EXCLUSIVE Blake Lively's life IN HIDING: Allies tell why she 'doesn't want to be seen out'... and who she's now leaning on after famous friends deserted her
After months of endless exposure – largely thanks to her protracted legal battle with Justin Baldoni – Blake Lively has been noticeably absent from the public eye in recent weeks.
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The Independent
7 minutes ago
- The Independent
MTG says Trump will lose his MAGA base if Epstein files are not released: ‘There's no going back'
Marjorie Taylor Greene hinted that if the Department of Justice does not release more information about convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the president's MAGA base will turn on him. Without naming Epstein, the Georgia Republican Representative seemed to issue a warning to Trump, who has recently attempted to dismiss the so-called Epstein files as a Democratic 'hoax,' drawing criticism from his supporters, many of whom believe the government is hiding information about Epstein's associates. 'If you tell the base of people, who support you, of deep state treasonous crimes, election interference, blackmail, and rich powerful elite evil cabals, then you must take down every enemy of The People,' Taylor Greene wrote on social media. 'If not. The base will turn and there's no going back,' she warned. 'Dangling bits of red meat no longer satisfies. They want the whole steal dinner and will accept nothing else,' she added. Greene's comments about 'dangling bits of red meat' come as Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek an order to unseal the grand jury transcripts in Epstein's criminal case. The wealthy financier was charged by federal prosecutors in 2019 with sex trafficking underage girls in both New York and Florida. He died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell later that year while awaiting trial. On Friday, the Justice Department sought court approval for that public release, though it may fall short of what many of Trump's supporters are seeking as much will remain under seal. Meanwhile, Trump has tried to downplay his close friendship with the convicted sex offender. A recent memo from the Trump administration and FBI claimed there was 'no incriminating client list' or any evidence of blackmail. The memo also reiterated the FBI's previous investigation that concluded Epstein died by suicide, and was not murdered in his jail cell as some conspiracy theorists have speculated. After the memo from Trump's administration and the FBI, the Wall Street Journal published an alleged birthday card from Trump to Epstein that was described as including a sexually suggestive drawing and a birthday wish that says, 'may every day be another wonderful secret.' In response, Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal 's parent companies, News Corp and Dow Jones. The president claims the newspaper 'failed to attach the letter, failed to attach the alleged drawing, failed to show proof that President Trump authored or signed any such letter, and failed to explain how this purported letter was obtained,' according to the lawsuit. 'The reason for those failures is because no authentic letter or drawing exists,' the complaint claims. "We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit,' a spokesperson for Dow Jones said in a statement.
The Independent
7 minutes ago
- The Independent
Redskins and Indians and Obama (Oh, my): How Trump is deflecting from his Epstein Files bungle using MAGA greatest hits
Donald Trump's efforts to shift his base's focus away from the so-called Epstein Files fallout continued over the weekend as the president dove headfirst back into the culture war and leaned into his own favorite topic: the supposed Deep State's efforts to persecute him. Ahead of a trip to Scotland this week, Trump is desperate to move the news cycle off of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and a declaration by the Justice Department that a list of the convicted pedophile's co-conspirators did not exist within the files of the DOJ's investigation — despite his dutiful Attorney General Pam Bondi having said she had such files 'sitting on my desk.' What happened next was a wildfire that engulfed the president's online MAGA base and even spread into the broader podcasting 'manosphere.' As explanations from his supporters ranged from confusion to outright accusations of a cover-up, the president fumed privately and in a since-deleted Truth Social post that his 'PAST' supporters refused to move on from the issue. Epstein was known to cultivate relationships with powerful men and institutions, and speculation has swirled online for years around whether any of those men (including Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Britain's Prince Andrew) knew of his crimes or participated themselves during excursions to his private island or other properties. No public evidence exists definitively linking anyone besides Epstein and his society-girl lover Ghislaine Maxwell to the crimes, though evidence of his close friendships with Trump and others is extensive. Epstein's death was ruled a suicide after he was found in a New York City jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019, sparking further cries in MAGA circles of a mass conspiracy. On Thursday, the picture of that relationship between the president and a man who would later be found hanged in his jail cell awaiting trial for sex trafficking of minors and women changed considerably. The Wall Street Journal, a Rupert Murdoch-owned publication, published an article revealing the stomach-churning contents of a supposed 50th birthday card Maxwell curated for her boyfriend in 2003. The card included messages from friends of Epstein including, according to the WSJ, Donald Trump. The paper reports that Maxwell 'collected' a letter from Trump for the card, which alluded to a hidden 'secret' shared by the two men, concluding with Trump allegedly wishing Epstein a happy birthday — all done on top of a marker-drawn bawdy image of a naked woman. The White House and the president directly denied all parts of the Journal's report, including the authenticity of the note. But the president also redoubled his efforts at misdirection, and launched a slew of new efforts to that aim. First came the lawsuit against Murdoch and the Journal — as well as other independent reporters who circulated the story. This was unquestionably where the president saw the most success in the immediate term: turning the issue into a Trump vs. the media fight provides a unifying bogeyman for the right. Supporters including Steve Bannon dialed back their calls for Trump to provide transparency as the reaction to the Journal's reporting clarified that Democrats and Trump's critics see the issue as a political opportunity. Second was the resumption of Trump's war with Barack Obama, who more than any other Democrat has long held the president's political focus. His entrance into national politics during the Obama era began with a racist campaign aimed at questioning the birthplace of the nation's first Black president, and after his first election victory in 2016 Trump accused his predecessor of directing the FBI to spy on his campaign. Trump reignited those accusations this week, with the aid of Tulsi Gabbard, his director of national intelligence. Gabbard published a memo accusing the Obama administration of changing intelligence assessments to support political conclusions, but the crux of her own declaration was centered around a false conflation of the intelligence community's (IC) conclusion that Russia had not attempted to hack directly into voting systems with what the IC actually did conclude: that Russia used bot farms and other means including materials stolen during the verified hack of the Democratic National Committee's servers to influence public opinion. Not satisfied with picking one old fight, Trump picked two others. On Sunday, the president declared on Truth Social that he may attempt to gum up the approval process for the Washington Commanders stadium in the nation's capital if the team did not return to its old name, abandoned for its racist connotations about Native Americans in 2020. He likely does not have any power to actually carry out that threat, given that federal funding isn't involved in the stadium deal. The same could be said about his resumption of hostilities with another nemesis: comedian Rosie O'Donnell. Trump threatened in a separate Truth Social post to strip her citizenship, something the president legally cannot do. All of this is to say: Trump is throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks in a very obvious manner. On Monday, there were signs that many on the right were still unconvinced by the bluster. 'So…the Democrats left all the files implicating themselves in Russia Gate but destroyed all the Epstein Files?' one conservative influencer, Kelly McCarty, snidely asked on X. A number of Democrats have rallied behind a resolution with bipartisan support aimed at forcing the release of the DOJ's entire investigation into Epstein. Those members were undeterred on Friday when Attorney General Pam Bondi moved to ask a court to unseal grand jury testimony regarding Maxwell and Epstein, which they note is just a small part of the evidence collected by federal law enforcement. It also remains the case that much of the uproar was fueled by the Trump White House itself. MAGA supporters and others in the chorus of voices calling for evidence including the 'client list' to be released point to how right-wing influencers were summoned to the White House to receive 'phase 1' of 'The Epstein Files' in February. Vice President JD Vance, before that, fueled the speculation in repeated appearances on Theo Von's podcast, including during the 2024 election. Months later, no one else has faced accountability for associations with Epstein and the extent of his crimes remains unknown to the public.
Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Report finds FBI probe into Hillary Clinton's emails was incomplete
A newly unveiled Department of Justice internal investigation charges that the FBI sloppily investigated Hillary Clinton's 2016 email server scandal, resulting in an incomplete probe. The politically devastating investigation into the then-presumed Democratic presidential nominee was ended in 2016 after then-FBI Director James Comey announced that his agency would not recommend charges for Clinton after she used a personal server to store government emails - an infraction many Republicans argued was a crime. But an internal review of the FBI's investigation that finished in 2018 by the DOJ's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that not every stone was unturned. That 35-page addendum, published on Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, says the FBI failed to complete a 'thorough and complete investigation' after the OIG uncovered a thumb drive full of government emails that was never investigated by Comey. It does not specify how many of Clinton's emails were left untouched. 'This document shows an extreme lack of effort and due diligence in the FBI's investigation of former Secretary Clinton's email usage and mishandling of highly classified information,' Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said in a statement. 'Under Comey's leadership, the FBI failed to perform fundamental investigative work and left key pieces of evidence on the cutting room floor,' the statement continued. Comey's investigation primarily focused on approximately 30,000 emails Clinton sent or received while serving as secretary of state from 2009 - 2013. The probe uncovered 'top secret' files stored on Clinton's personal server, indicating she may have mishandled classified documents. The investigation, which also examined if foreign adversaries had access to the files, determined that though Clinton was 'extremely careless' in her handling of sensitive materials, it did not surmount to a violation of the law. The original investigation examined numerous devices and tens of thousands of emails related to Clinton and her aides. But there was also a realization that some devices had been destroyed or were inaccessible, hindering the breadth of the inquiry. The Clinton emails have been scrutinized extensively since 2016, with multiple reviews by the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General (OIG) and congressional committees. The OIG has criticized aspects of FBI leadership and found mistakes were made, but concluded the investigation was not driven by political bias and that 'no prosecutable evidence' was uncovered against Clinton. Comey noted in July 2016 that 'no reasonable prosecutor' would push a case based on the FBI's findings, but the scrutiny of Clinton's emails still cost her politically as she went on to lose the election to Donald Trump . The 92-year-old Grassley thanked FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi for helping the Judiciary Committee unseal the previously classified 2018 OIG report. The newly unclassified document is an appendix to the OIG's publicly disclosed June 2018 report into the Clinton email investigation. Dubbed the 'Clinton annex' by Grassley's office, the addendum came just a month after the initial report was filed, in July 2018. However, the file claiming the report was incomplete was never publicly reported, remaining classified until this week. Grassley, whose committee oversees the two agencies, has been conducting oversight of the Clinton probe for nearly a decade since 2016. He first petitioned the FBI to release the OIG's 'Clinton annex' in 2020. The annex says the overlooked thumb drive contained very sensitive information taken from the State Department, including some emails from President Barack Obama at the time. Though a drafted FBI memorandum recommended that the agency investigate the thumb drives, they were never reviewed as a part of the Clinton investigation, the annex states. The drafted memorandum stated that the thumb drives were critical to a 'thorough and complete investigation,' but that the FBI never submitted this request In addition to not investigating the thumb drive, the FBI also obtained intelligence that 'the Obama administration took efforts to scuttle the investigation into Clinton and protect her candidacy,' Grassley's office claims. The newly unveiled 'Clinton annex' shows Comey and others at the FBI did not make efforts to fully investigate those intelligence reports, the Republican alleges. The FBI's unwillingness to release the bombshell document stands in opposition to its eagerness to investigate Trump for alleged ties to Russia during the same timespan, the Iowa Republican says. 'Comey's decision-making process smacks of political infection,' Grassley contended. Attorney General Bondi celebrated Grassley's yearslong work on the Clinton investigation on Monday. 'Today, the Department of Justice honored Chairman Grassley's request to release information relating to former-FBI Director James Comey's failed investigation into Hillary Clinton's mishandling of highly classified information during her tenure as Secretary of State,' she said in a statement. 'I commend Chairman Grassley for his unwavering, years-long commitment to exposing the truth and holding those who seek to conceal it accountable.'
