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Mint
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Mint
Inside Syria's sectarian cauldron: A kidnapping triggers a cascade of violence
For three days last week, Osama Bshnak Radwan and his family cowered in their townhouse as rockets, artillery and bullets pulverized their Syrian enclave. Then, five armed men in military fatigues arrived at their gate. 'Come out, Druze! Come out, you dogs!" the men shouted, according to Radwan, whose family belongs to the Druze religious minority that lives along Syria's southern border. The gunmen eventually left the gate but they entered the house next door, where they killed more than a dozen members of his extended family, he said. The killings were part of a wave of sectarian violence between Sunni Muslim Bedouins and Druze that swept through Sweida, a majority Druze province, last week. The fighting prompted Israeli warplanes to strike Syrian government forces in what Israel said was an attempt to defend the Druze. The clashes have exposed the seams in the patchwork of tribes, religions and ethnicities in Syria, where a fragile new government, dominated by Sunni Muslims, took power eight months ago. The violence lays bare the challenges of Israel's stated vision for Syria as a loose federation of autonomous states with a weak central government. Analysts say a lack of strong centralized rule will entrench sectarian divides. Even as Syria's fledgling leadership has gained international acceptance, sanctions relief and investment, it has struggled to protect its minorities and unify the nation. The divisions have sparked concerns that the nation could descend into further conflict, driven by deeply entrenched political, ethnic and religious schisms. On Tuesday, a fragile cease-fire—the fourth declared in a week—appeared to be holding amid pressure from the Trump administration, Turkey and Arab nations, though residents said Sweida remained tense. The fighting marked at least the fourth time sectarian strife has escalated into serious violence since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December. The Wall Street Journal reconstructed the events of last week's cascading violence through interviews with witnesses, community leaders and residents from both the Druze and Bedouin populations, as well as analysis of dozens of social-media posts and videos. For several centuries, the Bedouin and Druze, whose religion stems from an early offshoot of Shiite Islam, have lived together in southern Syria, at times sharing each other's traditions. They fought together against French colonialist rule in the 1920s. But the two communities have also clashed over land rights and other disputes. The current upheaval began on July 11 when an armed Bedouin gang kidnapped a Druze vegetable merchant, stealing his wares, car and roughly $700 in local currency. The man was beaten as his captors yelled religious insults. The merchant's relatives then kidnapped Bedouin tribal members in Sweida, leading Bedouin tribesmen to kidnap more than a dozen Druze. The tit-for-tat attacks escalated and by the time the merchant was released and tribal mediations began two days later, the violence had spread across Sweida province and attracted fighters from across the country. Hundreds of armed Arab Bedouin tribesmen descended on Sweida on July 13. They had to pass through dozens of government checkpoints, mostly run by Sunni Muslim forces, from as far away as Hama, Homs in the north, and on the other side of the country to the east near the Iraqi border in Deir Ezzour. There, dozens of young men were filmed entering a white trailer truck guarded by armed fighters. 'These are the people of Deir Ezzour," one man with a regional accent said in the video, according to footage verified by Storyful, which is owned by News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal. 'We are coming for you Druze." Syrian government forces moved into Sweida to restore order but many Druze, who say the government collaborates with the Bedouins, saw their arrival as an invasion. Druze say they distrust Syria interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his forces—who are former al Qaeda-linked jihadists who toppled Assad—and describe their feelings of exclusion from the Sunni Muslim-dominated government. A spokesman for Sharaa's office didn't respond to a request for comment. In a July 19 televised address, Sharaa described the Bedouin tribes as "a symbol of noble values and principles," and praised their nationwide mobilization to defend their community. In the same speech, he referred to Druze militias as 'outlaws." Israel, which has a large Druze population, said the Syrian government's intervention was an attempt to harm Druze communities. Cultivating ties with Syria's Druze is an essential part of Israel's strategy to create a demilitarized buffer zone populated by Israel-friendly Druze along its border with southern Syria to prevent cross border attacks on Israeli citizens. The community, however, is divided over Israel's entry into Syria and the Sharaa government. Some fear being viewed as collaborators if they support Israel, while others say Israel's involvement keeps Syria weak. Some Druze say they want to give Syria's new leaders a chance to unify the nation. When Syrian government troops reached Sweida on July 14, their tanks came under attack from Israeli warplanes. Meanwhile, Druze militias battled both government forces and Bedouin fighters. Syria's Defense Ministry announced the death of at least six of its soldiers after an ambush by 'unlawful groups," a term they use to refer to Druze militias. On July 15, the next day, a government-announced cease-fire fell apart after influential Druze leader Hikmat al-Hijri—who has strong ties to the Druze in Israel—refused to give it his backing, accusing government forces of continued attacks against Druze civilians. 'We are being subjected to a campaign of complete extermination," he told his followers in a video. 'We must resist this barbaric assault with every means available." The surge of sectarian bloodletting intensified, as artillery and rockets pounded Sweida, with hundreds of Druze and Bedouin civilians killed, according to the United Nations. Thousands of Druze residents of Sweida fled toward the Jordanian border, while others escaped to the countryside. At Radwan's residence where he and his family hid, his 20-year-old daughter made a plea. ''Dad, for God's sake, if they get in and want to kill us, kill me yourself,'" Radwan recalls her saying. ''Strangle us, hit us on the head. Just don't let them be the ones to kill us.'" When the gunmen arrived at their compound, they fired and shouted 'Allahu akbar," meaning God is great, Radwan recalls. 'All of us were frozen," he says. 'We couldn't cry or make a sound. God protected us. They shut the gate and walked away." After gunfire next door, one of his wounded family members sent a voice message to the family WhatsApp group. 'Only a few are still breathing," the family member said in the message heard by the Journal. The men killed at least 13 members of Radwan's family that day. On Friday, Volker Türk, U.N. High Commissioner for human rights, said that his office had documented the attack. 'Armed individuals affiliated with the interim authorities deliberately opened fire at a family gathering," he wrote. A spokesperson for Sharaa's office didn't respond to a request for comment. By the end of July 15, bodies were piling up outside the main hospital in Sweida, according to video footage verified by Storyful. The hospital itself was attacked by armed groups, killing and wounding medical staff, according to the U.N. The next day, Israel turned up the pressure, using its warplanes to strike the military headquarters in Damascus and areas near the presidential palace, taking the spiraling violence to a new phase. Syria's leadership and some of Sweida's top Druze leaders later reached a more comprehensive cease-fire deal calling for Sweida province to be integrated into the Syrian state and for Druze factions and religious leaders to maintain security. Hijri again rejected the offer. The violence raged on. The government later agreed to pull its forces from Sweida, following mediation with Israel conducted by the U.S., Turkey and Syria's Arab neighbors. 'After government forces withdrew, we began recovering the bodies," said Wajiha Hajjar, a prominent Druze lawyer in Sweida who returned to the province on Friday after having fled to the Jordanian border. 'There were summary executions where people were dragged from their homes and shot in the streets." she said. 'Villages in the western countryside were gone. Homes were burned down." Other residents described similar scenes. Once government forces pulled back, some Druze militias renewed attacks on Bedouin neighborhoods, including targeting children, according to Bedouin community leaders and residents. 'The Druze, the Hijri, have displaced us from our homes and burned down mosques," said Nahi Sweiti, 27 years old, a Bedouin farmer and sheep herder, using a term to describe Hijri's followers. 'After the defense forces pulled out from Sweida, the armed gangs of Hijri started killing and executing people from the tribes, regardless of whether it was men, women, or children." More Bedouin fighters left Deir Ezzour for Sweida. Some said they were coming for Hijri. Sharaa said that Syrian troops had withdrawn from Sweida to de-escalate tensions but that the 'horrifying campaign of violence" that had followed 'constituted a clear violation of those understandings." He promised to 'hold accountable all those who committed crimes and violated the law—regardless of their affiliation." A top Hijri militia leader denied the accusations. 'There were reactions, but to kill and slaughter this did not happen," said Firoz Naeem in an interview. The government, he said, is colluding with the Bedouin to target Hijri to divide the Druze. 'We are open to dialogue with all communities, but someone who calls you a disbeliever, an infidel, how are we going to feel safe?" Naeem added. 'We have a legitimate right to defend ourselves." Over the weekend, after another cease-fire mediated by the U.S., Syrian forces returned to Sweida to try to restore order. Israel stopped its air campaign on the condition that the Druze would be protected. The truce remains fragile amid an emerging humanitarian crisis, including nearly 100,000 people displaced, says the U.N. Sectarian hate speech targeting both Druze and Bedouin remains rampant online. Syria's Interior Ministry this week said the government had begun evacuating hundreds of Bedouin families from Sweida in buses toward Daraa, a province where Sunni Muslims dominate. Write to Sudarsan Raghavan at
Gulf Today
8 hours ago
- Business
- Gulf Today
It's Donald Trump vs. Rupert Murdoch
United States President Donald Trump filed a $10 billion defamation case against The Wall Street Journal, owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The conservative financial paper, published from New York, carried a report saying that Trump had written a birthday greeting letter to Jack Epstein, the financier who was accused of using underage age girls for sex at his parties. The letter carried the name of 'Donald'. Trump had vehemently denied the charge implied in the report that he was friends with Epstein and knew about his scandalous background. Trump wrote in his social media portal Truth Social, 'We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS 'article' in the useless 'rag' that is The Wall Street Journal.' He went on to say in the same post, 'I hope Rupert and his 'friends' are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case.' A Dow Jones statement said, 'We have full confidence in the rigour and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.' Trump's confrontation with Murdoch is one with serious implications for the two and more fatal than Trump's clash with Elon Musk, the tycoon who owns the electric carmaker Tesla, Space X, which operates the space shuttle, and Starlink, the low orbit communications satellite network. The clash between Trump and Musk was one of egos, and partly on differences over the tariffs issue. Musk has been a confidant of Trump for the first few months of Trump's second term as president. Murdoch has kept himself aloof, and he has not befriended Trump the way he did Great Britain's Labour leader and prime minister, Tony Blair, in the late 1990s. Murdoch is drawn into a battle with Trump without intending to do so. Murdoch is not a liberal media tycoon. He takes sides, and when he does not want a story to be printed it will not be printed. He will replace defiant editors wihout compunction. The fact that The Wall Street Journal carried this explosive report implicating Trump is evidence that Murdoch quietly gave the nod. Murdoch is a shrewd businessman, who has built his media empire from Australia through Hong Kong to Britain and India. Murdoch is not a natural opponent of Trump, standing with the liberals. It is interesting as to why Murdoch chose to throw down the gauntlet as it were. The reason for Trump's belligerent response is understandable because the Epstein story about Trump's connection with Epstein has not gone down well with his core support base of Make America Great Again (MAGA), who are conservative Christians, who believe in family values. The MAGA support base strongly disapproves Trump's connection with Epstein. And there is the danger that it will spiral out of control and undermine his political credentials. It is not surprising that Trump is a worried man, and instead of his customary bluster what is on display is uncharacteristic panic in his response to the story published in The Wall Street Journal. The demand for $10 billion is the largest ever claimed in a defamation case in the United States. But Trump's lawyers will have to prove that The Wall Street Journal has published the story about Trump with maliciousness and despite knowing that it was false. The courts will allow for a genuine mistake if the reporters and the newspaper editors did not know that it was a false story. Trump's lawyers will have to prove intentional malice of The Wall Street Journal. It is not an easy thing to do. So, it is a tough legal battle with Trump and Murdoch ranged against each other.
Business Upturn
9 hours ago
- Business
- Business Upturn
Altucher Releases Urgent Presentation Potentially Linking August 13 to Starlink's Global Pivot
Austin, TX, July 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A newly released presentation by bestselling author and tech entrepreneur James Altucher is drawing attention for spotlighting a potential turning point in the rollout of Elon Musk's satellite network, Starlink. Altucher outlines a series of developments—some public, some behind closed doors—that appear to be converging around a single date: August 13, 2025. At the center of the story is what Altucher describes as 'a multi-decade plan' to create a satellite-based communications grid that could replace traditional systems and establish a new digital foundation for the modern world. The Architecture of a Quiet Revolution The presentation suggests this quiet build-up may soon enter a public phase, marking a moment Altucher believes many will miss—because they weren't paying attention. A Meeting That Sparked Everything Altucher first began connecting the dots after learning about a private meeting involving Elon Musk and industry insiders. Though the contents of that meeting remain undisclosed, the timing aligns with a series of recent media statements from Musk and his team—signals Altucher says have been overlooked by the public and press alike. Altucher's Warning As the presentation nears its conclusion, Altucher issues a clear message: the window may be closing. 'After this date, the window could slam shut—and you may never have this same chance again,' he writes, referring to August 13. He adds, 'This is about recognizing the moments when everything changes. Not years later— right now ' About James Altucher James Altucher is a serial entrepreneur, bestselling author, and podcast host. He's launched more than 20 companies across software, media, and finance. Altucher has authored 25+ books including Choose Yourself , Reinvent Yourself , and Skip the Line . His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal , Forbes , and TechCrunch , and he has been featured on CNBC, Fox Business, and major global platforms. His daily insights reach millions seeking clarity at the intersection of technology, power, and personal freedom. Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Ahmedabad Plane Crash
New York Times
11 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
Trump v. Murdoch Is an Odd Battle of Titans
It was late afternoon on Monday when news broke that the White House was icing The Wall Street Journal from the pool of reporters who will travel with President Trump to Scotland this month. His press secretary made it clear that the move was retaliation for an article in The Journal, part of Rupert Murdoch's sprawling media business, about Mr. Trump's past relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Just an hour or so later, though, it was Trump-bolstering business as usual in another part of the Murdoch empire. Hosts of 'The Five,'' the most popular program on Fox News, extolled the 'golden age' that was Mr. Trump's second term. '47's got plenty of wins on his plate to boast about,' one host, Sandra Smith, said. 'And yet the Dems still won't give Trump credit.' Another host, Greg Gutfeld, said Democrats were secretly 'relieved that the golden age is here.' The war Mr. Trump is waging against Mr. Murdoch over The Journal's coverage, including a $10 billion lawsuit he filed on Friday, has been billed as a Battle of the Titans. Given their stature atop conservative politics and media, it is certainly that. In suing Mr. Murdoch, Mr. Trump, who has extracted multimillion-dollar settlements in suits against ABC News and CBS News, is taking on the most battle-tested, self-assured and politically astute mogul in media. But the continued affection for Mr. Trump among Fox News hosts makes it clear that while this is a fight between giants, it is like nothing found in the works of Homer or Hesiod. That's because the two men are constrained by the one thing that has kept them linked across 10 years of personal comity and conflict: their shared need to please conservative Americans. For Mr. Murdoch, those conservatives are the most important constituency of his empire. They provide a committed base audience for Fox News — his leading revenue generator — and they expect the network to mirror their own loyalty to Mr. Trump in return. It explains why Fox News largely avoided repeating The Journal's scoop or saying much about Mr. Trump's lawsuit against The Journal. Though loyalty to Mr. Trump among Fox viewers has so far appeared unshakable, Mr. Trump clearly wants to keep it that way. They are his core voters, many of them glued to Fox more than to the MAGA multiverse of social media and podcast influencers who make up the harder-edged, ideological wing of his movement. Mr. Trump's appreciation for the Fox audience has been evident in his decision to populate his new administration with former Fox hosts and contributors. It has also shown up in the many Truth Social messages he has posted since he sued Mr. Murdoch directing his followers to watch Fox News segments. Mr. Trump's ire is exclusively trained on Mr. Murdoch and The Journal for moving ahead with what Mr. Trump called a 'fake' story, according to a person with knowledge of Mr. Trump's views about the feud. The article, which ran last Thursday, focused on a 'bawdy' birthday message The Journal said Mr. Trump sent to Mr. Epstein in 2003. Mr. Trump, this person said, considers Fox News — and for that matter, The New York Post, another business owned by Mr. Murdoch — to be in a separate, friendlier category, where he has warm relations with various personalities. That helps explain why even as Mr. Trump filed his suit on Friday he wrote on Truth Social: 'Everybody should watch Sean Hannity tonight. He really gets it!' (What Mr. Hannity got that evening: Mr. Trump's was 'the single most consequential, transformational presidency in our lifetime.') Mr. Hannity, who is happy to acknowledge his admiration for his friend, has avoided mentioning The Journal article on his show. But another Murdoch-world friendly, Miranda Devine at The New York Post, went so far as to call the article a 'nothingburger.' The relationship between Mr. Trump and Mr. Murdoch has always been complicated. When Mr. Trump first told Mr. Murdoch he was running for president, at a lunch at Mr. Murdoch's New York offices, Mr. Murdoch didn't hide his skepticism. Mr. Murdoch did not see Mr. Trump as a president. The Fox News audience thought otherwise, Mr. Murdoch soon discovered. And as someone who built his empire by giving his customers what they want, he came on board as network hosts rallied to help place Mr. Trump in the White House in 2016. An awkward friendship blossomed, as both came to enjoy gossiping and comparing notes over the phone — satisfying Mr. Murdoch's thirst for access to the Oval Office and Mr. Trump's craving for acceptance from his fellow billionaire conservative. But the 2020 election wedged them apart anew. Mr. Trump was furious at Mr. Murdoch for refusing to block Fox News's projection that Mr. Trump had lost the pivotal state of Arizona. Mr. Murdoch was furious at Mr. Trump's stolen-election conspiracies, which drew sympathetic coverage among some Fox hosts and resulted in a $787.5 million payout to settle a defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems, a company at the center of the false narrative. The two did not speak for a long period after the election as Mr. Murdoch's outlets lined up behind a would-be challenger to Mr. Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. But the audience still wanted Mr. Trump, forcing the two back together last year. Mr. Murdoch was on the dais at Mr. Trump's second inauguration and appeared with the president before cameras inside the Oval Office in early February. Even then, though, there were some signs of the tension that has exploded into view in the past week. Speaking with reporters as Mr. Murdoch sat nearby, Mr. Trump called the media mogul one of the 'most talented people in the world.' But then a reporter in the room asked the president about an editorial in The Journal that accused him of starting 'The Dumbest Trade War in History.' It was one of many critical editorials The Journal, whose opinion page has long favored free trade and an opposition to tariffs, has published on the administration's economic policy and other topics. Mr. Trump grimaced and said of Mr. Murdoch: 'I'm going to have to talk to him about that.'' He added, 'I've been right over The Wall Street Journal many times.' In the weeks that followed, The Journal's editorial board expressed numerous other criticisms of the administration, even as it offered praise at times, too. It called Mr. Trump's decision to pull security for several former national security officials 'a new low'; gave him a new name, 'Tariff Man''; asked if he would 'please take a summer vacation for the good of the nation'; and it suggested the Federal Communications Commission was operating as Mr. Trump's 'personal protection racket.' The two men continued to talk on the phone throughout, trading information and gossip. A pivotal interaction, though, came last week, with The Journal's reporting on Epstein. Mr. Trump has said he directly asked Mr. Murdoch to spike the article, arguing that it wasn't true. Mr. Murdoch, in Mr. Trump's telling, said he would 'take care of it.' (Mr. Murdoch's representatives declined to comment on that assertion.) Mr. Murdoch, though, has shown a pattern of refusing to intervene to kill his journalists' stories. Dow Jones, The Journal's parent company, expressed 'full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting' and vowed to 'vigorously defend against any lawsuit.' That leaves many progressives and First Amendment advocates looking to an unlikely protagonist. 'Is this what we have come to,' Tina Brown, the author and former top magazine editor, wrote this week, 'depending on Rupert Murdoch to stand up for press freedom?' She predicted he would, but the ultimate outcome may depend on the viewers-slash-voters who are so central to Mr. Murdoch's and Mr. Trump's power.
The Hill
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
The Memo: Trump fuels Epstein furor he wants to escape
President Trump and his allies are desperate to move past the Jeffrey Epstein controversy — but their own words and actions are having the opposite effect. Trump's decision to sue The Wall Street Journal over an Epstein-related story, his administration's choice to bar the Journal from the group of reporters who will cover the president's upcoming trip to Scotland, and Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) eagerness to avoid a House vote on disclosure of Epstein material have all given fresh fuel to the story. The self-defeating aspect of this approach was typified by one social media post among the many that Trump has been issuing. On Tuesday afternoon, the president lamented that the achievements of the first six months of his second term were being underplayed because 'all the Fake News wants to talk about is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax!' His post, of course, gave the media another reason to keep talking about it. The sense of creeping anxiety emanating from the White House over the Epstein matter is testament to the unusual discord it has caused within the Trump base. Trump's astonishing political comeback, from the nadir of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, to winning the White House back last November, was enabled by the fierce loyalty of his 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) supporters — and by a party that has grown ever-warier of crossing him. The Epstein matter is an unusual exception. Republican elected officials have proven uncommonly willing to break with the president — or at least create some discomfort for him. Even the Speaker has called for greater 'transparency' around Epstein, though he has more recently tried to close a perceived gap between himself and Trump. But Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) called on social media on Tuesday for a vote on disclosing the so-called Epstein files — exactly the thing Johnson has been moving to thwart. Norman said Republicans should 'vote on it before August recess and get it DONE!!' Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) has also called for the material to be released, while Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — who has been to the fore of the effort — is now in open defiance of Trump. Massie noted in an X post Tuesday that he had introduced 'the only binding congressional legislation' to get the Epstein material released, and 'in return, the attacks on me intensified.' Massie included in his message a screenshot of a Trump social media attack on him, in which the president called him 'the worst Republican Congressman' and 'A real loser!' Massie, in turn, used that attack to try to juice fundraising support from his supporters so he could 'stay in the ring.' The big picture, of course, is that the Speaker's reluctance to hold a vote is giving more ammunition to those who suspect Trump has something to hide. Massie told reporters Tuesday morning that Johnson seemed to want his party colleagues to 'just sort of stick your head in the sand' on the issue. It is a matter of public record that Trump and Epstein, the disgraced financier and sexual predator, were friendly acquaintances for years in the 1990s and early 2000s. Trump called Epstein a 'terrific guy' in a 2002 New York Magazine profile and also noted Epstein's fondness for women 'on the younger side.' It's also known the two later fell out, though the precise reason has never been definitively established. Some reports cite a competitive battle over real estate, others contend Trump cut contact with Epstein after the latter behaved inappropriately at the future president's Mar-a-Lago club. Trump's legal suit against The Wall Street Journal centers on the news organization's claim that a birthday message from Trump was included in an album to mark Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003. Trump insists the story, and alleged letter, are false. In terms of the politics of the overall matter, Trump is reaping what his allies sowed, at least in some regard. People around Trump stoked general suspicion of all the circumstances surrounding Epstein, who died — apparently by suicide — in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges. The current storm was set off by the contrast between comments made by Attorney General Pam Bondi in February during a Fox News interview — where she said a list of Epstein's clients was 'sitting on my desk right now for review' — and an unsigned memo from the FBI and the Department of Justice earlier this month that contended 'no incriminating 'client list'' could be found. That set off real angst in the Trump base, with a number of MAGA-leaning commentators speaking out. The relatively meager polling that has been done in relation to Epstein underlines the political peril for the president. An Economist/YouGov poll released Tuesday found Americans disapproving of Trump's handling of the Epstein investigation by a huge margin. Fifty-six percent disapproved and just 22 percent approved. Significantly, exactly 1 in 4 Republicans disapproved of the president's actions, and an additional 30 percent declined to express an opinion. Just 45 percent of Republicans approved of how Trump had handled the matter. Those are unusually bad figures for Trump among Republicans. There is nothing very surprising about the overwhelming disapproval of the president's handling of the controversy among Democrats (only 7 percent approved), but it is also telling that independents came out against his actions by a massive 61 percent to 15 percent. For the moment, at least, Trump is stuck, and new developments are coming thick and fast. An announcement Tuesday from Bondi's social media account saying Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche would meet with Ghislaine Maxwell set off its own new round of speculation as to possible ulterior motives. In 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years for conspiring in Epstein's abuse. Trump has tried to turn the page repeatedly. So far, unusually, it hasn't worked.
