Latest news with #DailyBeast
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Idiot' Trump Aide Called Out for Failed Jab at Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom's press office called out 'idiot' White House Communications Director Steven Cheung for his attempted online attack of the California governor. Cheung, in a profane post on X, claimed the Democrat was 'too chicken s--t to take questions from the press' after his speech Thursday about congressional redistricting to counter similar GOP moves in Texas and other red states. Except that's exactly what Newsom did. Less than 15 minutes after Cheung called Newsom a 'coward' and 'beta cuck,' the governor's press office shot back in the replies. 'Questions are streamed here you idiot,' they wrote, linking to a question-and-answer session in which the governor fielded nine questions from reporters. The Newsom account highlighted Cheung's mistake in another post—this one directed to the public. 'Steven Cheung (incompetent Trump staffer) doesn't know how to use his computer. SAD!' they wrote, adopting Donald Trump's style of posting. The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast asking if Cheung plans on deleting or editing his post. The recent trend by Newsom's press team of imitating Trump's tone was the topic of one of the questions Newsom responded to in the Q-and-A. 'I hope it's a wake-up call—the president of the United States, sort of following his example,' Newsom said. 'If you've got issues with what I'm putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns about what he's putting out as president,' he continued. 'So, to the extent it's got some attention, I'm pleased, but I think the deeper question is: how have we allowed the normalization of his tweets and Truth Social posts over the last several years to go without similar scrutiny and notice.' For days, that account has been aiming to make Trump aware of the purpose of Newsom's speech Thursday: announcing a November special election to vote on proposed new maps to nullify GOP-friendly redistricting in red states. Newsom reiterated to reporters Thursday that if states like Texas, Florida, Missouri, and Indiana call off their 'unprecedented, mid-decade, hyper-partisan gerrymander to rig the upcoming midterm elections,' then California's redistricting effort won't be necessary. But there don't appear to be signs of Republicans backing down. 'Gavin Newsom's latest stunt has nothing to do with Californians and everything to do with consolidating radical Democrat power, silencing California voters, and propping up his pathetic 2028 presidential pipe dream,' National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Christian Martinez said.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fox News Calls Out Trump for No-Question ‘Press Conference'
Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich, who witnessed Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin ignore reporters' questions after their summit Friday, said everyone in the room was 'surprised' by the president's silence. Heinrich, the network's senior White House correspondent—whom Trump has previously targeted—spoke about the summit's conclusion with anchor Brian Kilmeade, who also said he hadn't expected things to wrap up with the usually talkative Trump walking away without taking questions. 'I was surprised no questions,' Kilmeade said, after Trump and Putin were vague about what—if anything—was accomplished at the Alaska meeting, which began with Trump clapping and rolling out the red carpet for the Russian leader, who is accused of war crimes. 'I was surprised no details on what progress was made,' Kilmeade continued. 'You and me and everyone else in this room was surprised,' Heinrich replied. 'We were told we would have an opportunity to put questions to both leaders after a joint press conference in the event that meeting went well enough that they could set the stage for a second meeting. And President Trump said if that didn't happen, he was likely to call off the joint presser and just address the media solo and send people home. Neither of those things happened,' she said. 'And what was really stunning to me, as someone who has been in a lot of these press conferences, a few things were very unusual,' she continued. Heinrich noted how Putin spoke first and in his native language, despite the U.S. being the host country. 'Putin started right off in Russian, and we all had to get our headsets on and listen to him rattle off this diatribe about the history of the U.S.-Russia relationship,' she said, adding that the Russian leader repeated phrasing about Ukraine that put the onus on them to end the war that Russia started. Heinrich went on to say that the joint appearance was 'unusual' and 'atypical.' 'The way that it felt in the room was not good. It did not seem like things went well, and it seemed like Putin came in and steamrolled, got right into what he wanted to say and got his photo next to the president and then left,' she said. 'Of course,' she noted, 'that is only the piece of the picture that we have right now, and certainly President Trump, who is the host and the president, would not want to, I think, enable something that would make him look weak. We are eagerly awaiting to hear the background on that.' When reached for comment, the White House did not answer the Daily Beast's question about why neither Trump nor Putin took reporters' questions. As for Heinrich's report, a press aide directed the Daily Beast to White House Communications Director Steven Cheung's brief post on X in reply to the tail end of her comments to Kilmeade. 'Total fake news,' was the response from Cheung, who just yesterday tried to criticize California Gov. Gavin Newsom for avoiding questions after a speech—except Newsom answered nine questions, nine more than Trump did Friday.
New York Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Democrats' twisted lies about Melania's past are cruel and creepy
Tough as the competition may be, the Democrats' most vile smear has got to be the ongoing insinuations that Melania Trump met her future husband thanks to notorious predator-procurer Jeffrey Epstein. The first lady has been aggressively squashing the crass smear for weeks, ever since chronically wrong scandal-hawker Michael Wolff claimed on a Daily Beast podcast that Donald and Melania met through a modeling agent with ties to Epstein, and suggestively asked: 'Where does she fit into the Epstein story? Where does she fit into . . . this whole culture of models of indeterminate age?' Wolff knows this market for sleaze-mongering: The usual Trump-haters were soon foaming at the mouth over the supposed Epstein match-making. Advertisement But truth still matters: The Daily Beast had to retract and apologize for a story reporting on Wolff's claim. Next, veteran Clinton councilor James Carville repeated the charge on his 'Politics War Room' podcast — but soon had to apologize and take it down. Then Hunter Biden pushed the lie in a profanity-ridden interview with Channel 5 — and answered demands he retract his remarks with a true-to-character 'F—k that.' Advertisement Then again, Hunter probably has no assets left to lose in any lawsuit. It's sexist filth, and downright creepy. The obvious suggestion is that Melania couldn't have succeeded on her own, nor formed a genuine bond with her husband: These men insist on crediting the infamous trafficker instead; dragging a woman's reputation through the mud is, we guess, just an added benefit. Get opinions and commentary from our columnists Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Advertisement It means nothing to them that the first lady is plainly distressed by the smear campaign — as evidenced by her repeatedly sending her lawyers to kibosh these lies. Lefties shout 'Believe women!' until a woman on the wrong side of the aisle tells them she's not, in fact, a victim of some heinous scheme, a sick fiction these supposedly enlightened Democrats are perpetuating a bit too gleefully. This doesn't even come off as just more mud thrown at the president, with his wife as collateral damage: It's a head-on assault on her integrity, her honor. Frankly, it's hard not to conclude that these men are enjoying the pain they're causing this beautiful woman — which is sick even by the abysmal standards of modern American politics.
Sky News AU
4 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Hunter Biden shrugs off Melania Trump's $1.5 billion threat over ‘defamatory' Jeffrey Epstein remarks
Hunter Biden crassly brushed aside first lady Melania Trump's threat to sue him for $1 billion ($1.5 billion AUD) if he doesn't retract 'false' and 'defamatory' comments linking her and her husband to late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. 'F*** that. That's not going to happen,' Biden said with an arrogant smile during an interview on YouTube show 'Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan' released Thursday. The first lady's team revealed Wednesday that it had put the scandal-scarred former first son on notice for suggesting that Epstein introduced Melania to her husband, President Trump. Melania's office has made similar threats to other media figures and outlets. Last month, for example, the Daily Beast retracted an article that peddled similar claims after being warned of legal action. Democratic strategist James Carville also apologized and scrubbed an episode of his podcast last week in which he speculated there was an 'Epstein connection' involving the first lady. 'Failure to comply will leave Mrs. Trump with no choice but to pursue any and all legal rights and remedies available to her to recover the overwhelming financial and reputational harm that you have caused her to suffer,' the first lady's attorney Alejandro Brito wrote in an Aug. 6 demand letter reported by Fox News. Despite his bravado, Biden could find himself in a lot of financial trouble if he were sued. The 55-year-old has claimed in court documents that he is saddled with 'significant debt in the millions of dollars range' amid sagging art and book sales and mounting legal bills. Last month, during an interview on the same YouTube channel, Biden weighed in on the Epstein drama dogging the president. '[It is] beyond a doubt that he [Trump] and Epstein were very close friends for a very long period of time. They spent enormous time together — they spent an enormous amount of time together around young women,' he said on the show last month. 'According to his biographer, Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania,' he added. Biden, like the Daily Beast and others, was citing author Michael Wolff, who has made bold and dubious claims about the president in the past that have been subject to dispute. The president cheered his wife's threat against Hunter Biden Thursday, insisting that he met Melania through 'another person,' but not Epstein. 'Well, I said, 'go forward.' I have done pretty well on these lawsuits lately. And I said, 'Go forward,'' the president told Fox News Radio host Brian Kilmeade. 'Jeffrey Epstein had nothing to do with Melania and introducing, but they do that to demean. They make up stories.' 'She was very upset about it,' the president added of his wife. The former first son claimed that he was referencing other sources beyond Wolff. 'What I said was what I have heard and seen, reported and written, primarily from Michael Wolff, but also dating back all the way to 2019 when the New York Times, I think … reported that sources said that Jeffrey Epstein claimed to be the person to introduce Donald Trump to Melania at that time,' he said in the interview that dropped Thursday. A cocky Biden also suggested he would love to get to a deposition from the Trumps over the Epstein claims. 'I also think they're bullies, and they think that a billion dollars is going to scare me,' he said. 'If they want to sit down for a deposition and clarify the nature of the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein — if the president, the first lady want to do that, and all of the known associates around them at the time of whatever time that they met, I'm more than happy to provide them the platform to be able to do it.' Both the president and first lady have said they met in 1998 during a New York Fashion Week party hosted by businessman Paolo Zampolli. Melania recounted in her memoir that the future president sat down next to her and struck up a conversation, writing: 'I found myself drawn to his magnetic energy.' The two tied the knot in 2005. Brito, Melania's counsel, ripped Wolff as a 'serial fabulist' and accused Hunter of amplifying his comments to draw attention. 'Given your vast history of trading on the names of others – including your surname – for your personal benefit, it is obvious that you published these false and defamatory statements about Mrs. Trump to draw attention to yourself,' the attorney chided. Brito had given Hunter until 5 p.m. Aug. 7 to issue a retraction and apology. Originally published as Hunter Biden shrugs off Melania Trump's $1.5 billion threat over 'defamatory' Jeffrey Epstein remarks
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Is Plotting This Desperate Move to Distract From Epstein: Wolff
President Donald Trump is desperately seeking a 'big thing' to distract from Jeffrey Epstein—and is willing to sacrifice Ukraine to achieve it, his biographer Michael Wolff has revealed. In the debut episode of the new Daily Beast podcast, Inside Trump's Head, the best-selling author told co-host Joanna Coles that the president is making 'relentless' calls to aides and allies to demand something to get past the unending questions over his links to the dead pedophile and his surviving lover-turned-sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. And, Wolff disclosed, not only have successive plans failed or fallen flat, but Trump is now willing to give up Ukraine to Vladimir Putin when they meet in Alaska on Friday to achieve the distraction he needs. Inside Trump's Head, a new twice-weekly podcast, will explore what is really motivating and shaping the world's most powerful and most polarizing man, using Wolff's unique access, insight and authority as the author of four best-selling books on Trump. It grows out of the success of The Daily Beast podcast, on which Wolff has been a regular guest. Episodes of the podcast regularly draw more than 500,000 and even 1 million views on YouTube—and have set the agenda on Trump and Epstein. Wolff's reporting has drawn consistent fire from the White House. In response to questions from the Daily Beast Tuesday about Wolff's reporting that Trump was willing to sacrifice Ukraine to distract from his Epstein crisis, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the Daily Beast: 'Michael Wolff is a lying sack of s--- and has been proven to be a fraud. He routinely fabricates stories originating from his sick and warped imagination, only possible because he has a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.' The central theme in the debut episode is of Trump's frantic need to move on from Epstein. The firestorm began last month when the Department of Justice quietly announced at a weekend that there was nothing more to say about Epstein—despite Attorney General Pam Bondi claiming in February that the files were on her desk, and the White House handing MAGA influencers folders of 'Epstein Files,' promising more to come. In the backlash, conservatives accused Trump and Bondi of a cover-up, prompting the most dramatic break between the president and his base to date. Wolff told Coles, 'Let me go back about a week or so, or 10 days, when Trump started to say to everyone who would listen—and everyone listens to Donald Trump—to staffers and on the phone calls, the relentless phone calls that he's constantly making, he said, 'I need a big thing. I need a big thing.' 'What's the 'big thing?' And everyone understood that this was code for I need a distraction from Epstein. What's the thing that will move us beyond that?' Options included making New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani the next MAGA enemy. The New York Times reported that Trump spoke with Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani's chief rival, about the race in recent weeks, though both denied it. But that plan didn't pan out, Wolff said. 'It didn't get that traction,' Wolff said. 'I mean, Epstein still goes on behind everything. Epstein, Epstein, Epstein, that drum beat." Then came the next solution, which played on the apparent success of seizing headlines in June by deploying National Guard troops and then active duty Marines to Los Angeles: to flood soldiers and federal law enforcement into Washington, D.C., a move bouncing off the reported assault on 19-year-old DOGE staffer Edward 'Big Balls' Coristine in the capital at 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning a week before. Trump announced it on Monday but, Wolff said, is still seeking something 'big' for the MAGA base—leading to the focus on Ukraine. 'That is what he got to,' Wolff said. ''I'm going to have to do Ukraine.'' Wolff explained that Trump would likely pull the U.S. out of any involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict—something which would please, in his judgment, the MAGA base, which has been opposed to U.S. involvement and particularly to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. 'He's going to sacrifice Ukraine for Epstein,' Wolff said. 'Essentially, this is, in his mind, a trade. It is the MAGA people who have pressed this Epstein issue constantly. I mean, they're the threat.' White House staffers were befuddled by Trump's renewed direct involvement in brokering a settlement—including meeting with Putin directly, Wolff said—and they still weren't sure what Trump would ultimately do. 'Nobody in the White House can see this turning out so well for Ukraine,' he said. But, Wolff said, the distraction appears doomed. 'The Epstein drumbeat is real,' Wolff said. 'It is unceasing and it is threatening, most of all, to Donald Trump.' Trump and Epstein were friends for decades before he said he severed ties with the pedophile in the mid-2000s. Multiple outlets have reported on Trump's ties to Epstein, including The Wall Street Journal, which Trump sued for its bombshell report that he sent Epstein a lewd greeting for his 50th birthday, hinting at a 'secret.' Trump denied sending it. Wolff's tape of one of his interviews with Epstein—who asked the author to be his biographer—was first revealed by the Daily Beast in November and featured the pedophile financier describing himself as Trump's 'closest friend' and detailing their long relationship. Find and subscribe to Inside Trump's Head with Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes of incomparable insight into the psyche of the world's most talked-about man drop every Tuesday and Thursday evening on YouTube and Wednesday and Friday mornings on other podcast platforms.
