MIKEY SMITH: 11 unhinged Donald Trump moments as Epstein survivors accuse him of 'cover up'
Donald Trump and the people around him seem to be signalling the direction the Epstein scandal is going to go - and it's towards a very dark place.
The survivors of America's most notorious dead paedophile are up in arms - accusing Trump of a "cover up" and giving paedophiles "preferential treatment".
It comes after the Mirror revealed Ghislaine Maxwell was being transferred to a much cushier prison.
Meanwhile Trump didn't like the new, disappointing employment statistics, so he fired the person in charge of collecting them, mulled the idea of giving Diddy a pardon, was super creepy about a senior member of his team and paved over a historic part of the White House lawn - infuriating an important figure from his past.
It's been quite a night, but here's everything you need to know.
Buckle up.
1. Trump gets bad jobs figures, fires woman in charge of counting them
You'll remember from yesterday's roundup that Trump was delivered some pretty rough jobs numbers for July - with May and June getting a hefty downgrade.
Well, Trump last night did exactly what you'd expect him to do. He claimed they were "phony" and fired the person in charge of counting them.
Claiming the figures had been manipulated for political reasons, he fired Erika McEntarfer, the director of the Bureau of Labour Statistics - a Biden appointee. He provided no evidence for his claim, which is presumably actionable.
"I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY," Trump said on Truth Social. "She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified."
Trump later posted: "In my opinion, today's Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad."
2. The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears
Asked why anyone should trust numbers in future in a gaggle outside the White House last night, Trump said: "You're right. Why should anyone trust numbers?"
3. Did Ghislaine Maxwell get her sex offender status waived?
It was reported overnight that for Ghislaine Maxwell to get transferred to a minimum security camp in Texas, she'd have to have her sex offender status waived.
Bureau of Prisons policy is that anyone with a sex offender determination known as a "public safety factor" are required to be housed in at least low-security prisons - like the one she was held in in Florida - unless they receive a special waiver.
4. Trump's favourite news channel is rolling the pitch for a Maxwell pardon
Meanwhile, Newsmax - one of Trump's favourite news channels - has been making the case for Maxwell's innocence...
Host Greg Kelly said on air last night: "There's something else going on here.
"It's an injustice ... people are horrified when I say that this individual just might be innocent.
"But think about it. Who told us about her? The most reviled institutions in America. The media and the Biden justice department."
This all seems to be going in a horrifying direction...
5. Epstein survivors and families are angry
"President Trump has sent a clear message today: Pedophiles deserve preferential treatment and their victims do not matter," the family of Virginia Giuffre and other Epstein accusers said in a statement, expressing "outrage" at Maxwell's move to a cushier prison.
The statement added: "This move smacks of a cover up. The victims deserve better."
6. It's OK though, he's probably not going to pardon Diddy...because he was mean
Asked in an exclusive interview for - wait for it - Newsmax last night whether he'd consider a pardon for Sean "Puff "Diddy" Daddy" Combs, Trump said: "Well he was essentially half innocent. I don't know, he's still in jail or something...
"Probably...Hmm... You know, I was very friendly with him. I get along with him great. Seemed like a nice guy.
"I didn't know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile...I don't know, it makes it more difficult to do."
He said, as a result, it was "more likely a no."
7. What's on JD Vance's playlist?
So let's take a break for a moment of levity - and laugh at JD Vance's Spotify playlist.
An anonymous website named "the Panama Playlists" claims to have identified and scraped data from high profile figures in the Trump administration, revealing their favourite tunes.
The VP's "Making Dinner" playlist includes I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys and and One Time by Justin Bieber. Another of his playlists includes What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has a playlist entitled "baby shower", which includes A Bar Song by Shaboozey.
And Attorney General Pam Bondi's playlist includes Nelly's Hot in Herre and Foreigner's Cold As Ice.
8. Trump creepy about Leavitt
And here's Donald Trump being creepy about Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's lips.
9. Trump paved over the rose garden and Four Seasons Total Landscaping is not impressed
A weird thing about Trump's return to the White House is the amount of building work he's doing to a property he legally has to move out of in three and a half years.
And the first of these projects was to pave over the White House's world famous, historically significant Rose Garden.
Well, Four Seasons Total Landscaping - where Rudy Giuliani held a deeply weird press conference by mistake the day Trump lost the 2020 election - is unimpressed.
10. Well, thats a metaphor
The drainage holes on the new patio are in the shape of American flags.
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11. Trump's ballroom looks awfully familiar. Also, just awful
The design proposals for the other big construction project Trump wants to undertake on the White House look awfully familiar.
The huge ballroom he wants to tack on to the East Wing is designed to look remarkably similar to the main ballroom at Mar A Lago, Trump's club in South Beach, Florida.
It's almost as if he's never planning to leave.
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