Tucker Carlson claims Jeffrey Epstein worked for Israel to blackmail US officials: ‘Every single person in DC thinks that'
'I've never met anyone who doesn't think that. I don't know any of them that hate Israel. But no one feels they can say that,' the former Fox News host told an audience in Florida on Friday.
Carlson also suggested that the disgraced financier may have been running 'a blackmail operation' as he discussed new information recently released by the Department of Justice.
A two-page memo from the DOJ and FBI said that Epstein had no 'client list,' and that the convicted pedophile died by suicide in his jail cell in 2019, shortly before going to trial – angering some among the MAGA faithful.
Speaking about the development at a Turning Point USA summit in Tampa, Carlson slammed the findings of the administration.'The real question is, why was he doing this, on whose behalf, and where did the money come from?' he said.
'I think the real answer is Jeffrey Epstein was working on behalf of intel services, probably not American. And we have every right to ask, on whose behalf was he working?
'Now, no one's allowed to say that the foreign government is Israel because we have been somehow cowed into thinking that's naughty. There is nothing wrong with saying that. There is nothing hateful about saying that, Carlson said.
'There's nothing anti-Semitic about saying that. There's nothing even anti-Israel about saying that.
'And you have the right to expect your government will not act against your interests, and you have a right to demand that foreign governments not be allowed to act against your interests.'
Carlson has become one of the the big names on the list of MAGA luminaries who are irate over the DOJ's conclusions and previously insisted there was an 'obvious' reason why Attorney General Pam Bondi was 'covering up' the 'client list.'
In addition, footage capturing Epstein's final hours – also released by the DOJ – has fuelled further conspiracy theories, after it appeared to have a minute of footage missing.
A digital clock visible on the bottom left corner of the footage jumps from 11:58:58 p.m. to 12:00:00 a.m. Officials have not yet offered an explanation for the time gap to The Independent or the New York Times.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NFLPA fires arbitrator who ruled against union president JC Tretter over comments about players faking injuries: Report
The NFLPA fired arbitrator Sidney Moreland on Wednesday, just months after he ruled against the union in a grievance concerning comments made by former NFLPA president JC Tretter, according to Sportico. The news comes the same week Moreland's ruling was obtained by journalists Mike Florio and Pablo Torre. Moreland's dismissal reportedly had nothing to do with the ruling being leaked, sources told Sportico. The NFL and NFLPA have the ability to fire arbitrators between July 10 and July 20 of each year, per an article in the collective-bargaining agreement, so the timing could be a coincidence. On Thursday, Florio and Torre revealed the NFL and NFLPA worked to try and bury a ruling made by Moreland concerning players faking injuries as a strategy to receive a better contract. In 2023, the NFL filed a grievance against Tretter, then the NFLPA president, over comments he made during an appearance on "The Ross Tucker Football Podcast." Tretter was asked about running back holdouts and the resistance from some teams about handing out significant deals to running backs. Tretter responded by implying it was a smart strategy for a player to fake an injury to sit out of practices while seeking a new contract. He seemed to recognize his error during the show, saying, "I don't think I'm allowed to ever recommend that, at least publicly, but I think each player needs to find a way to build up leverage to try to get a fair deal." The NFL believed Tretter's comments violated the collective-bargaining agreement, and filed a grievance against Tretter two months after that interview. Moreland ruled in favor of the NFL, saying Tretter's comments violated a section in the CBA, per Florio. Said the NFL, in a Tuesday statement to PFT: 'The Arbitrator upheld the Management Council's grievance in its entirety and found that Mr. Tretter's statements violated the CBA by improperly encouraging players to fake injury. As a result, he prohibited Mr. Tretter and the union from such conduct in the future. The NFL did not allege that any individual player ever feigned injury. We are grateful for the arbitrator's thorough review of the evidence and order enforcing the CBA.' Moreland specifically called out Article 2, Section 2 of the CBA and Article 3 in the CBA in his ruling. Article 2, Section 2 of the CBA contains a passage stating both sides will "faithfully" adhere to the rules laid out in the CBA. Article 3 deals with strikes and work stoppages. Moreland essentially ruled that Tretter's comments encouraged players to skirt CBA rules by engaging in mini work stoppages. It marks at least the second ruling the NFL and NFLPA tried to prevent from being reported. Florio and Torre revealed details of the first grievance in June, which found the league and commissioner Roger Goodell encouraged teams to reduce guaranteed contracts to veteran players. The league and players' union was also accused of trying to hide certain details of that ruling from players. It's unclear why both the NFL and NFLPA felt it was necessary to try and bury the ruling revealed by Florio and Torre on Thursday. The decision makes sense on the NFLPA side, as they ultimately lost. The NFL's decision to hide the ruling makes less sense, as they won the grievance. The decision adds another layer of confusion to the relationship between the NFL and NFLPA. That relationship has faced scrutiny recently, as an ESPN report revealed NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell worked as a consultant with an NFL-ownership group during his time with the NFLPA, a possible conflict of interest. Thursday's reveal adds yet another layer of murkiness to the already confusing relationship between the NFL and NFLPA.
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Seven Democrats vying to run for Mike Lawler's House seat. Here are the contenders
One by one they threw their hats in the ring: a crowd of Democrats eager for a shot at the House seat held by Republican Mike Lawler in one of the country's most competitive districts. The field of Democratic contenders for New York's 17th Congressional District had grown to seven by early June, with no additions since then. Each is courting party support and raising money long before the 2026 primary for a Hudson Valley seat that Lawler has won twice and Democrats hope to flip in next year's mid-term elections. One early marker came Tuesday, July 15, when candidates reported how much they collected from April through June — an initial gauge of their support and viability for a costly battle. Two led the pack with big hauls: Cait Conley, a former national security official and Army combat veteran, raised $480,000 Rockland County Legislator Beth Davidson raised $352,000 Yet the newest candidate — Peter Chatzky, a tech company founder and deputy mayor of Briarcliff Manor — vaulted himself into their ranks by lending his campaign $500,000 and raising $180,000 in less than three weeks, according to his campaign. Lawler's campaign, meanwhile, took in nearly $1.4 million over those same three months, a quarter of which — $360,000 — came from three Republican committees that support GOP House candidates with tough races ahead. Lawler had $2.2 million in his coffers by June 30. Will Mike Lawler run for a third term in his NY House district? A big uncertainty still hanging over the race is whether Lawler will run for a third term. He has been weighing a campaign for governor instead, which would take him out of the House race and lift Democrats' chances of claiming his seat. Lawler had planned to announce his decision in June but hasn't said yet which office he will seek. Westchester County Democrats held a series of forums to introduce the large cast of candidates to party members. Suzanne Berger, Westchester's Democratic chairwoman, said the party is planning a forum with a slightly winnowed lineup of four or five top contenders in September. Democratic voters in the 17th District — all of Rockland and Putnam counties, half of Westchester and a sliver of Dutchess — ultimately will choose their party's nominee in a primary next June, still 11 months away. Here are the seven Democrats now vying for that role. Jessica Reinmann Reinmann, a 49-year-old Chappaqua resident, jumped in first, filing federal paperwork to be a candidate in January as the new House term was just getting under way. She is the founder of 914Cares — a nonprofit that fights poverty in Westchester — and has pitched herself as a problem solver with a "mission-driven" campaign. Her finance report shows she raised $109,000 and contributed $115,000 of her own to her campaign in the second quarter of the year. She had $443,000 on hand as of June 30. Beth Davidson Davidson, a 52-year-old Nyack resident, has been a county legislator since 2024 and served two terms on the Nyack school board before then. She joined the race in February with an early endorsement by former Rep. Mondaire Jones, who represented the 17th District before its lines were redrawn in 2022 and who lost a comeback bid against Lawler last year. Davidson, who has long been active in politics, has since rounded up endorsements from a few dozen elected officials and Democratic leaders from Rockland County, along with a litany of activists from around the district. She reported raising $352,000 in the second quarter and finishing with $489,000 in her coffers. She had raised a total of $855,000 during her five months in the race — the highest overall sum of the candidates. Cait Conley Conley, a 39-year-old Ossining resident, worked in the Biden administration for four years, first as director of counterterrorism for the National Security Council and then as senior advisor for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. She's a West Point graduate who served 16 years in the Army, with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. She has been endorsed by the progressive veterans' group VoteVets and a pair of forward-looking Democratic groups: New Politics and the Next 50. Conley reported raising $480,000 in the last three months and $816,000 overall since entering the race in March. She had $614,000 in her coffers by June 30. Mike Sacks Sacks, a 42-year-old Croton-on-Hudson resident, is a former journalist who has covered the Supreme Court and was a TV reporter for Fox 5 New York for four years. He now works as a "pro-democracy advocate and constitutional analyst." Sacks joined the race in April and has since raised $212,000, finishing the second quarter with $102,000 in his coffers. John Sullivan Sullivan, a 41-year-old Piermont resident, is a former FBI analyst who quit the agency after 17 years because of what he said was the chaos caused by the new Trump administration. He then moved to Rockland County from the Washington, D.C. area and launched his bid for Congress, after declaring he could better serve the FBI "from the outside." Sullivan reported raising $301,000 since joining the race in April, the third highest total. He had $164,000 on hand after expenses. Effie Phillips-Staley Phillips-Staley, a 54-year-old Tarrytown resident, is a longtime nonprofit leader and elected trustee in her Westchester County village. With five candidates already in place, she joined the field in May and set herself apart as a progressive stalwart, rejecting the idea that Democrats must move to the right to win. She has since raised $52,000 and kicked in $100,000 of her own money, finishing the second quarter with $99,000, according to her campaign. Her spokesman said Phillips-Staley was waging a grassroots bid with no "list of corporations, ultra-rich and Washington establishment figures to seed her operation." Peter Chatzky Chatzky, a 64-year-old Briarcliff Manor resident, is the founder and CEO of a financial technology company called Napa Group LLC. He has served for six years as a village trustee — now holding the title of deputy mayor — after an earlier two-year stint as mayor. NY17: Is ex-Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney the NY Dems' best chance against Lawler after 2022 loss? His $500,000 loan to his campaign and spurt of donations in June brought his balance to $674,000. That was the most any of the seven candidates had on hand as of June 30, just ahead of Conley's $614,000. Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@ This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: The 7 Democrats vying to run for Rep. Mike Lawler's seat: A guide Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Rivian restarting work on its Georgia factory, emails show
Rivian will resume prep-work on its planned Georgia factory in August and is still looking to break ground early next year, according to emails TechCrunch obtained through a public records request. The restarted effort comes months after the Biden administration's Department of Energy approved a $6.6 billion meant to fund construction. Rivian has invested more than $80 million in the project as of June 20, 2025, up from $41 million in July 2024, according to a progress report submitted to the local joint development authority included in the emails. The project has created 46 full-time jobs so far. Rivian will begin installing 'deep utilities' in August, with 'vertical construction' set to begin in the first quarter of 2026, according to the emails. The company is also reaching out to existing suppliers to see which ones might want to co-locate near the Georgia factory, the emails show. Rivian also asked the state's economic development department for a list of suppliers already in the region that may be able to help build the R2 SUV and R3 hatchback at the factory when it opens in 2028. Amid this push to restart the project, Rivian's founder and CEO RJ Scaringe met with the state's governor Brian Kemp at the end of May. The company's corporate affairs director told the Governor's office in an email that the meeting was a 'top priority' for the company. Peebles Squire, a spokesperson for Rivian, said the meeting between Scaringe and the Governor was a 'regular check-in.' 'We discussed our ongoing work in Georgia and gave general project updates as well as discussed ways in which we can continue to have a strong partnership with the state,' he wrote in an email to TechCrunch. The Governor's press secretary did not respond to requests for comment. Rivian first announced the Georgia factory shortly after its IPO in late 2021. The company originally planned to start construction in 2022 and have vehicle production up and running by 2024. It promised to invest $5 billion in the facility and, in May 2022, Rivian lined up $1.5 billion in state incentives to help make that happen. The factory quickly faced local opposition. And the project took a back seat as Rivian worked around supply chain shortages during the ramp-up of its R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV at its original factory in Normal, Illinois. Rivian ultimately pushed back the timeline for the Georgia project in favor of expanding the Normal factory, for which it nabbed $827 million in incentives from Illinois. The company announced this delay in 2024 when it showed off the R2 SUV and R3 hatchback for the first time. In late 2024, Rivian announced it had secured the $6.6 billion loan from the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office. Specifically the loan would be coming from the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program, which is the same effort that helped Tesla navigate the Great Recession more than a decade ago. That loan agreement was finalized just a few days before Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term, and by that point the deal had already become a target of some of the people in the new president's orbit. Vivek Ramaswamy, who at one point was supposed to co-lead Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, said he wanted to look into clawing back the loan. After Trump took office, his administration froze all kinds of spending. Some of those freezes were reversed by lower district courts, while others have remained in place as the Supreme Court has mostly allowed the president to operate more freely. In February, as the administration was shotgun-blasting these spending freezes across the government, Governor Kemp told a local news station he wasn't sure of the status of the loan. (Squire, in the email, said Rivian continues to work 'with DOE and the administration to bring thousands of quality, good paying jobs back to the United States. Electric vehicles are a global strategic industry, and the U.S. should maintain its leadership role in new technologies.') Just a few weeks later in March, the emails show, Rivian began coordinating with the Governor's staff for a face-to-face between Kemp and Scaringe. Originally slated to take place on April 9, the meeting had to be rescheduled because the Rivian CEO had a 'personal conflict come up.' Andrew Capezzuto, the corporate affairs director for Rivian, said the meeting was 'a top priority' in an apologetic email about the rescheduling. As Capezzuto hashed out a new time for Scaringe and Kemp to meet, he was also in regular contact with Georgia's economic development department (GCED), the emails show. '[W]e are interested in picking back up on supplier conversations,' he told that team on April 8. 'I believe a while back GDEcD had prepared an overview of existing suppliers within Georgia and the greater South East region. Would it be possible to dust that list off so that we can see what suppliers and parts are already available? We would like to use that list to evaluate the existing supplier base and determine whether we can leverage any existing suppliers. That will then also help us determine which suppliers we'd like to consider locate [sic] in Georgia to support the SSN facility.' In an email to TechCrunch, Squire said 'Georgia and the Southeast have a very strong automotive supplier base. We want to leverage that base to optimize logistics costs and reinforce a strong supply chain. It's good for jobs, regionally and nationally, and promotes American manufacturing and economic development.' As Rivian ramps up that supplier activity, the company is also starting to hire workers to support the buildout of the factory. It has posted seven open roles to LinkedIn within the last month, including one for construction manager. Sign in to access your portfolio
