White House pushes Obama 'coup' story to distract from Epstein
Trump's intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard told a White House press briefing there had been a "years-long coup" by Obama.
The extraordinary narrative essentially rehashed Trump's longstanding argument that investigations into Russia's multi-layered attempts to disrupt the 2016 election, where he beat Hillary Clinton, were a "hoax" against him.
Gabbard touted newly declassified intelligence that she said provided "irrefutable evidence" that Obama had ordered intelligence assessments to be manipulated to accuse Russia of election interference to help Trump.
The Justice Department announced the formation of a "Strike Force" to examine the allegations with "utmost seriousness."
But Gabbard's findings run up against four separate criminal, counterintelligence and watchdog probes between 2019 and 2023 – each of them concluding that Russia did interfere and did, in various ways, help Trump.
As a way to distract from the intensifying speculation over Trump's handling of the case against the late sex offender and reputed pedophile pimp to the powerful Epstein, the Obama accusations had some effect.
White House journalists at the briefing barely asked about Epstein, focusing instead on Gabbard's claims, and Fox News heavily promoted the Obama story to its right-wing audience.
However, the Epstein scandal quickly roared back, showing just how hard it is for 79-year-old Trump to maintain his usual mastery of driving news agendas – even within his fervently loyal "MAGA" base.
Epstein was a financier and friend to numerous high-profile people – for years, including Trump – who was convicted of sex crimes and then imprisoned pending trial for allegedly trafficking underage girls.
His 2019 prison cell death – ruled a suicide – supercharged a conspiracy theory long promoted by many of Trump's supporters that Epstein had run an international pedophile ring and that elites wanted to make sure he never revealed their secrets.
After Trump came to power for a second term this January, his administration promised to release Epstein case files.
But when US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on July 7 that she had nothing to release, Republicans were furious – and Trump has been attempting to control the scandal ever since.
Things got even more complicated for him after The Wall Street Journal last week reported that Trump had written a lewd birthday letter to Epstein in 2003. Trump denies this and has sued the Journal.
On Wednesday, the Journal dropped a new story, saying Bondi had informed Trump in May that his name appeared several times in the Epstein files, even if there was no indication of wrongdoing.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung called this "fake news" and said Trump had long ago broken with Epstein and "kicked him out of his club for being a creep."
However, the drip-drip of reminders of Trump's close former relationship with Epstein is proving hard to stop.
Several of Trump's most effective promoters over the years – including new FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino – made careers of fanning the concerns about Epstein, including the rumour that his death was actually a murder.
Democrats are piling on the pressure. Republican leaders in the House of Representatives sent lawmakers home early for a six-week summer break Wednesday to avoid being forced by Democrats into holding politically awkward votes on the affair.
But some lawmakers on the "MAGA" right have indicated they are in no mood to let Epstein drop. Several bids for transparency are in the works, including efforts to circumvent Republican leadership and force a vote on releasing files after they return from recess.
In another bid to satisfy his base, Trump had told Bondi to release "credible" Epstein information and to seek release of grand jury transcripts from the 2005 and 2007 investigations of Epstein.
But on Wednesday a judge rejected this, citing legal secrecy protocols.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
5 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
US to release trade deal documents with Japan, South Korea within weeks
WASHINGTON: The United States (US) government plans to release official documents on recent trade deals with Japan and South Korea within weeks, Kyodo news agency quoted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday. Lutnick's comment followed the United States' failure to properly implement a trade deal with Japan after President Donald Trump's country-specific tariffs took effect on Aug 7 under the "reciprocal" levy scheme. Asked about the timeline in a CNBC interview, Lutnick said officials are working on the written documents "every night and every morning" and that they are "weeks away," without giving further details. Japanese officials said Trump's trade team has acknowledged that a presidential executive order on the reciprocal tariffs was erroneous and did not fully reflect the July 22 deal. The team has promised to amend the directive. Because of the issue, imports from Japan are not yet receiving tariff stacking relief on the 15 per cent rate. Under the deal, Japanese goods with existing tariffs of 15 per cent or higher were to be exempt from additional duties, and levies on other items capped at 15 per cent. The Trump administration had confirmed Japan would receive the same exemption as the European Union (EU), which signed a similar trade deal days after Tokyo, but did not specify when it would be applied. In exchange for Japan's pledge to invest in the US, the tariff rate was lowered to 15 per cent from the 24 per cent Trump initially set in April. Trump's team said Japan would invest US$550 billion in the US under the president's direction, targeting sectors tied to national security and competition with China, including semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. Japanese officials explained the figure represents a combination of investments, loans and guarantees involving government-backed institutions. They stressed that Japanese companies will still decide on US investments based on business interests. Lutnick said during the interview, "We're on the same page" with Japan.
Barnama
21 minutes ago
- Barnama
White House Launches TikTok Account as Policy Debate Continues
WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- The White House on Tuesday launched an official TikTok account even as United States (US) lawmakers continue to view the Chinese-owned app as a national security concern. The move, seen as an effort to help US President Donald Trump reach wider and younger audiences, comes amid easing tensions with China and less than a month before a deadline requiring TikTok's parent company ByteDance Ltd. to sell the app or face a federal ban. In April 2024, Trump's predecessor Joe Biden signed a law requiring ByteDance to divest its US operations or face a nationwide ban, citing national security risks.
New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Asia shares track tech-led decline on Wall Street
SINGAPORE: Shares in Asia fell on Wednesday, weighed down by a tech-led selloff on Wall Street, while the dollar gained some ground ahead of a key meeting of central bankers later in the week. Oil prices inched higher after falling in the previous session, as traders bet that talks over a possible agreement to end the war in Ukraine could ease sanctions on Russian crude oil, boosting global supply. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.47 per cent as did stock futures in Europe and the US. EUROSTOXX 50 futures slid 0.55 per cent, while DAX futures lost 0.5 per cent and FTSE futures eased 0.14 per cent. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.2 per cent and Nasdaq futures lost 0.34 per cent, extending its fall from the cash session overnight. "The S&P 500 and Nasdaq slumped overnight as investors ditched high-flying tech stocks with their lofty valuations," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG. Adding to headwinds for the sector, news that Nvidia and AMD have agreed to give the US government 15 per cent of the revenues from chip sales in China, as well as reports that the U.S. is considering taking a 10 per cent stake in Intel, have stoked investor worries of the Trump administration's growing influence on tech companies. Sources also told Reuters that US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that receive CHIPS Act funding to build factories in the country. "These developments signal that US government is heading in a concerning and more interventionist direction," said Sycamore. Other bourses in Asia were similarly in the red on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei down 1.2 per cent, while China's CSI300 blue-chip index fell 0.5 per cent. Much of investors' attention at the start of the week was on a meeting between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a group of European allies over the Russia-Ukraine war. While the talks concluded without much fanfare, Trump said the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there. He later said on Tuesday that the United States might provide air support to Ukraine, while ruling out putting US troops on the ground. "The US is not categorically underwriting anything, any security for Ukraine, even if they're open to provide some, because we don't know the conditions under which they will. So there's quite a bit of risk left out there," said Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho. Oil prices recovered after a fall in the previous session, with Brent crude futures last up 0.46 per cent at US$66.09 a barrel. US crude advanced 0.6 per cent to US$62.72 per barrel. AWAITING JACKSON HOLE All eyes are now on the Kansas City Federal Reserve's August 21-23 Jackson Hole symposium, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak on the economic outlook and the central bank's policy framework on Friday. Focus will be on what Powell says about the near-term outlook for rates, with traders almost fully pricing in a rate cut next month. "Given the apparent tensions between U.S. CPI and PPI data, (it) does come across as... premature to declare one way or the other. And most importantly, given this kind of dilemma embedded within the data, it is hard to decipher whether the Fed would take or would emphasise the risks that start to mount on the job side of the equation or (the) need to sit firm," said Mizuho's Varathan. Ahead of the gathering, the dollar firmed slightly, pushing the euro down 0.13 per cent to US$1.1633, while sterling fell 0.16 per cent to US$1.3470. The New Zealand dollar eased 0.17 per cent to US$0.5885 ahead of a rate decision by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand due shortly on Wednesday, where a rate cut is expected. Elsewhere, spot gold fell 0.07 per cent to US$3,312.89 an ounce.
