Trump tried to sabotage nemesis over bid to release Epstein files: report
President Donald Trump was reportedly so hell-bent on trying to stop lawmakers from revealing the relationship he had with Jeffrey Epstein that he tried to poach a Republican enemy's staff.
Trump apparently wanted to stop Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and his team. Massie was pushing legislation to prompt the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files and the trove of documents connected to the late financier and convicted child sex offender, according to The Daily Beast.
The president reportedly aimed to disrupt Massie, who had co-sponsored the legislation with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA).
"As the House moved toward a vote on releasing the Epstein files last summer and fall, the White House and top Trump allies launched an effort to forestall it that lawmakers told me was unprecedented in its intensity and scope," according to The Atlantic.
"Massie called it a '360-pressure campaign,' one felt not just by him and his staff but anyone associated with him," The Atlantic reported. "One tactic he had not experienced before: Some of his key staff members were suddenly offered more prestigious jobs in the Trump administration or more lucrative jobs in the private sector—the idea being that if Massie no longer had a full staff, he couldn’t pursue ambitious legislation."
Massie revealed several situations that caused him to pause.
"Massie recalled asking an employee who, a few weeks before the vote, had received an employment offer that would double his salary: 'Did it ever occur to you that they might be offering you this job to basically make me less effective?' He said the young man sheepishly replied: 'That’s what my mom said.' He turned down the offer and finished writing the bill," according to The Atlantic.
The Republican lawmaker has also signaled that he has felt unsafe during the process to release the files.
"I’ve p---ed off enough billionaires who are clearly amoral people that I might have shortened my expected lifespan,” he told The Atlantic.
Trump excommunicates two MAGA heavyweights for criticizing Iran bombing
President Donald Trump appeared to excommunicate two MAGA heavyweights on Monday night during an exclusive interview with reporter Rachael Bade.
In the interview, Trump hit back at Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, two of his most staunch media allies, over their criticisms of his decision to strike Iran alongside Israel over the weekend. The president's comments came at a time when his supporting coalition appears deeply fractured over the strikes.
"I think that MAGA is Trump — MAGA’s not the other two,” Trump told Bade, referring to Kelly and Carlson. “MAGA wants to see our country thrive and be safe. And MAGA loves what I’m doing — every aspect of it … This is a detour that we have to take in order to keep our country safe and keep other countries safe, frankly.”
Early Saturday morning, U.S. and Israeli forces bombed several sites around Iran. Israel struck places where Iran's military and political leadership were located, which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the brutal dictator who had ruled the country since 1989. The U.S. struck multiple Iranian ballistic and nuclear missile sites, according to reports.
The Trump administration has offered up several reasons for conducting the strikes, but some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle remain unconvinced that the strikes were necessary, even though they celebrated the death of Khamenei.
