Tag Archives: Scotland
‘I Have Nothing To Do With The Guy’: Trump Tries To Escape His Past As He Denies Any ‘Relationship’ With Epstein During Press Gaggle [Video]
During a gaggle with the press outside the White House several weeks ago, Donald Trump denied having had any “relationship” with Jeffrey Epstein. He dismissively told reporters, “I have nothing to do with the guy.” He even claimed he never set foot on Epstein’s island.
Raw Story: ‘He’s a nut’: Republicans turn on Trump attack dog [Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent] who got ‘too big for his britches’
Republican lawmakers are reportedly fed up with housing official Bill Pulte and view him as “a nut,” Politico reports.
The Trump administration’s Federal Housing Finance Agency director is now at the center of President Donald Trump’s heated campaign against the Federal Reserve and has become “one of his most vociferous social media attack dogs” for the commander-in-chief.
Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Pulte, threatening physical violence during an exclusive Georgetown event for Trump administration officials.
During the cocktail hour, Bessent launched into an aggressive confrontation with Pulte, claiming the housing official had been speaking negatively about him to Trump. Witnesses reported Bessent’s explosive verbal assault, with him demanding, “Why the f— are you talking to the president about me? F— you,” and declaring, “I’m gonna punch you in your f—ing face.”
Republicans are reportedly pleased that Bessent confronted Pulte.
Speaking anonymously to Politico due to the sensitive nature of the administration infighting, one lawmaker shared frustration over Pulte.
“I think he’s a nut,” one House Republican told Politico.
“The guy’s just a little too big for his britches,” said another GOP lawmaker and member of the House Financial Services Committee. “I’ve got great respect for Bessent for taking him on.”
Pulte initiated mortgage fraud allegations against Fed Governor Lisa Cook — Trump later moved to fire her. Like Trump, Pulte also attacks Fed Chair Jerome Powell, claiming his handling of monetary policy and the expensive renovations to the central bank’s Washington headquarters.
“Rank-and-file Hill Republicans” appear to back Bessent and see him as “a key stabilizing force on economic policy within the Trump administration.”
Many Republicans see Bessent as “the adult in the room.”
Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA), chair of the House Financial Services oversight subcommittee, prefers Bessent’s approach.
“I’m always in line with where the president wants to go, and I believe [Pulte] is as well,” he said. “I know Secretary Bessent is, and that’s where my loyalties lie, with the president and with Secretary Bessent.”
“I would have done the same,” another Republican who spoke anonymously to Politico said.
Slingshot News: ‘Another Win For The American People’: Karoline Leavitt Shamelessly Brandishes Trump’s Mass Deportations During White House Press Briefing
Raw Story: ‘Legally debated’: Experts say Trump’s ‘midnight’ move is ‘first step toward a shut down’
Donald Trump just made a “legally debated” move that will put us on the course toward a shut down next month, according to political experts.
The conservative New York Post reported in a “midnight scoop” that Trump had scrapped $5 billion in foreign aid in a “rare” action called a “pocket rescission.” According to Post reporter Steven Nelson, it is a “legally debated maneuver that hasn’t been used in 48 years.”
“President Trump is moving to cancel nearly $5 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid and peacekeeping spending in a rare ‘pocket rescission,’ The Post has learned — making use of a legally debated maneuver that hasn’t been done in 48 years,” Nelson reported. “Trump on Thursday night notified Congress of his request to cancel the funds, which had been tied up in a court case until earlier in the day.”
The report notes, “A pocket rescission is a request that’s presented to Congress so late in the fiscal year — which ends Sept. 30 — that it’s made regardless of whether Congress acts.”
But reporters were quick to sound an alarm.
Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman flagged the news over night going into Friday, saying, “This would be the first step toward a shutdown next month.”
Co-founder John Bresnahan agreed, writing, “This could very well lead to a shutdown.”
One X user, District of Aluminum, added, “Vainglorious Russ Vought has decided to jeopardize a government shutdown with a $5 Billion ‘Pocket Rescission’ of foreign aid. He should have worked with Congress through appropriations. The villainy lies in his certainty that he alone knows the soul of America.”
https://www.rawstory.com/legally-debated-trump-shutdown-rescission
Alternet: ‘Turning people against him’: Trump’s approval is ‘cratering’ on every major issue
Barely more than one-third of Americans approve of how President Donald Trump is doing his job, and on key issues, his support is underwater.
Just thirty-seven percent of Americans give President Trump good marks overall, while more than half the country, fifty-five percent, disapprove, according to the latest Quinnipiac University national poll.
The partisan divide is large, with 84% of Republicans saying he is doing a good job, and 98% of Democrats saying he is not. The majority of independents, 58%, agree with Democrats and disapprove.
Just less than three in ten women (29%) approve of President Trump’s performance, while 46% of men do.
On crime, the majority (54%) disapprove of Trump’s performance, just 42% approve.
On the economy, fewer than four in ten (39%) approve, and 57% disapprove.
Similarly, on trade, just 38% approve, while 56% disapprove.
On his efforts to end the Ukraine war, a majority (52%) disapprove, while just 40% approve.
“Voters have little confidence in President Trump’s effort to broker peace in Ukraine, and most voters don’t trust Vladimir Putin to keep a peace deal if one were reached,” Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy wrote. “And though the president has ruled out putting U.S. troops in the war theater to keep the peace, four out of 10 voters would support it,”
And two-thirds of Americans (67%) disapprove of his handling of the Epstein files.
According to the non-partisan group Political Polls, this is Trump’s lowest approval rating in this term.
Critics and strategists weighed in.
Mike Madrid, the top Republican Latino political consultant, remarked, “Brutal poll results for Trump. Just brutal.”
“Striking” is how The New Republic’s Greg Sargent described the poll’s finding on Trump deploying the National Guard, and he noted that Trump’s “overall approval on crime is cratering.”
“Predictably, Trump’s terrible overreach is again turning people against him in an area where he was previously perceived as strong, just as on immigration and the economy,” wrote Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). “Per Quinnipiac, independents oppose his DC occupation 61-34. Overall: 56-41 against.”
Nicki Swift: Trump’s Salacious Comments About Karoline Leavitt Won’t Help Her Apparent Donald Obsession
There’s absolutely no doubting Karoline Leavitt’s devotion to Donald Trump, which seemingly borders on obsession. If you cut her, she’d probably bleed MAGA red. And, going by recent lascivious comments the president has made about his enamored employee, the feelings appear reciprocal.
“She’s become a star. It’s that face, it’s that brain, and it’s those lips,” Trump drooled during an August 1 interview with Newsmax before drawing on a bizarre analogy. “The way they move, they move like she’s a machine gun,” he said, continuing to heap on the praise by claiming that nobody in the history of the United States has ever had a biglier, beautifuler and better media mouthpiece.
There’s absolutely no doubting Karoline Leavitt’s devotion to Donald Trump, which seemingly borders on obsession. If you cut her, she’d probably bleed MAGA red. And, going by recent lascivious comments the president has made about his enamored employee, the feelings appear reciprocal.
“She’s become a star. It’s that face, it’s that brain, and it’s those lips,” Trump drooled during an August 1 interview with Newsmax before drawing on a bizarre analogy. “The way they move, they move like she’s a machine gun,” he said, continuing to heap on the praise by claiming that nobody in the history of the United States has ever had a biglier, beautifuler and better media mouthpiece.
Leavitt doesn’t know how to quit Trump stanning
Donald Trump surrounds himself with “yes” people. They strictly adhere to the party line and are not backward in coming forward with adulation and fervent defences, no matter how indefensible Trump’s actions are. However, if they dare to step out of line, their downfall is fast and furious, as evident by Trump’s epic fallout with his first VP, Mike Pence. Still, given Karoline Leavitt’s unwavering devotion, it’s impossible to envision such an indignity ever befalling her.
“Leavitt’s either tragically uninformed or lying, MSNBC “Deadline: Washington” host and political commentator, Nicolle Wallace, claimed in March 2025. Given Leavitt’s complete subservience, parroting of narrative, and unbridled fury at anyone who dares question Trump’s alternative facts, Occam’s razor seemingly points to lying, with way more than a healthy dose of obsession added. During a July 31 White House press conference, Leavitt drastically upped her game by exalting Trump for the many global conflicts he’s professed to have brokered ceasefires for and/or ended wars in since entering office on January 20. “It’s well past time President Trump was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” she insisted.
Leavitt’s call for 47 to be honored was met with mixed reactions. “Every dictator has a spokesperson like Karoline Leavitt: officious, condescending, arrogant, humorless, overbearing, sanctimonious, dismissive, zealous, unapproachable, militant, inflexible, pedantic, aloof, hostile, patronizing, contemptuous, self-important, thin-skinned, and worshipful of their ‘dear leader,'” one X, formerly Twitter, commenter ranted. “Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize Caroline [sic] Leavitt for President,” another gushed.

https://www.nickiswift.com/1928980/trump-salacious-comments-karoline-leavitt-her-donald-obsession
Mirror: Trump interrupted by panicking UK Prime Minister for making ‘false’ allegation
The leaders of the UK and US got into a small disagreement about estate taxes as Trump and Starmer met to discuss tariffs
President Donald Trump was swiftly interrupted by Keir Starmer as the UK Prime Minister attempted to correct him about inheritance taxes on farmers.
The pair met in Scotland on Monday to discuss tariffs, Gaza, and other topics. During a press conference, the president slammed inheritance taxes on farmers, claiming farmers in the US had been driven to suicide by high taxes on their farmhouses and estates. Trump, who made a massive Epstein files radio blunder, bragged about removing those taxes, and suggested Starmer do the same.
“We were losing a lot of farms to the banks because a loving mother and father would die and left their farm to their children or their child…but they had a 50% tax to pay, so the land would get valued and at a high number because some of the farms were valuable but they…couldn’t quantify it,” Trump said, which comes amid alarming fears over the president’s health due to an injury being spotted.
“And they go out and borrow money to pay the estate tax or the death taxes it’s called. And they’d overextend and they’d lose the farm and they commit suicide in many cases.”
Starmer interrupted the president as he took aim at Trump’s figures.
“No, no, no, our levels are nowhere near 50 percent, they’re not. We’ve just introduced where it’s paid over many years, let’s get an extra 2 percent a year over 10 years, so it’s not at those levels by any stretch of the imagination,” Starmer said.
“But the other thing that we’ve done, as you know, is make sure that we’ve got a pathway for farmers that actually increases their year-on-year income, which is the most important thing.”
Trump also had some advice to offer to his British counterpart on winning reelection – cutting taxes and going after illegal immigration. The two leaders are conducting discussions at Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland, where they’ve covered a broad spectrum of topics.
Trump’s guidance comes as Farage’s Reform UK maintains a solid advantage over Labour in polling data, according to The Independent.
When questioned about the race between Keir and Farage, Trump responded: “I don’t know the politics of it, I don’t know where they stand. I would say one’s slightly liberal, not that liberal, slightly, and the other one’s slightly conservative, but they’re both good men.”
Trump also reflected on how his unprecedented second state visit, scheduled for later this year, has never been done and reminisced about his last state visit in 2019 during his first term.
“It was one of the most beautiful evenings I’ve ever seen,” Trump said of his first visit. As he spoke about the pomp and ceremony of the evening, he said to Starmer, “Nobody does it like you people.”
Starmer, too, pointed out how the nation had never invited a U.S. president for a second state visit. “You can imagine just how special that’s going to be,” Starmer said.
It comes after a Trump family member revealed the latest chilling symptom of his cognitive decline and revealed he is “far gone”.

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/trump-interrupted-panicking-uk-prime-1295386
Raw Story: ‘Bad situation’: Expert warns Trump in legal jeopardy with ‘significant’ Epstein admission
A legal expert warned President Donald Trump on Tuesday that he may have put himself in legal jeopardy by admitting he knew one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.
Trump told reporters earlier on Tuesday that Epstein “stole” Virginia Giuffre from him when she was employed at Mar-a-Lago. That claim could backfire on Trump because it shows that he knew one of the central victims in the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, according to Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University.
Goodman pointed to Maxwell’s 2022 sentencing, where the judge enhanced her sentence to 20 years because of Giuffre’s testimony.
“It’s that much of a significant statement,” Goodman told Erin Burnett on CNN’s “OutFront.” “If he had said he was aware of it from the court documents, then he’s ok in that regard. But I think that’s a very potentially bad situation for him to be in.”
Trump has fiercely tried to distance himself from the Epstein files saga, which has consumed his presidency for the last three weeks. However, his attempts appear to be falling short.
For example, multiple outlets have published previously unreported ties between the two men. The Wall Street Journal published a letter that Trump allegedly sent to Epstein for his 50th birthday. The New York Times has published details from one of Epstein’s accusers, and CNN has published previously unseen photos of the two men together at different events in the 1990s.
Trump’s comments come at a time when Maxwell has agreed to testify before Congress. Trump’s Justice Department has met with Maxwell and her lawyer multiple times, and some experts have suggested that Trump may pardon Maxwell in exchange for damaging testimony against Trump’s political rivals.
Mediaite: Trump Snaps ‘Be Quiet!’ At CNN’s Kaitlan Collins When Confronted About New Epstein Bombshell
President Donald Trump snapped at CNN Senior White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins when she confronted him about the new Jeffrey Epstein bombshell he dropped on Air Force One minutes earlier.
While Trump was dogged by questions about his currently dead sex criminal onetime pal Epstein throughout his trip to Scotland, the ride home turned out to be the most revealing.
On Tuesday, Trump emerged into the press cabin to take questions for about half an hour, during which he slowly tricked his way through revelations about his split with Epstein that crescendoed with the bombshell that deceased Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre was among the Mar-a-Lago staffers Epstein “stole” from the spa at Mar-a-Lago:
REPORTER: Mr. President, did — did one of those stolen, you know, persons, did that include Virginia Giuffre?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people, yes. He — he stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know. None whatsoever.
After the plane landed and Trump returned to the White House, Collins led a brief scrum on the colonnade that included a confrontation over the Giuffre revelation.
When Collins asked if the “stealing” of young women from the spas raised “alarm bells” for him at the time, Trump snapped “Be quiet!”
Undeterred, Collins continued to press Trump as he walked away:
CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT KAITLAN COLLINS: Mr. President, you said earlier that Jeffrey Epstein was stealing young women. You said Jeffrey Epstine was stealing women from your spa. Did that raise alarm bells for you?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Be quiet!
CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT KAITLAN COLLINS: Did that raise alarm bells for you?
…
CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT KAITLAN COLLINS: Ghislaine Maxwell says she’ll only testify if you pardon her or she gets immunity–.
