
Republicans take sides for a Trump-fueled tug of war over Russia
CNN
Recently, ex-President Donald Trump proudly declared, "What's happening with Russia and Ukraine would never have happened under the Trump administration. Not even a possibility!"
That may actually be true. After all, just a couple of years ago, Trump was impeached for trying to use Ukraine to dig up dirt on his potential presidential rival Joe Biden. He tried to push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to "do us a favor" and investigate Biden and his son, Hunter -- all while holding up almost $400 million in crucial military aid. Remember that "perfect" phone call?
So, yeah, given Trump's predilection to hug Russia and blackmail Ukraine -- a fledgling democracy -- it's probably a good bet that Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldn't be pulling these particular tricks right now. I mean, Trump was his guy. When Bill O'Reilly pointed out to Trump that Putin was a killer, he demurred. "There are a lot of killers," Trump said. " ... You think our country's so innocent?"

Botched Epstein redactions trace back to Virgin Islands’ 2020 civil racketeering case against estate
A botched redaction in the Epstein files revealed that government attorneys once accused his lawyers of paying over $400,000 to “young female models and actresses” to cover up his criminal activities

The Justice Department’s leadership asked career prosecutors in Florida Tuesday to volunteer over the “next several days” to help to redact the Epstein files, in the latest internal Trump administrationpush toward releasing the hundreds of thousands of photos, internal memos and other evidence around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The US State Department on Tuesday imposed visa sanctions on a former top European Union official and employees of organizations that combat disinformation for alleged censorship – sharply ratcheting up the Trump administration’s fight against European regulations that have impacted digital platforms, far-right politicians and Trump allies, including Elon Musk.










