LOTS OF POSTS IGNORED BY BLOGGER.....
OR REMOVED ON THEIR WHIM!
ALL POSTS ARE AVAILABLE ON
MIDDLEBORO REVIEW AND SO ON
BLOGGER DOESN'T LIKE TRUTH OR FACTS!
BLOGGER DOESN'T LIKE FUND RAISERS AND DELETES
POSTS THAT INCLUDE FUNDRAISING THAT 'VIOLATES THEIR
UNDEFINED COMMUNITY STANDARDS SO ALL 'FUND RAISING'
IS DELETED - CONTRIBUTE AS YOU ARE INCLINED TO SUPPORT
IMPORTANT ISSUES! THESE ARE NOT SOLICITATIONS
TRUMP OMITTED KNOWN RUSSIAN ELECTION INTERFERENCE!
Good evening, everyone. As promised, I watched Donald Trump’s address so you didn’t have to—and fact-checked it below. I won’t make you sit through the speech. I’ll tell you what he said, what was false, and what he left out.
But that’s not all. There is major Epstein news. This afternoon, survivors sat down with Todd Blanche for the first time—the first meeting between survivors and the attorney general. Blanche was rude, dismissive and, according to those in the room, gaslit them. It was a slap in the face. I have exclusive reporting from inside the meeting.
Here is everything you need to know right now about Trump and Epstein. Subscribe to support my around-the-clock reporting, or upgrade your subscription today.
Trump Speech:
Tonight, Donald Trump announced the release of what he called “critical intelligence” exposing serious vulnerabilities in the American election system and a years-long effort to conceal foreign interference.
But there is one glaring problem with the scandal Trump described: much of the alleged cover-up happened during his own first presidency.
“Tonight, I’m announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure,” Trump said. He claimed the material shows that the election system is dangerously exposed to “hacking, exploitation and foreign interference.”
“Just as disturbingly, this vital information has for many years been covered up and hidden from you,” he added.
Trump said China carried out what he described as the largest compromise of election data in history beginning during the 2020 election cycle. He also spoke about alleged Chinese interference dating back to 2019, when he was already president.
According to Trump, China’s goal was to undermine public confidence in him.
“They focused on undermining confidence in the U.S. president,” he said. “They wanted to just want you sound like your president wasn’t so hot, when actually your president has done a great job.”
Trump then claimed that dozens of significant CIA and NSA reports about China’s election activities were kept out of his presidential briefings.
“These were briefings I would get almost every day,” he said. “Everything was kept out.”
In other words, Trump is alleging that a massive foreign-interference scandal unfolded inside the United States government while he was president—and that his own intelligence agencies kept him in the dark.
Trump also claimed that “burn bags” from the Obama administration had been discovered. He suggested they contained highly incriminating material but did not explain what the material was or provide evidence supporting the allegation.
He is now calling on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Justice Department, the FBI and the CIA to investigate the alleged concealment.
“Today, I’m asking [them] to investigate how and why such crucial information was hidden, to fire those involved in the cover-up, and to file criminal charges, if appropriate,” Trump said.
He also claimed that dead people remain “active” on voter rolls and described the election system as fundamentally indefensible.
“These disclosures reveal an election system so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it,” Trump said. “It is not defensible.”
Trump said the newly released documents also show that the CIA received reporting about a plot intended to benefit Nicolás Maduro’s government in Venezuela. He argued that the intelligence demonstrated the need for urgent action to prevent the American election system from being hacked or compromised “like it was in the past.”
“China and other countries have been trying to meddle in our elections,” Trump said. “Evidence of fraud has been buried.”
But Trump did not explain how the alleged foreign activities translated into fraudulent votes or changed an election result. Foreign attempts to influence an election, vulnerabilities in election infrastructure and actual voter fraud are separate claims requiring different evidence.
The central question raised by Trump’s announcement is therefore unavoidable: If this was one of the largest election-related intelligence failures and cover-ups in American history, how did it happen while Trump himself occupied the White House?
Trump is presenting the disclosures as evidence of a scandal hidden from the American people. At the same time, his account suggests it was also hidden from—or missed by—the president responsible for overseeing the government while it allegedly occurred.
Epstein Survivors:
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met Thursday with several accusers of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but the meeting appeared to deepen survivors’ concerns about his nomination to lead the Justice Department. The approximately hourlong meeting at Justice Department headquarters in Washington followed a demand from a Republican senator whose support is considered crucial to advancing Blanche’s nomination. I have exclusive recaps of what happened inside the meeting:
Blanche began by telling survivors, “I am not asking you guys to commit to anything today, and I don’t expect that I have to commit to anything today, too.”
The survivors asked him why he had said there were no investigative leads.
“I never said that,” Blanche replied. They pressed him, pointing out that he had said it in the media. Amanda Roberts, the sister in law of Virginia Giuffre, asked him directly whether he had misspoken. Blanche doubled down.
“I never said that.” The conversation then turned to opening an investigation. Blanche said he did not have the power to do that. He pointed to other people in the room, including members of his team.
“You need to talk to other people,” he said. “I can’t open an investigation. They can. I’m just the attorney general.” Sky Roberts, the brother of Virginia Giuffre, responded: “Respectfully, Mr. Blanche, what do you need from us to help you open an investigation?” Blanche said he needed testimony and evidence.
Sky reminded him that Virginia had presented evidence against the man formerly known as Prince Andrew. There was sworn testimony. There was a photograph. It was in the files. “Isn’t that an investigative lead?” Sky asked.
Blanche replied, “Andrew won’t cooperate with us, and Virginia isn’t here, so I can’t…” That exchange gets to the heart of what happened in the room.
The survivors pointed to testimony and evidence already contained in the files. Blanche said he needed testimony and evidence. When confronted with a specific example of both, his response was that Andrew would not cooperate and Virginia was no longer here.
The survivors came prepared with direct questions. They wanted to know why existing evidence was not being treated as an investigative lead, who had the authority to open an investigation, and what more they were expected to provide.
They did not leave with clear answers. Afterward, Blanche told reporters that he had encouraged the accusers to provide the FBI with any information that could assist investigators. Several survivors, however, described the meeting as evasive, unproductive and lacking meaningful commitments to accountability.
Annie Farmer said the encounter strengthened her opposition to Blanche’s confirmation.
“After meeting with Todd Blanche, I feel even more confident in urging senators to vote against his confirmation as the United States’ attorney general,” Farmer said in a statement. She described Blanche as “abrasive, condescending, and intentionally noncommittal to survivors,” contrasting his demeanor with his public testimony during his confirmation hearing.
Farmer said Blanche criticized the failures of previous administrations but declined to take responsibility for decisions made under his own leadership. According to Farmer, he would not commit to investigating why authorities failed to pursue her sister Maria Farmer’s 1996 report about Epstein. He also declined to release documents concerning internal deliberations over whether to charge Epstein.
Farmer further criticized Blanche’s explanations for his nine-hour interview with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and Maxwell’s subsequent transfer to a less secure facility, calling them “wholly dissatisfactory and contrived.”
“His evasiveness felt like a deliberate attempt to claim the attorney general’s office is powerless in this matter,” Farmer said. “By passing the buck once again, he is leaving survivors trapped in the same endless loop of searching for answers and receiving none.”
Another accuser, Dani Bensky said the meeting was neither substantive nor productive. “My mind has not been changed that he will do what is best for the American people and survivors in this country,” Bensky said.
 |
Earlier Thursday, Bensky testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that women harmed by Epstein had attempted to meet with Blanche “through multiple channels” but received no response.
“We deserve to be heard directly, not dismissed and ignored,” she told lawmakers.
Lara Blume McGee, another Epstein survivor who attended the meeting, accused Blanche of treating the encounter as “a perfunctory audition for votes, not accountability.”
McGee said Blanche was condescending, repeatedly interrupted survivors and failed to explain why the Justice Department had released materials that exposed survivors’ identities. She also said he presented no credible plan to investigate potential perpetrators and enablers beyond Epstein and Maxwell.
“He offered no real plan to investigate anyone beyond Epstein and Maxwell and gave no reason to believe the remaining files aren’t vital to exposing other perpetrators and enablers,” McGee said. “Todd Blanche is unfit to be attorney general — Senator Thom Tillis and the Senate must vote no.”
Here is another statement I just received from Marijke Chartouni: “When institutions fail to address the concerns of sexual abuse victims, the betrayal comes at a much higher price. This perpetuates the cycle of oppression by creating psychological barriers that prevent victims from seeking necessary help, resulting in oppression in its most intimate form: survivors being implicitly and explicitly told that victimization was their fault, that their trauma didn’t deserve recognition, and that their recovery wasn’t worth institutional investment.”
See you in the morning.
— Aaron
You’re currently a free subscriber to the Parnas Perspective. For the full experience, more content, and to support Aaron, upgrade your subscription.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.