Whistleblower: DOJ has spreadsheet of every Trump mention in Epstein Files
ALSO INSIDE: How cities can stop ICE from deputizing local cops
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 goes down the tradwives, MAHA, and Women’s Wellness Pipeline 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
A new whistleblower account claims the Trump administration in March sequestered hundreds of federal agents at a New York field office, where they spent two weeks cataloging every mention of Donald Trump in over 100,000 records from the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking.
The operation was first reported on by ABC News in late March, but at the time, it was characterized as a Trump-style media stunt, a cartoonish waste of time and resources in order to satisfy his supporters’ lust for the release of the Epstein Files. The White House accepted — and even encouraged — the framing, painting the effort as an overcorrection to US Attorney General Pam Bondi’s white binder stunt.
But a whistleblower’s account of the document review reveals the exercise was meant to do more than satisfy conspiracy theorists; the purpose was to protect Trump.
Previous reports have confirmed that around 100,000 records from the Epstein investigation were sent to the FBI field office in New York. Once there, approximately 1,000 agents were assigned to review the records in 24-hour shifts, and often were required to stay on-site while off-duty. This went on for two straight weeks in order to meet a 14-day deadline Bondi gave FBI Director Kash Patel.
“I learned from a source that the FBI Field Office in New York was in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein,” Bondi wrote. “The FBI will deliver the full and complete Epstein files to my office, including all records, documents, audio and video recordings, and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and his clients, regardless of how such information was obtained. There will be no withholdings or limitations to my or your access.”
The purpose of this review, according to a whistleblower who spoke with US Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), was to catalog every mention of Trump in the sex trafficking investigation into a spreadsheet. The end result lends credence to the whistleblower’s claim, as the FBI report on the two-week, 100,000-record review amounted to a two-page memo closing the case.
“My office was told that these personnel were instructed to ‘flag’ any records in which President Trump was mentioned,” said Durbin. “Despite tens of thousands of personnel hours reviewing and re-reviewing these Epstein-related records over the course of two weeks in March, it took DOJ more than three additional months to officially find there is ‘no incriminating client list.’”
Durbin, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, sent letters to Bondi, Patel, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, requesting information regarding the investigation be delivered to the committee by August 1.
Far-right outlets have almost completely ignored the whistleblower report, instead using the Wall Street Journal story about Trump’s birthday letter to Epstein as an excuse to rally to his cause.
Attempts to Sanewash
“Ludicrous” Situation: Jeffrey Epstein Case Redaction Takes Over FBI’s New York Office
FBI Agents Scour Jeffrey Epstein Files, Neglect Regular Work
Far-Right Spin
The Utter Absurdity of the WSJ Epstein Hit Piece on Trump, Explained
‘I Don’t Care!’: Sean Spicer Says WSJ Trump-Epstein Story Is Nothing Burger
Locals push back against ICE’s mass deputization of local cops
Residents of the largest suburb in the US saw an opportunity this month, when their new police chief was sworn in: they pushed to get their city out of bed with ICE.
Mesa, Arizona, has been part of the 287(g) program’s Jail Enforcement Model since 2009, an incentive through the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that offers local police specialized training in exchange for their assistance in immigration enforcement. The program has three tiers: jail enforcement, where the immigration status of people arrested is checked; warrants, where local cops can serve ICE’s warrants; and task force, which gives police authority to operate as ICE agents do while out on patrol.
The idea of masked, plainclothes police officers smashing car windows, abducting her neighbors, and sending friends to internment camps did not sit well with Jillian, one of the founders of the community volunteer group Indivisible Mesa. She only recently became acquainted with the 287(g) program, and was horrified to learn that the Trump administration could turn her local police force of over 800 officers into deputized ICE agents overnight.
“I don't trust that this is going to be an institution that's not going to be racial profiling; pulling people over for small infractions and then taking them to jail to detain them, and assisting ICE with these quotas that they need to meet,” Jillian said. “I've lived here for a while, and I am really just disturbed to see that this is happening in our city.”
The Task Force Model was removed by the Obama administration in 2012, and revived by Trump earlier this year to supplement his administration’s mass incarceration and deportation efforts. ICE has been actively recruiting law enforcement agencies to sign up for the task force model with great success. Nearly 1,000 agencies have signed up with 287(g), and the 400 departments, like Mesa, that are part of the lower tiers of cooperation are being pressured to switch to join the task force.
Mesa’s new police chief, Dan Butler, was contacted by ICE before he was even sworn in, and backlash to the very idea that Mesa could engage in task force-style immigration enforcement prompted Butler to put out a statement on YouTube explaining his department’s history with 287(g), and reiterating multiple times that Mesa police would only participate in the jail portion of the program.
“We do not go out into the community and actively earch for people based on immigration status,” Butler said. “If someone is arrested, they are taken to the holding facility, and they are asked their immigration status. If they report back to the Mesa Police Department that they are in the country illegally, we have an obligation to notify ICE.”
But Butler’s promise before being sworn in to lead the department didn’t quite cut it for Jillian and the thousands of residents who oppose the ICE-ification of Mesa PD, so she went to the city council meeting to ask the council to formally — and completely — remove the department from the 287(g) program. She was rebuffed by Councilmember Jenn Duff, who dismissed criticism of the program and filled the portion of the meeting's public comment section with other speakers.
I caught up with Jillian after the meeting to find out what she would have said:
Despite the discouraging experience at the meeting itself, the pressure from residents like Jillian does appear to be working. While there doesn’t seem to be any indication Mesa will leave the program altogether, city officials have stated since Butler was sworn in that they have no intentions of adopting the task force model.
The city council meeting did have one speaker in favor of deputizing the police to act as ICE agents, however, and without opposition from Jillian and other community members, the pro-ICE statement might have been the only public input they heard.
COURIER’s Iowa Starting Line launches investigative series into state’s cancer rates
Iowa has the second-highest cancer rate in the country, and is the only state where cancer is on the rise.
To find out why, and what can be done, Iowa Starting Line journalists this week launched “The Hot Spot,” an investigative series that examines how environmental contamination, policy failures, and gaps in health care have fueled the crisis.
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Investigations like these are the reason the US has food safety regulations, antitrust laws, housing construction requirements, and the Federal Trade Commission. Even if you don’t live in Iowa, take some time to read through and share reporting from The Hot Spot; what they find in the Hawkeye State could have a nationwide impact on how the federal government fights back against cancer.
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