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RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Lies and U-turns from Trump's team over the Epstein files
People hold signs calling for the release of files regarding late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. President Donald Trump has blasted his own supporters as "stupid". Photo: RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP It is one scandal that US President Donald Trump just can not shake. The Epstein scandal is following him everywhere - even when he went to Scotland to sign an EU trade deal last week, he was asked if he had rushed to get the deal done to knock the Epstein story off the front pages. "You gotta be kidding with that," Trump replied. A few weeks earlier, he responded to another reporter by asking: "Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years ... are people still talking about this guy, this creep?" The answer is yes: Six years after his death in a New York jail, the world is still talking about him, and specifically, about Trump's connection to him . Today on The Detail we look at the chaotic, dramatic, ongoing saga of Trump's relationship with Epstein, and the fallout that Trump's waffling on the issue has had on some of his far-right allies. The clamour to release the Epstein files became a MAGA movement obsession, when supporters of Trump became convinced they were full of the names of powerful Democrats, including ex-Presidents. QAnon used the files to push ideas about a deep state cover-up of a network of global paedophiles, and one of the people giving a nod and a wink to those theories was the now head of the FBI Kash Patel. He made his living from spreading rumours such as Epstein actually being murdered by the Clintons, and that there is a cabal of satanic paedophiles within the Democratic party. On the election trail, Trump repeatedly said he would declassify the files. He became US President on 20 January, and within short order, the Epstein files were back in the news cycle. But now it looks like Trump himself is in the files, backed up by evidence in conservative newspapers including the Wall Street Journal. You do not have to look hard to find pictures of the two together. They allegedly had a falling out in the early 2000s and had not spoken for years before Epstein's arrest in 2019. Suddenly, officials have tried to go quiet about Epstein's client list, variously saying it does not exist, or that there is nothing to see in there. But a small army of FBI agents have been diverted from other duties to comb through thousands of pages of documents taken from Epstein's residences, looking for Trump's name, and Patel has now testified that Epstein did in fact die of suicide. There are signs of Trump's supporter base turning on him over the issue, and Trump is not helping calm them down with his attitude towards it. Jay Kuo is a former attorney based in New York who writes a political and legal newsletter called The Status Kuo. He says the more conspiracy-minded of the MAGA base have a lot to chew on, thanks to the Trump team's handling of the issue. "They keep either making sloppy statements, or inconsistent statements, or riling up their base and then yanking the rug back. So it's sort of a roller coaster ride for the MAGA base." Kuo says Trump-appointed officials spent years saying that once they were in power they would expose all these people and bring them down. "That's why it's really interesting that now they find themselves in the position they have to disown a lot of that. It puts them in a very tough spot vis-a-vis their original audiences." Trump's story, he says, keeps changing. "What's interesting is the idea that the MAGA people have never put two and two together that Trump's name appears in the Epstein files, for example on the flight logs, I believe it's eight times." Kuo says many just do not believe it is true, even though it is very clear that he is in there. But he says this has been the longest-lasting scandal involving the president and it is not going away. "In this case though, he's lying to his base. The base that trusted him. He was supposed to bring the storm - that's the QAnon thing - he was going to come in, sweep out government and drain the swamp, and then arrest all these Democrat satanic paedophiles. "It's absurd on its face but a good percentage of the American public actually is QAnon-believing or QAnon-adjacent. Sadly it's around 20 percent. "The danger [Trump] faces is that he runs the risk of having this very, very emotionally charged, sort of imbalanced group of folks coming after him now for having failed them, made false promises to them. And the vitriol online and the outrage is like nothing the GOP (the Republican Party) has ever seen." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
RNZ News
12 hours ago
- RNZ News
Texas governor threatens arrest of Democrats absent at redistricting vote
By Julia Harte and Evan Garcia , Reuters US President Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott in July. Photo: AFP / Brendan Smialowski US President Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott in July. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to arrest Democratic lawmakers who are using their collective absence from the state capital to prevent the legislature from adopting a Republican-backed plan for redrawing Texas congressional districts. The exodus of more than 50 Democrats from the Texas legislature staging a kind of temporary political exile in Democratic-led states was intended to deny Republicans in Austin the quorum necessary to vote on the redistricting plan, championed by President Donald Trump. By redrawing district lines in hopes of flipping some seats in the US House of Representatives currently held by Democrats, the Republican Party aims to protect its narrow majority in next year's congressional midterm elections. Trump has told reporters he expects the effort to yield as many as five additional House Republicans. During Monday's (local time) statehouse session in Austin, the Republican speaker of the Texas House of Representatives issued civil warrants for the wayward Democrats - most of whom have gone to Illinois, New York or Massachusetts - to be brought back to Austin. "To ensure compliance, I ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to locate, arrest, and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans," Abbott said in a statement. But the warrants apply only within the state, and breaking quorum is not a crime that would allow Texas authorities to pursue extradition from other states. On Sunday, Abbott cited an opinion by the state's attorney general that Texas district courts may determine whether legislators have forfeited their offices "due to abandonment," saying that would empower him to "swiftly fill vacancies." But even if Abbott succeeded in ousting the absent Democrats, it would take time to hold new elections. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Fox News on Monday that he expected the Texas Supreme Court to ultimately weigh in on any abandonment cases he files. "And they're obviously a Republican court," he added. In another possible tactic, Abbott said any lawmaker who solicited funds to pay the $500-per-day fine that Texas House rules impose on absent legislators could violate bribery laws. He vowed to try extraditing any "potential out-of-state felons." Adding to the dynamics of the standoff, California Governor Gavin Newsom said he and his state's Democratic-led legislature were ready to "fight fire with fire" against Trump's Texas redistricting maneuver. He said California Democrats were preparing a rare mid-decade congressional redistricting plan of their own that he said could offset any gains Republicans might hope to achieve by redrawing Texas maps. But Newsom said the California plan, assuming it musters the required support of two-thirds of the state legislature, would carry a "trigger" to place it on the November 2026 ballot for voter approval only if Texas moves forward with its plan. Countering Abbott's assertions that Texas Democrats were shirking their duties, Newsom accused Trump and the Republicans of gaming the political system. "These folks don't play by the rules. If they can't win playing the game with the existing set of rules, they'll change the rules. That's what Donald Trump has done," Newsom said. Republicans hold a 219-212 majority in the US House, with four vacancies. A stronger Republican majority in the US House would enable Trump to further advance his agenda. The special session in Texas - also called to address flood prevention and relief - was due to reconvene on Tuesday afternoon. Democrats have threatened to stay out of state until the end of the 30-day special session, which began 21 July. Gene Wu, chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said the current congressional districts in Texas already dilute the voting power of racial minorities in the state, and the new redistricting plan represented "turbocharged racism". Abbott in a Monday morning appearance on Fox News, called Wu's accusation "bogus," saying redistricting would create more Hispanic-majority districts. He argued it also was necessary to give Trump voters in Democrat-majority districts the ability to elect Republicans. A White House official told Reuters that Trump supports Abbott's threat to remove absent Democratic lawmakers and wants "whatever is necessary" done to get the new map passed. States are required to redistrict every 10 years based on the US Census, but the current Texas map was passed just four years ago by the Republican-led legislature. Mid-cycle redistricting is usually prompted by a change of party control. Under Texas' current lines, Republicans control 25 out of 38 congressional seats, nearly two-thirds of the districts in a state that went for Trump last year by a 56 percent to 42 percent margin. Texas Democratic lawmakers have previously tried the strategy of leaving the state to block a redistricting plan. Some fled in 2021 in a bid to deny Abbott the quorum needed to pass a voting restriction measure. That bill passed after three lawmakers returned, saying they had achieved their goal of bringing national attention to the issue. - Reuters
RNZ News
12 hours ago
- RNZ News
SPCA staff facing abuse
The SPCA isn't just dealing with animal abuse its staff are increasingly in the firing line; facing verbal and physical threats. There has been 70 incidents reported so far this year, but the animal welfare protection agency believes the numbers are much higher with some staff just putting up with daily abuse. In one case a worker in Hawke's Bay had a cat thrown at them. SPCA general manager for animal services Dr Corey Regnerus-Kell spoke to Lisa Owen. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
