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 breaks the chilling wave of corporate capitulation to Trump in the most recent 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
There are two Epstein files — and the avenues to investigate the lesser-known of the two are about to narrow considerably.
First, there are THE Epstein Files: documents from the US Department of Justice’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking ring, which are believed to have substantiating evidence linking his criminal operation to some of the wealthiest, powerful, and most well-connected people in modern society.
But there’s another Epstein file in the government’s possession that has more than little black books and inconclusive flight records. These documents contain a clear, traceable money trail that links Epstein to both his clients and his victims through bank records and tax filings.
The US Senate Finance Committee has been investigating Epstein’s financial ties since shortly after his arrest in 2019, when prosecutors began to take aim at his wealthy associates, like former Wall Street executive Leon Black. A committee aide involved in the investigation, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said that the revelation that billionaires were paying a man with no formal training to do their taxes raised some major red flags.
“Our entry point here was that Jeffrey Epstein was providing tax and estate planning advice for a whole bunch of rich people, including Leon Black,” the aide said. “Black is a multi, multi, multi-billionaire. He's extraordinarily wealthy. He already has access to the best tax lawyers and accountants in the world. Jeff Epstein was not a tax lawyer or an accountant. So it's really inexplicable that Epstein could have had proprietary tax solutions that nobody else had.”
The committee caught its first big break in 2022, when investigators discovered a previously unknown $12 million payment Black made to Epstein. They determined that Black’s payment to Epstein for alleged tax and estate planning services was over $100 million — far more than the actual value of those services, even for a top accounting firm. This revelation was followed by a $62.5 million settlement Black paid to the US Virgin Islands in 2023, wherein he admitted that “Epstein used the money Black paid him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands.”
Despite these revelations, the IRS has declined to audit both Black and Epstein, according to a statement Black gave to the committee in 2023. US Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Finance Committee, wrote a letter to IRS Commissioner Billy Long on July 31, demanding a detailed report explaining the agency's reasoning for turning a blind eye to Epstein’s suspiciously lucrative arrangement with Black.
“These payments were well in excess of expected compensation for tax and estate planning services – particularly in a case where Epstein’s work had to be vetted by other legal and accounting professionals, at times was not viewed as useful, and included instances of substantial misrepresentations of tax laws,” Wyden wrote. “I can’t help but question whether this case was legitimate tax planning, or if Black felt obligated to make these payments to Epstein for unstated reasons.”
One week after Wyden ordered the report, Long was fired by Trump.
It’s unlikely that Long, a Trump loyalist, would have complied with Wyden’s request, but his dismissal serves to delay a response and run out the clock on an audit of Epstein’s finances until after Trump leaves office. The statute of limitations for the IRS to audit a deceased person's taxes is six years; Epstein died on August 10, 2019.
While there are exceptions that allow for an audit to take place at any time, the road gets rougher the longer the wait, as does the ability for the audit to extend beyond six years’ worth of filings. An audit into Black’s finances could be initiated at any time, which would limit the investigation to Black and Epstein, omitting any of Epstein’s other clients.
The IRS’ limitations have no bearing on Wyden’s Senate investigation, however, which is currently working to compile more evidence to justify an audit into Epstein’s finances. Such an effort brings with it a limitation of its own: access to the necessary documents held by the Treasury has been revoked by the Trump administration, and Senate Republicans have refused to issue a subpoena to obtain them.
Attempts to Sanewash
Far-Right Spin
Trump Ousts IRS Commissioner Billy Long After Just Two Months on the Job
BREAKING: Trump Appoints Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as Acting IRS Commissioner
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.
Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker
Since taking office in 2007, Sen. Wicker has:
Sponsored 680 bills, 14 of which have been signed into law
Believes the US should execute a preemptive nuclear strike against Russia
Opposes humanitarian aid of any kind to Palestine
Opposed President Obama nominating a Supreme Court Justice during an election year: “American people should have the opportunity to make their voices heard before filling a lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court."
Supported President Trump nominating a Supreme Court Justice during an election year: “Republicans promised to confirm well-qualified, conservative judges and justices to the federal courts. We should continue to fulfill this promise.”
Fun Facts
Sen. Wicker is loyal to his campaign donors — and the return on their investment is well worth it. One of his first successes in office was to guarantee $6 million in spending to Aurora Flight Science, a defense contractor whose president donated $8,000 to his first Senate run in 2006. He’s continued to fight for the private company’s bottom line, securing them another $48 million contract in 2018.
His opposition to addressing climate change appears to be financially motivated as well. Wicker was quiet on the subject until the oil and gas industry began donating to his campaign in 2012. Two years later, he was pushing for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. In 2015, Wicker was the only senator to vote against the formal recognition of climate change, and in 2017, he was one of the primary voices that convinced Trump to leave the Paris Climate Agreement.
Wicker was generously rewarded for this: he received $200,000 from the oil and gas industry before the Paris pullout and another $1 million in the years since.
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