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.
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
According to Members of Congress, The US Department of Justice appears to be monitoring their searches within the uncensored versions of the Epstein Files made available to them for review, and then subsequently actively redacting those same documents, often removing mentions of President Trump.
Redactions have been added as recently as this week, according to US Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-OR). Dexter visited DOJ offices on Tuesday with a list of files the House Judiciary Committee had asked her to review. Other committee members had previously accessed the files in their original form, but when Dexter attempted to view them, she found 255 pages of black rectangles.
“Literally, files other Members have seen, that I was supposed to follow-up on, are now gone. Multiple files that have been documented are gone,” said Dexter. “It may be that they’re seeing what we’re finding, and then that brings things to light — we have no idea. All this is is conjecture, but when [the administration’s] making up stories about what’s happening, what is real is that transparency is not the rule of the land.”
Redacted versions of the files Dexter attempted to review — EFTA00006109, EFTA00006209, and EFTA00006309 — have been available to the public since December 2025, and unredacted versions were provided to Congress on February 9. But the feigned transparency was short-lived. Within a few short weeks, the DOJ has severely limited Congress’ access to the files, is apparently monitoring who views what, and now, according to several Members, is swapping out clean documents with redacted ones.
“They give you a discrete login number, which is how they’re tracking us — and that’s a serious problem, to have the executive branch spying on the legislative branch. Then once you get in there, you have to go through a couple different steps to get to the unredacted files,” said US Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT). “But even the versions that we’re seeing, there are still a lot of things that are redacted and we can’t get good, clear answers as to why that is.”
The Trump administration’s apparent attempt to conceal what Congress can see mirrors similar attempts to block the public from accessing the Epstein Files, despite what is mandated by law. A recent investigation by NPR found that the DOJ has been not only removing, but completely withholding, documents from the public database that involve Trump. Most recently, at least 50 pages of interviews conducted by federal agents with a witness who claimed she was sexually assaulted by Trump when she was a minor have been left out of both the public and congressional databases.
Dexter believes the repeated retractions reveal a pattern: someone finds information that seems worthy of investigation, it gets reported on, the story starts to gain traction, then the files are quietly removed. And in almost every instance, it’s had to do with women who claim to have been sexually assaulted by Trump or are proof of his close relationship with Epstein.
“There’s nothing transparent about what’s going on right now,” said Dexter. “It’s continuing to block, and tackle, and shade, and protect men of privilege and men of wealth in this country. And it’s got to stop.”
The ongoing redactions and restricted access to the Epstein Files appear to conflict with both the spirit and the letter of the law, as the Epstein Files Transparency Act permits redactions only to protect national security or victims’ privacy, and requires “a summary of redactions made, including legal basis” be given to Congress.
The DOJ failed to provide a list of redactions to Congress by the January 3 deadline. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was previously Trump’s personal criminal attorney, has thus far failed to fulfill his promise to allow Congress “to view personally any portions of the production in unredacted form.” Instead, the DOJ has focused on surveilling members of Congress, logging what they’ve viewed, and allegedly redacting documents already under congressional review.
Public outcry has worked in demanding transparency, to a certain extent. On Friday, photos of US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick with Epstein on his island – images that had been deleted from the public database – were re-uploaded, after a report of their disappearance by CBS News sparked outrage. And on Tuesday, US Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) announced plans to file articles of impeachment against Attorney General Pam Bondi for her refusal to comply with a congressional investigation into Epstein.
“We live in a country where we have one reality for everyday people, and another for the rich and the well-connected and the well-protected. We have to change that,” said Lee. “That’s why earlier today I announced that I’ll be introducing articles of impeachment against Pam Bondi.”
Lee is circulating a public petition of support for Bondi’s impeachment, in coordination with the non-profit Free Speech for People.
Attempts to Sanewash
Epstein Files Update: DOJ Responds to Tracking Searches by Lawmakers
DOJ Took Down Some Unredacted Epstein Files Before Congress Could Review, Massie Claims
Far-Right Spin
Don’t miss MAHA & the Midterms: How Trump and RFK Jr.’s Agenda Costs Americans, a live conversation from COURIER and 3.14 Action. This timely event will break down how political choices are reshaping healthcare access ahead of the midterms and show what’s at stake for families across the country.
Hear directly from leading experts, including author and creator Hank Green, psychologist and author Dr. Mary Trump, Registered Nurse U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood, 314 Action President Shaughnessy Naughton, and physician and medical analyst Dr. Vin Gupta.
Trump’s housing EO could create a generation of forever renters
In January, Trump signed an executive order titled, “Stopping Wall Street from competing with Main Street homebuyers”, a decree he claims will stop investors from buying up single-family homes and give families a better shot at homeownership.
But a quick look under the hood shows that this order actually lays the groundwork to do the opposite, bolstering home values for existing owners while incentivizing rental development, charting the US further along its current course of creating generations of forever-renters.
The biggest indicators as to what policy changes like this actually want to change are often found in where they put the carrot, and where they put the stick. And the carrot here isn’t for homeownership at all, it’s for “build-to-rent” properties. While the order outlines new limits put on federal agencies’ ability to facilitate property sales to large investors – language that initially sounds promising – it ends with a significant exception that undercuts the whole thing: none of these restrictions apply to properties being built or sold as rentals.
“When you think about private equity, when you think about why they’re buying the homes in the first place, and then you couple that with how many homes they’re buying, it becomes really clear that they’re about the bottom line. They’re not here to make sure that they’re maintaining affordable housing in an underserved community like in the majority Black neighborhood,” said US Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA). “That’s not what they’re about. That’s not what their incentive is. They’re here because they’re buying cheap property.”
That’s the whole reason large investors have been buying properties for years! And it’s no secret — private equity firms mass-purchasing enough properties in an area so they can control rental prices throughout an entire city is a well-documented epidemic.
In fact, on the same day Trump announced his executive order, Reps. Lee and Ro Khanna (D-CA) introduced the more appropriately-named Stop Wall Street Landlords Act, which would close the loopholes that give private equity and other large investors the same purchasing incentives as regular people.
“They’re able to use federal programs to purchase these single family houses. And it’s something that, at the core, was supposed to help families, was supposed to help working people to be able to afford houses,” said Lee. “What corporate equity is doing is, they’re using those exact same incentives that were supposed to help the little guy — and they’re obviously the exact opposite of the little guy — they’re using these same incentives that were supposed to advantage these young folks, these families.”
In addition to closing these loopholes, the bill would impose an excise tax on large investors who sell property and direct that revenue to the Housing Trust Fund, a program that supports homeownership and helps renters to avoid eviction. It also clearly defines what constitutes a “large investor,” so someone buying a second home or smaller investors aren’t treated the same as private equity firms.
By contrast, that’s where the executive order’s vagueness could lead to severe consequences. For example: smaller, local investors — such as people who flip homes by buying a place, fixing it up, then selling it for a nice little profit — could have the order weaponized against them since it doesn’t specify what a “large investor” is, and it makes it harder to sell a home unless it is to be used as a rental.
It also incentivizes builders and developers to focus on rental properties, since those projects would not face the same restrictions. More rental properties mean less supply of ownable homes, which will make the homeowner’s property value go up. Trump said as much when his administration was preparing the executive order.
“I don’t want those values to come down. We have millions of people that own houses and, for the first time in their life, they’re wealthy because the house is worth $500,000 or $600,000 or more — or less — but more money than it’s ever been worth before,” Trump said. “I don’t want to do anything to knock that down.”
Still, regardless of its intentions, Trump’s executive order doesn’t have the authority to actually do much of anything. For that to happen, the laws need to change. And for that, he needs Congress.
“The president has been a government by fiat; It’s executive order after executive order. But the reality is, real change and real solutions have to come through some thoughtful policy,” said Lee. “We want to take the opportunity to say that, ‘hey, now that you are focusing on this right now, you don’t have to look farther. We have legislation that’s ready to go. We have legislation that could move.’”
It’s easy for individual members of Congress to get overlooked by national outlets as they quietly skate to reelection again, and again, and again. The following is an overview of different congressional representatives you may not have heard of, with fun facts about their origin stories they’ve tried to keep out of the public narrative.
US Rep. Scott Perry, Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District
Since taking office in 2013, Rep. Perry has:
Seen his net net worth increase from $987K to $1.5M
Sponsored 310 bills, one of which has been signed into law (the Save DHS Act of 2017)
Attempted to replace Pennsylvania’s electoral votes in 2020 with Republican fake electors
Fun Facts
Rep. Perry is a huge fan of conspiracy theories—from QAnon-inspired accusations that Italians are manipulating US elections with satellites to the white nationalist fear that white Christians are strategically being replaced by non-Christian people of color as a way to manipulate and control culture and governments. Perry’s apparent obsession with election conspiracy theories led him to both defy a Congressional subpoena and request a preemptive presidential pardon in the event his deep dive landed him in hot water.
His penchant for claims without proof has landed him some unexpected bedfellows: in 2017, Perry wound up on the side of ISIS, for example, when he supported their false claim that the jihadist organization was responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.
Despite being a third-generation American—Perry’s grandparents were Colombian immigrants—he’s taken a “pull the ladder up” approach to US citizenship. He’s beenvocal in his support of the illegal actions against immigrants that Trump has undertaken during his current term and was exclusionary in who he considered a citizen throughout Trump’s first term. After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, Perrydismissed its significance, as he didn’t think U.S. citizens were dying because he thought Puerto Rico was a different country.
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