Top Items:
The Bulwark:
Why the Epstein Coverup Matters — In free societies, government coverups are difficult. In authoritarian ones, they're routine. — Jeffrey Epstein damage control continues at the Justice Department, with Pam Bondi announcing this morning that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche …
Discussion:
CNN, Off Message and Florida Politics
RELATED:
Politico:
House Republicans at standstill over Epstein drama — House Republicans may choose to scrap several floor votes this week as internal party drama over the release of Jeffrey Epstein files is derailing the work of the Rules Committee. The panel came to a standstill, again …
Discussion:
The Hill, emptywheel and Democrats
Axios:
House grinds to a halt as GOP tries to shut down Epstein votes — House Republicans have virtually stopped work on all major legislation leading up to their six-week summer recess to avoid taking votes on forcing the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. … - “They're certainly not making it easier for themselves. ...
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, CNN and Reason
Punchbowl News:
Epstein mess freezes the House — again — Speaker Mike Johnson may as well send the House home today. In fact, they probably should've taken the week off. — The House Rules Committee, the speaker-controlled panel charged with shaping legislation for the floor, is completely frozen …
Discussion:
MeidasTouch News, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, HuffPost and The Hill
Politico:
House GOP eyes exit over Epstein meltdown
House GOP eyes exit over Epstein meltdown
Discussion:
Associated Press, Puck, The Hill, New Republic, ABC News, Breitbart, The Independent and CBS News
Annie Karni / New York Times:
Johnson Says He Won't Hold Vote Calling on Trump to Release Epstein Files This Summer
Johnson Says He Won't Hold Vote Calling on Trump to Release Epstein Files This Summer
Punchbowl News:
Where could the House GOP redistrict next?
Where could the House GOP redistrict next?
Discussion:
The Hill, New York Times, NPR, WFAA-TV, WTOP News, Washington Post, Tallahassee Democrat, MSNBC, New Jersey Globe and The Guardian
Bill Scher / Washington Monthly:
Democrats Should Get Tough and Quit Negotiating Spending Bills
Democrats Should Get Tough and Quit Negotiating Spending Bills
Discussion:
Roll Call
Politico:
Playbook: Three big questions about 2026
Playbook: Three big questions about 2026
Discussion:
Fox News, The Floridian, The Hill, NewsMax.com and New York Post
Jordain Carney / Politico:
Schumer's strategy for avoiding a shutdown strategy scramble
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Trump's forever grudge ties Epstein files to Russia “hoax” — President Trump is redirecting his fury over the Jeffrey Epstein files into one of MAGA's oldest obsessions: punishing Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the officials involved in the 2016 Russia investigation.
Discussion:
Blaze Media, NewsMax.com, The Gateway Pundit, LewRockwell, Townhall and Washington Examiner
RELATED:
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Tulsi Gabbard's ‘seditious conspiracy’ claim is based on thin gruel
Discussion:
Raw Story, Mother Jones, The Dispatch, The Federalist and One America News Network
Cleve R. Wootson Jr / Washington Post:
As MAGA world focuses on Epstein, Trump seeks focus on anything else
As MAGA world focuses on Epstein, Trump seeks focus on anything else
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Examiner and Associated Press
Will Sommer / The Bulwark:
Trump's Big Epstein Distraction Isn't Working
Trump's Big Epstein Distraction Isn't Working
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
Dan De Luce / NBC News:
Trump's intelligence chiefs try to rewrite the history of the 2016 election
Trump's intelligence chiefs try to rewrite the history of the 2016 election
Discussion:
The Federalist, American Thinker, HuffPost, American Greatness, CBS News, NPR, NewsNation, New York Post, HotAir, twitchy.com, Mediaite, Townhall, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit and The Bulwark
emptywheel:
Trump's Defense Attorney Todd Blanche Will Meet with Sex Trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to Make a Deal for His Client — Trump Defense Attorney Todd Blanche and Pam Bondi just announced that Blanche will meet with Ghislaine Maxwell and discuss potential cooperation deals with her.
RELATED:
Avery Lotz / Axios:
Deputy Attorney General seeking meeting with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell — Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Tuesday that he is seeking a meeting with Jeffrey Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell. … - “No one is above the law—and no lead is off-limits,” he wrote.
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Guardian, TMZ.com and Florida Politics
Politico:
DOJ reaches out to Ghislaine Maxwell's attorneys, expects a meeting with her
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Parnas Perspective and twitchy.com
Politico:
White House removes Wall Street Journal from Scotland press pool over Epstein bombshell … The White House is removing the Wall Street Journal from the pool of reporters covering the president's weekend trip to Scotland, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told POLITICO.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Poynter, RTÉ, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story, CBS News, New York Daily News, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Forbes, Axios, The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali, Deadline, New Republic, The Hill, The Independent, The Wrap, Mediaite, The Post Millennial, NOTUS, MSNBC, Daily Kos and NewsMax.com, more at Mediagazer »
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Ankush Khardori / Politico:
Trump's WSJ Lawsuit Raises a New Constitutional Question … The president can sue you, but you can't sue him. — It seems like an absurd thing to say but that's effectively the reality of our legal system today, one that has become increasingly alarming during Donald Trump's second term.
National Archives:
Records Related to the Assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — On This Page — The National Archives' Role in Fulfilling Executive Order 14176 — How is the National Archives Making These Records Available? — 2025 Release — Release Notes — Contact Us
Discussion:
New York Times, The Gateway Pundit, CBS News, Mediaite, NPR, Reuters, Breitbart, RedState, USA Today, UPI, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, Blaze Media, Fox News, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, NewsNation and The Hill
RELATED:
Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:
Tulsi dumps COINTELPRO files on MLK
Discussion:
Washington Post, ABC News, twitchy.com, Raw Story, New Republic and New York Post
Gabe Cohen / CNN:
FEMA search and rescue chief resigns after frustration with Texas flood response — The head of FEMA's Urban Search and Rescue branch, which runs a network of teams stationed across the country that can swiftly respond to natural disasters, resigned on Monday.
Discussion:
NOTUS
Diana Nerozzi / New York Post:
Trump to pull US out of UNESCO over DEI policies, pro-Palestinian, pro-China tilt — WASHINGTON — President Trump is pulling the US out of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), citing its anti-America and anti-Israel leanings as well as its woke agenda, The Post has learned.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, NewsNation, Fox News, Bloomberg, CBS News, WTOP News, israelhayom.com and Newsweek
RELATED:
Aurelien Breeden / New York Times:
U.S. Says It Will Withdraw From U.N. Cultural Organization, Again
U.S. Says It Will Withdraw From U.N. Cultural Organization, Again
Discussion:
Axios, Reuters, The Guardian, RTÉ and Associated Press
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
From Truth Social to bitcoin empire: Trump's $2 billion pivot — Since President Trump's election in November, the price of bitcoin has skyrocketed. On Election Day 2024, one bitcoin traded below $75,000. Last week, bitcoin reached an all-time high of over $123,000. (On Monday, it hovered around $118,000.)
Discussion:
Bloomberg, CNBC, CBS News and Crypto Briefing
RELATED:
Paul Waldman / Public Notice:
How the crypto industry bought Trump (and by extension DC)
How the crypto industry bought Trump (and by extension DC)
Discussion:
The Hill
Elizabeth Williamson / New York Times:
Big Law Firms Bowed to Trump. A Corps of ‘Little Guys’ Jumped in to Fight Him. — Solo practitioners, former government litigators and small law offices stepped up to help challenge the Trump administration's agenda in court after the White House sought to punish many big firms.
Associated Press:
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, ‘Cosby Show’ actor, dies at 54 in Costa Rica drowning — Malcolm-Jamal Warner the actor who played teenage son Theo Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” has died at age 54 in an accidental drowning in Costa Rica, authorities there said. Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Department …
Discussion:
People, CNN, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Advocate, Page Six, OutsideTheBeltway, The Black Wall Street Times, New York Times, E! Online, NPR, CBS News, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Reuters, Rolling Stone, Mercury News, Washington Examiner, One America News Network, TMZ.com, ABC News, WFAA-TV, The Gateway Pundit, The Hollywood Reporter, NewsNation, New York Post, Daily Mail, New York Daily News, ABC7, NBC News, RedState, Los Angeles Times, WJXX-TV, Vanity Fair, The Wrap, Deadline, UPI, Variety, WTOP News, twitchy.com, Plain Dealer, abc7NY, New Jersey Online, Breitbart and Fox News
Dylan Lovan / Associated Press:
Judge gives ex-officer nearly 3 years in Breonna Taylor raid, rebuffs DOJ call for no prison time — A federal judge on Monday sentenced a former Kentucky police officer to nearly three years in prison for using excessive force during the deadly Breonna Taylor raid five years ago …
Discussion:
Associated Press, CBS News, Reuters, New York Times, The 19th, NBC News, The Black Wall Street Times, WAVE-TV, Courier-Journal, Christian Science Monitor, UPI, Salon, WFAA-TV, Washington Examiner, New York Daily News, FOX 11 Los Angeles, The Gateway Pundit, Axios, NewsNation, Fox News, NewsMax.com, Al Jazeera, Washington Post, HotAir and WTOP News
Amanda Castro / Newsweek:
Pam Bondi Grants Hillary Clinton Email Probe Request Amid Epstein Furor — Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Monday that the Justice Department has released documents related to the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. — The Context
Alice Speri / The Guardian:
Revealed: Harvard publisher cancels entire journal issue on Palestine shortly before publication — As Harvard's feud with Trump escalated, so did tensions over an ‘education and Palestine’ issue of a prestigious journal. Scholars blame the ‘Palestine exception’ to academic freedom
New York Times:
Can The Washington Post's TikTok Guy Make It Without The Post? … Dave Jorgenson is leaving The Post next month to start an online video company based on his personal YouTube channel, Local News International. — For years, Dave Jorgenson has been nearly synonymous with The Washington Post on social media.
Samantha Hancox-Li / Liberal Currents:
We Need to Talk About Pedocon Theory — The connection been Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein is no accident, but reveals a deep logic at the heart of reactionary politics. … I would prefer here a precise accounting of Jeffrey Epstein's history of pedophilia. Unfortunately, much remains unknown.
Jason Beeferman / Politico:
Zohran's Bronx Science tales — MAMDANI PLAYS HOOKY: He's just like us. He got detention. He cut class to get lunch. He says he's bad at math. — Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani graduated from the public, test-in, competitive Bronx Science High School in 2010.
Zach Montague / New York Times:
Trump's Student Arrests, and the Lawsuit Fighting Them, Tread New Ground — The Trump administration's efforts to deport foreign students who espoused pro-Palestinian views under a little-used foreign policy provision have no obvious legal parallel. — The four veteran immigration agents …
Discussion:
New Yorker
Paul Krugman:
Has Brazil Invented the Future of Money? — And will it ever come to America? — Last week the House passed the GENIUS Act, which will boost the growth of stablecoins, thereby paving the way for future scams and financial crises. On Thursday the House also passed a bill that would bar …
Discussion:
Crypto Briefing and Financial Times

