Donald Trump Slams Backers Who Continue To Talk About 'Jeffrey Epstein Hoax': 'I Don't Want Their Support Anymore!'
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump wrote that the Epstein story has been orchestrated by Democrats. But figures in his administration, like FBI Director Kash Patel, Vice President JD Vance and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino had pushed conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein before taking their administration posts.
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Trump wrote on Truth Social, 'The Radical Left Democrats have hit pay dirt, again! Just like with the FAKE and fully discredited Steele Dossier, the lying 51 'Intelligence' Agents, the Laptop from Hell, which the Dems swore had come from Russia (No, it came from Hunter Biden's bathroom!), and even the Russia, Russia, Russia Scam itself, a totally fake and made up story used in order to hide Crooked Hillary Clinton's big loss in the 2016 Presidential Election, these Scams and Hoaxes are all the Democrats are good at – It's all they have – They are no good at governing, no good at policy, and no good at picking winning candidates. Also, unlike Republicans, they stick together like glue.
'Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this 'bullshit,' hook, line, and sinker. They haven't learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years. I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country's history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax. Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore! Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'
Trump has been trying to tamp down the Epstein talk since there has been a backlash among some of his most prominent allies over how the administration has handled the investigation. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked on Fox news about a supposed Epstein client list. 'It's sitting on my desk right now to review,' Bondi said then. Last week, Bondi said that she meant that she had the Esptein file to review, while the Justice Department has said that there was no evidence that there was a client list.
Patel wrote on X on Saturday, 'The conspiracy theories just aren't true, never have been. It's an honor to serve the President of the United States @realDonaldTrump — and I'll continue to do so for as long as he calls on me.'
On podcaster Benny Johnson's show in 2023, Patel suggested that the FBI was withholding the client list because it contained the names of prominent figures. 'Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are,' Patel shouted at congressional Republicans.
Figures like Megyn Kelly, who backed Trump last year, have continued to call on greater transparency from the administration. Joe Rogan, who also supported Trump, has mocked the administration's response.
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Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
He lived an immigrant's nightmare. One problem: He's a citizen, got his arrest on video
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Florida ‒ Kenny Laynez's cellphone camera captured every undocumented immigrant's nightmare on video when he was arrested. One problem: He is a U.S. citizen. The video, shot May 2, showed Florida Highway Patrol officers and Border Patrol agents stopping the 18-year-old landscaper and his three coworkers ‒ one of them his mother ‒ as they drove past luxury buildings to a job. The camera captured officers dragging his coworkers out of their van by their necks and twisting Laynez's arms and pushing him face down to the pavement. The video also recorded an officer shooting one of Laynez's coworkers with a Taser, saying he had resisted arrest. 'I have rights. I was born and raised here," Laynez told the officers, according to a copy of the video shared by the Guatemalan-Maya Center of Lake Worth Beach. "You don't have any rights here. You are a 'Migo,' brother,' the officer said, referring to his ethnicity. He hurried the 18-year-old into a van. Laynez was released from a Riviera Beach federal facility six hours later, with the video still on his cellphone. His coworkers, including the one who was tased, were undocumented and weren't as fortunate. They were transferred to the Krome Detention Center in Miami. Laynez said they are free on bail but fear they will be arrested if they show up in court. Deportations accelerate: Shock and anger: Florida immigrant communities react to 'Operation Tidal Wave' The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network, recently interviewed Laynez and made multiple attempts to contact FHP, ICE and Border Patrol for comment about the incident and the body-camera footage, as well as multiple requests for copies of the arrest reports. None of them responded. Laynez said he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction without violence simply to get the incident over with. He entered a pretrial diversion program on June 4. The state will drop the charges July 30 if he completes the program by then. "They treated us like dogs they picked up in the street," Layzez said. "They are just pulling over people and kidnapping people who are hard-working." "We are not criminals. We were just heading to work." Trump at 'Alligator Alcatraz': Facts on Florida Everglades immigration detention center ICE arrests spread fear among immigrants Videos like Laynez's showing federal agents arresting day laborers have left immigrant families across Palm Beach County and the rest of the country in fear. Even families in which some members are documented have laid low, sometimes not going to school or church. West Palm Beach attorney Jack Scarola has reviewed Laynez's footage and has talked with him about the incident. He said the footage shows how FHP and Border Patrol agents are under "extreme pressure" to meet daily arrest and deportation quotas and that the response has led to a "reckless disregard" of the rights of both undocumented and legal immigrants and even the rights of U.S. citizens. 'All of us should be not only offended, but outraged by that misconduct,' Scarola said. 'And if we fail to appropriately respond to that outrageous disregard of the civil rights of others, all of our civil rights are in serious jeopardy.' Stopped while heading to work Kenny Laynez was born in 2005 at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach to a Guatemalan single mother who is in the U.S. legally but is not a citizen. He attended Palm Beach Lakes High School and got a job at the landscaping company where his mother drove crews to work sites. Neither Laynez nor his mother works for the company any longer. Laynez said he and his mother met two coworkers on May 2 at a gas station and drove to a landscaping job near North Palm Beach. The coworkers, Esdras and Marroquin, are undocumented but neither had criminal records, Laynez said. The Post is withholding their last names to protect their families. Although his mother wasn't speeding, just after they crossed the bridge on Singer Island, they heard a police siren. An officer rolled down a tinted window and signaled to her to pull over. The officer asked where they were headed. Laynez said they were going to work and the officer took his mother's license and the truck's registration and insurance. The officer returned and said his mother's license was suspended, to all their surprise. Laynez said he asked the officer why he pulled them over. He didn't see how the officer could have known his mother's license was suspended by running the company truck's license plate. Laynez said the officer asked if they were "illegal." Laynez said they were not and asked what that had to do with the license. A van pulled up and more armed agents swarmed the truck. A female officer approached his window and ordered them in Spanish to shut off their phones. Laynez said that at that moment, he started recording with his phone instead: "I assumed something was going to happen.' The video of the raid What he captured on video begins with a question. "Who in here is illegal?' The officer asked in Spanish. "Whoever takes longer to answer will get more charges and spend more time in jail.' Esdras, who is seen clenching a towel in his hands, raised his hand. The male agent ordered them to open the door. Laynez grabbed onto the handle. 'Wait, hold up,' Laynez said. 'You don't have the right to do that.' 'I don't have a right?' the officer said with a laugh. He reached inside the car and popped the door open. The video shows an agent grabbing Marroquin by the hair and placing his neck in the crook of his arm. Another agent pulled Esdras, called Kevin by his coworkers, by the leg and tightened his hands around his neck. The video then shows Laynez stepping out of the car, but an officer who had ordered him to get on the ground pushes him from behind, twisting his arms and kneeling him to the pavement. Esdras stood rigidly as three officers tried to force him to the ground. They told him in English to lie down, while Laynez urged him in Spanish not to resist. 'Aye! What are you doing? That is not how you arrest people,' Laynez said. The video shows an officer pulling out a yellow Taser and firing twice into Esdras' stomach. Laynez saw his body and legs spasm before he slammed onto the pavement, crying. An agent pressed his knee on Laynez's back and forced him face down to the pavement. An officer later ordered Laynez to stand up, but he said he was too scared to move. 'I am not going to get up because you are going to do to me whatever you were doing to Esdras,' Laynez said. 'That is not how you arrest people." 'Be quiet,' an officer said, cutting him off and picking him up. 'I've got the right to talk,' Laynez said. 'I was born and raised here.' 'You have no rights here. You are a 'Migo,' brother," the officer said in a comment Laynez said sounded like racial profiling. Laynez's mother can be heard crying in the background. Video records officers laughing at immigration arrest Laynez's phone continued recording on the sidewalk and captured a conversation between the agents over the next four minutes. 'Once she got the proper spread on him, he was done,' the officer said. "You're funny, bro.' 'It was funny,' an agent said, laughing. 'It was,' another chimed in with laughter. Another agent said more people are resisting their immigration arrests. "They are starting to resist now," an agent said. "We're going to end up shooting someone." On the video, an agent recounted how Laynez said they didn't have the right to come in the door and says: 'I already told you to come out. If you don't come out, I'll pull you out.' 'God damn. Wow,' the officer cheered. 'Nice!' 'Just remember you can smell too with a $30,000 bonus,' another officer chimes in. It was not immediately clear to what bonus the officer referred. On the tape, an officer is heard saying that Laynez's coworker was resisting arrest, so he should be charged. 'He was being a d*** right now. That is why we tased,' an agent said. The phone recording stopped shortly after that exchange, its memory out of storage. The agents confirmed Laynez's mother had legal status and issued her a ticket for driving with a suspended license. Laynez said she told them he was a U.S. citizen and showed them a picture of his Social Security card. They still took Laynez into custody. Laynez said that before leaving, the officers held his mother's driver's license to her face and tore it in half. U.S. citizen spent six hours in detention facility: What he saw Once at the Riviera Beach facility, Laynez said he saw rows of men. Most spoke Spanish and wore construction clothes like his own. Two looked like they were his age, 17 or 18. Laynez said he appeared to be the only one inside the packed room who spoke English. He said the men told them they had been detained for hours without water or food. Laynez wanted to use the bathroom, but the only toilet available was out in the open, without any doors or covers. After almost four hours, the female officer who detained them took Laynez to a room and asked for his date of birth three times, even though he had already written it down for another officer. Finally, she came out with a ziplocked bag with his phone, wallet and headphones. In Spanish, she asked him to unlock it. Laynez said she told him she needed to see if he had filmed videos of the arrest. Laynez said he unlocked his phone, closed all his apps and locked it again. He said he declined to open it and set it down on the table. He said she told him they would wait in that room until he opened it. She asked again for his date of birth. Laynez said he trembled. That was his password. Laynez said the officer threatened to press charges if he didn't unlock his phone, but then a person who appeared to be a supervisor interrupted them. Laynez said the supervisor said Laynez wasn't supposed to be in that room because he is a U.S. citizen. The supervisor took Laynez's fingerprints and said it was only to leave a record that he had been in the facility. Then he told Laynez he couldn't leave without signing some paperwork and that he would have to show up in court. "What did I do?' Laynez said he asked while signing. "I didn't do anything. Why do I have to present myself in court?' The arrest report said Laynez was being charged with nonviolent police obstruction. In a copy of the report that Laynez provided to The Palm Beach Post, officers wrote that Esdras had resisted his arrest. Laynez is not mentioned. After six hours, Laynez said he walked out the door of the Riviera Beach building and ordered an Uber home. He had almost 100 missed calls from his mother. Laynez said the footage of the arrests haunts him, but he doesn't regret filming. "I would basically have nothing, no evidence,' Laynez said. 'And no one would believe what happened or how they escalated the situation. "There might be even more happening that is not being recorded." Email Valentina Palm at vpalm@ and follow her on X at @ValenPalmB. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: ICE raids Florida: Citizen lived immigrant nightmare of being arrested
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
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Congressional Candidate, 27, Forcibly Removed from Hearing and Arrested After Criticizing Texas Republicans: 'I'm Not Finished!'
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UPI
25 minutes ago
- UPI
House Democrats demand 'birthday book' from Epstein estate
1 of 4 | House Democrats have asked the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, pictured in jail before his 2019 death, to produce a book his associate Ghislaine Maxwell compiled for him in 2003 of letters from then-friends, including President Trump, to celebrate his 50th birthday. File Photo by New York State Division of Criminal Justice/EPA-EFE July 26 (UPI) -- House Democrats are demanding the release of a document held by Jeffrey Epstein's that allegedly contains a letter signed by President Donald Trump. The so-called "birthday book" is said to contain information about the convicted sex trafficker's personal relationships and was put together by his convicted former associate Ghislaine Maxwell in 2003. Maxwell herself was given a 20-year federal prison sentence in 2021 for helping Epstein procure young women, and spoke Friday with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche about the late financier's criminal activities. "Recent public reporting indicates that the Estate of Jeffrey Epstein is in possession of a document commonly referred to as 'the birthday book,' compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell in 2003 in celebration of Mr. Epstein's 50th birthday, which has clear relevance to this case," Rep, Ro Khanna, D-Calif., wrote in a letter addressed to three lawyers at separate New York City law firms. "Public reporting indicates that President Trump submitted a poem and drawing for the 'birthday book,' which contains messages and illustrations from wealthy and powerful friends and associates of Jeffrey Epstein." The letter is co-signed by Khanna, ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. "The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has issued a subpoena to depose Ms. Maxwell, the book's alleged creator, and should be permitted to review its contents," the letter reads. In the opening sentence, lawmakers accuse Trump of continuing "desperate attempts to quell public interest in the release of files related to his longtime friend, convicted sex offender and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein." Maxwell, who on Friday answered questions "honestly, truthfully" over several hours according to her lawyer, is set to appear in front of the House Oversight Committee on August 11. The 63-year-old was given partial immunity during the meeting where she was "asked about every single, every possible thing you could imagine. Everything," her lawyer David Oscar Markus later told reporters. Maxwell's appearance Friday is unrelated to the subpoena issued by the House Oversight Committee, which is conducting its own investigation. The letter penned by Khanna and Garcia asks for the book to be released by August 10 so members can review its contents prior to Maxwell's scheduled deposition. "The book is relevant for ongoing congressional oversight of the Department of Justice's handling of the Epstein investigation and prosecution, as well as the Trump Administration's decision to declassify and release only a handful of documents from its Epstein files while withholding others from the public," the letter reads. "Information gathered from this document may also inform the development of legislative reforms addressing sex trafficking networks, financial regulation, or other critical matters of public policy." Epstein died in 2019 while in custody in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. His death was ruled a suicide ahead of his scheduled trial on federal charges related to sex trafficking.
