DOJ Finally Reveals Sale Price for Seized Wu-Tang Clan Album
I assume most people know the story by now. Wu-Tang Clan sold the only copy of their 31-track album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, at auction in 2015 to Shkreli for about $2 million. The album, conceived as a work of art, was pressed onto two compact discs and stored in a vault in Casablanca before it was sold. The buyer had to agree that they would not duplicate it or play it commercially for 88 years—until 2103.
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The Hill
14 minutes ago
- The Hill
George Conway says Trump not ruling out Maxwell clemency ‘just insane'
Attorney George Conway criticized President Trump on Friday for not completely ruling out a pardon for convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell at the center of the Jeffrey Epstein case. His words came after Trump told reporters earlier in the day that he was 'allowed' to grant Maxwell clemency but hadn't considered taking the measure. 'She is a sexual predator. She was found guilty of doing these things. She [was] found guilty of, she would take the passports away from these girls, who they dragged to Epstein island. She did all of this stuff,' Conway said during an appearance on CNN's 'The Lead with Jake Tapper.' 'She's neck deep, way in.' 'And so the notion that they would give her clemency is just insane,' he added. Conway, a staunch Trump critic, joins a chorus of Democrats and even some conservatives who are railing against the Trump administration for failing to release files related to the Epstein case. Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, and Maxwell, who's now serving a 20-year sentence, were convicted for sex trafficking and other charges. Maxwell appealed her guilty verdict and is fighting to have her case heard before the Supreme Court. This week, she met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche about the case. During those meetings, the Justice Department granted her limited immunity in exchange for her candor, ABC News reported. However, some, including Conway, said she can't be trusted. 'The Justice Department trashed on her credibility back when they prosecuted her,' he told Tapper on Friday. 'They said that she couldn't be trusted under oath.' Trump was notified that his name was listed in files tied to Epstein's dealings earlier this year. But the president denies any wrongdoing and says those seeking information about his involvement with the deceased financier are engaging in a 'witch hunt.'
USA Today
44 minutes ago
- USA Today
House Democrats look to get copy of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's 'birthday book'
WASHINGTON - House Democrats are looking to get a copy of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's alleged 'birthday book' that reportedly contains a lewd letter from President Donald Trump. Reps. Ro Khanna and Robert Garcia of California requested the book in a letter sent to lawyers of Epstein's estate on July 25. Critics, including some prominent Republicans and Democrats, have accused the Justice Department of botching a review of files on the disgraced financier. The push comes after a Wall Street Journal report that Trump allegedly wrote a letter to Epstein for his 50th birthday containing a seemingly hand-drawn outline of a naked woman with a "Donald" squiggly signature mimicking pubic hair. The letter was part of a leather-bound book with dozens of other letters presented to Epstein, the Journal reported. '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 the Epstein files while withholding others from the public,' Khanna and Garcia, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, wrote in the letter. The House Oversight Committee voted on July 23 to subpoena the Justice Department for files related to Epstein amid public clamor for the records. Khanna and Garcia note that they want an 'unredacted copy' of the book no later than Aug. 10, a day before longtime Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell was subpoenaed by the committee to sit for a deposition at the Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee. 'The American people deserve the truth about who was a part of Epstein's closest circle of friends. Most importantly, the American people deserve to know who was involved in Epstein's trafficking network and if they are in positions of power in our government,' Garcia said in a statement. Trump has denied the Wall Street Journal report, calling the letter 'FAKE' in a social media post. He sued the news organization on July 18 over the story. Contributing: Zac Anderson and Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY
Boston Globe
44 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Trump's MAGA allies zero in on Ghislaine Maxwell as Epstein furor persists
The intensifying focus on the former girlfriend and accomplice of the now-deceased Epstein, a convicted sex offender and disgraced financier, represents the latest turn in a winding case that has long engaged conspiracy theorists and right-wing pundits. Maxwell, they say, can unmask powerful elites - many of them Democrats - who they believe the government has protected from prosecution. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Trump was once an acquaintance of Maxwell and Epstein and has also amplified conspiracy theories about the case. Now he finds himself under constant pressure to reveal more, even as the continued interest threatens him politically, with a slice of the world waiting to discover what else there is to know about his relationship to Epstein and whether it implicates the sitting president. Many MAGA luminaries who say Maxwell is vital to cracking the case would consider leniency, so long as she identifies the child rapists they say have gone unpunished and arms authorities with the evidence needed to convict them. Advertisement She spent hours this week in interviews with the Justice Department, marking the Trump administration's latest effort to show the president's base that he is doing something to release information about the Epstein case in response to political furor. Officials set off a firestorm among some of the president's supporters nearly three weeks ago by announcing that they were closing the case without further arrests or sharing any of the 'truckload of evidence' that Attorney General Pam Bondi said the FBI had received just months before. Advertisement Those interested in Epstein have long wondered what Maxwell might know, but fresh controversy over the case has elicited renewed urgency as additional accounts surface that illuminate the contours of Trump's relationship with Epstein. 'She is a living piece of evidence,' right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson said in an Instagram video, adding, 'If you're looking for the person to give you the truth about Epstein, there's no one better to give it to you.' Johnson then rattled off a string of conspiracy theories unsupported by facts, saying that Maxwell knows about whether Epstein was an intelligence asset, which agency he was working for, and who protected his powerful clients once Epstein was exposed. Johnson praised the Trump administration for going to her to get answers. 'This is what we've been calling for,' Johnson said, adding, 'This is what transparency looks like.' Charlie Kirk, founder of the influential right-wing nonprofit Turning Point USA, also applauded the Trump administration for 'going straight to the source' by interviewing Maxwell, which he said was evidence that officials were listening to 'the voices of the base.' Advertisement Kirk on his show floated the idea of federal officials striking a deal with Maxwell for information. 'This is so powerful. If anybody actually has the information of what has happened around Jeffrey Epstein, it's not going to be some James Comey-created file. It is going to be Ghislaine Maxwell,' he said. Right-wing commentators and conspiracy theorists have fixated on the Epstein case for years. He first faced criminal charges in 2006 related to the sexual exploitation of underage girls. Some, including current high-level Trump officials, accused the Biden administration of hiding critical information to protect powerful people who they believe participated in Epstein's alleged sex-trafficking crimes. As Trump returned to the White House, he and his top Justice Department appointees appeared to agree that the incoming administration should release more evidence. But the promised records never materialized, and the Justice Department and FBI on July 6 said in a memo that they would not release more information tied to the case, stating that a 'systematic review' failed to find evidence that would justify criminally investigating anyone else. Criminal investigative files typically are shielded from public view. Maxwell's 20-year sentence on a sex-trafficking conviction punctuated the stunning fall of a former socialite who, as the daughter of a British billionaire and former member of parliament, grew up in luxury, among power brokers. Her lawyers said she met Epstein in the 1990s after the death of her father, who was posthumously accused of embezzling large sums from his companies. Maxwell dated Epstein, a financier, and later worked as his employee, a role prosecutors said she used to traffic young sexual abuse victims to Epstein. Maxwell denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty, but in 2021, a jury convicted her of sex trafficking a minor and related crimes. Advertisement Epstein was found dead in his jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019. His death was ruled a suicide.
