SICKOFITRADLZ

Monday, March 9, 2026

Hate mechant Andy Ogles and Chump's hinting at a draft

Some people only know how to preach hate and intolerance. Jennifer Bendery (Huffington Post) reports:

Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) said Monday that Muslims shouldn’t be in the United States.

“Muslims don’t belong in American society,” Ogles wrote on social media. “Pluralism is a lie.”

The Republican member of Congress, a far-right conservative with a record of being brazenlyIslamophobic, seemed to be reacting to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s condemnation of an anti-Islam rally organized outside his home on Saturday by pardoned Jan. 6 insurrectionist Jake Lang.

What a piece of work. WIKIPEDIA notes:

Ogles has taken strongly conservative positions and been described by media as being on the far-right of the political spectrum.[2][3] He has called for Christian nationalism in the United States, and he opposes abortion and same-sex marriage. He was one of the original 19 members of Congress to vote against Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House. He is known for his staunch support for Donald Trump,[4][5] and for sending Christmas cards featuring a photo of his family holding rifles.[6]

During the attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, Ogles falsely claimed that it was stolen. He has proposed a constitutional amendment to enable Trump to serve a third presidential term and filed articles of impeachment against judges who rule against the Trump administration.[4]

Ogles has been criticized for lying about his education and career backgrounds, having falsely claimed to be both an economist and law-enforcement officer.

He truly is a vile and disgusting person. David Badash notes some of the response to Ogles' hatred:

U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) responded, writing: “The founders put freedom of religion in the FIRST Amendment for a reason. Muslims have lived in America since the 1600s. E Pluribus Unum, an ode to our pluralism, has been our country’s traditional motto since 1782.”

“Maybe it’s YOUR values that don’t belong in American society,” he concluded.

The Independent’s D.C. Bureau Chief Eric Michael Garcia called it, “Blatant racism and islamophobia from a sitting member of Congress.”

The Bulwark’s Joe Perticone observed, “It’s wild that the type of things Steve King had his committee assignments stripped for are now almost median House Republican views.”

Politico’s Carla Marinucci called Congressman Ogles’ remark “Reprehensible.”

Also vile is Donald Chump. Kinsey Crowley (USA TODAY) notes:

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not dispel fears of a military draft for the war in Iran in an interview appearance over the weekend.

Leavitt appeared on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" with Maria Bartiromo on March 8, speaking about the war in Iran, rising fuel prices and the SAVE Act.

"Mothers out there are worried that we're gonna have a draft, that they're going to see their sons and daughters get involved in this. What do you wanna say about the president's plan for troops on the ground?" Bartiromo asked.

"(President Donald Trump) wisely does not remove options off of the table," Leavitt responded. She also echoed her comments from an earlier briefing, saying that having troops on the ground is not currently part of the plan, which is largely an air campaign. "The president as commander in chief wants to continue to assess the success of this military operation."

Alex Woodward (Independent) adds:

“Refusing to rule out boots on the ground, let alone a draft, sends a chilling message to service members and their families: your lives and futures are bargaining chips in an open-ended conflict with no clear endgame or congressional authorization,” Naveed Shah, political director for veterans’ advocacy group Common Defense, told The Independent.

“We’ve seen this playbook before, in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, where initial promises of quick, limited action gave way to boots-on-the-ground, then troop surges, prolonged occupations, and massive human costs,” he said.

“A draft would be catastrophic: it would disproportionately hit working-class communities, divide the nation further, and undermine the all-volunteer force we've relied on since 1973,” according to Shah. “The U.S. military is strong and capable, but it’s not infinite, especially with recruitment challenges and existing global commitments.”

Here's C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"

Monday, March 9, 2026. Another US service member is dead in Chump and Netanyahu's war on Iran, the price of oil is soaring due to the war, the US government has ordered US diplomatic personnel out of Saudi Arabia, Iran chooses a new leader, the Epstein Files scandal continues and the woman who spoke out in three interviews with the FBI about Chump allegedly assaulting her finds some details she shared confirmed by a press investigation.

Malachy Browne and John Ismay (NEW YORK TIMES) report:

A newly released video adds to the evidence that an American missile likely hit an Iranian elementary school where 175 people, many of them children, were reported killed.

The video, uploaded on Sunday by Iran’s semiofficial Mehr News Agency and verified by The New York Times, shows a Tomahawk cruise missile striking a naval base beside the school in the town of Minab on Feb. 28. The U.S. military is the only force involved in the conflict that uses Tomahawk missiles.

A body of evidence assembled by The Times — including satellite imagery, social media posts and other verified videos — indicates that the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school building was severely damaged by a precision strike that occurred at the same time as attacks on the naval base. The base is operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Asked by a reporter from The Times on Saturday if the United States had bombed the school, President Trump said: “No. In my opinion and based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran.” He said, “They’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was standing beside Mr. Trump, said the Pentagon was investigating, “but the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”

The video of the strike, which was first reported by the research collective Bellingcat, was independently verified by The Times. We compared features visible in the footage to new satellite imagery captured days after the strikes in Minab.

The video was filmed from a construction site opposite the base and shows a worn, dirt path across a grassy area and piles of debris also evident in recent satellite imagery, bolstering its credibility. The video also comports with other verified videos taken in the immediate aftermath of the strikes.

There is no turning to the US in Iran. Not when you've killed children in a school and certainly not when you lie about it. You can see the resistance to the US in many actions including the selection of a new leader. Farnaz Fassihi and Yan Zhuang (NEW YORK TIMES) note:

Iran projected defiance in the face of expanding U.S.-Israeli attacks on Monday by naming a son of its slain supreme leader as his successor, disregarding warnings from the Trump administration, while a surge in oil prices signaled growing alarm over the war’s effect on the global economy.

The new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was appointed by a committee of senior clerics days after President Trump declared that he was an “unacceptable choice” and amid Israeli threats to kill Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s successor.

Carlotta Gall (NEW YORK TIMES) adds:

There have been only two supreme leaders since the job was created after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Now Iran has a third.

Mojtaba Khamenei, a 56-year-old politician, cleric and son of the previous supreme leader, was appointed to the role by a council of 88 clerics, known as the Assembly of Experts, according to a statement released early Monday morning local time.

As supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei becomes the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Iran, both a spiritual leader and the highest authority in the land. Under Iran’s Constitution, that gives him overarching control of Iran’s politics and its armed forces, as well as leadership in religious affairs.

On Chump and Netanyahu's war on Iran, Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper (NEW YORK TIMES) report, "Another American service member has died in the war with Iran, the Pentagon said on Sunday, bringing the number of American troops killed in the conflict to seven. The service member, who was not publicly identified while the military notifies relatives, was seriously injured on March 1 when Iran struck a Saudi military base where American troops were stationed, U.S. Central Command said in a statement."

Soumya Karlamangla (NEW YORK TIMES) notes:

The moment that split Steve Nikoui’s life into a before and after was when three Marines walked up his driveway to notify him that his 20-year-old son had been killed in Afghanistan.

Mr. Nikoui, who lives in Southern California, was recently pulled back into that painful memory, as he watched a mother on TV describing the same knock on the door after her own child was killed, this time during the conflict in Iran.

“My heart really went out to her and the families,” said Mr. Nikoui, whose son Kareem was killed during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. “That is the beginning of your new life, a life that you never asked for, never dreamed about. Now it’s here.”

“Every day I just think about Kareem, the life he would’ve led, the things he would’ve done,” Mr. Nikoui added.

Since the United States and Israel launched coordinated attacks on Iran last month, at least seven American service members have been killed. Before Iran, the last reported deaths of U.S. service members occurred in December, when an attack in central Syria killed two Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter.

Greg Sargent (THE NEW REPUBLIC) observes, "Consider three of the biggest developments in our politics right now: We just learned that the economy lost 92,000 jobs in February, a capstone to a terrible year in terms of job creation. President Trump has fired widely despised Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, a key architect of his mass deportations. And reports are indicating that the killing of scores of Iranian schoolchildren might have been the handiwork of the United States." AP reports, "Oil shot to its highest price since 2023 after surging again Friday because of the Iran war, and a weak update on the U.S. job market knocked stocks lower to cap Wall Street's worst week since October." Emmett Lindner (NEW YORK TIMES) points out, "The average price of U.S. gasoline reached $3.48 a gallon, according to data from the AAA motor club. That is a nearly 17 percent increase since the first U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. Gas hasn’t been at these levels since 2024." Chump's war of choice. And we've learned more about that war. David McAfee (RAW STORY) notes:

Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has been exposed by the Wall Street Journal for "coaching" a foreign leader on how to influence Donald Trump.

The WSJ ahead of the weekend published a story called, "Lindsey Graham's Quest to Sell Trump on Striking Iran." In that piece, there is a nugget about the senator engaging in a campaign to help Netanyahu to persuade Trump to launch an Iran war.

"To help make the case on Iran, Graham traveled several times to Israel in recent weeks, meeting with members of the country's intelligence agency," the Journal reported Friday.

Graham is quoted in the article as saying, "They'll tell me things our own government won't tell me."

The report further states, "He spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, coaching him on how to lobby the president for action. Netanyahu showed the president intelligence that persuaded Trump to go ahead, Graham said."

McAfee quotes some people objecting to what Lindsey did and they're right to object, but let's be clear on what happened. Lindsey is not a private citizen. He is a US senator and has been one for 23 years and counting. A member of the US government, who took an oath to the Constitution, collaborated with the leader of another nation on how to trick Donald Chump into going along with the foreign leader's plans to start a war.

Lindsey should be facing charges. He should be expelled from the US senate. He did not put American interests first and he worked with another country's leader to start a war.

He is a national disgrace. He is also a traitor.

David McAfee also notes that Chump isn't doing well either:

Republican strategist Maura Gillespie, who previously advised former Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, warned on MS NOW that President Donald Trump faces a serious credibility crisis after contradicting his campaign promises on military intervention.

Appearing on MS NOW over the weekend, Gillespie highlighted the hypocrisy of Trump's position on Iran, noting that he initially claimed military strikes would empower Iranians to choose their own leader—only to reverse course days later by declaring his intention to heavily influence Iran's next leader.

"A leader without followers is just a guy out taking a walk," Gillespie said, invoking a famous John Boehner quote. She warned that Trump is rapidly losing support among his core base.

Lack of planning and exploration on Chump's part means US citizens are trapped in danger zones and the US government is unable to assist them in returning home and telling them to avoid the US embassies because they might be struck in an attack. Mike's noted that in "Chump protects the oil but not the American people" and today Katie Herchenroeder (MOTHER JONES) reports:

Without providing clear guidance on how to do so or how it will help, the United States government is advising Americans abroad to depart immediately from 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar, as its deadly offensive in Iran continues.

Americans abroad remain stuck in place. Thousands of flights have been cancelled and there’s uncertainty surrounding which airspaces will be safe, and when.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Mother Jones that President Donald Trump “has essentially told the thousands of citizens who are stuck in the Middle East because of a war he started that they are on their own.” Gillibrand, a Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the administration’s actions “completely unacceptable and downright disgraceful.”

Sen. Gillibrand has criticized US actions in the region, saying in a statement on Saturday that, “America voted for lower costs, not forever wars.” She said she’s working with New Yorkers currently in the region to get back to the state.

Yesterday, Senator Tim Kaine appeared on CBS' FACE THE NATION

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, do you have an estimate on the number of Americans still stranded in the Middle East?

SENATOR TIM KAINE: It's thousands and thousands.

MARGARET BRENNAN: It is?

SENATOR TIM KAINE: Now, not every American chooses to come home.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

SENATOR TIM KAINE: So, there's hundreds of thousands if you just add them all up who is coming home. I am working with the Virginians who are reaching out to my office. We were able to facilitate one Richmond area resident getting home from Dubai on a flight a couple of days back. And so it's sort of dealing with that. But what worries me a little bit more is that some of the professionals at embassies and consuls are not being told to come home and they're sort of there and often their security presence is not what we wish it would be. So, we have to pay close attention to them.

Chump put no time into planning this war, he just rushed to join Netanyahu.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You're on Armed Services as well.

SENATOR TIM KAINE: Yes.

MARGARET BRENNAN: The Pentagon may be looking at a supplemental budget request to fund this new war in the Middle East. CSIS estimates the first 100 hours of the war cost nearly $4 billion.

SENATOR TIM KAINE: Yes.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Have you heard an estimate on cost? Where are we on this supplemental? Will it get any Democratic support?

SENATOR TIM KAINE: We don't know that the White House is sending a supplemental. So, we had a classified briefing the other day and the topic came up. What I can say, and it's not classified, is the administration said they haven't made a decision. My goals right now are two-fold. Stop this war, which I view as both illegal and profoundly unwise, and protect our troops. If a supplemental comes over, I'm going to be looking to see, OK, how does it square with those goals? Protecting the troops is key. That's one of the reasons I want to stop the war. I think they're just exposed to a completely unnecessary risk by what President Trump has done. So, we'll look at a supplemental, if they send one –

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR TIM KAINE: To see, OK, how does it accomplish those goals.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Did they tell you what that's dependent on? Why don't they know if they need more money? Is it the duration of the time of the conflict or –

SENATOR TIM KAINE: I think that's the issue. You traditionally don't ask for a supplemental halfway through because you might ask for an inadequate amount. You might not – I think they may not want to ask for a supplemental because they're trying to avoid debates and votes in Congress on the Iran war right now.

I put up a war powers vote that I was –

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

SENATOR TIM KAINE: That I lost earlier this week. But I can assure you, I'm not going away. We have other means to have a debate and discussion about whether this war is in the U.S.' interest after 25 years of war in the Middle East.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR TIM KAINE: They may want to avoid a vote on that and are trying to delay it for that reason.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR TIM KAINE: They'll make that call and we have to look at the content.

Edward Wong, Mark Mazzetti, Vivian Nereim and Adam Rasgon (NEW YORK TIMES) report:

American employees of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia have been told to leave the country under mandatory departure orders issued by the State Department, according to current and former U.S. officials.

The move by the State Department means American officials are aware of growing risks in the region. It is the first time the agency has approved or issued what it calls an ordered departure in Saudi Arabia since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began on Feb. 28.

Turning to The Epstein Files, let's note the big news from this past week first. Devlin Barrett (NEW YORK TIMES) reported Thursday:

The Justice Department released F.B.I. documents on Thursday describing several interviews with a woman who made an accusation against President Trump. The pages had been previously withheld from the vast trove of documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein because of what officials called a mistaken determination that they were duplicates.

The typewritten notes recounted multiple interviews the F.B.I. conducted in 2019 with the woman, who said she had been sexually assaulted by both Mr. Epstein and Mr. Trump. She came forward shortly after Mr. Epstein was arrested that summer on charges of federal sex trafficking.

Her accusations against Mr. Trump date back to the 1980s, when she was a teenager. Her description of being assaulted by Mr. Trump is among a number of uncorroborated accusations against well-known men, including the president, contained in the millions of documents released by the Justice Department.

The department had already released documents describing the existence of the memos released Thursday, indicating that the F.B.I. had conducted four interviews related to her claims and had written summaries of each conversation. But only one of those interviews, in which she described being assaulted by Mr. Epstein, appeared to be included in the initial release, raising questions about why the remaining three were missing.

Chris Walker (TRUTHOUT) adds:

The documents detail an FBI interview in 2019 with a woman who alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1980s, when she was between the ages of 13 and 15 years old.

The allegations within the documents have not been corroborated by any additional evidence. However, the decision to exclude them from the Epstein files database has led to widespread suspicion that the DOJ was concealing them on Trump’s behalf, in violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which prohibits files from being restricted for the purpose of protecting someone’s reputation.

On the woman making the accusations, Alexander Willis (RAW STORY) reports:

Key details in the account of a woman who’s accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her when she was a minor were verified Sunday in an explosive investigation conducted by The Post and Courier.

The woman first came forward to the FBI following the 2019 arrest of Jeffrey Epstein, and was interviewed by the agency four separate times. A Justice Department source told the Miami Herald that the woman was found credible by the agency, the outlet reported.

In her interviews with the FBI, the woman accused Epstein and at least two other associates, including Trump, of sexual assault when she was 13. She accused Trump of sexually assaulting her, pulling her hair and punching her in the head sometime in the mid-1980s.

While details of her specific allegations against Trump were not further verified by The Post and Courier, other details she provided the FBI were, giving further credence to her account.

At IN THESE TIMES, Sonali Kolhatkar points out:

For years, Trump’s conservative backers have attacked LGBTQ+ people, drag queens, immigrants, and others, claiming a desire to protect women and children from rapists and groomers. Trump even boasted that “whether the women liked it or not,” he would “protect” them from migrants, whom he slandered as “monsters” who “kidnap and kill our children.”

But when given the opportunity to seek justice for countless women and children who were trafficked, abused, and exploited by the world’s wealthiest, most powerful people, the MAGA movement and its leaders have shown a startling disinterest in accountability. During her hearing Bondi tried desperately to deflect attention, claiming that the stock market was more deserving of public attention than Epstein’s victims.

Even the Republican rank-and-file is now mysteriously detached from the Epstein files.

And over the weekend, Maggie Astor and David A. Fahrenthold (NEW YORK TIMES) reported on another person tight with Epstein facing consequences:

Dr. Bernard Kruger, a doctor in Manhattan, has stepped away from roles at two concierge medicine practices after the public disclosure of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy sex offender who died in a jail cell in 2019.

The head of one practice, the Atria Health and Research Institute, sent an email to employees on Monday saying that Dr. Kruger had “recently retired and is no longer involved with Atria.” He had been a part-time, nonpracticing physician there, the email said.

A spokeswoman for the other practice, Sollis Health, a private emergency room, said on Friday that Dr. Kruger was on leave from the company’s board of directors “pending a review launched by management in consultation with external legal counsel when it became aware of Dr. Kruger’s past interactions with Jeffrey Epstein.”

The doctor had been part of a small circle of specialists catering to Mr. Epstein in the last decade of his life, The New York Times reported last week.

[. . .]

Dr. Kruger was a longtime physician to Mr. Epstein. In 2016, a private emergency room in Manhattan that he co-founded charged Mr. Epstein $15,000 for an annual membership that covered him and five “girls,” emails show. An accountant told Mr. Epstein that the practice — called Priority Private Care at the time, but now Sollis Health — did not require naming the patients, which would give him “more flexibility.” (A spokeswoman for Sollis said names were added later, and also said Dr. Kruger had never been a practicing physician there.)

Dr. Kruger’s medical office in Manhattan also appears to have allowed Mr. Epstein to book appointments without using names. In one case in 2018, the office sought to reschedule an appointment for “Jeffrey’s assistant” but didn’t know which assistant. (It turned out to be a lawyer close with Mr. Epstein, and Dr. Kruger’s spokesman said the doctor never saw patients without knowing their identities.)

Let's wind down with this from Senator Ron Wyden's office:

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., today demanded that big businesses and corporations use any tariff refunds they receive to compensate small businesses and U.S. consumers for any costs they incurred from Donald Trump’s reckless tariffs.

Trump’s trade war and reckless tariffs have resulted in higher prices, lost jobs, and chaos for businesses up and down the supply chain. Estimates show the average U.S. family paid nearly $2,000 because of the tariffs. If large corporations that passed along tariff costs are receiving refunds, it is imperative that consumers and small businesses who bore some of those costs are made whole.

“American consumers and small businesses did not choose to pay these tariffs, and the Supreme Court has confirmed that the tariffs were unlawful,” Wyden and Schumer wrote to Suzanne Clark, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Simple fairness demands that the financial burden imposed on small businesses and working families not become a windfall for the largest corporate balance sheets. Companies that passed along tariff costs should pass along savings from tariff refunds.”

This letter comes following an order from the Court of International Trade directing the Trump administration to cease delays and begin issuing refunds of the tariffs recently struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The order follows nearly two weeks of stalling by the Trump administration, which has tried to withhold refunds of tariffs they illegally collected from U.S. businesses.

The text of the letter is here.

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Perks Of The Job" went up Friday afternoon and the following sites updated:

Friday, March 6, 2026

Markwayne and other disgusting things

Earlier today, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Perks Of The Job" went up and on Markwayne, Katie Herchenroeder (LGBTQ Nation) reports:

Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, President Donald Trump’s next pick for Homeland Security secretary, consistently uses his social media platforms to share anti-abortion and anti-trans content.

Mullin, a former Mixed Martial Arts fighter who has long-championed Trump and thinks of him as a “true friend,” has repeatedly referred to abortion as “murder.” Last month, he shared a clip on Instagram saying he would be arrested for “assault” of a “high school male pretending to be a girl” if a transgender wrestler went up against his daughter in the sport.

As President Trump announced on Thursday in a Truth Social post, Mullin is poised to replace Kristi Noem at the Department of Homeland Security after she reportedly fell out of the president and key republican’s graces.

If confirmed, Mullin will oversee the Trump administration’s mass detention and deportation campaign, an effort that has proved uniquely dangerous for pregnant people and transgender migrants. Under his leadership, the already hazardous situation could continue unchanged—or worsen. His appointment is also the latest in a string of President Trump handpicking leaders who hold anti-abortion and anti-trans views.

For years, Mullin, whose social media bios read, “Christian. Husband. Father of 6.” has posted about his disdain for abortion access. In a 2021 post about Roe v. Wade’s potential overturning, he wrote, “May the Supreme Court finally stand up for the unborn.” A year later he posted a grainy video of an anti-abortion speech from Ronald Reagan. In 2024, he shared photos of a meeting with top anti-abortion activists. “Every child, born or unborn, is a gift from God,” he wrote in a 2025 post.

Markwayne is a nightmare. And a hypocrite. He hasn't said one word about Tony Glonzales.

Who?

Josh Brodesky (San Antonio Express-News) reports:

Make no mistake, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales' decision to drop out of the Republican Party primary to represent Texas' 23rd Congressional District is grounded in political calculus, not a sudden awakening to morality.

After finishing a close second in Tuesday's primary to Brandon Herrera, a YouTube influencer who goes by "the AK Guy" and has made light of the Holocaust (ha ha, he's so not funny), Gonzales' once shining star had faded to black.

Plagued by scandal, under a House ethics investigation for his affair in 2024 with Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, director of his regional district office in Uvalde, who later died by suicide, Gonzales had lost support from voters and the power structure of his party.

Gonzales once had the backing of President Donald Trump, who forcefully endorsed him in December. That endorsement, however, was never because Gonzales was remarkable as a congressman - he wasn't - or particularly Trumpy. He was no MAGA darling. It was because Gonzales gave the GOP the best chance to retain this sprawling congressional district in November.

That confidence faltered after the Express-News confirmed the affair - and exposed Gonzales' deception about it - as early voting began last month. And when Gonzales finished second in the first round of voting, and then finally admitted to the affair Wednesday on the "The Joe Pags Show," he was done.

Markwayne is another bigot who tries to hide behind 'morality' but he doesn't have any morality at all which is why he's been silent for months as the media's reported on Gonzales and the suicide of the woman who worked for him.

Here's C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"

Friday, March 6, 2026. Kristi Noem fired by Chump as Secretary of Homeland Security, her lies to Congress this week are not forgotten and some Democrats are talking pursuing perjury charges against her, Chump has a new idiot in mind for her job, documentation of the interview with a woman who spoke to the FBI repeatedly about Chump molesting her as a child are finally released, and much more.

Yesterday morning, it was one story after another about how Chump had asked this member of Congress or that one whether he should fire Kristi Noem. Those whispering about it to the press didn't seem eager to attach their response to the question -- possibly so as not to expose themselves to Chump as the leakers? By the time the afternoon rolled around, Josh Dawsey, Tarini Parti and Michelle Hackman (WALL ST. JOURNAL) were reporting:

President Trump is preparing to fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, according to advisers familiar with his thinking.

The president has already been asking aides and congressional Republicans for names of potential replacements, the advisers said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security said, “Secretary Noem serves at the pleasure of the President.” The White House didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Alex Griffing (MEDIAITE) noted before that:

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told CBS News’ Alan He on Thursday that President Donald Trump called him after his grilling of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem the day before, and suggested that Noem’s under oath testimony had not been accurate.

Noem and Kennedy tussled during a Senate hearing on Wednesday over the hundreds of millions of dollars she spent on a pro-ICE ad campaign she starred in.

“The president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently?” Kennedy asked Noem during the hearing.

“Yes sir, we went through the legal processes–” Noem replied.

“Did the president know you were gonna do this?” Kennedy demanded as Noem insisted Trump was aware of it.

“I’m not saying you’re not telling the truth. It’s just hard for me to believe, knowing the president, as I do, that you said, ‘Mr. President, here’s some ads I’ve cut, and I’m going to spend $220 million running them,’ that he would have agreed to that,” Kennedy replied.

“I don’t think Russ Vought would have agreed to that,” Kennedy added, referring to the fiscal hawk running the Office of Management and Budget.

Kristi Noem told so many lies to Congress this week. Senator Dick Durbin is the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- one of the committees that heard testimony from Kristi this week. Yesterday he called her out early in the day over the lies she told to the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. His office issued the following:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered an opening statement during today’s Senate Judiciary Committee executive business meeting condemning the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem for lying under oath during Tuesday’s oversight hearing. Secretary Noem lied about DHS following court orders, denied that DHS has detained U.S. citizens, and lied about Corey Lewandowski’s role at DHS.

Durbin also spoke about the nominees who were considered today including Robert Cekada, to be Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Anna St. John, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana; and Andrew Davis, to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Key Quotes:

“I have served on this Committee for more than 25 years… and I’ve never been through a hearing like our DHS oversight hearing with Secretary Noem [on] Tuesday. The Secretary took an oath to tell the truth. But instead, she repeatedly failed to do so.”

“When I asked her if [DHS] follows court orders, Secretary Noem responded, ‘We follow court orders when they are given to us.’ This is demonstrably false. Even the Trump DOJ admitted in [a] sworn declaration that ICE has violated over 50 court orders in the state of New Jersey alone.”

“Secretary Noem also denied that DHS has detained U.S. citizens. Americans around the country, including in my home state of Illinois, know this is false. One of my constituents, U.S. citizen Dayanne Figeroa, was detained for hours after federal agents rammed her car and forced her to the ground. During ‘Operation Midway Blitz,’ my staff documented the arrest and detention of at least 40 U.S. citizens in my state of Illinois alone.”

“Secretary Noem also lied about the role of her de facto chief of staff, Corey Lewandowski. When asked directly whether Mr. Lewandowski has any role in approving DHS contracts, she denied it with an unequivocal ‘no.’ [But] DHS records show Mr. Lewandowski personally approved a multimillion-dollar contract last year—and that he routinely signs off on large awards before they reach the Secretary’s desk.”

“Mr. Chairman, the Secretary’s testimony was not just evasive or troubling, she repeatedly made false statements under oath. This should concern every member of this Committee—Republican and Democrat alike. This Committee has an obligation to hold the Secretary accountable. I look forward to discussing this with you and other members of the Committee [about] what our recourse is.”

“Let me say on a more personal note: several questions were repeatedly asked of her… really got to the heart of who she is. The question of common decency. To call victims in Minnesota who died and a victim in Illinois who barely survived five shots from [Border Patrol] agents. She refused to say ‘I’m sorry, I said the wrong thing.’ She claimed they were domestic terrorists. There was no evidence of that. None. Imagine those families just having lost a daughter or a son, mourning their loss, and have a member of the President’s cabinet announce on public television… that their deceased child was a domestic terrorist. I know that the phrase ‘I'm sorry, I should have done a better job’ is just unacceptable in this Administration.”

“We also cannot ignore that Secretary Noem has seriously weakened our capacity to prevent cybersecurity and terrorist attacks… Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI had a dedicated team of agents dedicated to investigating Iran’s efforts to evade international sanctions, sell oil on the black market, and fund their military and outside allies. Those investigations are now stalled, as agents are too busy with immigration enforcement.”

“Last spring, the FBI was forced to recall dozens of agents who specialized in counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and cybersecurity from immigration duty because of possible Iranian retaliation after the strikes against its nuclear sites.”

“Last week, FBI Director Patel attempted to distract from his Olympics trip by firing at least a dozen personnel who worked on counterintelligence matters… we’re in the midst of the sixth day of a war and the counterintelligence agents in these agencies have been fired for political reasons.”

“As a result of the President’s misguided priorities—and the incompetent leadership of individuals like Secretary Noem and Director Patel—America is less safe in an increasingly dangerous world.”

Video of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.

Audio of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s opening statement is available here for TV Stations.

Durbin then spoke about the nominees considered in Committee today. He first voiced his concerns over Robert Cekada, nominated to be Director of ATF.

“While Mr. Cekada is a career professional who is committed to fighting crime, and I’m glad we had a chance to sit down together, his hearing testimony does not assure me that he would stand up [to the] Trump Administration to ensure this very controversial agency is not weaponized against the American people.”

Durbin then shared his deep concerns about Andrew Davis, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. Durbin shared his concerns that Mr. Davis would not be able to put aside his partisan advocacy if he is confirmed to the bench.

“Mr. Davis has repeatedly argued that the qui tam provision of the False Claims Act, or FCA—a law the Chairman has championed for many years—violates the Constitution. Whistleblowers who bring qui tam actions play an important role in holding accountable those who defraud the federal government. Of $6.8 billion in FCA settlements and judgments last year, qui tam actions comprised $5.3 billion of that amount.”

[Mr. Davis] defended racist commentary from conservative pundit and former Republican official Bill Bennett, who said ‘I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.’ Mr. Davis defended this statement as ‘essentially accurate.’”

“Mr. Davis’s failure to disavow his article is just plain unacceptable. How can people of color have faith that Mr. Davis will treat them fairly in his courtroom if he is confirmed?”

Durbin then spoke on Anna St. John, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Durbin raised concerns about Ms. St. John’s partisan ideology and serious questions about her ability to impartially administer justice if she is confirmed.

“Her practice largely consists of challenging class-action settlements—and she has also made time to file amicus briefs in politically charged cases… Ms. St. John’s public commentary is also troubling. She has criticized what she calls ‘woke ideology.’ She has challenged First Amendment protections guaranteed by [the Supreme Court more than 60 years ago in] New York Times v. Sullivan.”

“In November 2021, Ms. St. John testified against bipartisan legislation ending forced arbitration in cases of workplace sexual assault and harassment. The legislation enjoyed broad support among lawmakers from both parties, yet Ms. St. John argued in defense of forcing sexual assault victims into closed-door arbitration proceedings and claimed that ending forced arbitration ‘turns these women into unwilling pawns.’”

“The issue was brought before the Committee at the urging of former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, one of the leading advocates for legislation following her harassment by Roger Ailes. She is speaking out publicly [against] Ms. St. John’s nomination.”

“Listen to what Gretchen Carlson said, ‘While women around the country bravely shared the urgency of eradicating forced arbitration, St. John used her power and influence to gaslight these women and the public. She downplayed their stories and minimized their pain.’”

“I remember when Grethen Carlson was in this room. So many of us went up to her afterward and praised her for her courage to speak out for the harassment she [experienced] in her own personal life… We voted unanimously for that bill—Democrats and Republicans. Now we have a nominee who is opposed to it and says it is wrong. I’m going to vote no.”

Video of Durbin’s statements about Mr. Cekada, Mr. Davis, and Ms. St. John are available here.

Audio of Durbin’s statements about Mr. Cekada, Mr. Davis, and Ms. St. John are available here.

Footage of Durbin’s statements about Mr. Cekada, Mr. Davis, and Ms. St. John are available here for TV Stations.

Durbin was not the only one calling out Noem's lies to the Committee. Luke Barr (ABC NEWS) notes:

A Democratic senator says Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem provided false testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In her appearance before the committee on Tuesday, Noem was asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., whether her adviser Corey Lewandowski, who is serving as a special government employee, has any role in approving DHS contracts, and she said no.

"Evidence suggests that your testimony was false. Internal DHS records show that Mr. Lewandowski has personally approved contracts at DHS, including, but not limited to, a multimillion-dollar contract," according to a letter Blumenthal sent to Noem on Wednesday. "And current and former DHS employees have stated that Mr. Lewandowski's signature is a green light for money to be transmitted to contractors."

Blumenthal sent the letter on Wednesday night, after Noem’s testimony in front the House Committee.

In a follow-up appearance before a House committee on Wednesday, Rep. Jared Moskowitz asked Noem if she would like to correct her answer from Tuesday.

"What I would say is that he is an adviser to the Department of Homeland Security," she said.

Sources have told ABC News that Lewandowski is Noem's de facto chief of staff, despite having a 130-day cap on being able to work at the department, due to his status as a special government employee.

According to multiple sources, Lewandowski and Noem both approve contracts and "nothing" gets to the secretary without Lewandowski's approval.

Joshua Kaplan and Justin Elliott (PRO-PUBLICA) note:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem misled Congress on Tuesday about the powers of her controversial top aide Corey Lewandowski, according to records reviewed by ProPublica and four current and former DHS officials.

Lewandowski has an unusual role at DHS, where he is not a paid government employee but is nonetheless acting as a top official, helping Noem run the sprawling agency. For months, members of Congress have asked the agency to detail the scope of his work and authority.

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked Noem whether Lewandowski has “a role in approving contracts” at DHS. Noem responded with a flat denial: “No.”

But internal DHS records reviewed by ProPublica contradict Noem’s Senate testimony. The records show Lewandowski personally approved a multimillion-dollar equipment contract at the agency last summer.

That was not a one-off. Lewandowski has approved numerous contracts at DHS and often needs to sign off on large ones before any money goes out the door, the current and former department employees said.

Last year, Noem imposed a new policy that consolidated her and her top aides’ power over all spending at DHS, requiring that she personally review and approve all contracts above $100,000. Before the contracts reach Noem, they must be approved by a series of political appointees, who each sign or initial a checklist sometimes referred to internally as a routing sheet. Typically, the last name on the checklist before Noem’s is Lewandowski’s, the DHS officials said.

It's important to remember that PRO PUBLICA reported months ago, regarding contracts, how Homeland Security granted a contract that benefitted the husband of Noem's then spokesperson. Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski (PROPUBLICA) noted in November:

In recent days, five U.S. senators and two representatives requested documents from the Department of Homeland Security and a formal investigation into how a firm closely tied to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ended up receiving money from a $220 million, taxpayer-funded ad campaign.

The demands came in response to a ProPublica story this month that revealed that the Republican consulting firm had been secretly working on the ads, which star Noem. The company, called the Strategy Group, has long-standing personal and business ties to Noem and her senior aides at DHS. Its CEO is married to Noem’s chief spokesperson at DHS.

Under Noem, DHS bypassed the normal competitive bidding process when awarding the contracts — allocating the majority of the money to a mysterious Delaware LLC that was created days before the deal was finalized. The Strategy Group does not appear on public documents about the deal.

“The public deserves to know that government officials are not using taxpayer dollars to enrich themselves and their friends on the backs of hardworking Americans,” four Senate Democrats on the homeland security committee wrote in a letter to the DHS inspector general. They called for the inspector general to investigate whether DHS officials had violated federal laws and contracting regulations “designed to prevent self-dealing.”

[. . .]

ProPublica found that the Strategy Group’s undisclosed work for DHS included running a shoot for a recently aired ad that featured Noem on horseback at Mount Rushmore, delivering a message to immigrants. Among the firm’s ties to Noem: It played a central role in her last gubernatorial campaign in South Dakota, and it has worked closely with Noem’s top aide at DHS, Corey Lewandowski. The office funding the ad contracts is listed as the DHS Office of Public Affairs, which is run by Tricia McLaughlin; McLaughlin is married to the CEO of the Strategy Group, Ben Yoho.

Tricia has taken to Twitter to defend herself and her husband. Some might believe her but she has a long history of lying in public statements. (See Ava and my "Media: They fail to note the pattern of ICE lies but make time to defend this year's John Fetterman.") So I'll instead just note that she's one of those people who puts herself first. In what she posted to Twitter she stupidly wrote "my and my husband's" because she doesn't know grammar and she has no manners.

We should also note that this money Kristi was throwing around? She wasn't very careful with it. It wasn't her money so maybe she didn't care? But when spending US taxpayer money, she did so without a care. In the hearing on Tuesday, Senator Cory Booker offered an example of how Kristi's contracts were wasteful -- here he is noting where she paid twice the worth of a property.

Senator Cory Booker: ICE officers entered the grounds of a high school in Minneapolis. That's a fact. Elementary school children in New Jersey are terrified of your agents. When they came up a school bus top, they fled. Another school, higher education, Columbia University. your agents reportedly lied to students, told them they were searching for a missing person to gain access to private spaces, to non public areas of campus. Secretary Noem, these are kids. They're terrified in our communities. How do you think that affects them when children in my stage go running, fleeing and often you will pursue children throwing them to the ground, getting on their backs,putting them in handcuffs. I want to talk to you about this incredible empire of for-profit companies that are profiting at rates we've never seen and the way you're using money. Let's -- let's drill down on the warehouses, the DHS has been buying over the last several months, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Are you familiar with the acquisition of a warehouse DHS recently bought in Roxbury Township, New Jersey?

Secretary Kristi Noem: Yes.

Senator Cory Booker: You are familiar with that.

Secretary Kristi Noem: I'm familiar.

Senator Cory Booker: How much you spent of it?

Secretary Kristi Noem: No, sir. I do not.

Senator Cory Booker: $129.3 million. Do you know how much it was assessed for in New Jersey?

Secretary Kristi Noem: Sir, we're purchasing centers across the country to build efficiency into our detention system. Efficiency so that we can --

Senator Cory Booker: As a person who's run tight budgets before and had taxpayer dollars. You paid $129.3 million for a facility in my state that was assessed at less than half of that at $62 million to work for a president that says he's a great dealmaker. I can't believe he thinks that you're a great dealmaker.

The property was assessed at $62 million and Kristi okayed the contract to purchase it with our tax dollars for twice that amount, for $129.3 million.

That exposes the administration for the fools that they are and for their inability to properly oversee the taxpayer dollar. DOGE, remember that? That con job was all about, supposedly, eliminating government waste. It wasn't about that. It was about destroying our infrastructure. But Chump posed forever as the fiscally responsible twat. Reality? He never was nor was his Cabinet. And when Kristi Noem is wasting so much of the taxpayer monies, that's not a good look.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Hamed Aleaziz (NEW YORK TIMES) report:

Ms. Noem’s ouster came after she was grilled by lawmakers on a range of topics during congressional hearings.

She declined to apologize for her description of Mr. [Alex] Pretti and another U.S. citizen killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, Renee Good, as domestic terrorists. She said her statements were informed by “reports from the ground, from agents at the scene.”

Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, grilled Ms. Noem about a ProPublica report that her department had spent more than $200 million on ad contracts, which he said had been steered to her former political consultants. Mr. Kennedy described the ads, including one in which she appeared on a horse in front of Mount Rushmore, as wasteful spending meant to boost Ms. Noem’s “name recognition.”

Shortly after, the rumors began, Natalie Dreier (COX MEDIA GROUP) posted:

President Donald Trump announced that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will be leaving her post and will be replaced by Sen. Markwayne Mullin.

Trump posted the move on Truth Social.

The president said he will nominate Mullin to replace Noem, effective March 31.

Noem will become “the Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere,” Trump wrote.

Noem was in Nashville speaking when Chump posted of her firing. Madeleine Ngo (NEW YORK TIMES) noted, "Noem has finished her remarks at the Nashville conference. She spoke for about 30 minutes and did not address her firing by President Trump." Michael Gold (NEW YORK TIMES) noted:

Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, would not commit to voting to confirm Mullin. And he said that Noem’s firing did not change Democrats’ demands for new restrictions on immigration enforcement in order to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

“This is a problem of policy, not personnel. The rot is deep,” Schumer said. “No one person can straighten this up until the president changes the whole agency, stops the violence, and reins in ICE.”

So he created a new job for her -- "Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas."

As Elaine noted last night, "Kristi Noem is out as Secretary of Homeland Security. Chump wants to install Markwayne Markwayne Mullins -- the idiot senator from Oklahoma. I'll call it a win that Kristi's out of her post (but Chump's given her a new one). Hopefully, Markwayne Markwayne won't be a quick confirmation. Be wonderful if he didn't get confirmed but let's hope they do a real hearing and not the rubber stamps that the GOP delivered in the early months of 2025."

After her firing yesterday, Senator Richard Blumenthal's office issued the following:

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the following statement after President Trump announced that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem had been fired from her position:

“Kristi Noem’s firing is well-earned. The atrocities she oversaw, the falsehoods she peddled, and the corruption she committed – all richly deserve her discharge. President Trump should have made it explicit, rather than disguising it with another position of public trust. Whoever follows her must institute commonsense reforms that the American people have demanded and police forces around the country routinely follow. Changing only the top official is inadequate without changing the practices and power structure in the department.”

-30-

And he also spoke to Carl Hulse and Michael Gold (NEW YORK TIMES):

Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said on Thursday evening that he would press for a perjury investigation into Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary whom President Trump fired hours earlier.

Mr. Blumenthal said that he would call for the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to investigate whether Ms. Noem had lied under oath during a Senate hearing on Tuesday, when she said that Corey Lewandowski, one of her top advisers, did not approve contracts for the Department of Homeland Security.

Mr. Blumenthal said that Democrats had evidence to suggest that Mr. Lewandowski had done so, and that Ms. Noem’s removal did not protect her from an investigation.

“Her firing doesn’t absolve her or relieve her of potential liability for perjury, and we are going to pursue an investigation of the evidence that she lied, because it relates to corruption in the administration,” said Mr. Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the panel.

Senator Alex Padilla's office issued the following:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, issued the following statement after President Trump announced that he would fire Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and nominate Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to replace her:

“It’s about time. Kristi Noem’s tenure was a complete failure and she never should have been confirmed in the first place. But make no mistake: a new secretary doesn’t change the need for serious reforms at DHS and doesn’t undo the cruelty and terror the agency has unleashed on our communities at the direction of Donald Trump. We still need a full overhaul of ICE and CBP to ensure these agencies enforce our immigration laws in a way that reflects our values, doesn’t tear families apart, respects civil rights, and upholds the Constitution.”

Earlier this week, Padilla questioned DHS Secretary Noem on the Trump Administration’s cruel mass deportation and detention campaign, attacks on legal immigration, and efforts to meddle in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. Padilla called on Noem to resign, be fired, or be impeached by the House for her failed leadership of the Department. He also joined a press conference after the hearing to stand by three U.S. citizens who were assaulted and detained by DHS officers and agents.

Padilla has consistently voted against funding ICE and CBP’s lawless and reckless actions under President Trump.

###

Turning to the topic of Jeffrey Epstein, Sarah K. Burris reports:

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) walked through all of the details that connect trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and Russian intelligence. Those connections also link President Donald Trump.

According to Whitehouse, the pathway goes through Ghislaine Maxwell's father, which the senator read from his MI6 file that Robert Maxwell was "a thoroughly bad character and almost certainly financed by Russia."

Whitehouse walked through all of the relationships that Epstein had with international assets, including Israeli and U.S. intelligence. Recently released files prompted Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to announce they would do a wide-ranging investigation into Epstein's possible links to Russian intelligence.

One of those was Epstein's relationship with Oleg Deripaska, who also had a close relationship with Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

The Senator walked through a number of documents and emails in the Epstein files showing that Russian girls were part of his recruitment for the men that he sought to manipulate.

Whitehouse cited one communication from French model scout Jean-Luc Brunel to Epstein saying he found "a teacher" to help Epstein with his Russian. "She is 2 times 8 years old and not blond," he said.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. identified more than $1 billion in suspicious transactions that it flagged to the U.S. government. The big bank identified about 4,700 transactions, saying that "they were potentially related to reports of human trafficking involving Mr. Epstein," reported The New York Times.

In other Epstein news, Stephen Fowler and Saige Miller (NPR) report:

The Justice Department has published additional Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor after an NPR investigation found dozens of pages were withheld.

They include 16 new pages that cover three additional FBI interview summaries with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago when she was a minor. Also included are two pages of an intake form documenting the initial call to the FBI from a friend who relayed the claims.

NPR's investigation previously found 53 pages that appeared to be missing from the public database.

Now that these documents are published, there are still 37 pages of records missing from the public database, including notes from the interviews, a law enforcement report and license records.

AFP adds:

The documents released on Thursday include descriptions of multiple 2019 interviews the FBI held with the woman, who alleged she was assaulted by Epstein and Trump while she was aged between 13 and 15 years old.

In one interview, the woman said Epstein took her to “either New York or New Jersey” and introduced her to Trump. She told investigators that she bit Trump as he attempted to force her to perform oral sex on him.

The woman said she and people close to her received threatening calls over the years demanding she keep quiet, which she believed were related to Epstein.

FBI records reportedly suggest agents stopped speaking with her in 2019. In the report of the woman’s final interview, conducted in October 2019, during Trump’s first presidency, agents asked whether she would be willing to provide more information about Trump.

In response, the agent wrote, she “asked what the point would be of providing the information at this point in her life when there was a strong possibility nothing could be done about it”.

Joe Sommerlad (INDEPENDENT) notes:

The three “302” memos now released record a series of interviews conducted by FBI agents with Trump’s accuser and contain only straight notes on what was said, with no additional commentary from the interviewers.

The agents first spoke to the alleged victim in July 2019, shortly after Epstein was rearrested and a month before his death in a New York City jail cell.

According to documents, she said that the pedophile had first met her in South Carolina in the 1980s and sexually abused her when she was 13. She made no mention of Trump.

A memo recounting that conversation was previously released.

In the first of the new documents, the woman alleges that Epstein “drove her and/or flew her to either New York or New Jersey” when she was still underage and took her to a “very tall building” where, she says, she was first introduced to Trump.

According to the accuser, Trump asked everyone else present to leave the room and “mentioned something to the effect of, ‘Let me teach you how little girls are supposed to be.’”

He then allegedly pressed her head against his crotch, anticipating oral sex, only for the woman to bite him, at which point Trump allegedly struck her and said “words to the effect of, ‘get this little bitch the hell out of here.’” She also claims to have heard Trump and Epstein discussing blackmail and money laundering.

In a third interview, conducted later that month, the woman describes receiving threatening phone calls and several incidents where she was “almost run off of the road” by other cars, which she said she believed was ordered by Epstein or Trump.

In a fourth session that October, the woman expressed doubts about the value of making allegations when the statute of limitations on the incidents she described had, in all likelihood, long since passed. She was advised to “to go home and take as much time as she needed to think about speaking with the agents further,” the documents allege.

ADDED: Winding down with this from THE BLACK COMMENTATOR:

BlackCommentator.com

March 5, 2026 Issue 1077