill health for the president. But during his campaign, Trump claimed he may live to be 200 years old, so he has put the question of health into the public arena. And given the hounding of Joe Biden, it would be hypocritical not to hold Trump to the same standard.
It is not just Trump’s mental and physical health that are fraying. His policies are broadly unpopular, and he is losing support among constituencies that proved decisive in the 2024 election.
Our job is to remind people that Trump is making our lives worse, less safe, less healthy, and less free every day. We are making slow but significant progress in that effort. Despite the heat and summer doldrums, grassroots activists are not relenting. Bless each and every one of you! You are true heroes of American democracy!
Talk to you tomorrow!
Daily Dose of Perspective
The Rosette Nebula is 5,000 light-years from Earth and has a radius of 65 light-years! The “petals” of the rosette are nurseries for new stars.
Enjoy!
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