Donald Trump is out of the public eye today – and in his absence, things haven’t exactly stayed on message. Meanwhile, the US rolled out the red carpet for Tommy Robinson, for some reason
Donald Trump spent yesterday out of the public eye – and has no scheduled public appearances today. Presumably having to stand up for nearly two hours on Tuesday night tuckered out the poor lamb.
Still, in his absence, everything’s staying on message – right? All of the Trump administration’s attention focused on affordability from now until the Midterms?
Nah, everyone’s talking about Jeffrey Epstein again. Of course they are. Hillary Clinton is giving evidence to Congress about the crimes of a man she never met. On the other hand, the Justice Department is “looking into” whether it improperly held back evidence from the Epstein files which directly accuse Trump of wrongdoing.
Meanwhile in Trumpworld
- Tommy Robinson has entered the chat
- JD Vance “turns the screws” and halts healthcare funding
- Trump spent less than 3 minutes talking about the cost of living at the State of the Union
Here’s everything you need to know
1. Hillary Clinton to testify on Epstein
Hillary Clinton is, as we speak, gearing up to testify to the House of Representatives’ probe into Jeffrey Epstein.
Unfortunately, the questioning will happen behind closed doors in Chappaqua, New York – despite Hillary and Bill Clinton’s bid to have the depositions held in public.
Bill will give evidence tomorrow, the first time a former President has been forced to testify before Congress.
Video of both depositions are expected to be released “at a later date’. It’s unclear when, or indeed, why. It’s also not entirely clear why Hillary is being interviewed at all, given she never, to her recollection, met Jeffrey Epstein.
More to follow.
2. Justice department ‘looking into’ whether it withheld Epstein files on Trump accusations
The Justice Department says it is looking into whether it had improperly withheld documents from the Jeffrey Epstein files after several news organisations reported that some records involving uncorroborated accusations made by a woman against President Donald Trump were not among those released to the public.
The announcement followed news reports saying that a massive tranche of records released by the Justice Department did not include several summaries of interviews that the FBI conducted with an unidentified woman who came forward after Epstein’s 2019 arrest and claimed to have been sexually assaulted by both Trump and Epstein when she was a minor in the 1980s.
“Several individuals and news outlets have recently flagged files related to documents produced to Ghislaine Maxwell in discovery of her criminal case that they claim appear to be missing,” the Justice Department said in a post on X.
It said that if any document is found to have been improperly withheld and is responsive to the federally enacted law mandating the files’ release, “the Department will of course publish it, consistent with the law.”
3. Trump Administration welcomes Tommy Robinson
The US State Department welcomed a British guest to their Washington DC HQ yesterday – but it wasn’t new Ambassador, Christian Turner. Nope, it was that other great ambassador of the United Kingdom, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as far-right grifter and provocateur Tommy Robinson.
Though we in the UK may be relieved to see the back of this son of Luton, his having an indirect line to the Leader of the Free World is something of a cause for concern. So why has Tommy entered the chat?
Well, he was a guest of Joe Rittenhouse, a State Department aide, who posted a picture of them together on Twitter yesterday, and wrote: “Honored to have free speech warrior @TRobinsonNewEra at Department of State today. The World and the West is a better place when we fight for freedom of speech and no one has been on the front lines more than Tommy.”
On his own Twitter, Robinson confirmed the visit, saying he was in the US “making alliances and friends.” A state department spokesperson said: “Tommy Robinson visited the state department in an unofficial capacity on a tour today.”
Robinson also interviewed Florida Republican member of Congress Randy Fine for whatever online streaming website still lets him post his grot these days, and said he was meeting with MAGA figure Jack Posobiec.
The weirdest bit is that he was allowed into the United States at all. He was denied a visa to visit in 2018, and was jailed in the UK for ten months in 2013 for trying to enter the US using a friend’s passport.
Robinson is understood to be based in sunny Miami, Florida during his stateside jaunt. It’s unclear who is paying for him to be there, but his son posted an Instagram video of his accommodation and it looks pretty swish – a huge house with a swimming pool and a Lambo in the garage. Incidentally, other current residents of Miami who have had legal trouble in the UK, and who appeal to sad boys on the internet include Andrew and Tristan Tate.
4. JD Vance ‘pauses’ funding for medical system used by millions of low income families
While Trump rested up, Vice President JD Vance gave a speech from the White House, announcing a “temporary halt” in funding for Medicaid – the medical insurance system used by millions of low income families – in Minnesota.
He was acting in his new, Trump bestowed role in charge of cracking down on fraud in government welfare programmes. He is, it seems, displeased with the way Minnesota has been handling distribution of government funds, and the months-long operation by law enforcement and officials underway in the state to crack down on fraud.
So he’s announced he wants to “turn the screws on them a little bit so they take this fraud seriously.”
Genuinely, he said those words about defunding a programme that provides healthcare to children.
“I guarantee there are going to be voices in the media and the state of Minnesota who say ‘this is hurting children,’ he said, correctly, as TV physician-turned for some reason high level government health official Dr Oz hovered over his shoulder.
“No. It’s hurting fraudsters. The way to protect kids is to go after those fraudsters, which is what we’re doing.”
So how can Minnesota Governor Tim Walz convince Vance and Oz* to loosen the screws a little bit? Well, they just need to audit every healthcare provider who gets Medicaid funds in Minnesota.
Thing is, just like they did a month or so ago when the Trump administration demanded Minnesota (and no other state) audit all childcare providers because some YouTuber turned up at nurseries with cameras and demanded to see the children, the state says they’re already cracking down on Medicaid fraud.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement that his team has secured over 300 Medicaid fraud convictions since he took office in 2019. And he noted that he called on the Legislature earlier Wednesday to give him more staff and new legal tools to combat Medicaid fraud.
“Courts have repeatedly found that their pattern of cutting first and asking questions later is illegal, and if the federal government is unlawfully withholding money meant for the 1.2 million low-income Minnesotans on Medicaid, we will see them in court,” Ellison said.
*…which makes them sounds so much like a vaudeville double act you half expect them to launch into a version of Who’s On First?
5. State of the Union by the numbers
Ahead of Tuesday’s State of the Union, we were all told his focus would be on convincing voters his was the right approach for the US economy – and on easing the cost of living for struggling families.
What happened in reality was Trump spent most of the speech lecturing the public on how great everything was with him in charge, and telling them that if they thought times were a bit rough for everyday Americans just trying to get by, they were wrong.
Of course, the Democrats have run the numbers, and it turns out Trump spent less than three of the 108 minutes in his speech talking about affordability.