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National Circus: Epstein Survivors Speak Loud and Clear: ‘We Know Their Names’

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Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse are taking a bold and unprecedented step. Frustrated by the Justice Department’s repeated denials of any “client list” implicating powerful individuals in Epstein’s criminal network, a group of survivors — including relatives of the late Virginia Giuffre — reportedly announced plans to compile and release their own unofficial list of alleged associates. This survivor-led initiative, unveiled in Washington, D.C., signals a chilling disregard for transparency by institutions and an unexpected path to justice driven by those who endured the trauma firsthand.

A Survivor-Driven Reckoning

At a packed news conference on Capitol Hill, survivors shared gut-wrenching stories of abuse and exploitation, underscoring the urgency behind their demand for full disclosure. Lisa Phillips, one of Epstein’s accusers, revealed that survivors have been quietly compiling names of individuals they say were regularly involved in Epstein’s world. According to CBS News, she emphasized that this list is being created “by survivors and for survivors,” with no outside parties involved. The group is reportedly turning to documents such as flight logs, emails, and other records to piece together the network that they believe the Justice Department has failed to fully expose.

Phillips acknowledged the fear that surrounds releasing such a list, noting that many survivors are too scared to come forward publicly. The group’s decision to take matters into their own hands reflects a deep mistrust of official channels and a determination to hold those they believe responsible accountable, regardless of institutional roadblocks.

The Justice Department’s Denial and Institutional Stonewalling

The Justice Department and FBI have repeatedly stated that no client list exists in the files related to Epstein’s case. This official stance has fueled frustration and skepticism among survivors and their advocates. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s earlier comments about reviewing files on her desk added to the confusion, as subsequent clarifications suggested she was referring to the broader collection of documents rather than a specific list of clients.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican leading the charge alongside Democrat Ro Khanna, has reportedly filed a discharge petition to force a House vote on legislation compelling the Justice Department to release all Epstein files. While the House Oversight Committee has released tens of thousands of pages, critics argue that the Justice Department is curating the information, withholding key details that survivors believe are crucial to understanding the full scope of Epstein’s network, as reported by CBS News.

Fear and the Chilling Effect on Survivors

The survivors’ fear is palpable. Anouska De Georgiou, a British victim, described being threatened and followed, even while performing everyday tasks like driving her daughter to school. She and others spoke of the “profound cost” to their mental health and the ongoing trauma inflicted by Epstein and his associates, as reported by BBC. The survivors’ reluctance to release names publicly stems from concerns about retaliation, lawsuits, and further victimization. They pointed to past instances where survivors who named names faced harassment and legal battles, with little protection from the system.

This fear extends to the treatment of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator, who survivors say was transferred to a lower-security prison described as a “holiday camp,” according to BBC. The prospect of her receiving a pardon is a nightmare for many survivors, highlighting the ongoing struggle for justice and accountability.

The Path to Justice: An Unexpected Survivor Initiative

Despite the institutional stonewalling and the risks involved, survivors are forging a new path. Haley Robson, who alleges she was forced to recruit other teenage girls for Epstein, called for transparency and the unsealing of all documents. She described the release of files as a “huge component of healing,” according to CBS News, and urged lawmakers to “lift the curtain” on the truth. Robson, a registered Republican, challenged President Trump’s dismissal of calls for further disclosure as a “Democrat hoax,” pleading for survivors to be humanized and heard.

The survivors’ initiative to compile their own list is a powerful act of agency. It signals a refusal to be silenced or sidelined by political maneuvering. According to BBC, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican congresswoman who has signed the discharge petition, pledged to read the list aloud on the House floor if given access, using her congressional immunity to protect herself from legal repercussions. This unexpected alliance between survivors and some members of Congress underscores the bipartisan demand for accountability.

The Political Backdrop

The Epstein files have become a political flashpoint. President Trump dismissed calls for further disclosure as a “Democrat hoax” aimed at distracting from his administration’s successes. He insisted that thousands of pages had already been released and that the focus should shift to his achievements. “Nobody is ever satisfied,” Trump remarked, as reported by BBC. “They’re trying to get people to talk about something that’s totally irrelevant to the success that we’ve had since I’ve been president … I think it’s enough.” This stance has been met with outrage from survivors and some lawmakers who see it as a dismissal of their trauma and a barrier to justice.

Meanwhile, Republican leaders have reportedly discouraged members from signing the discharge petition, fearing political fallout. Yet, a handful of Republicans have broken ranks, signaling a growing willingness to challenge the status quo. The House Oversight Committee continues its investigation, but many survivors and advocates argue that only full transparency will bring true justice.

What Lies Ahead?

The survivors’ plan to publish their own list of alleged Epstein associates is a dramatic escalation in the fight for transparency. It raises complex questions about privacy, legal risks, and the pursuit of justice outside traditional channels. The Justice Department’s denial of a client list contrasts sharply with the survivors’ conviction that such a list exists and must be made public.

As Congress inches closer to a vote on the discharge petition, and survivors prepare to release their own list, the Epstein saga remains a potent symbol of the struggle between secrecy and truth, power and justice.

Epstein Survivors Speak Loud and Clear: ‘We Know Their Names’ | National Circus
The National Circus

https://nationalcircus.com/article/epstein-survivors-speak-loud-and-clear-we-know-their-names

So let’s hear them! Especially the ones that start with D-o-n!

Miami Herald: He was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years. Moments after being released, ICE took him

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On the morning of Oct. 3, 2025, Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam walked out of Huntingdon State Correctional Institution, the Pennsylvania prison that had confined him for more than four decades. The 64-year-old had spent nearly his entire adult life behind bars for a murder he did not commit. His conviction had been vacated weeks earlier after a court found that prosecutors had concealed evidence that would have dismantled the state’s case. The Centre County district attorney formally withdrew all charges a day before his expected release.

But Subu never made it home.

As he stood on the threshold of freedom, officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were waiting. Acting on a decades-old deportation order, they detained him and transferred him to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, an ICE detention facility in central Pennsylvania.

His family, who had prepared to welcome him home, instead learned that Subu would remain in custody — not as a prisoner of the state, but as a detainee of the federal government.

“To our disappointment, Subu was transferred to ICE custody and is currently being held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center,” the family said in a statement posted on a website dedicated to building support for Vedam’s case.

“This immigration issue is a remnant of Subu’s original case. Since that wrongful conviction has now been officially vacated and all charges against Subu have been dismissed, we have asked the immigration court to reopen the case and consider the fact that Subu has been exonerated. Our family continues to wait — and long for the day we can finally be together with him again.”

Subu’s legal odyssey began in 1982, when he was arrested for the 1980 murder of his friend, 19-year-old Thomas Kinser, in Centre County. Prosecutors argued that Subu had shot Kinser with a .25-caliber pistol — a weapon that was never recovered — and based their case largely on circumstantial evidence. He was initially arrested in 1982 and convicted the following year, being finally sentenced to life without parole.

For the next 42 years, Subu maintained his innocence. His appeals were repeatedly denied, and his case languished until the Pennsylvania Innocence Project joined his defense team. In 2022, the project’s attorneys discovered previously undisclosed evidence in the files of the Centre County District Attorney’s Office — including an FBI report and handwritten notes suggesting that the bullet wound in Kinser’s skull was too small to have been caused by a .25-caliber bullet. That revelation undermined the entire prosecution theory.

In August 2025, Judge Jonathan Grine of the Centre County Court of Common Pleas ruled that the concealed evidence represented a constitutional violation of due process. “Had that evidence been available at the time,” Grine wrote, “there would have been a reasonable probability that the jury’s judgment would have been affected.” One month later, District Attorney Bernie Cantorna dismissed the murder charge, saying a retrial would be both impossible and unjust.

By then, Subu had become the longest-serving exoneree in Pennsylvania history — and one of the longest-serving in the United States.

Freedom, however, came with a new peril.

Legacy Deportation Order

ICE cited a “legacy deportation order” dating back to the 1980s, tied not only to the murder charge but also to an earlier drug conviction from Subu’s youth. Before his arrest for murder, he had pleaded guilty at age 19 to intent to distribute LSD — a charge his family describes as a youthful mistake. Although that conviction carried its own immigration consequences, Subu, who was born in India but arrived in the United States when he was 9 months old, was never deported because he was serving a life sentence.

Now, after his exoneration, ICE has revived the decades-old order.

In a statement sent to the Herald, ICE said Philadelphia officers Vedam into custody immediately after his release because his criminal past.

“Pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act, individuals who have exhausted all avenues of immigration relief and possess standing removal orders are priorities for enforcement. ERO notes that Mr. Vedam, a career criminal with a rap sheet dating back to 1980, is also a convicted controlled substance trafficker,” ICE said in an email. “Mr. Vedam will be held in ICE custody while the agency arranges for his removal in accordance with all applicable laws and due-process requirements”.

Mike Truppa, a spokesperson for the family, says the move blindsided Vedam’s family. “They’re emotionally reeling from the fact that he could be sent to a country he doesn’t know,” he said. “There’s some ancestry in India where he might have some nominal relations, but his entire family — all of his family relationships — are here and in Canada.”

Subu’s niece, Zoë Miller Vedam, said the family has little sense of what to expect from the immigration proceedings but continues to hold on to hope. “I’m not sure we have expectations. We definitely have hope,” she said. “It’s been a very long journey toward exonerating my uncle. He spent the last 44 years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit, and we’ve been fighting and supporting him this whole time.”

Zoë described her uncle as a deeply compassionate man who transformed his decades of imprisonment into a mission of service. “He really did so much over those years to show the person that he is,” she said. “He worked as a teacher, helping many, many people get their degrees — people who’ve spoken to us afterwards about how having him support them while they were incarcerated really changed their lives. He completed multiple degrees himself. He was always learning and caring.”

She added that Subu’s potential deportation to India would be devastating. “India, in many ways, is a completely different world to him,” she said. “He left India when he was nine months old. None of us can remember our lives at nine months old. He hasn’t been there for over 44 years, and the people he knew when he went as a child have passed away. His whole family — his sister, his nieces, his grand-nieces — we’re all U.S. citizens, and we all live here.”

Zoë said her uncle’s wrongful conviction had robbed him of the chance to build a normal life and left him unprepared for exile in a country he doesn’t know. “He’s never been able to work outside the prison system,” she said. “He’s never seen a modern film, he’s never been on the internet, he doesn’t know technology. To send him to India at 64, on his own and away from his family and community, would be just extending the harm of his wrongful incarceration.”

Still Fighting

Subu’s legal team has filed a motion to reopen the immigration case and a petition for a stay of deportation while the motion is pending. The government has until Oct. 24 to respond.

Over the decades, Subu built a life of quiet purpose inside prison walls. By all accounts, he was a model inmate. He designed and led literacy programs, raised funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters, and tutored hundreds of fellow prisoners working toward high school diplomas. He became the first person in the 150-year history of the facility to earn a master’s degree, completing his coursework by correspondence with a 4.0 GPA.

“Subu’s true character is evidenced in the way he spent his 43 years of imprisonment for a crime he didn’t commit,” said his sister, Saraswathi Vedam, in a statement. “Rather than succumb to this dreadful hardship and mourn his terrible fate, he turned his wrongful imprisonment into a vehicle of service to others.”

At the heart of the current dispute lies a question of legal timing — and humanity. Because Subu was never formally naturalized, his earlier drug conviction technically makes him deportable under U.S. immigration law. The wrongful murder conviction, now vacated, had kept him in state custody for decades, effectively freezing that process. With his exoneration, ICE argues that the original deportation order can now be executed.

To Subu’s defenders, that logic defies both fairness and decency. The government is portraying him as a “career criminal and drug trafficker.” The defense intends to argue that the totality of circumstances — Subu’s wrongful imprisonment, his lifelong residence in the United States, and his record of rehabilitation — warrants reopening the case.

For his niece, the fight is about more than legal arguments. “After 43 years of having his life taken from him because of a wrongful conviction, to send him to the other side of the world — to a place he doesn’t know, away from everyone who loves him — would just compound that injustice,” Zoë said. “We’re going to keep supporting him and doing everything we can to make sure that, now that he’s finally been exonerated, he’ll be able to be home with his family.”

He was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years. Moments after being released, ICE took him

https://archive.is/3oh84#selection-1443.0-1455.464

Washington Post: Prosecutors push toward charging other Trump foes after Letitia James

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With the president pressuring the Justice Department to swiftly prosecute his rivals, federal prosecutors in at least five jurisdictions are pursuing possible cases.

President Donald Trump’s unprecedented efforts to pressure the Justice Department into prosecuting his perceived enemies have, so far, netted swift results — and more may be on the way.

In a matter of only two weeks, his handpicked U.S. attorney in Alexandria, Lindsey Halligan, obtained indictments against two frequent targets: former FBI Director James B. Comey and, on Thursday, New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Federal prosecutors across the country are pursuing several other investigations, many of which Trump has personally called for. Those include investigations into a sitting U.S. senator, former top leaders of the FBI and CIA and the Georgia prosecutor who charged Trump in a massive 2020 election conspiracy case.

The next set of charges could be coming quickly. Under pressure from senior Justice Department officials, federal prosecutors in Maryland are preparing to ask a grand jury to indict John Bolton, Trump’s first-term national security adviser, in a classified documents case. Charges could come as soon as the coming week, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.

Many of Trump’s targets, including Comey, charged with lying to Congress, and James, indicted on allegations of mortgage fraud, have derided the cases against them as baseless and driven by political retribution.

Here’s what to know about where investigations of Trump’s other perceived foes stand:

John Bolton, former Trump national security adviser

Federal authorities in Maryland have been investigating Bolton, a veteran diplomat turned fierce Trump critic, since earlier this year on allegations he illegally retained classified material after his 2019 resignation.

Multiple people familiar with the evidence against him have described the case as generally stronger than those against James and Comey. Court records unsealed last month indicate that FBI agents recovered documents marked classified while searching Bolton’s downtown Washington office.

In seeking a warrant to search the facility, investigators revealed they believed they would find classified records there in part because of information they learned through a foreign adversary hacking into Bolton’s AOL email account years ago.

Kelly O. Hayes, acting U.S. attorney in Maryland, a veteran federal prosecutor whom the Trump administration elevated to the office’s top job this year, is overseeing the case. The prosecution is being led by Tom Sullivan, who heads the national security and cyber divisions in Hayes’s office. Sullivan was previously part of the special counsel team that investigated former president Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents in 2023.

Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has said the documents marked classified found in Bolton’s office stem from his time in the administration of George W. Bush and had been cleared for his use decades ago.

“An objective and thorough review will show nothing inappropriate was stored or kept by Amb. Bolton,” Lowell said in a statement.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California)

Schiff, a vocal Trump critic who led the House investigation that resulted in Trump’s first impeachment, is facing investigation on mortgage fraud allegations similar to those lodged Thursday against James.

Both inquiries were initiated by criminal referrals from Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and pursued by Ed Martin, a former interim U.S. attorney in Washington turned Justice Department official.

In recent weeks, Martin has met with Hayes, the Maryland U.S. attorney, who is also overseeing the investigation of the senator, to discuss the progress of the investigation.

The inquiry is centered on Pulte’s assertion that Schiff misled lenders while buying a second home in Potomac in 2003 by claiming the property would be his primary residence.

Schiff and his lawyer — former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara — dismiss Pulte’s claims as politically motivated, “transparently false, stale and long debunked.” Bharara privately wrote to the Justice Department in July arguing there was “no factual basis” for those claims and provided documentation to exonerate the senator.

Schiff’s mortgage lender was aware from the start that he and his wife were buying the Maryland house so his family could live there when he was working in Washington, Bharara wrote, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by The Washington Post. To convict Schiff of mortgage fraud, prosecutors would have to prove that Schiff intended to deceive.

Still, after James’ indictment this week, Schiff is now bracing for the prospect that he could be indicted within a matter of weeks, according to two people familiar with his thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

“Those of us on the president’s enemies list — and it is a long and growing list — will not be intimidated, we will not be deterred,” the senator told reporters Thursday. “We will do our jobs. We will stand up to this president.”

Lisa Cook, Federal Reserve governor

Federal prosecutors in Georgia are also pursuing a mortgage fraud investigation targeting Cook, the Biden-appointed Federal Reserve governor whom Trump is seeking to fire from the central bank.

Last month, investigators issued subpoenas as part of the inquiry, which began with a referral from Pulte, and Martin has conferred with law enforcement officials in the state. Pulte has accused Cook of claiming both a home in Michigan and a condominium in Georgia as “primary residences” on mortgage applications.

Cook’s lawyers deny she committed a crime and have suggested in court papers that she “mislabeled” her homes in her mortgage applications.

John Brennan, former CIA director

The Justice Department acknowledged in July that it had opened an investigation into Obama-era CIA director John Brennan, one of many targets the president has said should be prosecuted for involvement in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

John Ratcliffe, the current CIA director, and Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, referred Brennan and others, including Comey, to the Justice Department. They alleged that Brennan and others manipulated a 2017 intelligence assessment to wrongly tie the Trump campaign to Moscow’s efforts and later lied about it to Congress.

In recent weeks, federal investigators in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania have conducted some interviews as part of the investigation, though its full scope remains unclear, one person familiar with its progress said.

One other current and one former official familiar with the matter suggested Gabbard may have undermined the investigation’s progress. Earlier this year, she publicly revoked the security clearances of 37 people who had been drafting the 2017 intelligence assessment, accusing them of politicizing intelligence and failing to safeguard classified information.

Her comments may have damaged their credibility as witnesses in any potential case against Brennan, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the ongoing investigation.

FBI officials under former director Christopher A. Wray

In a separate investigation centered on the 2016 election, federal authorities in the Roanoke-based Western District of Virginia are investigating claims that senior bureau officials under former FBI director Christopher A. Wray mishandled or sought to destroy documents related to the Russia investigation.

That inquiry appears to have been sparked by allegations first floated by current FBI Director Kash Patel, who said in July he had discovered thousands of pages of records in “burn bags” at the bureau’s headquarters in Washington. He has suggested they were placed there to cover up wrongdoing by his predecessors at the FBI.

Some of those records — linked to an investigation by special counsel John Durham about the origins of the Russia investigation — have since been released by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Current and former national security officials have questioned the premise of Patel’s allegations, noting that many of the records he claims to have uncovered had also been stored on government computer servers for years.

Fani T. Willis, Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney

The New York Times reported last month that the Justice Department had issued a subpoena for travel records of Willis, the Atlanta-area prosecutor who brought a sprawling racketeering case against the president and more than a dozen allies, accusing them of illegally seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

The investigation of Willis is being overseen by Theodore S. Hertzberg, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. But the scope of the inquiry remains unclear — including which records were subpoenaed and from whom.

The Times reported that the subpoena sought information tied to overseas trips Willis took around the time of the 2024 election. But Willis had not personally received a subpoena, her spokesman Jeff DiSantis said.

Trump has railed against Willis since her office charged him in 2023, calling his prosecution a “witch hunt.” The case remains the only remaining criminal matter in which Trump is charged, though Willis and her office are no longer leading the prosecution.

Last month, the Georgia Supreme Court denied Willis’s appeal of a lower court decision that removed her and her office from the proceedings after she was accused of an improper relationship with an outside attorney she appointed to the lead the case.

A state agency is now looking for a new prosecutor to take on the case. Willis has acknowledged she would likely continue to be a target of the president and his supporters.

“I am fully aware that there will be people in power over the next four years who may seek to use that power to lash out at those who are working to uphold the rule of law,” Willis told The Post in January. “I will not be intimidated by threats or acts of revenge.”

Prosecutors push toward charging other Trump foes after Letitia James

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/prosecutors-push-toward-charging-other-trump-foes-after-letitia-james/ar-AA1OgMRK

Independent: White House admits Trump’s message to [Bimbo #3] Bondi to prosecute enemies was supposed to be a DM: report

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Apparent error provides another glimpse into radically reshaped Justice Department under Trump’s command

Donald Trump’s Truth Social post urging Attorney General Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi to prosecute his perceived political enemies without “delay” was intended to be a private message, according to administration officials.

A post from the president’s account September 20 addressed to [Bimbo #3] “Pam” demands “justice be served” against his former FBI director James Comey, who was indicted five days later.

Trump — suggesting in his post that the prosecution of his favored targets is retribution for his impeachments and indictments against him — believed he had sent [Bimbo #3] Bondi the message directly, and was surprised to learn it was public, The Wall Street Journalreported.

[Bimbo #3] Bondi was reportedly upset over his mistake, which Trump quickly sought to correct with a follow-up message roughly one hour later praising [Bimbo #3] Bondi for doing a “GREAT job.”

The error has provided a glimpse into a radically reshaped Department of Justice, stripped of its historic independence with both [Bimbo #3] Bondi and Trump at the helm.

When asked about the message in a Senate oversight hearing this week, [Bimbo #3] Bondi replied: “I don’t think he said anything that he hasn’t said for years.”

Comey pleaded not guilty to lying to Congress and obstruction in his first court appearance on the charges Wednesday. A trial date is tentatively scheduled to begin January 5, 2026, but Comey’s attorneys are expected to try to have the case thrown out altogether, citing Trump’s “vindictive” prosecution.

Trump’s message to [Bimbo #3] Bondi is likely to be at the heart of that motion, showing the judge overseeing that case that the president directed the nation’s top law enforcement official to investigate a target he labeled “guilty” before any charges were brought against him.

The Trump administration has ousted dozens of officials and government attorneys deemed insufficiently loyal to the president’s agenda, but in his September 20 post, the president singled out Erik Siebert, the now-former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia — who Trump himself nominated and then pushed out of the role after he resisted pressure to prosecute Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump complained that “nothing is being done” against Comey, James and Senator Adam Schiff, who are “all guilty as hell,” in his social media post.

He complained that “we almost put in a Democrat supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past,” despite Siebert being one of Trump’s own nominees for the job.

Trump called him a “woke RINO, who was never going to do his job,” and said he “fired him” because he wouldn’t take up the case against Comey.

His personal attorney Lindsey Halligan “is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot,” Trump wrote in the message to [Bimbo #3] “Pam.”

“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote. “They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT.”

Three hours later, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was nominating Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience.

Before Halligan entered office, federal prosecutors repeatedly sought to make a case against charging Comey, who is now the first former senior government official facing criminal charges under Trump’s retribution campaign.

According to an internal memo in which career prosecutors explained why they would not seek an indictment, prosecutors determined that a central witness — Comey’s longtime friend Daniel Richmond, a law professor at Columbia University — would prove “problematic” and likely prevent them from establishing a case, according to ABC News.

Richmond’s testimony would result in “likely insurmountable problems” for the prosecution, the memo stated.

In a highly unusual move, Halligan presented the case to a grand jury herself, and the grand jury voted to indict him last month.

A majority of the grand jury voted against charging Comey with one of three counts presented by Halligan, according to court documents. Comey was indicted on two other counts — making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding — after only 14 of 23 jurors voted in favor.

During her contentious confirmation hearing in January, [Bimbo #3] Bondi promised to end what she has called the partisan “weaponization” of the agency against perceived political enemies — echoing claims from Trump and his allies who have characterized the president’s own federal indictments as a politically motivated conspiracy against him.

In that hearing, she did not explicitly rule out prosecuting Trump’s targets. Asked again Tuesday whether she had any instruction from the White House to investigate anyone, [Bimbo #3] Bondi refused to answer. “I’m not going to discuss any conversations,” she said.

Trump, [Bimbo #3] Bondi and law enforcement across the Justice Department — now filled with loyalists and attorneys to dominate agencies that the president claims were weaponized against him — are also targeting other prominent Democratic officials as well as progressive fundraising groups and an array of ideological opponents the administration alleges are tied to acts of terrorism.

Prosecutors in Maryland are expected to bring charges against former national security adviser turned Trump critic John Bolton, according to WSJ, following a raid at his home in August. A case file on a federal court docket remains sealed.

Former FBI director Christopher Wray, another Trump appointee who remained in office under Joe Biden, also is under investigation, according to the newspaper, though the subject of the probe is unclear.

Trump’s message to Bondi to prosecute enemies was supposed to be a DM
Apparent error provides another glimpse into radically reshaped Justice Department under Trump’s command

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/bondi-truth-social-trump-james-comey-b2842585.html

MSNBC: ‘Pam Bondi is a fool’: Marc Elias blasts Trump’s Attorney General

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Attorney General Pam Bondi faced questions from senators about National Guard deployments and immigrant arrests in U.S. cities, the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, and files related to Jeffrey Epstein, and more. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias joins The Weeknight to unpack the contentious hearing and what it reveals about the Justice Department’s independence.

‘Pam Bondi is a fool’: Marc Elias blasts Trump’s Attorney General
Attorney General Pam Bondi faced questions from senators about National Guard deployments and immigrant arrests in U.S. cities, the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, and files related to Jeffrey Epstein, and more. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias joins The Weeknight to unpack the contentious hearing and what it reveals about the Justice Department’s independence.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pam-bondi-is-a-fool-marc-elias-blasts-trump-s-attorney-general/vi-AA1O3cGW

Atlantic: Trump Might Be Losing His Race Against Time

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The president is gambling that he can consolidate authority before the public turns too sharply against him.

President Donald Trump is worried that Attorney General Pam Bondi is moving too slowly to prosecute his political adversaries on fake charges. Trump has good reason to be concerned. He is carrying out his project to consolidate authoritarian power against the trend of declining public support for his administration and himself. He is like a man trying to race upward on a downward-moving escalator. If he loses the race, he will be pulled ever deeper below—and the escalator keeps moving faster against him.

Autocracies are headed by one man but require the cooperation of many others. Some collaborators may sincerely share the autocrat’s goals, but opportunists provide a crucial margin of support. In the United States, such people now have to make a difficult calculation: Do the present benefits of submitting to Trump’s will outweigh the future hazards?

As Bondi makes her daily decisions about whether to abuse her powers to please Trump, she has to begin with one big political assessment: Will Trump ultimately retain the power to reward and punish her? It’s not just about keeping her present job. On the one hand, people in Trump’s favor can make a lot of money from their proximity to power. On the other, Richard Nixon’s attorney general, John Mitchell, served 19 months in prison for his crimes during Watergate. If Trump’s hold on power loosens, Bondi could share Mitchell’s fate.

Trump’s hold on power is indeed loosening. His standing with the voting public is quickly deteriorating. Grocery prices jumped in August 2025 at the fastest speed since the peak of the post-pandemic inflation in 2022. Job growth has stalled to practically zero.

Almost two-thirds of Americans disapprove of higher tariffs, Trump’s signature economic move. His administration’s attack on vaccines for young children is even more unpopular. This year has brought the highest number of measles cases since the Clinton administration introduced free universal vaccination for young children in 1993. Parents may be rightly shocked and angry.

Shortly after MSNBC reported that Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, had accepted $50,000 in cash from FBI agents posing as businessmen last year, allegedly in exchange for a promise to help secure government contracts, the pro-Trump podcaster Megyn Kelly posted, “We DO NOT CARE.” This kind of acquiescence to corruption has been one of Trump’s most important resources. But the American people become a lot less tolerant of corruption in their leaders when they feel themselves under economic pressure. As of early August, nearly two-thirds of Americans regarded Trump as corrupt, 45 percent as “very corrupt.” More than 60 percent think the Trump administration is covering up the Jeffrey Epstein case. Almost 60 percent regard Bondi personally responsible for the cover-up.

The MAGA project in many ways resembles one of former businessman Donald Trump’s dangerously leveraged real-estate deals. A comparatively small number of fanatics are heart-and-soul committed. Through them, Trump controls the Republican apparatus and the right-wing media world, which allows him to do things like gerrymander states where he is in trouble (50 percent of Texans now disapprove of Trump, while only 43 percent approve) or wield the enforcement powers of the Federal Communications Commission to silence on-air critics. But overleveraged structures are susceptible to external shocks and internal mistakes.

Trump in his first term mostly avoided screwing up the economy. His trade wars with China triggered a nearly 20 percent stock-market slump in the fall and early winter of 2018. Trump retreated, and no recession followed the slump until the COVID shock of 2020. But in his second term, Trump has jettisoned his former economic caution. The stock market is doing fine in 2025 on hopes of interest-rate cuts. The real economy is worsening. The percentage of Americans who think the country is on the “wrong track” rose sharply over the summer. Even self-identified Republicans are now more negative than positive.

The souring is especially bitter among younger people. More than 60 percent of Republicans younger than 45 say things are on the wrong track, a 30-point deterioration over the three summer months.

Trump has a shrewd instinct for survival. He must sense that if he does not act now to prevent free and fair elections in 2026, he will lose much of his power—and all of his impunity. That’s why he is squeezing Bondi. But for her, the thought process must be very different. Trump is hoping to offload culpability for his misconduct onto her. She’s the one most directly at risk if she gives orders later shown to be unethical or illegal.

The survival of American rights and liberties may now turn less on the question of whether Pam Bondi is a person of integrity—which we already know the dismal answer to—than whether she is willing to risk her career and maybe even her personal freedom for a president on his way to repudiation unless he can fully pervert the U.S. legal system and the 2026 elections.

Trump Might Be Losing His Race Against Time
The president is gambling that he can consolidate authority before the public turns too sharply against him.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/09/trump-bondi-edva/684292

Slingshot News: ‘Was It 1869 Or Whatever?’: Trump Demonstrates His Ignorance, Confuses Himself Over When The Civil War Ended During Press Conference

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During a press conference at the White House several weeks ago, Donald Trump demonstrated that he has no idea when the Civil War, an important and pivotal moment in U.S. history, ended. The Civil War ended in 1865.

‘Was It 1869 Or Whatever?’: Trump Demonstrates His Ignorance, Confuses Himself Over When The Civil War Ended During Press Conference
During a press conference at the White House several weeks ago, Donald Trump demonstrated that he has no idea when the Civil War, an important and pivotal moment in U.S. history, ended. The Civil War ended in 1865.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/was-it-1869-or-whatever-trump-demonstrates-his-ignorance-confuses-himself-over-when-the-civil-war-ended-during-press-conference/vi-AA1O0APy

Miami Herald: Leavitt Announces ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Investigation

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The Trump administration is reportedly reviewing alleged incidents of violence involving trans-identifying individuals, prompting pushback from Democrats who claimed the effort is politicized. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the policy team is assessing incidents as the FBI and DOJ handle cases. She aligned the review with efforts targeting ideologically motivated violence.

Leavitt said, “The administration will seriously investigate a recent rise in violence allegedly linked to trans-identifying individuals and their supporters.”

Leavitt added, “We are focused on understanding the root causes of the violence, which we describe as domestic terrorism.”

The Human Rights Campaign has cited violence against transgender people since 2013, linking it to anti-trans stigma and policies.

The Human Rights Campaign stated, “Anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislative attacks are translating to anti-LGBTQ+ violence.”

Critics argued that claims of an “epidemic” is exaggerated, noting Human Rights Campaign data show lower homicide rates than several other groups. National and city rates are still above the HRC’s highest estimates.

The Human Rights Campaign claimed the administration’s data likely undercounts victims, noting many involve acquaintances or partners.

Leavitt Announces ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Investigation

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/leavitt-announces-domestic-terrorism-investigation/ss-AA1NU1tt

Bigots!!!

Time: ‘Military-Style’ ICE Raid On Chicago Apartment Building Shows Escalation in Trump’s Crackdown  

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At around 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning, armed federal agents rappelled from helicopters onto the roof of a five-storey residential apartment in the South Shore of Chicago. As other agents worked their way through the building from the bottom, they kicked down doors and threw flash bang grenades, rounding up adults and screaming children alike, detaining them in zip-ties and arresting dozens, according to witnesses and local reporting.

The military-style raid was part of a widespread immigration crackdown in the country’s third-largest city as part of the Trump Administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” which has brought a dramatic increase in federal raids and arrests.

The raid has drawn outrage throughout Chicago and the state of Illinois, with rights groups and lawmakers claiming it represents a dramatic escalation in tactics used by federal authorities in the pursuit of Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.

Read more: White House Anti-Terror Order Targets ‘Anti-Capitalist’ and ‘Anti-American’ Views. Here’s What To Know

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker accused the federal agents of separating children from their parents, zip-tying their hands, and detaining them in “dark vans” for hours. Videos show flashbang grenades erupting on the street, followed by residents of the building—children among them—being led to a parking lot across the street. Photos of the aftermath show toys and shoes littering the apartment hallways, evidence of those pulled from their beds by the operation that included FBI and Homeland Security agents.

‘Military-style tactics’

Pritzker condemned the raid and said that he would work with local law enforcement to hold the agents accountable. “Military-style tactics should never be used on children in a functioning democracy,” he said in a statement on Friday. “​​This didn’t happen in a country with an authoritarian regime – it happened here in Chicago. It happened in the United States of America – a country that should be a bastion of freedom, hope, and the rights of our people as guaranteed by the Constitution,” he added.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has touted some 900 arrests in its Chicago operation since it began in early September, as well as the 37 arrests made in the nighttime raid on Tuesday, all of whom it said were “involved in drug trafficking and distribution, weapons crimes and immigration violators.” The DHS said the building was targeted because it was “known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua members and their associates.” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem posted a video of the raid on social media, overlaid with dramatic music, showing helicopters shining bright lights onto the apartment, kicking down doors and armed agents leading people out of the building in cuffs.

A DHS spokesperson told CNN following the raid that children were taken into custody “for their own safety and to ensure these children were not being trafficked, abused or otherwise exploited.” The DHS also said that four children who are U.S. citizens with undocumented parents were taken into custody.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to send federal authorities and troops to Chicago and other Democratic-run cities to assist in immigration raids and to address what he perceives to be rampant crime.

The Trump Administration launched expanded immigration enforcement operations in Chicago on Sept. 8 as part of a wider federal crackdown on sanctuary cities across the country.

“This operation will target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago,” ICE Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in support of the operation.

Chicago officials mounted a pushback ahead of the crackdown. The city’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, signed an order directing Chicago law enforcement and officials not to cooperate with federal agents and established an initiative intended to protect residents’ rights. The city of Evanston, an urban suburb of Chicago, issued a statement warning its residents of impending raids by ICE agents and urging them to report sightings of law enforcement.

Zip-ties and guns

In the aftermath of the sweeping raid, residents and city lawmakers have been demanding answers from the federal government. 

Ed Yohnka, from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU), told MSNBC on Saturday that the raid represented “an escalation of force and violence” from the federal government in Chicago. 

“What we saw was a full-fledged military operation conducted on the south side of Chicago against an apartment building,” he added. 

“They just treated us like we were nothing,” Pertissue Fisher, a U.S. citizen who lives in the apartment building, told ABC7 Chicago in an interview soon after the raid. She said she was then handcuffed, held for hours, and released around 3 a.m. This was the first time she said a gun was ever put in her face.

Neighbor Eboni Watson, who witnessed the raid, also told the ABC station that the children were zip-tied—some of them were without clothes—when they were taken out of the residential building by federal agents. “Where’s the morality?” Watson said she kept asking during the raid.

“As a father, I cannot help but think about what it means for a child to be torn from their bed in the middle of the night, detained for no reason other than a show of force,” National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) president Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “The trauma inflicted on these young people and their families is unconscionable.” 

ICE and DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TIME.

Protests in the aftermath

The increased raids have turned Chicago into a flashpoint in the battle over Trump’s crackdown. Protests have hit the city in recent weeks over the ICE operations, and after the raid on Tuesday, they have concentrated outside the ICE Broadview detention facility near Chicago.

On Friday, at least 18 protestors were arrested near the facility as DHS head Kristi Noem said in a post late in the day that she and her team were blocked from entering the Village of Broadview Municipal Building.

“This is how JB Pritzker and his cronies treat our law enforcement. Absolutely shameful,” Noem said in a post on X.

On Saturday, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin shared on social media that law enforcement officers were “rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.”

“One of the drivers who rammed the law enforcement vehicle was armed with a semi-automatic weapon,” McLaughlin said. “Law enforcement was forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed US citizen who drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds.”

ICE’s tactics were criticized again on Friday, when Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was handcuffed by federal immigration agents at a Chicago medical center after questioning agents about their warrant to arrest at the medical center.

Chicago’s Mayor Johnson called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s tactics “abusive.”

The raids come just days after President Trump signaled a desire to make greater use of the U.S. military in American cities during a speech to top military leaders, as he assailed a “war from within” the nation.

“We are under invasion from within,” he said, “no different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways, because they don’t wear uniforms.” In the same speech, he called for U.S. cities to be “training grounds” for the military.

Trump has frequently singled out Chicago in his long-running feud with Democratic-run cities, threatening it with his newly named “Department of War.”

‘Military-Style’ ICE Raid In Chicago Shows Escalation in Tactics
Witnesses said children were taken from their homes unclothed and separated from their parents during the raid.

https://time.com/7323334/ice-raid-chicago-pritzker-trump

Mediaite: Leaked Texts Reveal Trump Officials Floated Airborne Troops to ‘War-Ravaged’ US City

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Trump administration officials privately discussed sending one of the country’s most hardened combat units into Portland, Oregon, leaked Signal messages reveal.

Anthony Salisbury, a top deputy to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, was reportedly exchanging messages with War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s adviser Patrick Weaver over Signal in a crowded public space last weekend while traveling in Minnesota to a family funeral.

The alarmed source shared images of the exchange with the Minnesota Star Tribune under condition of anonymity.

According to the newspaper the texts reveal discussions about deploying the 82nd Airborne Division to Portland, a unit better known for parachuting into World War battlefields and Afghanistan than patrolling American streets.

“Between you and I, I think Pete just wants the top cover from the boss if anything goes sideways with the troops there,” wrote Weaver.

Another message acknowledged the political cost of such a move: “82nd is like our top tier for abroad. So it will cause a lot of headlines. Probably why he wants potus to tell him to do it.”

Hegseth wanted to send the National Guard instead, he added.

The administration ultimately ordered 200 National Guard troops to what the president called “war-ravaged” Portland on September 28. Both the state of Oregon and the city of Portland have since sued to block the deployment, arguing it violates federal limits on the domestic use of the military.

The revelations underscore remarks by President Donald Trump days in an address at Quantico to generals and admirals floating American cities “training grounds” for the armed forces.

Elsewhere the exchange revealed information about other ongoing campaigns within the cabinet, according to the outlet, with Salisbury insulting FBI director Kash Patel as a “giant douche canoe.”

The White House did not respond to questions on the exchanges by attacking the journalists reporting as “morally bankrupt.

Leaked Texts Reveal Trump Officials Floated Airborne Troops to ‘War-Ravaged’ US City
Trump administration officials privately discussed sending one of the country’s most hardened combat units into Portland, Oregon, leaked Signal messages reveal.
Leaked Texts Reveal Trump Officials Floated Airborne Troops to ‘War-Ravaged’ US City