logo
Trump Slams 'Troublemakers' After Grand Jury Order To Unseal Epstein Files

Trump Slams 'Troublemakers' After Grand Jury Order To Unseal Epstein Files

Newsweek2 days ago
President Donald Trump speaks to the media, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, as Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, look on.
President Donald Trump speaks to the media, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, as Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, look on.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
President Donald Trump has requested testimony to be unsealed in relation to the Jeffrey Epstein case, he said in a post on Truth Social Saturday.
The statement comes a day after the DOJ requested the unsealing of grand jury transcripts related to Epstein.
"I have asked the Justice Department to release all Grand Jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to Court Approval," Trump said.
"With that being said, and even if the Court gave its full and unwavering approval, nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request," he concluded, adding, "It will always be more, more, more. MAGA!"
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Justice via their online contact form for comment on Saturday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi's top deputy, Todd Blanche, submitted the motion to unseal the Epstein transcripts, as well as those in the case against convicted British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, just one day after President Donald Trump publicly directed the department to take that step, Newsweek previously reported.
Criticism of the Trump administration's handling of records in the Epstein case has seen many of his former supporters reversing course.
The scrutiny intensified following a report from the Wall Street Journal citing a letter from to Epstein on his birthday from Trump.
Trump has since sued the publication, seeking at least $10 billion in damages and accusing them of "malicious" effort to "malign" the president with a story based on a "nonexistent" letter, Newsweek previously reported.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to come.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Why did Cleveland change baseball team name? Origins of decades-long controversy
Why did Cleveland change baseball team name? Origins of decades-long controversy

USA Today

timea few seconds ago

  • USA Today

Why did Cleveland change baseball team name? Origins of decades-long controversy

President Donald Trump called on the Cleveland Guardians to restore their former name during the weekend and thrust a decades-long debate about the franchise's former mascot and identity back into the spotlight. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday, July 20 there is "a big clamoring" for the Guardians to change the team's name back to "Indians," and also for the NFL's Washington Commanders to change back to the "Redskins." He requested the teams' owners "get it done." "Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago. We are a Country of passion and common sense. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!" Here's a breakdown of how the Guardians elected to change their name beginning with the 2022 MLB season and what led to the decision: Cleveland MLB name origin, response Cleveland's MLB franchise officially changed its name to Guardians in November 2021 after decades of criticism from Native American groups and other activists who viewed the team's former name and mascot to be culturally insensitive. There were also protests regarding the name outside Cleveland's stadium, Progressive Field, before several home openers until the franchise elected to rename the team. Guardians is in reference to the Guardians of Traffic statues on the city's Hope Memorial Bridge near Progressive Field. The franchise had been under its previous name since 1915, although the original implementation is a bit murky. There are records indicating baseball writers at the time voted on the team name but that it was not intended to remain the name long-term, according to The team removed its cartoon "Chief Wahoo" mascot and logo from game jerseys before the 2019 MLB season, but retained the trademark and continued to sell merchandise with the logo. Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti met with reporters Sunday morning after Trump's post became public and said he was unaware of Trump's comments. The 2022 MLB season was the franchise's first using the Guardians moniker. "Not something I'm tracking or have been paying a lot of attention to, but I would say generally I understand that there are very different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago," Antonetti said, according to the Akron Beacon Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. "But obviously it's a decision we've made and we've gotten the opportunity to build the brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future." Trump, who had a failed attempt to buy Cleveland's MLB franchise back in 1983, criticized the team's decision to change names before it had officially done so. He declared in a December 2020 tweet, "This is not good news, even for 'Indians.' Cancel culture at work!" Trump also criticized the team's name at a political rally in Ohio last year while he was campaigning on behalf of Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno in a Republican primary against Matt Dolan, whose father owns the Guardians. Trump said the franchise's ownership had been "easily pushed around by the woke left-wing lunatics," according to Politico. Why did Cleveland Guardians change their name? Team owner Paul Dolan confirmed upon announcing the decision to change the team's name in 2021 that his stance on the matter changed in the aftermath of the social unrest and national reckoning over race and police brutality that emerged following the controversial death of George Floyd. The move to change the team name emerged after a survey of 40,000 fans and 140 hours of interviews with fans, community leaders and front office personnel. It occurred shortly after the Washington NFL team also elected to change its name. "The biggest change was what's happened this year, starting with George Floyd's death and the recognition that our world has changed," Paul Dolan said in 2021, according to "For me, that raised the question of whether we should continue using a name like Indians in this new world and what lies ahead for us. That wasn't the decision, it was merely the decision to answer the question. We went to answer the question by talking to a wide array of local and national groups. We spoke to our whole community, in one way or another. I think the answer was pretty clear that, while so many of us who have grown up with the name and thought of it as nothing more than the name of our team and that it did not intend to have a negative impact on anybody, in particular Native Americans, it was having a negative impact on those folks." "Our role is to unite the community," Dolan added. "There is a credible number of people in this community who are upset by our name, are hurt by our name, and there is no reason for our franchise to bear a name that is divisive."

FBI failed to probe key thumb drives in Clinton email probe: DOJ watchdog files
FBI failed to probe key thumb drives in Clinton email probe: DOJ watchdog files

New York Post

timea few seconds ago

  • New York Post

FBI failed to probe key thumb drives in Clinton email probe: DOJ watchdog files

WASHINGTON — The FBI barely glanced at potentially crucial evidence in its investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state, a newly declassified watchdog report revealed Monday. A confidential source gave thumb drives to the FBI with data acquired via cyber intrusions at the State Department — which included emails from former President Barack Obama and others, according to a declassified version of a Justice Department Inspector General report. But the feds declined to 'comprehensively' analyze those drives due to privilege concerns about victim data — despite an internal draft memo concluding it was necessary to 'assess the national security risks' pertaining to Clinton's private server use. Advertisement 'This document shows an extreme lack of effort and due diligence in the FBI's investigation of former Secretary Clinton's email usage and mishandling of highly classified information,' Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said of the watchdog report. Grassley released the declassified appendix to the June 2018 watchdog report by former DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who currently holds the same position at the Federal Reserve Board and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 5 The FBI neglected to comb through additional thumb drives it received around the time of its investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private server, despite those devices containing relevant information. Advertisement It is unclear whether the FBI has since carried out a more thorough probe of the hard drives since the 2018 watchdog report was released. 5 Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Monday released the declassified appendix to the June 2018 watchdog report from former DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock During the 2016 campaign cycle, the FBI Cyber Division had sought to obtain access to those hard drives to conduct targeted searches for information relevant to the Clinton probe, but was rebuffed, witnesses told the watchdog. Then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe penned a memo to then-US Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates asking to use those thumb drives for the bureau's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Advertisement That request was also shot down due to concerns that the FBI's planned search parameters were too broad and didn't properly safeguard privileged information. The thumb drives in question were 'queried' at least three times, but the purposes behind that were redacted. At least one of those queries came from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team. One witness searched for Clinton and found a redacted number of results, including ' Grassley faulted former FBI Director James Comey for the bureau's failure to 'perform fundamental investigative work and left key pieces of evidence on the cutting room floor.' 'The Comey FBI's negligent approach and perhaps intentional lack of effort in the Clinton investigation is a stark contrast to its full-throated investigation of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, which was based on the uncorroborated and now discredited Steele dossier,' claimed Grassley, 91. Advertisement 5 Grassley faulted former FBI Director James Comey for the bureau's failure to 'perform fundamental investigative work and left key pieces of evidence on the cutting room floor.' AP 'Comey's decision-making process smacks of political infection.' Dismissed intelligence Another notable detail in the watchdog report appendix is that the FBI stumbled upon Russian-language intelligence alleging that former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Comey were interfering in the investigation 'to help the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, respectively.' Investigators translated the intelligence documents into English. The intel also included claims that then-Democratic National Convention Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz had communicated with two individuals who worked at the Soros Open Society Foundations and told them she was confident that the FBI didn't have evidence against Clinton, because 'data was removed from the mail servers just in time.' 5 'Comey's decision-making process smacks of political infection,' Grassley said. AP Officials speculated that the intelligence could have come from a cyber attack at the Atlantic Council. The documents also claimed that Comey, who registered as a Republican prior to 2016, was set on 'dragging this investigation until the presidential elections, in order to effectively undermine the chances' for Clinton to win. Advertisement But Peter Strzok, then the FBI deputy assistant counterintelligence director who was the lead agent on the investigation, pushed his team to comb through the Russian documents via keyword searches and concluded there were no underlying hacked communications included. Comey concluded that the documents weren't credible, and witnesses told the watchdog that they contained information that was 'verifiably false.' The former FBI honcho also defended his decision not to inform Lynch before going public with his July 6, 2016, statement declaring that the Feds wouldn't pursue criminal charges against Clinton over the email debacle, arguing that he was afraid of leaks. His statement exonerating Clinton came prior to interviews with multiple key witnesses related to the probe. Advertisement 5 Comey's July 2016 statement exonerating Clinton came prior to interviews with multiple key witnesses related to the probe. REUTERS The FBI later opened its Crossfire Hurricane investigation into President Trump, looking into whether his campaign colluded with the Kremlin to secure the White House. 'After nearly a decade in the shadows' Grassley said of the watchdog appendix being made public, 'this information is now coming to light thanks to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel's dedicated efforts to fulfill my congressional request.'

Democrats Get Good News from Most Accurate Pollster About Key Trump Issue
Democrats Get Good News from Most Accurate Pollster About Key Trump Issue

Newsweek

timea minute ago

  • Newsweek

Democrats Get Good News from Most Accurate Pollster About Key Trump Issue

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. American voters trust Democrats more than Republicans on immigration, which has been a key issue for President Donald Trump throughout his political career, according to a new poll from AtlasIntel. Heath Brown, professor of public policy at the City University of New York, told Newsweek in part that "it could come down to the difference between campaign rhetoric and actual governance." Newsweek reached out to the Republican and Democratic national committees for comment via email. Why It Matters Trump, for a decade, has emphasized immigration as his key policy—launching his 2016 presidential campaign with a promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, with a focus on mass deportations during his 2024 campaign. Polling suggested immigration was a key issue as to why many of his voters supported him over former Vice President Kamala Harris last November. However, a flurry of recent surveys suggests the GOP's grip on immigration has slipped amid backlash to his mass deportations. This includes the latest survey from AtlasIntel, which was the most accurate pollster during the 2024 election. What to Know The pollster found that Democrats now have an advantage over Republicans on most key political issues, including inflation, healthcare, and foreign policy. It also found that Democrats have chipped away at Republican support on immigration issues. Demonstrators hold up signs outside an immigration court in New York City during the Good Trouble Lives On protests on July 17, 2025. Demonstrators hold up signs outside an immigration court in New York City during the Good Trouble Lives On protests on July 17, 2025. ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images Only 45 percent of respondents said they trusted Republicans more on immigration, while 49 percent said they trusted Democrats more on the matter. Meanwhile, a majority of Americans also disapprove of Trump's handling of immigration, with 53 percent giving him negative marks and only 42 percent approving of his approach, according to the poll. The poll surveyed 1,935 respondents from July 13 to July 18, 2025, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Heath Brown, professor of public policy at the City University of New York, told Newsweek that "it could come down to the difference between campaign rhetoric and actual governance." "Vague campaign promises to address immigration policy may have been popular among voters in 2024," he said. "However, faced with the reality of extreme immigration policies that curtail non-US students enrollment at US universities, raid places of work and education, and prohibit due process for deportation cases, a majority of Americans are very much opposed." The poll is a "reflection of the overall dissatisfaction of many Americans with the Trump policy agenda," he said. Throughout Trump's second term in office, there has been an increase of ICE raids across the country that have sparked protests in places like Los Angeles. Thousands of immigrants, including some who are in the country legally, have been arrested. Other measures, like the "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center in Florida's Everglades, are unpopular among most Americans. Proponents of the fast-build center, however, say it is necessary to deal with the number of new beds needed. Supporters of the GOP's immigration policy note that border crossings have decreased under his administration. What People Are Saying Representative Mike Levin, a California Democrat, wrote in an X post Saturday: "Latest Reuters poll shows disapproval for Trump's immigration policy has surged since February. Americans want security AND humanity, not cruelty and chaos. That's why we need bipartisan, common sense reform like our DIGNITY Act, rooted in real solutions." CNN Harry Enten said earlier in July: "The American people have turned against President Donald Trump on what was his best issue. One in which he had a positive net approval rating for most of his term, and arguably the issue that got him, of course, the GOP nomination all the way back in 2016. And one of the issues, of course, he used last year to quite a successful degree." What Happens Next Trump's mass deportations continue across the United States, though parts of his immigration agenda have been held up in court. Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" increased funding for ICE.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store