Some facts, observations, and heard-on-the-streets

Jeffrey Epstein's brother is warning that Republicans are "scrubbing the files" and "sabotaging" the full release, according to reports.

Mark Epstein said Tuesday in an interview with NewsNation that President Donald Trump and Republicans have changed course over releasing the Epstein files because they are making moves behind the scenes to alter them.

“I’ve been recently told, the reason they’re going to be releasing the files and the reason for the flip is that they’re sabotaging these files,” Mark Epstein told NewsNation.

He added that the GOP is “scrubbing the files to take Republican names out" and claimed the files are being sanitized at a "facility" about 78 miles northwest of Capitol Hill in Winchester, Virginia, The Daily Beast reports.

“He didn’t tell me what he knew, but Jeffrey definitely had dirt on Trump,” he said.

“You could see in the emails. Trump could deny it all he wants, but it’s pretty clear everything Trump says is a lie," he added.

Trump has denied any involvement or knowledge of Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking ring and abuse of girls. And after weeks of pushing to block the release of the files and pressuring other Republicans not to sign the discharge petition, he decided to reverse his moves and now has asked Republicans to sign the petition to release the files.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted 427-1 to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and send the discharge petition to the Senate in a move aimed to reveal more information about the disgraced late financier and convicted sex offender and his potential ties to other powerful entities.

The widow of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi blasted Saudi Arabia's ruler following his meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

The post Jamal Khashoggi’s Widow Rips MBS Following Controversial White House Visit: ‘Compensate Me for the Murder of My Husband’ first appeared on Mediaite.

Advocates for hemp on Wednesday decried a provision of the Republican government funding law signed by President Donald Trump that tightens restrictions on the versatile plant—a move critics say will devastate a $30 billion industry.

The new restrictions set a stricter limit on the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—the psychoactive chemical in cannabis—in order to close a loophole that allowed for the sale of unregulated food and beverages containing intoxicating hemp-derived compounds.

Twenty-two Democratic senators—including advocates for legal recreational or medical marijuana—joined almost all Republicans in voting against an amendment introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to strip out the restrictions from the final bill. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was the only other Republican to back Paul’s effort.

“Our industry is being used as a pawn as leaders work to reopen the government,” Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the US Hemp Roundtable, an industry group, warned ahead of the vote. “Recriminalizing hemp will force American farms and businesses to close and disrupt the well-being of countless Americans who depend on hemp.”

Hemp—which is used in a wide range of products from clothing to construction materials to fuel, food, and biodegradable plastics—was legalized under the 2018 farm bill signed by President Donald Trump during his first term.

But lawmakers including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—who backed the 2018 legislation—argued that cannabis companies are exploiting a loophole in the farm bill to legally manufacture products with enough THC to get consumers high.

Paul, however, ripped the provision, arguing in a Thursday Courier Journal opinion piece that it “destroys the livelihood of hemp farmers.”

“This could not come at a worse time for our farmers,” Paul wrote. “Costs have increased while prices for crops have declined. Farm bankruptcies are rising.”

“For many farmers, planting hemp offered them a lifeline,” he continued. “Hemp can be used for textiles, rope, insulation, composite wood, paper, grain, and in CBD products, and growing hemp helped farmers to mitigate the loses they’ve endured during this season of hardship.”

Paul noted that “the provision that was inserted into the government funding bill makes illegal any hemp product that contains more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container.”

“That would be nearly 100% of hemp products currently sold,” he said. “This is so low that it takes away any of the benefit of the current products intended to manage pain or other conditions.”

Charles and Linda Gill have grown hemp on their family farm in Bowdoinham, Maine, since the plant was legalized in 2018.

“We are not in the business of these intoxicating hemp products on the market, which are the ones that are screwing it up for everybody,” Charles Gill told Maine Morning Star‘s Emma Davis on Wednesday. “They’re abusing the system.”

“All our current products would be banned,” Gill said of the new restrictions. “It would pretty much put us out of business.”

Hemp defenders vowed to contest the new law.

“The fight isn’t over,” Hemp Industry & Farmers of America executive director Brian Swensen said on X after the law’s passage.

“In 2018, President Trump and Congress legalized hemp, delivering more jobs and opportunities to American farmers and small businesses,” Swensen said, adding that the restrictions “will devastate American farmers, business owners, veterans, and seniors.”

“The hemp ban will also open up dangerous black markets for hemp and allow China to take over the entire hemp market,” he added, claiming “it kills over 325,000 American jobs and destroys the industry.”