Latest news with #PoliticalScandal
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's ‘coverup' in the face of Epstein scoops is making his MAGA problems so much worse
The firestorm continued on the MAGA right this week as the political focus on the Epstein files just would not dissipate and Donald Trump dug himself deeper into a hole. With his administration scrambling to explain why it isn't releasing files from an investigation that its own members and supporters have said for years should be made public, the president spent the past two weeks reigniting old conflicts with foes ranging from Rosie O'Donnell to Barack Obama. On Wednesday, those efforts escalated to the point where the U.S. director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, declared from behind the White House briefing room podium that former President Obama had attempted a 'coup' on American soil. But Trump and his closest advisers are coming to quickly realize that they and the mainstream media both greatly underestimated the staying power of the Epstein issue. The Trump Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi, declared in a joint statement with the FBI that Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy, convicted pedophile who died in federal detention in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, did so by suicide. To support the conclusion, the agencies released video footage of an area outside of Epstein's cell spanning the time he was locked in for the evening on the night of his death. In the same statement, the agencies declared that no list of Epstein's co-conspirators was found within the DOJ's investigation files. That announcement was made in early July. Every week since then has been marked with new efforts by the Trump administration to calm its critics on the right, and each has largely been unsuccessful in doing so. Bondi's own contributions have been less than helpful for the president. She declared the Epstein file was 'on her desk' in an interview earlier this year when asked specifically about the list of Epstein's clients, and presented MAGA influencers with 'Phase 1' of the investigation in special binders bearing a federal seal at the White House. Phase 2 never materialized, and combined with a minute of footage missing from the videos released by the DOJ her consistent overpromising led to a rift between the attorney general and two top appointees at the FBI: Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Director Kash Patel. All of it has proven progressively more damaging to the president's efforts to get ahead of the story, which only exists because Trump himself promised his base that he would release all the information the government has on Epstein when he ran for president. Gabbard's campaign against former President Barack Obama and members of his administration has — so far — been the most successful of those efforts to distract. Gabbard's conclusion that the national intelligence office she now leads altered intel assessments at then-President Obama's direction to gin up fears about Russian interference in the 2016 election in order to benefit Trump shifted the attention of a number of MAGAworld's wayward voices, like Gen. Mike Flynn, Glenn Beck and Alex Jones. Many others remain fixated on Epstein, however, especially after a pair of Wall Street Journal scoops over the past week. The first detailed a birthday message supposedly penned by Trump and bearing his signature, which alluded to a 'secret' the two men shared. Trump fiercely denied the authenticity of the message and signature, and filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the WSJ and its owner Rupert Murdoch alleging libel. A second one, published Wednesday, reported that Bondi had informed Trump that he was mentioned in the Epstein investigation files that her team reviewed during a meeting in May. Trump's team also described that second story as 'fake'. With the exception of Trump's most committed loyalists, the truth understood across the political spectrum is the same: this issue threatens to derail Trump's second presidency. Progressives and centrist Democrats, as well as the president's own lingering rivals in the GOP, recognize that fact with barely-contained glee. Trump's supporters, meanwhile, couch every statement about the issue with effusive praise regarding how great and wonderful his second presidency has been — and how quickly that could end. One prominent supporter told his audience this week that he'd made that exact point to Vice President J.D. Vance in person. In an episode that posted Saturday, MAGA-aligned podcaster and comedian Tim Dillon hinted to viewers that he'd dined with the vice president and told him the administration was 'done' if the entirety of the Epstein files were not released — and Bondi fired. Dillon later confirmed it was Vance he dined with during a conversation with Alex Jones. 'If you don't disclose everything you're done,' Dillon said he told Vance. 'I mean, nobody will support you guys. You are fully and completely part of this coverup if everything doesn't come out. I think it paralyzes their presidency.' During that conversation with Jones days later, Dillon was already poking holes in the explanation Vance gave him in private. 'I had dinner last week with the vice president, he told me ... they do not have videos of any powerful person in a compromising position [with underaged girls],' Dillon told Jones. 'That's the party line that they're going with. If that's the case, why would Pam Bondi call it evidence? Why would she say it's evidence? She's not an idiot. She's the attorney general. Why would she say that she has files on her desk if none of these implicated anybody?' Dillon asked. 'It just feels like they're covering something [up]. For sure.' 'I feel like, they're telling a story. And the story doesn't make sense,' he added. This week, the fallout in Washington was in plain view. Congress departed early for the August recess, with Mike Johnson sending members home early to avoid embarrassing votes and the spectacle of Republicans joining with Democrats on a petition to release the Epstein files. But there's much more coming, and it no longer has an end in sight. Members of the House Oversight committee want Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend who is serving a 20-year sentence for grooming young women and girls for the sex trafficker, to testify. Thomas Massie, the Republican thorn in Trump's side co-leading the discharge petition, predicted to reporters that his effort would only grow in popularity over the next month as members faced their constituents back home. Then there's the 2026 midterms. If Democrats take back the House next year, a very possible prospect, the final two years of Donald Trump's presidency could well be tied up with congressional investigations centered on the Epstein issue. Subpoenas for Cabinet officials and other Trump officials could be on the agenda as a potentially Democrat-controlled House, with the aid of rebel Republicans, launch probe after probe, even potentially a special committee, to hammer at the issue. The survival of Trump's second-term agenda and, more significantly, his ability to hold his political power base intact could be on the line if the president cannot get on the same page as his base on this issue, and quickly. He needs to stop trying to distract and actually give his MAGA base an Epstein-related meal to chew on.
Fox News
7 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Sen Lindsey Graham: Obama's alleged involvement in Russian interference during the 2016 election 'hoax' should be looked into
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., weighs in on Barack Obama's alleged involvement in the 2016 Russia collusion story on 'Jesse Watters Primetime.'
The Independent
11-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Paxton's divorce adds another wrinkle to a chaotic Texas race that could decide control of the Senate
John Cornyn, an ally of Senate leader emeritus Mitch McConnell, is relying on a familiar dynamic to ensure victory in a race where polling shows he may be down by as far as 22 points. The Texas senator received a shot of adrenaline on Thursday. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, his Republican primary challenger, announced a separation and impending divorce from his wife, state Senator Angela Paxton, who cited 'biblical grounds' for their differences. It was a development that was as expected as it was laden with potential political opportunity for Cornyn, who is running behind his opponent even in a survey commissioned by the McConnell and John Thune-tied PAC, Senate Leadership Fund (SLF). Paxton went through a messy impeachment fight in 2023; he survived, but in documents published as part of the process, Uber records showing him traveling to the residence of an affair partner were made public. Make no mistake: this is going to get ugly. Even if Cornyn himself doesn't jump into the gutter, the groups tied to him and his allies happily will, as they try to use Paxton's long history of personal and political scandals to weigh down and ultimately defeat the attorney general and would-be senator. The Texas Senate race is one (though not the easiest) of the avenues for Democrats to win back majority control of the Senate next year, a crucial step in halting the president's legislative agenda. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) was the first dive in on Thursday. Like SLF, the NRSC is closely tied to GOP leadership and works to protect incumbent senators as well as back challengers to Democrats. 'What Ken Paxton has put his family through is truly repulsive and disgusting,' said Joanna Rodriguez, the NRSC's comms director, on Thursday. 'No one should have to endure what Angela Paxton has, and we pray for her as she chooses to stand up for herself and her family in this difficult time.' And if Angela Paxton's own statement is any indication, Thursday's development stemmed from an as yet unreported conflict between the couple, given that she tweeted that her decision came 'in light of recent discoveries' and her husband's affair has been in the public eye for two years. Yes, the seemingly obvious issue of 'candidate quality' is rearing its ugly head again for the Republican Party's far-right wing. Paxton, who is running a MAGA-aligned campaign against 'RINO' Cornyn (without President Donald Trump's endorsement, so far) is just the latest example of an ultra-conservative Republican who could be bogged down by personal scandal and whiff an otherwise winnable election. McConnell, retiring next year, has worked for much of his career to keep such candidates from his party out of general election contests, though not always with success. In 2022, McConnell, then minority leader, famously downplayed his party's chances of winning the Senate in that year's midterm contests in an interview over the summer, months before the elections. He cited 'candidate quality' as a key factor. Months later, after the election, he unloaded on Trump for being the source of that problem as he sought out Republicans who would put loyalty to him and his false claims about the 2020 election over other factors when awarding his endorsement. 'We ended up having a candidate quality test,' McConnell said in December of 2022, pointing to the defeats of Kari Lake in Arizona and Herschel Walker in Georgia. He added: 'Our ability to control the primary outcome was quite limited in '22 because the support of the former president proved to be very decisive in these primaries.' Trump appeared to learn his lesson, at least somewhat, and in 2024 his party retook the Senate on the back of several of his endorsed candidates, such as Bernie Moreno in Ohio and Tim Sheehy in Montana. The party still ran Royce White, who got busted spending his previous campaign's money at a strip club in Florida, in a race against Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota. Cornyn, for his part, made clear earlier this year that he believes that a win for Paxton in next year's primary would mean defeat for their party in the general election. "I'm absolutely determined to run and to win — if I didn't think I could win, I wouldn't run," he said in late June, according to Houston Public Media. "I've simply labored too long in Texas Republican politics to turn the seat over to Democrats in November. ... Any suggestion that I'm thinking about dropping out of the race is false." Democrats have not settled on a candidate yet, either. Colin Allred, a former congressman, is running again after losing to Ted Cruz in 2024. A recent poll conducted by the NRSC also tested the popularity of Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Rep. Joaquin Castro, and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke against Allred's, though none of the three have announced an intent to run. Were any of the three to jump in the race it could set up two hyper-competitive primaries for the same seat next year.
ABC News
05-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Shinawatra dynasty dominated Thailand, but it may have run out of power
Paetongtarn Shinawatra has lived a life straight out of a Hollywood film. As the photogenic daughter of a billionaire political patriarch, she made history when she followed in her father's footsteps and became the leader of Thailand. She was the country's youngest prime minister — and only the second woman, after her aunt, to hold the office. Like her father and aunt, the 38-year-old's stint as prime minister looks set to end in scandal. Only a year into the job, Paetongtarn was taken down by one of her famous father's close friends, who happens to be the former strongman ruler of neighbouring Cambodia. Now there is talk her fall from grace could spell the end of the Shinawatra's powerful political dynasty and its influence on Thai politics. The Shinawatra family has dominated the Kingdom's politics for 25 years. During that time, they have amassed immense wealth. According to Forbes, patriarch Thaksin is Thailand's 11th richest person, worth more $3 billion. For her part, Paetongtarn and her husband declared 13.9 billion baht ($650 million) worth of assets earlier this year. That included two homes in London, two pieces of land in Japan, more than 200 designer handbags and at least 75 luxury watches. Thaksin built the family fortune leasing computers to the police before moving into telecoms. When he turned to politics, Thaksin was beloved by his rural base and the working class for policies aimed at lifting living standards. But he was despised by urban elites and military conservatives. They accused him and his sister Yingluck, who also served as prime minister, of abuse of power, nepotism and corruption. While prime minister from 2001 to 2006, Thaksin's businesses benefited from government concessions, much to the anger of the public. The Shinawatra family also sold a $2.88 billion stake in a major telecommunications company without paying any capital gains tax. He was ousted as prime minister in a military coup in 2006 while overseas. The family's wealth became the subject of multiple legal probes. Thaksin fled Thailand in 2008 and lived in exile for 15 years. He went back in 2023, despite facing an eight-year jail term for abuse of power, which he had been convicted of in absentia. Thaksin's return was well timed. It coincided with the election of his ally, real estate mogul Srettha Thavisin. The ousted prime minister was immediately moved from jail to hospital, and his term was commuted to one year by the King of Thailand. After six months Thaksin was released on parole. He now faces new legal battles, and is being prosecuted under Thailand's strict lèse-majesté laws, which prevent most discussion and certainly criticism of the Thai Royal Family. Thaksin's sister Yingluck, Thailand's first female prime minister, followed a similar trajectory. She was removed from office by the Constitutional Court in 2014. She too has been living in self-exile and has been convicted of negligence and sentenced to five years in prison over a failed rice subsidy scheme, which lost the country billions of dollars. When a court order ended Srettha Thavisin's time in office prematurely last year, Paetongtarn was appointed prime minister after a parliamentary vote. The Shinawatra family was back in Bangkok's Government House, once again cementing their dominance in Thailand's politics. Since becoming primer minister, Paetongtarn has been repeatedly accused of being a puppet for her father. Cambodia's former prime minster Hun Sen and Paetongtarn's father Thaksin reportedly refer to each other as god-brothers and their friendship has a long history. Hun Sen visited Thaksin in Thailand only last year, after he was released from detention. They had been close allies during Thaksin's years long exile. Hun Sen had provided him sanctuary, and named him a special adviser. This caused consternation for many in Thailand, who saw it as political interference from a neighbouring country. Hun Sen has even preserved and named two rooms in his grand residence after Thaksin and his sister, Yingluck, which he says he showed to Paetongtarn on her last official visit to Cambodia. Cambodian media also reported he had helped Yingluck escape Thailand when she was facing prosecution using a Cambodian passport. Hun Sen ruled Cambodia for nearly 40 years, in which time its fragile young democracy disintegrated. Even though he is no longer prime minister, Hun Sen maintains huge political power and authority, according to UNSW researcher Vu Lam. Exactly why he has now decided to blow up the longstanding close relationship is unclear and the subject of much rumour and speculation — but he has placed the blame on Paetongtarn. "I regret that a 30-year friendship was destroyed by a friend's daughter," he said, referring to Paetongtarn. At the centre of Paetongtarn's demise is a phone call between her and Hun Sen about a dispute over the Thai-Cambodian border. Hun Sen leaked the call, and posted it in full to his Facebook page after admitting he had already shared it with around 80 people. He said he had recorded the conversation "to avoid any misunderstanding or misrepresentation in official matters" and for "the sake of transparency". Paetongtarn's deferential tone towards Hun Sen during the call struck a nerve in Thailand. She was accused of kowtowing to the former strongman. In the phone call, Paetongtarn calls Hun Sen uncle and refers to a senior member of her own military as an opponent. "She complains that the military did not really want to solve the border conflict and they want to show that they are our hero," says Punchada Sirivunnabood, the dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Mahidol University in Bangkok. "Also [Paetongtarn] offers a lot of things to the former prime minister Hun Sen … and she said that 'if you want anything, you can tell me what you want'. "This kind of message, when it reached other people, they feel this is not the right way that you should offer the country to another country that we have a conflict with right now." Once the call was made public, Thailand's Constitutional Court accepted a petition from 36 senators accusing Paetongtarn of ethical misconduct. She was suspended from duty while it investigates. This episode exposes a unique feature of diplomacy in South-East Asia, which on this occasion has left Paetongtarn vulnerable. "That informality is really core to the Asian way — the way they do business, the way they do diplomacy — if you have some sort of close connection with someone you lean on that," Dr Lam says. "Because of the close ties between the two families, it would feel natural for Paetongtarn to reach out to Hun Sen, calling him uncle, invoking some sort of familial ties. "Hun Sen, for some weird reason, decided to actually violate the unspoken rules — but actually there's no norms against that." This latest controversy might be the final blow for the Shinawatra family's political dynasty in Thailand, according to Dr Sirivunnabood. "We have been with this dynasty for about 20 years already," she told the ABC. "People come and go, maybe it's time for the Shinawatra family to finish their roles in the politics of Thailand. "Thaksin himself has done a lot of things that are not acceptable for the people … so I think it's difficult for this family to win the next election and to survive and to maintain their power in politics." But Dr Lam thinks the family might be resilient enough to withstand this test. "This will deal a serious blow to the Shinawatra dynasty," he said. "But if history has taught us anything the lesson would be that this family are survivors, they've come back from exile, from coups. "The scandal will weaken the family's influence … [but] they will still be in the game in some capacity, it's not the end of the dynasty." Either way, this will certainly be a test for Thailand's democracy. Since the country established its constitutional monarchy in 1932, there have been more than 10 military coups, the most recent in 2014. "I think most of the people in Thailand, we don't want coups anymore," Dr Sirivunnabood says. "The last 20 years has proved that having the new military government does not really change the country."
Khaleej Times
05-06-2025
- Health
- Khaleej Times
Trump orders probe into 'conspiracy' to hide Biden's health decline
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered an investigation into what Republicans claim was a cover-up of Joe Biden's declining cognitive health during his term in the White House. "This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history," a presidential memorandum reads. The move is the latest in a long-running campaign by Trump to discredit his predecessor, which has been joined by Republican Party politicians and their cheerleaders in conservative media. They cite Biden's infrequent public appearances while in office, as well as his apparent unwillingness to sit for interviews as evidence of what they say was a man incapable of doing the demanding job of Commander-in-Chief of the United States. They insist that those around Biden covered up his physical and cognitive decline, taking decisions on his behalf and using a device that could reproduce his signature to allow them to continue to run the country in his name. "The Counsel to the President, in consultation with the Attorney General and the head of any other relevant executive department or agency... shall investigate... whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden's mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President," Wednesday's document says. The probe will also look at "the circumstances surrounding Biden's supposed execution of numerous executive actions during his final years in office (including) the policy documents for which the autopen was used (and) who directed that the President's signature be affixed." Biden, who was 81 at the time, dropped his bid for a second term after a disastrous debate performance against Trump renewed concerns about his health and mental acuity.
