Trump administration rushes to release everything but the Epstein Files
ALSO INSIDE: Nationwide ‘People’s Sick Day’ protest plans to generate economic blackout
Cam here 👋 bringing you your daily dose of what people are doing – good, bad, and otherwise – in the world of politics. We’re diving into the stories you won’t see anywhere else. And remember, you can also keep up with me over on TikTok and Bluesky.
And if you’re looking for a little more from COURIER, Akilah Hughes exposes the dangerous online pipelines that lure men seeking harmless advice into radical ideologies in the latest episode of “How is This Better?”
Since day one of Trump’s political career, people have desperately attempted to normalize his absurd abuses of power and blatant corruption – and 10 years later, much of corporate media remains a victim of their own attempts to return to a sense of normalcy.
It’s time to stop sane-washing the insanity.
What Happened
The Trump administration loudly declassified hundreds of thousands of records over the past week, but not a single one from the government‘s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking.
Included in the information dumps are 230,000 pages related to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and a 114-page document with details on Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 election. The releases come amid weeks of unrelenting pressure from the public on Trump to release the Epstein Files, while he has instead aggressively defended the decision to withhold the findings against his former associate.
Despite the clear and deliberate effort to obscure what is known about Epstein, including who his clients were and why only one of Epstein’s business partners has been convicted, the White House has declared itself to be a bastion of transparency.
"He knows what his supporters want. It's transparency, and he has given them that on all accounts when it comes to everything this administration has done," said press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. "No question is off limits here at this White House.”
The Trump administration has attempted a number of tactics to hide the government’s investigation of Epstein from the public, including lying about its existence, pretending to release the files, blaming previous administrations, berating voters, and closing the investigation completely. The Department of Justice formally ended the investigation in July, after federal agents spent two weeks flagging every mention of Trump in the approximately 100,000 records relating to Epstein’s sex trafficking ring.
Releasing other previously classified documents appears to be an attempt at misdirection by way of word association, as there was little public interest in the release of the newly declassified documents. The family of MLK objected to the release of files on the Civil Rights leader without their review first, and the 2016 election documents were quickly revealed to be disinformation that the Trump administration is now using to prosecute the president’s political opponents.
“The danger of this, of course, is not that these people will be successfully prosecuted without evidence, but that they can be put through the difficulty of haing to defend themselves, in the hope it will distract the public’s attention,” US Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said in a video posted online. “What really is going on here is this is Donald Trump trying to bring about political retribution, retaliation, trying to distract from his Epstein files problem.”
Attempts to Sanewash
Trump rehashes years-old grievances on Russia investigation after new intelligence report
Trump blames Obama for what he calls 2016 attempt to tie him to Russia
Obama Pushes Back on Trump Admin’s Russiagate Allegations in Rare Public Statement
Far-Right Spin
Tulsi Gabbard details bombshell claims of Obama-era cabal's 'treasonous conspiracy' against Trump
POTUS Calls Out Obama, Clinton, Biden for Election Rigging Plot
Russiagate Was Treason; Will Trump Prove That No One Is Above the Law?
Nationwide ‘People’s Sick Day’ protests planned to generate economic blackout
The next major protest in the works is a three-day spending and labor blackout, where workers are being asked to use their leverage as the power behind the US economy and show the world what it looks like when they don’t show up.
The People’s Sick Day is unlike any other recent show of opposition to the Trump administration, both in execution and in outcome. There is no publicly set date, so organizers can “build momentum before the corporations catch on.” Instead, a 48-hour notice will be posted on various social channels and the movement’s Discord, which has already attracted over 15,000 members.
Service workers, school teachers, and anyone “overworked, underpaid, and tired of being ignored” are encouraged to participate in the People’s Sick Day by taking the full three days off work and refraining from making any purchases during that time. The economic hit caused by the strike depends entirely on turnout. For comparison, when nearly 50,000 port workers voted to go on strike in 2024, it was expected to cost the economy around $3 billion per day.
Organizers are optimistic and confident that millions will join the economic blackout, as millions have come out to protest the Trump administration several times this year. Karress Marie, a prominent labor activist and People’s Sick Day Organizer, spends hours every day hosting livestreams, where she encourages those who are on the fence to take a stand.
“You’re already struggling. You already can’t pay those bills,” Marie posted on TikTok. “You’re watching as travesties are happening right in front of you, and you keep going to work. You keep thinking that, if you keep showing up it’s gonna automatically get better. It’s not.”
US Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colorado’s 4th Congressional District
Since taking office in 2021, Rep. Boebert has:
Seen her net worth decrease from $83,000 to $0
Sponsored 146 bills
Authored one bill that has been signed into law, to have a parcel of public land sold for the benefit of private capital
Spent her first week in Congress cheering on the Jan. 6 insurrection, almost getting her colleagues killed, and voting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results
Filed three articles of impeachment: two against Joe Biden and one against Kamala Harris
Closed her gun-themed restaurant, Shooters Grill after the landlord refused to renew their lease
Won reelection by 546 votes in 2022, then switched districts in 2024
Called the Biden administration Nazis and Rep. Ilhan Omar a terrorist
Fun Facts
When all the trappings of power and prominence are stripped away, one thing about Rep. Boebert’s political ambitions is clear: she’s not in it to get rich.
Boebert’s functionally broke, and she has a history of using campaign funds to get her out of financial jams. When she stepped away from being a full-time restaurateur to run for Congress in 2020, Shooters Grill was already drowning. The bar operated at a $240,000 loss in 2018 and owed over $20,000 in back taxes.
Losses can be written off with bankruptcy, but tax liens can’t. Boebert is alleged to have found a solution by way of campaign funds: she reimbursed herself for driving 39,000 miles over the course of a few months, totaling just enough to cover the cost of her tax bill. Boebert was caught misusing campaign funds again in 2021, when she used Venmo to pay her restaurant’s rent, totaling over $6,500, from her campaign bank account. When the building was sold a few years later, the new owner decided not to renew her lease.
In 2023, a theater in Denver ejected the sitting congresswoman for illegally vaping indoors during a showing of “Beetlejuice.” When Boebert denied it, the theater released security footage which showed her doing exactly what was described (and more): blowing clouds on the elderly couple in front of her, recording the movie with her phone with the flash on, and groping her date.
To make things messier, the man she was with wasn’t her husband. Boebert claimed this was her first date since she and her spouse had separated, but got outed by a drag queen who performed at her paramour’s restaurant and had spotted the two together romantically for months.
Messy could be considered mere branding for a Christian nationalist, who has publicly violated half of the 10 Commandments, a lawmaker who has been arrested on outstanding warrants, and an anti-trans bigot who harasses cisgender women in the restroom.
Trump’s education cuts hit Michiganders from kinder to college
Education is taking a hit at every level under the Trump administration, from threats to collegiate accreditation to funding freezes for public schools. Kyle Kaminski and Lucas Henkel, reporters for COURIER’s The ‘Gander, are investigating the toll this is taking on teachers and students, and how Trump’s “secret weapon” is creating a brain drain at places like the University of Michigan.
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Henkel spoke with an elementary school district superintendent in rural Michigan who told him he’s worried about his school’s ability to operate once 10% of their budget is taken away.
“[The federal funding] is one of those linchpins that hold us all together, and it scares me to think about being able to keep it together by losing those funds,” said Baughman. “Once you start looking at it, the whole system kind of starts to feel like it’s going to fall apart.”
Read the full article here.
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