Today in Politics, Bulletin 208. 9/16/25 Ron Filipkowski Sep 16 ∙ \ … AG Pam Bondi went on Katie Miller’s podcast and echoed the authoritarian comments about prosecuting Democrats that JD Vance and Katie’s husband Stephen made yesterday: "There's free speech and then there's hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society. We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech." … She then went on Fox and said DOJ is criminally investigating an Office Depot employee who didn’t want to print out posters of Kirk: “If you want to go and print posters with Charlie's picture for a vigil, you have to let them do that. We can prosecute you for that. We have right now our civil rights unit looking at that.” … She then said companies are obligated to fire employees who are saying critical things about Kirk: "Employers, you have an obligation to get rid of people who are saying horrible things.” … Even right-wingers and many Trump supporters strongly condemned her comments. Fox chief political analyst Brit Hume: “Someone needs to explain to Ms. Bondi that so-called ‘hate speech,’ repulsive though it may be, is protected by the First Amendment. She should know this.” … After huge backlash from Republicans, who have fought against hate speech laws for years and were already disgusted with her over Epstein, Bondi was forced to post a clean-up on social media hours later: “Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime. For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over.” … “Under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c), it is a federal crime to transmit ‘any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another.’ Likewise, 18 U.S.C. § 876 and 18 U.S.C. § 115 make it a felony to threaten public officials, members of Congress, or their families. You cannot call for someone’s murder. You cannot swat a Member of Congress. You cannot dox a conservative family and think it will be brushed off as ‘free speech.’ These acts are punishable crimes, and every single threat will be met with the full force of the law.” … But that’s not what she said on the podcast, that’s not what she meant, and limiting her investigation to just those things is not what she’s going to do. … Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA): “This is rich. AG Bondi has REFUSED to prosecute MULTIPLE direct death threats against me and my family.” … Right-wing Hillsdale College consultant Chris Rufo: “This is extremely concerning. The distinction is not between ‘free speech’ and ‘hate speech,’ but between ‘free speech’ and ‘organizing illicit activities, engaging in political violence, depriving others of their civil rights, and committing tax or nonprofit fraud.’” … Headline from today’s conservative National Review, which was founded by William F. Buckley: “Pam Bondi’s Ridiculous 24 Hours.” … Conservative commentator and journalist Pedro Gonzalez: “Bondi’s comment about ‘hate speech’ is saying out loud what Stephen Miller and JD Vance have been hinting at and implying while using the tragedy of a political assassination as cover and people need to realize that this was a kind of mask off moment. This isn’t just about fighting political extremism. They’re talking about cracking down on political dissent, and they’re going to push this as far as people will let them, which is why it’s important to say something.” … Conservative talk-show host Erick Erickson (who attacked me a few days ago for suggesting that alleged assassin Robinson might not be a leftist): “Our Attorney General is apparently a moron.” … Elon Musk responded to two separate posts from right-wingers attacking Bondi by agreeing with their criticisms of the AG with “well said” and “exactly.” … Mehdi Hasan: “The right have launched an all-out attack on liberals and the left, in the wake of the Kirk killing, pushing narratives about left-wing violence and the need to investigate liberal nonprofits and Schumer and Jeffries are totally AWOL. The Dems are leaderless. Shocking.” … Hasan: “We had four years of a Democratic Attorney General scared of his own shadow, refusing to go after Trump for crimes that Trump committed on camera and on tape, outsourcing all investigations, and never talking to the media. And, now, sigh, we have Trump's Attorney General saying this.” … Kyle Clark, anchor of NextOn9News (CO): “Declaring that a private business refusing to print a vigil poster for the President's friend is a civil rights violation is an interesting legal argument. Brings to mind Colorado cases Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission and 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis.” … In his way to board a flight to UK this morning, Trump was asked about Bondi’s comments by Jonathan Karl: Q - What do you make of Bondi saying she is going after hate speech, a lot of allies say hate speech is free speech. Trump: She will probably go after people like you. You treat me unfairly - you have hate in your heart. ABC paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech, your company paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech, maybe they'll go after you.” … Last night, Trump complained about the protesters who disrupted his dinner: “They started to scream when I got into a restaurant. I said I'm doing a great job for peace in the Middle East, I should get lots of awards with that. She was a paid agitator. I've asked Pam to look into that in terms of bringing RICO cases because they should be put in jail. What they are doing to this country is really subversive.” … Marge Greene’s boyfriend Brian Glenn tried to help Trump out a little with a follow up, but Trump was in full dictator mode and wasn’t having it: Q - But they still have their 1st Amendment rights, though. Trump: Well, I'm not so sure.” … Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) was asked about Trump saying last night he didn’t know anything about the assassination of MN state rep. Melissa Hortman by a right-wing extremist: “I’m blown away by the callousness of his response. What we need right now is a universal condemnation of political violence. And yet the president - I don’t know whether he’s just clueless or was just pretending that he didn’t remember. But that’s exactly what we do not need in this moment.” … Ironically, the special election to fill Hortman’s open seat is today. … Speaker Mike Johnson then weighed in: “Leaders cannot call their political opponents enemies of the state because they disagree with their policy priorities. This is something we should’ve learned in grade school.” … I responded to that by posting 4 different clips from Oct 2024 where Trump called Democrats “the enemy of the people”, “marxists”, “communists”, “fascists”, “sick and evil”, “scum” and “vicious people.” … Brett then put together a 6-minute montage of Trump clips demonizing Democrats and posted it. That was all posted less than an hour after Johnson and Trump’s comments. Somebody has to do it, might as well be us. We learned not to wait on party leaders years ago because usually nothing happens. … PA Gov Josh Shapiro: “Unfortunately, some from the dark corners of the internet all the way to the Oval Office, want to cherry pick which instances of political violence they want to condemn. Doing that only further divides us. We must reject the rhetoric of vengeance, and instead focus on the work of healing. Censorship – using the long arm of government to silence people, businesses, and nonprofits and restrict their right to free speech – will not solve this problem.” … Rep. Nancy Mace on Fox: "We're not dealing with sane people. They need to be dealt with boldly, strongly. I support everything Trump is saying and wanting to do. That's why I'm working to root out the teachers and healthcare workers in South Carolina who celebrate murder. I don't want them around our kids." … America First Post: “The Kirk family and Turning Point USA are preparing defamation lawsuits against media outlets and figures who smeared Charlie Kirk after his assassination. TPUSA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said on a podcast with Scott Jennings, ‘We are seeing it all and logging it all. We have good lawyers.’” … Attorney Mark Zaid pointed out an inconvenient fact to them: “Even amazing lawyers can't change the fact that deceased individuals (or their estates) cannot bring defamation lawsuits.” … MSNBC: “Roughly 20% of FBI agents - 2,840 out of around 13,800 - have been diverted to work on immigration enforcement. It’s one of the many consequences of Kash Patel’s push to require agents to help round up undocumented immigrants, a mission not normally undertaken by the FBI. The impacts have been significant. Nearly every agent on Baltimore’s domestic terrorism squad was reassigned this year to work full time on immigration enforcement, forcing them to walk away from investigations of a network of violent predators that targets and exploits children online.” … Patel was asked about that today at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. He claimed that he didn’t know anything about the Baltimore domestic terrorism squad being wiped out so they could round up migrants. … Michael Feinberg, former senior FBI executive: “Agents aren’t out there recruiting sources. They are not maintaining trip wires. They are not able to keep their ear to the ground about what’s happening among extremist movements. As a result, the extremists have more latitude to do things that harm our society.” … A former FBI official who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation said: “If the bureau is not looking at domestic terrorism, nobody else is. We are now more susceptible to extremists because of these actions.” … The hearing was highly combative, with Patel going at it with Democratic senators yelling and interrupting them. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) to Patel: “Republicans are not Nazis. And Democrats are not ‘evil,’ as Patel has claimed. Democrats are not responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk, as Republicans were not responsible for the murder of Melissa Hortman. Our political opponents are not our enemies. We are all Americans.” … Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ): “Here’s the thing, I think you’re not going to be around long. I think this might be your last oversight hearing. Because as much as you supplicate yourself to the will of Donald Trump, this may the last time I have a hearing with you because I don’t think you’re long for this job.” … Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT): “You said you wanted to ground former FBI Director Chris Wray's private jet travel. In March, an FBI plane flew roundtrip from DC to Vegas and you attended a UFC fight with Mel Gibson. Is that true? PATEL: The difference is I live in Las Vegas. I'm allowed to go home. Welch: On April 5 you attended a hockey game in NYC. You don't live there, right? PATEL: No, I don't.” … Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA): "Who, if anyone, did Epstein traffic these young women to? Patel: There is no credible information, none, that he trafficked to other individuals." … Say what, now? … Sen. Amy Klobuchar asked Patel if he thought a ban on assault weapons could result in fewer instances of political violence: "So, assault weapon ban? What do you think? PATEL: I think there are instances on this legislation that could prevent future attacks.” … I don’t think his rapidly dwindling MAGA fan base is going to like that answer. … Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) liked it though: “Kash Patel is NOT wrong here. An assault weapons ban will reduce mass shootings.” … Continuing on with Trump’s unhinged press gaggle on the way to his flight: Q - “Should a president in office be engaged in so much business activity? Trump: I'm not, my kids are running the business. Where are you from? Reporter: Australian Broadcasting Corp. Trump: You’re hurting Australia very much right now. And they want to get along with me. Your leader is coming to see me soon, I'm going to tell him about you, you set a bad tone. You can set a nicer tone. Be quiet.” … He was asked about potential sanctions on Ukraine: “Zelensky is going to have to get going and make a deal. Zelensky is going to have to make a deal.” (He never mentioned Putin). … Q - “Do you believe the Federal Reserve is an independent body? Trump: It should be, but I think they should listen to smart people like me.” … He was asked about blowing up more boats off Venezuela: "There are very few boats out on the water now. I can't imagine why? Not even fishing boats. There's nobody. Nobody wants to go fishing. We're seeing that there are no ships in the ocean anymore. Meaning, no drugs are coming across. Probably stopping some fishermen too. To be honest, if I were a fisherman, I wouldn't want to go fishing either because they’re saying, ‘maybe they think I have drugs.'" Reminder there is no Bulletin on Wednesdays because I do my podcast Uncovered live at 4 ET and then my Ask the Editor show after that. Please submit questions or things you want me to comment on in the replies to this Bulletin below for that show. I pick 5 of them to answer and we always have many more great ones than that. I also have my article out tomorrow with some amazing numbers on Democratic candidates outperforming 2024 results in dozens of races all over the country. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. Thank you again for supporting my work by subscribing! Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … Caleb Ragland, President of Soybean Farmers Assn on NewsNation: “We depend on the Chinese market. And right now we have 0 sold for this crop. It's a 5 alarm fire for our industry. We are not price competitive with Brazil due to the retaliatory tariffs. Our prices are about 20% higher, and that means that the Chinese are going elsewhere. And the American soybean farmers and their families are suffering.” … Have no fear, soybean farmers. Republicans will bail you out at some point with a huge chunk of taxpayer money to pay you for not being able to sell your products because of their policies. Then you can post on social media that you’re voting for them because you are against socialism. … Eric Trump was asked on CNBC about their scam where UAE invested $2 billion in their crypto company then the US govt granted them access to highly sophisticated chips used to develop AI: Q - “They're talking about the UAE investing some money at the same time they were granted access to some chips. Not saying it's related, but it could be. You're gonna see this again and again from mainstream media in terms of a conflict of interest. Eric: We're far from Hunter Biden. The guy was selling finger art. Crypto came out of necessity because we were being debanked by everybody.” … CNBC host first acts annoyed that his producer is making him ask a question about the biggest presidential financial scandal in history, then lets Eric deflect to Hunter, then doesn’t follow up on the preposterous lie that they were forced to go into crypto because every bank in America refused to do business with them. And that was probably the one and only chance for a mainstream media host to ask Eric about this. Disgusting. … Trump posted on Truth Social that he is now suing the NYT: “Today, I have the Great Honor of bringing a $15 Billion Dollar Defamation and Libel Lawsuit against The New York Times, one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country, becoming a virtual ‘mouthpiece’ for the Radical Left Democrat Party. The ‘Times’ has engaged in a decades long method of lying about your Favorite President (ME!), my family, business, the America First Movement, MAGA, and our Nation as a whole.” … “I am PROUD to hold this once respected ‘rag’ responsible, as we are doing with the Fake News Networks such as our successful litigation against George Slopadopoulos/ABC/Disney, and 60 Minutes/CBS/Paramount, who knew that they were falsely ‘smearing’ me through a highly sophisticated system of document and visual alteration, which was, in effect, a malicious form of defamation, and thus, settled for record amounts. They have been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!” … Statement from NYT: “The suit has no merit. It's just an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting. The NYT will not be deterred by intimidation tactics. We will continue to pursue the facts without fear or favor and stand up for journalists’ First Amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people." … Politico’s Kyle Cheney after reading the ridiculous lawsuit: “Trump launches a $15 billion lawsuit against the NYT — naming reporters Peter Baker, Michael Schmidt, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner — because he doesn't like what they have written/reported about him.” … George Conway: “Is it possible for a legal pleading to be psychotic?” … WaPo: “When the first immigrants arrived at their new detention quarters at a TX military base this summer, they were marched onto an active construction site. Dust swirled and excavators hummed as contractors raced to build the tent encampment, where development had begun just two weeks earlier and would go on for months. Locked up in the unfinished facility, migrants were subjected to conditions that violated at least 60 fed standards for immigrant detention, the detention oversight unit of ICE found earlier this month in a contractually required inspection.” … “The detention center at Fort Bliss, called Camp East Montana, failed to properly monitor and treat some detainees’ medical conditions, lacked basic procedures for keeping guards and detainees safe and for weeks did not provide many of them a way to contact lawyers, learn about their cases or file complaints. The facility is the first of at least 10 temporary, tentlike encampments that the Trump Admin plans to build at military bases and the sites of existing detention centers in the coming months.” … WaPo: “The Trump admin has ordered the removal of signs and exhibits related to slavery at multiple national parks, including a historic photograph of a formerly enslaved man showing scars on his back. The removals were in line with President Trump’s executive order directing the Interior Dept to eliminate information that reflects a ‘corrosive ideology’ that disparages historic Americans. National Park Service officials are broadly interpreting that directive to apply to info on racism, sexism, slavery, gay rights or persecution of Indigenous people.” … “The latest orders include removing information at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park in WV, where the abolitionist John Brown led a raid seeking to arm slaves for a revolt. Staff have also been told that info at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia, where George Washington kept slaves, does not comply with the policy.” … NPR on members of Congress leaving: “The number currently stands at 10 senators and 27 House members. 15 are retiring from public office with the rest running for a different office — 11 looking to become governor of their state, 10 looking to make the jump from House to Senate and one, TX Rep. Chip Roy, is looking to become his state's AG. There are more Republicans signaling their desire to exit Washington (27) than Democrats (10). … Former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan announced he is running for governor after switching parties earlier this year: “I’m in. Georgians deserve leaders with the courage to take on Trump, lower costs for families, and do what’s right. With your help, we can win this election and I’ll proudly serve as Georgia’s Democratic governor.” … Reuters: “The property tax authority in Ann Arbor, MI, said that Federal Reserve Gov Lisa Cook hasn’t broken rules for tax breaks on a home there that Cook declared her primary residence. The finding could boost Cook’s defense against efforts by the Trump admin to remove her. Cook has at times lived elsewhere and city records indicate she sought permission from Ann Arbor authorities to rent out the home on a short-term basis.” … Temporary absence from the home or renting it out short-term wouldn’t disqualify her from a tax exemption in Ann Arbor, the tax official said. “Living elsewhere temporarily does not necessarily make an owner ineligible for a principal residence exemption.” … “At issue is whether Cook lied to her lenders when obtaining two mortgages. The Trump admin, citing her mortgage contracts, has alleged that she improperly told both lenders that the loan was for a primary residence. By declaring a home as a primary residence, a homeowner can – but doesn’t always – secure a better interest rate on the loan and, separately, can receive discounts from local authorities on property taxes.” … “A federal appeals court declined late Monday to allow Trump to fire Cook. The admin is expected to appeal immediately to the Supreme Court, adding a further complication to her status for the Fed's upcoming two-day gathering. Reuters last week reported that Cook had informed her lender that the property would be a ‘vacation home,’ not a primary residence.” … Bill Pulte has been the Trump admin pushing the case against Cook. He also referred it to DOJ for criminal investigation. … Treasury Sec Scott Bessent was asked on CNBC about the reaching incident where he got in Pulte’s face and screamed, “I’m going to punch you in your fucking face!” Bessent: “Treasury secretaries dating back to Alexander Hamilton have a history of dueling.” … Sec of State Marco Rubio was asked how much longer the Trump is going to give Putin before he moves forward with the sanctions that he has threatened numerous times: “Well, we fully understand the sanctions that we have available to us, and at some point the President may decide to do that. He's not going to go around and artificially announce a time frame.” … “But he's also pointed out that it's important for Europe to do so as well. There are still countries in Europe that are buying Russian products, including Russian oil. And what the President has challenged our European partners is to impose the sanctions themselves that they’re asking us to impose.” … European economist Anders Aslund: “What a disgrace! (as usual) The two EU countries that buy Russian oil are Trump's favorites Viktor Orban (Hungary) and Robert Fico (Slovakia). Trump should talk to them. The US has eased its sanctions on Russia, while the EU has imposed more sanctions, which Rubio omits. How can anybody deal with the Trump lies?” … Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE): “If John Thune and Speaker Johnson continue to deny votes on the House and Senate floors on Russian sanctions, they’ll be complicit in whatever fate befalls Ukraine.” … IL Gov JB Pritzker was asked for the latest on Trump’s threat to send troops into Chicago: “You can't take anything that Trump says seriously. He's attacking verbally. Sometimes he attacks by sending his agents in. Sometimes he forgets. I think he might be suffering from some sort of dementia. The next day he'll wake up and stop talking about Chicago, so I've never counted anything he's said as real.”