Inquisitr: Trump Roasted As Immigrant Nobel Prize Winners Are Highlighted

The Wall Street Journal roasted Donald Trump in a scathing editorial.

Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal just handed Donald Trump a brutal reality check, and it did it by turning the spotlight on America’s newest Nobel stars. In a blistering editorial, the Journal’s board used this week’s science laureates to torch Trump’s immigration crackdown, arguing that the same immigrant pipelines he is trying to constrict are exactly what keep the United States competitive and inventive. “Welcoming immigrants to the U.S. is out of fashion on the political right these days,” the board wrote, “that’s short sighted for America’s future prosperity,” and the week’s Nobel roll call was Exhibit A.

Six U.S. residents were among nine Nobel winners in the sciences this year, and half of those U.S. based winners were immigrants. The board did not just toss out statistics, it named names, and the list was a pointed rebuke to restrictionism. French born Michel Devoret and British born John Clarke were highlighted alongside American researcher John Martinis for physics work involving quantum mechanical tunneling, a reminder that cutting edge labs often run on global talent.

Jordanian born Omar Yaghi, who fled his country as a refugee and learned English at a community college in Troy, New York, was hailed for chemistry breakthroughs in metal organic frameworks, the kind of next generation materials science that expands the frontier for energy, climate, and biotech.

The Journal’s message was not coy, immigrants are not an asterisk on the American science story, they are central to it. The editorial pointed to research showing that since 2000, immigrants account for roughly 40 percent of all U.S. based Nobel winners in physics, chemistry, and medicine, with an even higher share in physics and chemistry. “You never know who or how the poorest refugee or migrant might blossom into a world class scientist or entrepreneur,” the board wrote, calling immigration a “force multiplier” for U.S. innovation. For a paper often friendly to Republican tax and trade ideas, the tone was unmistakable, Trump’s immigration agenda is sabotaging the very prosperity case his party claims to champion.

Trump has been not so quietly campaigning for a Nobel Peace Prize of his own ahead of Friday’s announcement, pitching his foreign policy as prize worthy while his domestic policy targets the student visas, research visas, and legal pathways that feed American labs. The Journal warned that turning the screws on legal immigration, from hiking H 1B costs for startups to discouraging foreign student enrollment, will push future luminaries to study elsewhere, or to take their degrees and go home. You cannot lock the lab doors and expect the breakthroughs to keep walking in.

This was not a partisan blog calling Trump small minded, it was the house editorial voice of a Murdoch flagship telling the Republican frontrunner that his tough on immigration posture is a slow bleed on American dynamism. The board anticipated the standard defenses, that the White House only targets illegal immigration and that anecdotes are not data, then swatted them away. Anecdotes matter, because science advances one person at a time, one lab at a time, and those people often come from somewhere else before they choose to stay here and build.

SFGATE: Pete Hegseth is f—king embarrassing

SFGATE columnist Drew Magary on America’s secretary of war

Pete Hegseth! Remember that guy? Former Fox News weirdo? Famous for drinking on the job? Accused of sexual assault before paying a settlement to make that lawsuit go away? Tapped to head the Department of Defense and then accidentally texted his war plans to the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic? Oh yes, I think you’re quite familiar with Hegseth. He’s a real asshole! And an embarrassing one, too!

Well, guess what? The leaders of our armed forces also got to know this brave, pickled s—t for brains. In case you’ve stopped reading the news because it makes you want to seek out the sturdiest rafter in your basement, President Donald Trump and Hegseth summoned the top brass of the American military to Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday for an all-hands meeting. This would be a super cool idea in, say, a “Mission: Impossible” movie. In real life, it’s a conference call that could have been an email. S—t, Hegseth is already a veteran of blasting out group messages for doing war. But using secure channels to issue directives means that Hegseth wouldn’t get to be seen issuing them. And in Donald Trump’s government, being seen is all that matters. So let’s see Hegseth rallying the troops on Tuesday and feel inspired!

Yes, the man in charge of our newly rechristened Department of War really took the stage in front of a bunch of seasoned, professional, high-ranking officers and proceeded to go epic bacon mode. Here’s the showstopper line from that clip:

“Should our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be crushed by the violence, precision and ferocity of the War Department. In other words, to our enemies, FAFO. If necessary, our troops can translate that for you.”

(sigh) It stands for “F—k around and find out.” What a powerful message to send. Because until Trump took office, we all know that other countries were like, “You know, the Americans seem pretty chill. I bet they’d never violently overreact to any perceived slight!”

I wish that this were the only cringe-worthy thing that Hegseth said to the crowd on Tuesday. But this is 2025, where wishes are zip-tied and forcefully deported to El Salvador. So Hegseth took the opportunity to deliver a full speech of cringe to our troops; a sort of “F—k you for your service” message that surely left all of the men and women in that room confident that their new boss totally knows what he’s doing. With that in mind, I collected a few more choice passages from Hegseth’s address for your perusal so that you and I can say “F—k you” right back to him. Let’s hear more!

“You see, this urgent moment of course requires more troops, more munitions, more drones, more Patriots, more submarines, more B-21 bombers. It requires more innovation, more AI in everything and ahead of the curve, more cyber effects, more counter UAS, more space, more speed.”

Just last month, Congress passed a funding bill for Hegseth’s department that clocked in at nearly $900 billion, a record high. I think that number allows for all the munitions, drones and robot sharks our military could possibly need. Then again, shouldn’t there be more AI in there, so that a drone pilot can take a pee-pee break while WarGPT detects and neutralizes a threat coming from Afgharistad? 

“Our warfighters are entitled to be led by the best and most capable leaders.”

Does that mean you’re resigning? Because that would probably do the trick.

“That is who we need you all to be. Even then, in combat, even if you do everything right, you may still lose people because the enemy always gets a vote.”

Just in case you were thrown by the vagueness here, “the enemy” in question is a gay voter.

“The military has been forced by foolish and reckless politicians to focus on the wrong things. … You might say we’re ending the war on warriors. I heard someone wrote a book about that.”

He did. Pete Hegseth wrote that book. Stick around after having your job threatened and he’ll sign YOUR copy! And you should stick around, because for far too long, this country has been far too hostile to its “warfighters.” Why just this past weekend, I watched NFL league officials burn a flag before kickoff between the Packers and Cowboys, and then kick every member of the color guard square in the crotch! Disgusting!

“For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons, based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts.”

I can’t believe we promoted BLACKS to higher ranks. Did Jackie Robinson really die for this?

“We became the woke department.”

So true. Remember when they painted the Pentagon rainbow colors for Pride month?

“This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department, to rip out the politics.”

How’d you do it, Pete?

“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses.”

Oh thank God. No more trans in uniform! That’s diluting our killforce with politics! You can’t hunt down Osama bin Laden using a gender-neutral latrine!

“No more climate change worship.”

Finally, I can stop worshipping the false idol that is the only inhabitable planet in the known universe. Earth: What it is good for?

“No more division, distraction or gender delusions. No more debris. As I’ve said before and will say again, we are done with that s—t.”

OMG HE SWORE! This guy isn’t some namby-pamby sissy boy! He’s like Axl Rose!

“The new War Department golden rule is this: do unto your unit as you would have done unto your own child’s unit. Would you want him serving with fat or unfit or under trained troops or alongside people who can’t meet basic standards, or in a unit where standards were lowered so certain types of troops could make it in, in a unit where leaders were promoted for reasons other than merit, performance and warfighting? The answer is not just no, it’s hell no.”

When I was in middle school, I had a T-shirt that said HELL NO TO FAT CHICKS. So I’m glad to see Secretary Pete is fully aligned with my values. And he’s not done taking it to our fattest service members! Give ’em hell, sir!

“It all starts with physical fitness and appearance. If the secretary of war can do regular hard PT, so can every member of our joint force. Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and the world. It’s a bad look. It is bad, and it’s not who we are.”

This part makes perfect sense when you remember that President Lard wants everyone working for him to be hot enough to appear on television. If you’re a general in our army, and you’re not on an aggressive HGH regimen, or you’re unable to rock a pair of stiletto heels that makes Rupert Murdoch harder than an AP exam, you’re OUT.

“Also today, at my direction, every warrior across our joint force is required to do PT every duty day. It should be common sense, and most units do that already, but we’re codifying it. And we’re not talking, like, hot yoga and stretching.”

We’re not talking about QUEER physical training. And if you ask for avocado toast at the mess hall, that’s five months in the brig.

“This also means grooming standards. No more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression. We’re going to cut our hair, shave our beards, and adhere to standards.”

Has this idiot met the vice president? Because JD Vance has a beard for FM radio. 

“Because it’s like the broken windows theory in policing. It’s like you let the small stuff go, the big stuff eventually goes, so you have to address the small stuff.”

The broken windows theory was discredited many years ago and served largely as a template for then-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani to send turnstile jumpers directly to the electric chair.

“This is on duty, in the field and in the rear. If you want a beard, you can join Special Forces. If not, then shave. No more beardos. … The era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done.”

Damn, he hit JD with the “beardo” tag. No coming back from that. Anyway, I appreciate the War Department instituting a no facial hair policy right after the New York Yankees abandoned theirs (the Yankees stranded three runners in the bottom of the ninth Tuesday night and lost 3-1 to the hated Boston Red Sox).

“The definition of toxic has been turned upside down, and we’re correcting that. … We’re talking about words like bullying and hazing and toxic.”

The war on hazing is over! And just to make certain that bullies and hazers can flourish in the new Department of War, Hegseth and his boss are making it easier for enlistees to squeal on their commanding officers if those officers go toxic (woke)! Just like in the good old days! In fact, Hegseth now has a process for determining if you’re sufficiently old-school, and it’s rooted in hard science!

“Here are two basic frameworks I urge you to pursue in this process … the 1990 test and the E-6 test. The 1990 test is simple. What were the military standards in 1990? And if they have changed, tell me why.”

Because it’s 35 years later? Because American morale in 1990 was so low that Kurt Cobain was able to turn that ennui into culture-altering music?

“Was it a necessary change based on the evolving landscape of combat, or was the change due to a softening, weakening or gender-based pursuit of other priorities? 1990 seems to be as good a place to start as any.”

Here’s a random year that Pete drew out of a hat. BE MORE LIKE THIS YEAR. LISTEN TO MORE TRIXTER.

“Of course, being a racist has been illegal in our formation since 1948. The same goes for sexual harassment. Both are wrong and illegal. Those kinds of infractions will be ruthlessly enforced.”

BUT …?!

“But telling someone to shave or get a haircut or to get in shape or to fix their uniform or to show up on time, to work hard, that’s exactly the kind of discrimination we want.”

We will NOT tolerate discrimination in our ranks. Unless you’re fat, or weak, or gay, or trans, or a woman reporting sexual assault, or you have that sort of dirtbag goatee that every liquor store clerk has.

“We know mistakes will be made. It’s the nature of leadership.”

Like when you texted war plans to the Atlantic, yeah?

“But you should not pay for earnest mistakes for your entire career. And that’s why today, at my direction, we’re making changes to the retention of adverse information on personnel records that will allow leaders with forgivable earnest or minor infractions to not be encumbered by those infractions in perpetuity.”

All of you are entitled to violate a maximum three of your subordinates with a broomstick. If you need these violations to wage war properly, so be it.

“An entire generation of generals and admirals were told that they must parrot the insane fallacy that ‘our diversity is our strength.’ … They were told females and males are the same thing, or that males who think they’re females is totally normal. They were told that we need a green fleet and electric tanks. They were told to kick out Americans who refused an emergency vaccine.”

I will NOT stand here and let the department of woke discriminate against any soldier willing to infect his entire platoon with smallpox!

“We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for warfighters.”

This was always the goal of conservatives decrying political correctness and wokeness. They didn’t just want license to treat nonwhite, non-hetero, non-males like garbage. They wanted license to abuse and to kill them should those people ever dare to pilot a boat. This ambition was clear during Trump’s first administration, when he pardoned former Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who used his position as a sniper to gun down innocent Iraqis at randomAmon Goeth-style. SecWar Pete would now like all of our troops to Be Like Eddie. So don’t let the wokescolds tell you that killing is “wrong.” God, those people are such tight-asses!

“Today is another liberation day, the liberation of America’s warriors, in name, in deed and in authorities. You kill people and break things for a living. You are not politically correct and don’t necessarily belong always in polite society.”

I know I feel better when the man tasked with supervising the most lethal military in world history addresses his charges like they’re the prisoners from “Con Air.” Like Trump, Hegseth delivers this speech as if he’s starring in his own biopic. You can hear him waiting for a standing ovation that never comes, and it’s pathetic. This meeting served only the secretary’s whiskey-addled daydreams, and not a single active member of our armed forces. Many of the quotes you read above will be etched in stone one day, on a monument that will be torn down by a joyous protest mob.

This has been a deeply embarrassing time to be an American, and somehow Pete Hegseth has made that embarrassment even more pronounced. I bet all of the men and women and gender-fluid people (I’m woke, deal with it) in that room on Tuesday were also embarrassed. These people enlisted out of love for their country, and to do something valuable with their lives. Now they have to take orders from a narcissistic lunatic who wants them to cut weight so they can kill and pillage more efficiently. It’s disgraceful. It’s also just so, so uncomfortable. I wanna bury myself alive when I read all of this dogs—t.

At least Hegseth, toward the end of his speech, gave those same hardworking Americans an out:

“If the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign. We would thank you for your service.”

That’s actually a threat, because this administration knows only how to speak in threats. But you know what? I say you folks should call the man’s bluff. Please, all of you, resign. Quit your jobs. Don’t work another second for this corrupt department. Pete Hegseth spent all of Tuesday f—king around with our service members. Time for him to find out.

https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/pete-hegseth-is-embarrassing-21078716.php

Bloomberg: Murdoch Calls Trump’s Epstein Suit ‘Affront’ to Free Speech

Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. asked a US judge to throw out President Donald Trump’s $10 billion libel lawsuit over a Wall Street Journal report tying him to a bawdy birthday note to the late Jeffrey Epstein, calling the case “an affront to the First Amendment.”

The July 17 story about a note bearing Trump’s signature that was sent to Epstein along with a sketch of a naked woman in 2003 is true and doesn’t defame the president’s character, lawyers for the 94-year-old News Corp. chairman emeritus said Monday in a request to dismiss the suit.

“By its very nature, this meritless lawsuit threatens to chill the speech of those who dare to publish content that the President does not like,” Murdoch and News Corp. said in the filing in federal court in Miami.

Trump sued July 18, accusing Murdoch, News Corp. and Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. of maligning his character. The suit was filed as the president was fighting a firestorm of criticism over the government’s handling of documents related to the late, disgraced financier. Epstein died in prison in 2019 as he faced sex-trafficking charges.

The Wall Street Journal story, which provided details of a “birthday book” of notes compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday, raised further pressure on Trump, who has long denied any awareness of Epstein’s activities. House Democrats investigating the sex-trafficking operation run by Epstein earlier this month released the alleged birthday note that they said Trump sent to the late disgraced financier.

“Two weeks ago, in response to a congressional subpoena, Epstein’s estate produced the Birthday Book, which contains the letter bearing the bawdy drawing and plaintiff’s signature, exactly as The Wall Street Journal reported,” Murdoch and News Corp. said in the filing.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Murdoch and News Corp. said in their filing that the First Amendment’s protections for truthful speech “are the backbone of the Constitution.”

Trump “acknowledged his friendship with Epstein,” Murdoch and News Corp. said in the filing. “As the article reports, three months before the Birthday Book was gifted to Epstein, a New York magazine article quoted the plaintiff as saying that he had known Epstein for ‘15 years’ and that Epstein was a ‘terrific guy,’ ‘a lot of fun to be with,’ and ‘likes beautiful women as much as I do.’”

Murdoch in August agreed to provide Trump’s lawyers with a sworn declaration “describing his current health condition” as well as regular updates on his health as part of a deal to delay any deposition in the case. 

The filing comes days after a judge tossed Trump’s $15 billion defamation suit against the New York Times, which accused it of serving as a “mouthpiece” for the Democrats. The judge in that case said Trump’s lawyers “unmistakably and inexcusably” violated court rules by featuring “repetitive,” “superfluous” and “florid” allegations and details in the complaint. The judge gave Trump permission to refile a shorter lawsuit within the rules.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-22/murdoch-asks-judge-to-toss-out-trump-s-10-billion-epstein-suit

Hollywood Reporter: Trump’s Attack on ABC Is Illegal. It Might Not Matter

The carrot or the stick? Trump has utilized every lever of government to target networks critical of him.

The chain of events that led to ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! unfolded unusually fast. It started with a thinly-veiled threat from Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr that his agency might take action against the network over accusations that the late night host mischaracterized the politics of the man who allegedly killed Charlie Kirk.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he said to right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson. “These companies can find ways to change conduct, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Within five hours, Nextstar, an owner of ABC affiliate stations around the country, said that it would pre-empt the show “for the foreseeable future.” Minutes later, ABC pulled it indefinitely.

Since the start of his second term, President Trump has used every lever of government to fight back against what he considers conservative bias in mainstream media and adversarial coverage. By dangling carrots of selective regulatory enforcement and favorable regulation, he’s effectively been able to strongarm networks, which disguise the could-be censorship as private business decisions. Consider Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount, with CEO David Ellison intending to make major changes at CBS News, possibly by bringing on The Free Press founder Bari Weiss in a leading role at the network.

Kimmel was “fired because of bad ratings more than anyone else,” Trump, who predicted the late night host’s firing in July, said at a press conference in London. Later, he suggested revoking the licenses of adversarial broadcast networks. “I would think maybe their licenses should be taken away,” he said. Carr also told CNBC earlier in the morning that “we’re not done yet,” hinting at further changes in media.

And like approval of Paramount’s sink-or-swim merger with Skydance, Kimmel’s suspensions shines a spotlight on the power that Trump wields over dealmaking and regulatory matters in decisions with the potential to transform the long term trajectory of a company. Media execs are on notice: Bob Iger allowed ABC News’ settlement of a defamation lawsuit from Trump; Jeff Bezos revamped The Washington Post‘s opinion section to bring it more in line with Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal; Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong shifted the paper’s strategy to increasingly platform conservative views.

Here, Carr knew the affiliate networks had leverage. Nextstar reaches 220 millions viewers in the country, and it appears the company drew a hard line over Kimmel’s remarks. The FCC didn’t formally have to do anything.

“The threat is real,” says Floyd Abrams, a leading First Amendment lawyer who’s argued more than a dozen free speech cases before the Supreme Court.

To Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of U.C. Berkeley School of Law, lines were clearly crossed. “The government, including the FCC, never can impose sanctions for the views expressed,” he says. “But that is exactly what Carr threatened and ABC capitulated.”

Important to note: Nextstar is seeking regulatory approval for its $6.2 billion megamerger with Tegna that, if greenlit, would make it by far the largest owner of local TV stations in the country. But first, the FCC has to raise the 40 percent ownership cap in order to advance the deal.

By pre-empting Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Nextstar was able to curry favor with Carr. The company “stood up and said, ‘Look, we have the license, and we don’t want to run this anymore. We don’t think it serves the interests of our community,’” he said during a Wednesday segment on FOX News’ Hannity. “I’m very glad to see that America’s broadcasters are standing up to serve the interests of their community.”

Yes, Carr’s threat likely violates the First Amendment, legal scholars say, but that only matters if Disney is willing to go to court. The entertainment giant had clear incentives to fold. It has ambitions, perhaps ones that will require regulatory approval in the near future, outside of ABC. There’s the looming threat of government retaliation if it didn’t suspend Kimmel.

Recently, Disney has tried to avoid the partisan political fray. By its thinking, its brand is built on fairytales and fantasies, not taking positions on socially divisive topics, which have come with consequences (Conservatives go to Disney World too). Take the company, under pressure from its employees, criticizing a Florida education barring classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. State legislators, at the direction of Gov. Ron DeSantis, responded by assuming control of the special tax district that encompasses its 25,000-acre resort. A years-long, bitter feud with its most vital partner for its parks business that likely contributed to former chief executive Bob Chapek’s ouster and a dragging stock price, which culminated in a proxy fight with activist investor Nelson Peltz, followed.

If it does sue, which is very unlikely, Disney could lean on precedent created by an unlikely ally: The National Rifle Association. In a case before the Supreme Court last year, the justices unanimously found that the gun group’s First Amendment rights were violated when New York state officials coerced private companies into blacklisting it. The takeaway, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, is that the constitution “prohibits government officials from wielding their power selectively to punish or suppress speech.”

There are obvious parallels, says Eugene Volokh, a professor at U.C.L.A. law school and influential conservative blogger. “It’s clear that the FCC used coercive pressure — the threat of investigation or cancelling the Nextstar, Tegna merger,” he says.

It’s true that Kimmel’s remarks about the political affiliation of Kirk’s shooter were incorrect. It matters to get things right. But Carr’s intervention thrusts the FCC — and government — into a miscast role as the arbiter of truth. There’s a right to speculate on current events, even if it later turns out to be wrong.

“We’ve never been in a situation like this,” Abrams says. “It’s a real body blow to free expression.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/jimmy-kimmels-suspension-trump-era-first-amendment-threat-1236375335

CNBC: Trump was told his name was in Jeffrey Epstein files before DOJ withheld documents: WSJ

  • President Donald Trump was told in May by Attorney General Pam Bondi that his name appeared multiple times in Department of Justice documents about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, The Wall Street Journal reported.
  • Trump’s meeting with [Bimbo #3] Bondi at the White House as reported by the Journal occurred weeks before the DOJ said it would not release the Epstein files to the public, despite the attorney general’s earlier promises to do so.
  • Trump has directed [Bimbo #3] Bondi to seek the unsealing of transcripts for grand jury proceedings related to federal probes of Epstein and his convicted procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Attorney General Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi told President Donald Trump at a meeting in May that his name appeared multiple times in Department of Justice documents about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The May date reported by the Journal was weeks before the DOJ‘s July 7 announcement that it would not release the Epstein files despite earlier promises by the attorney general, who leads the DOJ, and others in the president’s orbit that the material would be disclosed to the public.

The DOJ said Wednesday in a statement that Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche discussed the Epstein files with Trump as part of their “routine briefing” but did not specify the timing of the briefing.

The Journal reported that the president was also told at the meeting that “many other high-profile figures were also named” in the Epstein files and that the “files contained what officials felt was unverified hearsay about many people, including Trump, who had socialized with Epstein in the past.” 

Being mentioned in the Epstein records is not a sign of wrongdoing, the Journal noted.

The DOJ’s decision not to release the Epstein files sparked backlash from Trump’s MAGA supporters, who have obsessed over conspiracies related to the Epstein case for years.

In the face of that criticism from his political base, Trump last week directed [Bimbo #3] Bondi to seek the unsealing of transcripts for grand jury proceedings related to federal probes of Epstein and his convicted procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Trump had been friends with Epstein for years, but the two men fell out long before Epstein killed himself in jail in August 2019, weeks after being arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges. Epstein also had many other wealthy, high-profile friends, including Britain’s Prince Andrew.

Reached for comment on the Journal’s new reporting, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told CNBC, “The fact is that The President kicked [Epstein] out of his [Mar-a-Lago] club for being a creep.”

“This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media, just like the Obama Russiagate scandal, which President Trump was right about,” Cheung said.

In a joint statement Wednesday on the Journal’s reporting, Bondi and Blanche said, “The DOJ and FBI reviewed the Epstein Files and reached the conclusion set out in the July 6 memo. Nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution, and we have filed a motion in court to unseal the underlying grand jury transcripts.”

“As part of our routine briefing, we made the President aware of the findings,” Blanche and [Bimbo #3] Bondi said.

Trump was asked last week by an ABC News journalist if [Bimbo #3] Bondi had told him “your name appeared in the files.”

“No, no,” Trump replied. “She’s given us just a very quick briefing, and in terms of the credibility of the different things that they’ve seen.”

Trump went on to say he believed that “these files were made up by” former FBI director James Comey and by the administrations of former Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

The DOJ last week fired Manhattan federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, the daughter of James Comey, whose past cases had included the federal prosecutions of Epstein and Maxwell.

The Journal last week published an article reporting that Trump in 2003 sent Epstein a “bawdy” letter to mark his 50th birthday, at Maxwell’s request.

The letter “contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker,” the Journal reported.

“A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair,” according to the newspaper.

“The letter concludes: ‘Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,'” the Journal wrote.

Trump has angrily denied writing the letter.

“This is not me. This is a fake thing. It’s a fake Wall Street Journal story,” he said Thursday. “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” he said. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”

On Friday, the president filed a defamation lawsuit related to the story against media mogul Rupert Murdoch; News Corp, which Murdoch’s family controls; News Corp’s CEO, Robert Thomson; the Journal’s publisher, Dow Jones & Co.; and the two reporters who wrote the article, which was published Thursday evening. News Corp owns the Journal.

Trump’s lawsuit seeks at least $10 billion in damages.

A Dow Jones spokesperson told CNBC: “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/23/trump-jeffrey-epstein-files-wsj.html

Mediaite: ‘MAGA HATES FoxNews’: Trump Lashes Out at Murdoch Media Empire in Truth Social Tirade

President Donald Trump lashed out at Rupert Murdoch’s conservative media empire in a Thursday morning Truth Social tirade that saw him declare that “MAGA HATES FoxNews.”

“The Crooked FoxNews Polls got the Election WRONG, I won by much more than they said I would, and have been biased against me for years. They are always wrong and negative. It’s why MAGA HATES FoxNews, even though their anchors are GREAT,” began Trump in his first post on the subject.

“This has gone on for years, but they never change the incompetent polling company that does their work. Now a new FoxNews poll comes out this morning giving me a little more than 50% at the Border, and yet the Border is miraculously perfect, NOBODY WAS ABLE TO COME IN LAST MONTH. 60,000 people came in with Sleepy Joe in the same month last year,” he continued. “I hate FAKE pollsters, one of the Worst, but Fox will never change their discredited pollster!”

Then in a follow-up post, the president fired a shot at Murdoch’s flagship newspaper, The Wall Street Journal.

“The Wall Street Journal has No Idea what my thoughts are concerning Iran!” he wrote. The Journal has reported that Trump has approved American plans to attack Iran, but is holding out to give the final go-ahead in a last ditch hope that the Iranians would willingly give up their nuclear program.

King Donald hates anyone who doesn’t inflate his ego sufficiently.

MSNBC: The damage has been done: MAGA spreads misinformation after Minnesota shootings

Early reporting suggests the suspect, Vance Boelter, is an evangelical Christian and a conservative who attended political rallies for Donald Trump. Boelter was allegedly targeting liberals and abortion rights advocates, and he reportedly had a hit list naming other prominent Democrats.

But there has been a concerted effort among some on the political right to pretend that this targeted, political attack is not what it looks like.

When Trump was asked on Tuesday if he had called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz about the shootings, the president told reporters: “I don’t want to call him.”

“Look, he appointed this guy to a position. I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out. I’m not calling him. Why would I call him? I could call and say, ‘Hi, how you doing?’ The guy doesn’t have a clue. He’s a mess. So, you know, I could be nice and call, but why waste time?”

Trump’s claim that Walz “appointed” Boelter was likely in response to a story that broke in The New York Post on Saturday afternoon amid all the confusion in the wake of the shooting. It was truly one of the most audaciously cynical things I have ever seen from a Rupert Murdoch-owned publication — and that is really saying something.

An archived version of the headline as it appeared on the Post’s website Saturday read: “Former appointee of Tim Walz sought in deadly shootings of Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, had ‘No Kings’ fliers in car: sources”

In that article, The New York Post took two facts about this case and appeared to use them to manufacture a completely false narrative. First, the fact that the suspect, Boelter, was reappointed to an incredibly obscure little bipartisan commission on workforce development by Walz a few years ago. And second, that the suspect, who was targeting critics of Trump, apparently had flyers for Saturday’s “No Kings” protest in his car. The idea here, it appears, was to paint this guy as some sort of leftist.

Naturally, this conspiracy theory spread in the sewer that is Elon Musk’s social media platform, X. In fact, it was even promoted by Musk himself, who shared the conspiracy initially, adding: “The left is murderously violent.” He later edited the post to read: “The far left is murderously violent.”

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah helped spread the misinformation by making a number of despicable comments about the shooting on his personal X account. Lee shared an image of the alleged gunman with the caption: “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way.”

You have to come to one of two conclusions here: Either Lee is so childishly gullible that he will believe even the most outlandish conspiracy with the flimsiest of evidence. Or he is so unfathomably cynical that he knows it’s a lie but wants his followers to believe it anyway.

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/minnesota-shootings-republican-misinformation-rcna213743

Latin Times: Former Fox News Favorite Declares Network a ‘Propaganda Hose’ Aimed at Manipulating ‘Elderly’ Viewers

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is accusing the network he once called home of operating as a “propaganda hose” aimed at manipulating its older viewers into supporting war, including the latest U.S. entanglement in Iran.

Carlson, once one of Fox News’ most influential and highest-rated personalities, has increasingly broken from the Trump-aligned right in recent months. His departure from the network in 2023 marked the beginning of a shift, with Carlson growing more outspoken against U.S. foreign policy, particularly military involvement in the Middle East.

Appearing on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, Carlson condemned Fox News and its primetime personalities, most notably Sean Hannity, for cheerleading Israeli strikes on Iran and pushing for U.S. military involvement.

He called out what he described as the network’s deliberate effort to stir pro-war sentiment among “elderly” viewers.

“What they are doing is what they always do, which is just turning up the propaganda hose to full blast and just trying to knock elderly Fox viewers off their feet and make them subject to more wars,” Carlson said.

https://www.latintimes.com/former-fox-news-favorite-declares-network-propaganda-hose-aimed-manipulating-elderly-viewers-585175

Sacramento Bee: ‘Future Impeachment’: WSJ Delivers Warning to Trump

WSJ columnist Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. criticized tariffs, claiming they came from Trump’s “own confused intuition.” Following a press release termed “Liberation Day,” Trump imposed tariffs that caused the worst market performance since early 2020.

Jenkins said, “A future Trump impeachment seemed all but guaranteed.” He added, “It seems only slightly less likely now. It may even be desirable to restore America’s standing with creditors and trade partners.”

Let us pray for that impeachment!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/future-impeachment-wsj-delivers-warning-to-trump/ar-AA1FeNSb