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.
What Happened
The US House recessed early this week, but not before voting unanimously to refer criminal contempt charges against Jeffrey Epstein bankroller Leon Black to the Justice Department over his refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas.
The referral forces the DOJ to pry open a door into a criminal enterprise US Attorney General Todd Blanche has desperately tried to keep shut. Shortly after joining the agency, Blanche was tasked with leading the department’s investigation into Epstein, which he quickly closed. The decision was widely criticized, as the closure came under the pretense that, despite identifying more than 1,000 victims, the DOJ had not uncovered enough evidence to prosecute any alleged co-conspirators. Blanche spent the following 14 months insisting that the DOJ had moved on, and that the public should do the same.
The criminal referral for Black now forces the DOJ to either revisit Epstein’s criminal network or risk provoking a Congress that has unified behind little else. Public pressure to hold those connected to Epstein accountable and deliver justice for survivors of their abuse pushed congressional Republicans to defy President Donald Trump and join Democrats in passing the Epstein Files Transparency Act last year. That same pressure has fueled an ongoing investigation into the government’s handling of the Epstein case by the House Oversight Committee.
“No one is above the law,” said committee chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY). “We will continue to seek transparency for the American people and justice for survivors in our investigation of the federal government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell criminal cases.”
The committee’s investigation has been met with outright opposition from the Trump administration and reluctant compliance from private citizens. In July 2025, the committee approved Rep. Summer Lee’s (D-PA) motion to subpoena the DOJ for the full, unredacted Epstein Files. To date, the department has not complied. Nearly a year later, when billionaire and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared before the committee to answer questions about his relationship with Epstein, he let it slip that the White House had coached him before his interview — a revelation many on the committee point to as the reason behind his contradictory answers.
Others who appeared before the committee also did so willingly, but offered similarly deceptive answers. Epstein attorney Darren Indyke gave investigators misleading answers about his compensation and involvement in money laundering; Epstein scheduler Lesley Groff claimed to know nothing about trafficking despite having coordinated travel for victims; and former Goldman Sachs executive Kathy Ruemmler told investigators she hadn’t helped with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal troubles, despite emails that confirm otherwise.
Like the others, Black initially appeared before the committee voluntarily. But he cut his interview short after refusing to answer questions about non-disclosure agreements he had women sign, prompting Comer to issue a surprise subpoena for Black’s NDAs. Black left, and when the time came for him to deliver the documents and appear for a deposition, he instead sued the committee. The committee then unanimously voted to hold Black in contempt, a decision that was approved by the full House on Wednesday.
“We just voted on the House floor to hold Leon Black in contempt of Congress,” said Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), who sits on the committee. “He’s the guy who funded Jeffrey Epstein to the tune of $180 million. He’s all over the Epstein Files, and even the survivors said that he’d show up, and he was particularly brutal with a few women. Whatever happened, he has a lot of information, a lot of documents that are central to our investigation.”
Black’s long, sordid relationship with Epstein is of particular interest to congressional investigators, who view his role as friend and financier as crucial to understanding how a failed high school teacher came to own two islands, develop close relationships with the world’s richest and most powerful people, amass a personal fortune of over $500 million, and operate an international trafficking and money laundering network seemingly undisturbed for nearly 30 years.
Epstein is believed to have negotiated NDAs between Black and the women he had sexual relationships with, and investigators believe those contracts could provide insight into how Epstein tried to keep his criminal network under wraps. Should Blanche decide to prosecute, Black would either have to comply with the subpoena and deliver the requested NDAs to Congress or face fines and prison time.
“They didn’t have non-disclosure agreements, and this guy does, which means he’s paid women for — whatever reason,” Comer told COURIER. “According to some of the survivors, Epstein negotiated some of these NDAs. He negotiated the terms. Now, Mr. Black said in the transcribed interview — which if he’s lying to Congress, that’s a felony — he said that Epstein didn’t have anything to do with the NDAs. I don’t know if that’s factual or not, and a lot of people in the committee want to know for sure whether that’s true.”
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.
Steve Bannon sides with Wall Street oligarchs over tech billionaires at in AI race
The focus of an artificial intelligence summit this week was overshadowed by its main speakers, whose opposing proposals on how to best reign in the emerging tech were instead heralded as a singular message of unity and compromise.
In reality, remarks made by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and far-right strategist Steve Bannon were, predictably, polar opposites. Though both railed against the unchecked power and control tech billionaires wield over AI, Sanders’ solution involved public ownership of AI corporations, while Bannon’s would shift that power from one set of oligarchs to another.
“The American citizens are not going to be supplicants to the oligarchs anymore. We can’t do it,” said Bannon, speaking of tech CEOs. “Here’s what we have to do first: to slow down the pace so that we can understand exactly what’s going on, and also let [China] understand that we’re not going to let them put a moat around this, we’re not going to let [them] be a cartel, we’re not going to underwrite the liabilities while they take the upside. We need time. And this is not legislation — this is going to have to be executive action.”
Bannon’s proposition focused on three components, based on his belief that the US is in the midst of an AI race with China: national security, regulation, and the economy. Under his plan, President Donald Trump would take control of the AI sector as a matter of national security. After consolidating power through executive orders, Bannon said, the US would need to use regulation to end all relations with China: divest any investments, turn away China-based businesses, and deport all Chinese nationals.
On his third component, the economy, Bannon offered no solutions. He also shied away from discussing job losses and the security threats AI itself could pose, two of the main topics at the summit. Sanders, by contrast, focused on ways to provide economic security to people whose jobs might be lost to AI, while shifting control of the industry away from tech billionaires and into the public domain.
“Virtually all of the decisions regarding the development of AI have been made by a handful of the richest people in the world — Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Thiel, Ellison, Brin, and a few others — whose chief goal is to achieve even more wealth and more power than they already have, no matter what the impact their work has on ordinary people,” said Sanders. “If the lives of every man, woman, and child are going to be fundamentally changed by this technology, then the people of this country must make the decisions about AI — and not just a handful of oligarchs. That is why I have introduced legislation, the AI American Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, that would require that half of the board members of the larger AI companies be appointed by the public. The big tech oligarchs must no longer be allowed to determine the future of humanity.”
Sanders also urged the US to engage in open dialogue with China to ensure AI doesn’t develop beyond humanity’s ability to control it. Like Bannon, Sanders compared the situation to the Cold War — but instead of an arms race, Sanders proposed an armistice, in which both countries could reach an agreement that looks to the benefit of humanity as a whole. Ultimately, Sanders said, both countries would need to agree to pause AI development and implement a ban on superintelligence, a treaty Bannon said would be impossible.
While Sanders and Bannon disagreed on nearly every aspect of AI — who should control it, what the dangers are, and how to work with other countries — they did share one singular warning about its advancement: slow it down before it’s too late.
Attempts to Sanewash
Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon put aside differences to sound AI alarm
Steve Bannon turns on Trump to team up with Bernie Sanders over AI threat
Far-Right Spin
Bernie Makes ‘Strange Coalition’ To Go After AI Following Mystery Man’s ‘Kill Us All’ Warning
Odd couple: Bernie Sanders, Steve Bannon join forces to push for stricter AI regulations
Support our journalism at COURIER
Democracy dies behind a paywall, which is why our journalism is — and always will be — free.
But to keep our commitment to the free access to information, we need support from those who have the means, believe in our mission, and support our unique model.
As per Naomi Klein’s & Astra Taylor’s book, “End Times Fascism”, the technofascist oligarchs are themselves WMDs, let alone their AI plots.
I think trump and all his cronies should liquidate all the assets, take every cent, dollar, and crypto coin they own and invest it all in AI... hahahaha