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Donald Trump Wants To Punish Anyone Who Doesn’t Like Him

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Donald Trump is aggressively escalating his pressure campaign on media he doesn’t approve of.

When The Wall Street Journal — whose parent company is owned by Rupert Murdoch, a billionaire and powerful Trump ally — published a news story about Trump’s ties to disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein last week, the president openly admitted that he had tried to get the story killed.

“I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story,” Trump posted on Truth Social, the social media app he owns. “But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.”

“Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but, obviously, did not have the power to do so,” Trump wrote in another post.

The story in question reported that Trump had apparently sent a crude letter to Epstein on his 50th birthday in which he alluded to things the two men had in common and included the phrase, “may every day be another wonderful secret.” When the paper didn’t kill the story as Trump had asked, the president filed a libel lawsuit claiming that the story would cause him “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” and demanding $10 billion in compensation.

Not even Murdoch, whose media empire (which includes Fox News) has been of great political benefit to Trump, is safe. He, along with the Journal and the reporters who worked on the story, were named in the suit.

It’s no secret that the president is notoriously thin-skinned and can’t handle even mild criticism, nor does he hide that he’s particularly litigation-happy — Trump has long filed lawsuits, including spurious ones, against negative media coverage. But this time is different.

“It’s unprecedented to have a sitting president file a lawsuit against a newsroom,” said Tim Richardson, the journalism and disinformation program manager at PEN America, an organisation that advocates for free speech rights.

If Trump can control the media, he will be free to enact whichever policies he wants — without anyone to hold him accountable for the harm they may do. It’s all a part of his effort to control what Americans can say, think, or engage with.

The Trump administration’s attack on freedom of speech has ensnared colleges, law firms, individual people, and, of course, Trump’s biggest enemy: the free press.

“Trump is throwing a temper tantrum and saying if I shout loudly enough, maybe the people who criticise me will go away,” Peter Loge, a professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, told HuffPost. “But if you don’t want to get yelled at about what you think, don’t be President of the United States.”

Because of the First Amendment, it’s a standard of American law that people have the right to speak about and critique their government, and that includes news publications. What’s more, public figures have a higher bar to clear than a regular person when it comes to claiming defamation, or that a story or criticism damages them. It’s understood, and courts have supported, that if you are in public life, the public has an interest in your doings, even if they are not flattering.

Well, it’s understood, except apparently by Trump himself.

“Trump is basically saying, if you say something I don’t like, I’m going to punish you,” Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, told HuffPost.

It is, in fact, something Trump has been saying to other institutions for a long time. Since January, Trump has signed executive orders threatening big law firms that have championed issues he doesn’t like, hamstringing their ability to bring legal challenges against his administration. The president demanded that the firms provide him with pro-bono services — and many, though not all, of them capitulated.

He has also turned the screws on colleges and universities, traditionally sites of political protest and civil disobedience. Through executive orders and policy demands, he has pushed to swing higher education to the political right: prioritizing enrolling conservative-leaning students, hiring faculty that support Trump, and demanding they end programs that focus on race and justice. If colleges fail to adhere to the Trump agenda, he threatens them with loss of federal funding.

Again, it has to some extent worked: This week, Columbia University bent the knee and agreed to a $220 million settlement with the president, even as schools like Harvard have chosen to stick out the fight.

Trump’s war with the press is a holdover from his first administration, and he picked it up almost immediately after returning to the White House. In this administration, he has begun to openly use threats and the power of the federal government to exercise pressure on his critics.

“The tactics that have been used have been ratcheted up from what we saw [during his first term],” Richardson said.

In February, he signed an executive order that purportedly changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. When The Associated Press declined to follow suit, Trump retaliated by banning the news outlet from sending its reporters to the Oval Office and other presidential events. The AP is currently in a legal fight to restore access.

But Trump has used the move since. After The Wall Street Journal published its story about the Epstein birthday card, Trump blocked a WSJ reporter from coverage of official events. The White House had also previously blocked a HuffPost reporter from the group of journalists covering the president, although the reporter, S.V. Date, was later reinstated.

In December, Trump sued Ann Selzer, an Iowa pollster and the Des Moines Register, accusing her of fraud over a poll that had shown him trailing behind his opponent Kamala Harris shortly before Election Day. Trump ultimately won the state.

The Federal Communications Commission announced in February that it was investigating San Francisco-based radio station KCBS after the station reported on immigration raids in the area.

Brendan Carr, the FCC chair, said it was because the station reported on the live location of the vans of federal immigration officers. The radio station, Carr said, needed to “explain how this could possibly be consistent with their public interest obligations.”

“Every elected official complains that the press is unfair,” Loge noted. “The difference with this administration is that Trump is actively trying to threaten and shut down the free press.”

Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Trump began a feud with CBS when he falsely accused the network of “deceptively” editing a 60 Minutes interview with Harris during the 2024 presidential race to “tip the scales” in her favour. Trump filed a lawsuit against Paramount, which owns CBS. The company said the interview was simply edited for time, which is typical, rather than doctored. Still, Paramount settled for $16 million.

After Paramount agreed to the settlement, Stephen Colbert, the host of the Late Show With Stephen Colbert on CBS, lampooned the company’s decision to genuflect before the president, calling the settlement a “big fat bribe.”

Paramount was in the middle of an upcoming merger with Skydance Media, for which it needed FCC approval.

Colbert, a longtime critic of the right wing in general and Trump in particular, even seemed to acknowledge that the jokes put a target on his back.

“Some of the TV typers out there are blogging that once Skydance gets CBS, the new owners’ desire to please Trump could ‘put pressure on late-night host and frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert,’” the host said, quoting a Puck News article. “OK, OK, but how are they going to put pressure on Stephen Colbert… if they can’t find him,” he joked.

Three days after Colbert skewered the settlement, CBS announced it was cancelling his show. Executives stressed that it was a purely financial decision. Trump, however, took a victory lap.

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump said on Tuesday in a Truth Social post. He also alluded to other late-night hosts who make fun of him. “It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”

Paramount’s merger was approved on Thursday. Some elected officials noted that the timing was suspicious.

“Trump’s goal is to have a chilling effect,” Leventoff said. Advocates worry that if he’s able to threaten and punish media outlets, companies and universities with no repercussions, it’ll send a signal to other institutions that fighting back isn’t worth it.

It’s not just those who examine Trump’s policies who are subject to intimidation.

On Wednesday’s episode of the daytime talk show “The View,” co-host Joy Behar discussed Trump’s regular attempts to turn criticisms back to former President Barack Obama. “The thing about [Trump] is he’s so jealous of Obama. Because Obama is everything that he is not — trim, smart, handsome, happily married, and can sing Al Green’s song ‘Let’s Stay Together’ better than Al Green,” Behar said. “And Trump cannot stand it. It’s driving him crazy.”

When Entertainment Weekly asked the White House to comment, it sent a chilling warning.

Behar “should self-reflect on her own jealousy of President Trump’s historic popularity before her show is the next to be pulled off air,” the White House statement read.

“This is intimidation,” Richardson said. “The View is not standard news, but it all follows the same line of thinking. If there’s criticism or dissent, he wants to quash it.”

We don’t have to guess what happens when a political leader tries to clamp down on the free press. Some of the leaders Trump likes to praise are leading authoritarian regimes, like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

In both those countries, cracking down on press freedom is routine. In Russia, journalists have been arrested for negative coverage of the government, and dozens of reporters have been killed. Orbán’s far-right party has proposed laws that would penalise groups that receive foreign donations, including journalism outlets. He has been accused of rewarding loyal news outlets with government subsidies.

“These are certainly tactics that have been used in other countries to muzzle the press,” Richardson said.

In such a quelling environment, even questionable situations can contribute to a sense that dissent runs the risk of punishment.

“People are agreeing with Trump because they’re too afraid to oppose him,” Loge said.

When the approval of the Paramount merger was announced, Anna Gomez, the only Democrat on the FCC, blasted the decision.

“The Paramount payout and this reckless approval have emboldened those who believe the government can — and should — abuse its power to extract financial and ideological concessions, demand favored treatment, and secure positive media coverage,” she said.

“It is a dark chapter in a long and growing record of abuse that threatens press freedom in this country. But such violations endure only when institutions choose capitulation over courage. It is time for companies, journalists, and citizens alike to stand up and speak out, because unchecked and unquestioned power has no rightful place in America.”

Media capitulations will only further harm free speech rights and embolden Trump. “It’s setting a dangerous precedent,” Richardson said. “And it’s hard to say where this ends.”

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Exclusive: Green Party Frontrunner Zack Polanski On Trying To Make It From Outside ‘Dull’ Westminster

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Zack Polanski has become something of an internet phenomenon of late.

Despite being the deputy Green leader since 2022 and a member of the London Assembly since 2021, he was definitely not among the most well-known politicians, even within his own party.

But something changed in May when, after years of membership, he announced he was running to lead the Greens on a socialist ticket, as an “eco-populist”.

Although the party has not officially declared how many members it has, leaked figures suggest the membership grew by 8,000 in the weeks after his declaration – taking them to at least 65,000.

Rumours of potential defections from disillusioned Labour MPs have even been swirling, although any concrete details have been kept under wraps.

He told HuffPost UK he’s slowly drawing in voters from across the political spectrum – including Tories – and winning back old supporters, including those who helped establish the precursor to the Greens, the Ecology Party.

Green sources also say Polanski was already very popular within the party when he decided to throw his hat into the ring earlier this year, and he had reportedly been encouraged to put himself forward for leadership for some time.

He’s since gone viral with his proposals to introduce bold leadership and break through the malaise around Westminster politics.

But his campaign hit a small snag this week.

Hours before we spoke, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana announced they were launching a new party on the left and invited everyone to join, for free.

By Friday, the group claimed to have nearly 230,000 sign-ups – eclipsing the so-called “Polanski surge” within the Greens. But Polanski did not seem too concerned.

“I’ve read their statement and I can’t see a single thing in there that’s not Green Party policy or doesn’t align already with the Green Party,” he said.

He then suggested those two MPs should just join the party with those values that already exists – the Greens.

Green Party co-leaders Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer pose with supporters at their General Election Manifesto launch - Real Hope, Real Change, at Sussex County Cricket Ground in Hove, June 12, 2024.
Green Party co-leaders Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer pose with supporters at their General Election Manifesto launch – Real Hope, Real Change, at Sussex County Cricket Ground in Hove, June 12, 2024.

via Associated Press

He also warned that one downside of running a party very democratically – members get to choose the name of Corbyn’s new group – is that it ends up operating rather slowly and so may take a while to get off the ground.

That criticism of acting in a rather glacial pace is often pitched at the Greens, from insiders and outsiders alike.

Corbyn’s party would have one advantage over the Greens if Polanski wins the leadership contest: its leader would be an MP in the Commons.

Polanski does not see that as a major sticking point in this leadership race though, even as his opponents, running on a joint ticket, both have seats.

He said Westminster is “dull” and it’s actually a “huge positive” to be able to tour the country to spread their message without being tethered to a constituency.

“I find it intensely frustrating that this Labour government get described as the sensibles or the adults in the room”

Although, of course, the politician said he would love to be an MP and will be standing at the next general election – but he still insisted: “Westminster is an important place for scrutiny, for accountability and for democracy. It’s a very dull place, not a place for storytelling.”

“I think we need at the top of the party a communicator who can speak to the country, who can excite, and inspire people,” he said. “And I think parliament at this core, is not an exciting, inspiring place, and that is no criticism of our MPs or indeed any MPs.”

What about Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, whose party has gone from strength to strength and now dominates the polls after they got five MPs elected last year?

Polanski said he thinks Farage was having more of an impact before he became an MP.

“It’s very much more difficult for him now to criticise the establishment when it’s very clear that he’s at the heart of that establishment,” Polanski said.

When it’s pointed out that Farage has an avenue to hold Starmer to account now he’s in the Commons, he said: “I don’t think I’ve seen any clip of Farage holding Starmer to account.”

He also claimed Farage is a millionaire who is “pretending to serve working class communities but actually serving billionaires”.

“I think Reform have got real problems ahead of them in terms of where their donations come from and the people who are supporting them, who have not been exposed yet to the transparency of that,” he said.

Despite his words of criticism for the Clacton MP, it’s hard to deny that the two are indirectly tethered as both are seen as populists – although Polanski calls himself an “eco-populist”.

And, according to the London Assembly member, Farage’s anti-immigration stance and support for nationalisation does not reflect populism.

“I don’t believe Farage is a populist. I don’t think we should cede these words to the right,” he said. “Populism, for me, is about the 99% versus the 1%. Farage is protecting that 1%.”

Starmer, of course, is his main political target though.

“I think the number one goal is to make the Labour Party more scared of losing vote seats to a Green Party than to Reform,” he said.

Pointing to their welfare cuts, Polanski said: “I find it intensely frustrating that this Labour government get described as the sensibles or the adults in the room when the consequences of their decisions are literally killing people and despite the fact that all the evidence is pointing to what they are doing is creating more inequality in society.”

Of course, this is a criticism levelled at Starmer across the board – that Labour is just not making the right decisions at the right time, particularly over Gaza.

But the Greens are not fully aligned, either.

Insiders fear the party is not doing enough to seize the pro-Palestine vote, which could go to Corbyn’s group instead, while old tropes that the Greens are “too white” continue.

However, Polanski said: “People of colour are voting for us, as polling showed last week.”

He said the Asian vote has increased by around 17% for the Green Party, pointing to FocalData stats.

He added: “So I think the kind of old tropes about the Green Party just aren’t true anymore.”

HuffPost UK was unable to find that particular data.

Polanski has also been at the centre of some negative coverage online, sparking speculation that not everything is as rosy within the Greens as previously indicated.

The Greens’ current co-leader MP Adrian Ramsay, who is running against Polanski with Green MP Ellie Chowns, was asked if he liked his opponent during a joint debate on LBC after all of their agitated televised exchanges.

Ramsay refused to say initially, even as Polanski insisted he likes Ramsay.

Polanski told HuffPost UK that he was “upset” at Ramsay’s response.

He said: “I was… upset last night when he refused to say that he liked me. He did eventually get there.

“I also shrug my shoulders and say, that doesn’t matter. We work perfectly well together. These are professional relationships, and I like him.”

But he notably added: “But, you know, I’m a human being. And if someone doesn’t like you, then, yeah… that was… it was bizarre.”

Ramsay – and Chowns – are promising to be “insurgents” in politics, too, just in a different way to Polanski.

Chowns previously told HuffPost UK that Farage relies on “complete distraction politics”, adding: “I really don’t think that we win Green power by aping Donald Trump or Farage in any way.”

While the Greens may have just four MPs in parliament right now, there’s no denying that public appetite for something a little different is growing.

But which direction will the Greens end up moving towards: headline-grabbing populist tactics, or sticking to slow-and steady establishment strategies?

Only the members can decide – but it’s clear results it could create a ripple across Westminster.

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‘Too Little, Too Late’: MPs Attack Government For Slow Response To Gaza Crisis

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The UK’s actions over the Israel–Palestine conflict in recent years have been slammed as “too little, too late” by backbench MPs.

The Foreign Affairs Committee, a cross-party group made up of 11 MPs, will be releasing a new report today on the ongoing crisis in the Middle East – and tearing into the government for not doing enough.

The committee, chaired by Labour MP Emily Thornberry who used to sit in Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet, called on the UK to focus on its relationship with the US in a bid to get Israel to change tact.

It comes as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza just reached new heights after more than 21 months of war, with an estimated 900,000 children in the territory going hungry right now.

The Foreign Affairs Committee all agreed the Israeli government is “not listening to the UK, nor its friends and allies” – aside from the US.

So they are calling on the UK to use its strong relationship with the White House to indirectly influence the war.

The MPs are calling for Israel to open all crossing points into Gaza without restriction to food, medical, shelter materials and other aid, too.

The committee suggested dismantling Israel’s Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has courted controversy since it was established to distribute food around the territory.

The MPs advised Britain support a medical evacuation of critically injured children to the UK, too.

The UK should also act “more boldly and bravely” in imposing sanctions against illegal outposts and violent Israeli settlers, the committee suggested.

The MPs also want the government to explain how the indirect exports of certain weapon components – then used by Israel – are still in line with International Humanitarian law.

In the report – complete with evidence collated over nine months – committee member John Whittingdale said: “The only issue on which we did not agree was on whether recognition of a Palestinian state now would help to bring that about.”

Committee chair Thornberry called on the government to do “all in its power” to secure a ceasefire, return the hostages and get humanitarian aid to Gaza.

She also called for the government to extend sanctions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

She said Brits want their government to “play its part in bringing about peace and justice”.

“There is undoubtedly huge frustration among many of the British public that the Government has consistently acted too little, too late. And there is huge frustration that the far-right government currently in charge in Israel is refusing to listen to its historic friends and allies,” she said.

“But we must not shrug our shoulders in despair and say that there is nothing we can do.

“This report puts forward practical suggestions for how the British Government can make a real difference. ”

She called for Britain to acknowledge that its greatest strength comes in alliances – whether persuading the US to pressure Israel to push for a ceasefire or “with nations in the region whose support will be vital to a long-term two-state solution”.

Thornberry added that the committee want the UK to immediately recognise the state of Palestine.

Pointing to the UK’s past with the Middle East and “peacebuilding in Northern Ireland” – “another conflict that everybody said was too difficult to solve until it was done – she said Britain was in a “unique position to do all we can to bring about peace”.

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Jeremy Corbyn’s New Group Sounds Very Much Like Another Party Which Is Rising On The Left

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Jeremy Corbyn has just announced he is launching a brand new left-wing party – but it already sounds very similar to the Green Party’s proposals.

Together with fellow former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, the ex-Labour leader promised a “new kind of political party” which “belongs to you”.

They said they would call for a wealth tax, champion an NHS which is free from privatisation, stand up for Palestine and challenge the fossil fuel giants “putting their profits before our planet”.

These policies are not dissimilar to those backed by the Green Party, which many former Labour supporters, now disillusioned, have flocked to over the last year.

That could therefore put the two parties at odds with one another.

Zack Polanski, the frontrunner in the ongoing Greens’ leadership race and the party’s current deputy, told HuffPost UK shortly after Corbyn’s announcement it is clear the parties have plenty in common.

He noted: “I’ve read the statement and I can’t see a single thing in there that’s not Green Party policy or doesn’t align already with the Green Party.”

He said: “I really like Jeremy and Zarah both as people and also as politicians. I’m supportive of anything they’re setting up.”

But the London Assembly member also made it clear they would be “welcome” in the Greens, which he called a “movement for change”.

He said: “I think it’s a positive thing that they’ve recognised that the Labour Party as a vehicle of progressive change that utterly collapsed, and it’s time to abandon it. They’ve not left the Labour Party, but Labour Party has left them.”

However, he noted that – unlike Corbyn’s new group – the Greens do not need to have a conference in the autumn to decide their name.

“Maybe that conference should decide actually, the Green party exists and is doing really well,” Polanski said, pointing to the nearly two million votes they secured in the general election. “It kind of makes sense to join the Green Party.”

Corbyn’s team has been contacted for comment.

Zack Polanski, deputy leader of the Green Party, at the Green Party autumn conference in Manchester, UK, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024
Zack Polanski, deputy leader of the Green Party, at the Green Party autumn conference in Manchester, UK, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024

Bloomberg via Bloomberg via Getty Images

Corbyn and Sultana’s new group appears to still be nameless. They have only offered up a link for supportive members of the public to sign up to a mysterious site called yourparty.uk, leading many to assume that is its moniker – although Sultana has since denied that.

Amid all that confusion, as Polanski pointed out, his plans to bring eco-populism to the Green Party are clear. He added: “I have a very clear left-wing socialist green ticket.”

However, Polanski also reiterated that he would be willing to work with anyone who wants to take on Westminster and stop Reform UK.

He said it came down to challenging the government, pointing out how suspended Labour backbencher John McDonnell said it was about intellectual coalitions rather than electoral coalitions.

He said Sultana and Corbyn “are embedded in green values environmental justice, social justice, racial justice, and economic justice.”

“Rather than creating purity tests about having narrow focuses for parties, I think Green Party can be that bold movement and that broad church,” Polanski said.

Asked if he was concerned Corbyn would overshadow him in the Greens, he said, “I think there is something to that.”

However, he said he imagines the former Labour leader, like the US’s Bernie Sanders, wants to look for “future leaders and movements”.

But he continued: “We just don’t have time to waste, I really mean it with deep respect for anyone who wants to get together and have a conference and decide a party name and governance structures, all of that takes too long and time is not a luxury we have.”

That approach is pretty different from Green MPs Ellie Chowns and current co-leader Adrian Ramsay, who are running on a joint ticket to oppose Polanski.

Chowns admitted that much of their statement “could have been taken straight from the Green Party manifesto,” but, she claimed: “There is only a passing glance to the climate crisis.

“Any party that does not have climate and environment front and centre is part of the old politics, not the new.”

Chowns pointed to the number of people who moved from Labour to the Greens and said “our door is very much open for anyone who aligns with core Green values”.

Adrian Ramsay, who is standing on a co-leadership ticket with Chowns, said: “It remains to be seen what this new party will amount to, but this development underlines how crucial it is for the Green Party to keep its distinctive identity, with our clear focus on both social and environmental justice.

“Turning the party into a Jeremy Corbyn support act would be a huge mistake.”

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French President Macron Sues Far-Right US Influencer Over False Claims Macron’s Wife Is A Man

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French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, have hit far-right influencer Candace Owens with a defamation lawsuit over her false claims that Brigitte Macron is male.

In a suit filed on Wednesday in Delaware, the Macrons allege that Owens has profited from a “campaign of global humiliation” against the Macrons, the complaint said.

In a March 2024 podcast, Owens said she “would stake [her] entire professional reputation on the face that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man,” according to the lawsuit.

Despite attempts to stop Owens from spreading the conspiracy ― including a retraction letter sent by the Macrons ― she instead “helmed an eight-part podcast series entitled Becoming Brigitte (the ‘Series’) and accompanying X posts,” the lawsuit said.

As part of the series, Owens fired off a series of “outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions.” More from the lawsuit:

These outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions included that Mrs. Macron was born a man, stole another person’s identity, and transitioned to become Brigitte; Mrs. Macron and President Macron are blood relatives committing incest; President Macron was chosen to be the President of France as part of the CIA-operated MKUltra program or a similar mind-control program; and Mrs. Macron and President Macron are committing forgery, fraud, and abuses of power to conceal these secrets.

The Macrons allege Owens has turned their lives “into fodder for profit-driven lies,” the complaint said.

“Owens has dissected their appearance, their marriage, their friends, their family, and their personal history — twisting it all into a grotesque narrative designed to inflame and degrade,” the lawsuit said. “The result is relentless bullying on a worldwide scale.”

Owens, a notorious conspiracy theorist who has been banned entry to Australia and New Zealand over her hateful rhetoric, has previously amplified a conspiracy about Jews being “drunk on Christian blood,” a reference to a false, centuries-old antisemitic trope.

And in July of last year, Owens suggested on her podcast that the horrific experiments Nazi physician Josef Mengele conducted on twins at Holocaust death camps never happened, in part because it would be a “tremendous waste of time and supplies.”

“That just sounds like bizarre propaganda,” she concluded.

The lawsuit against her does not specify the amount of damages the Macrons are seeking.

Owens has not responded to the lawsuit, but did respond on Tuesday to news that Brigitte Macron was suing the author of the book that first brought the baseless conspiracy to a mass audience.

“It’s official! Brigitte is now suing the author of ‘Becoming Brigitte’ for ‘cyberbullying,’” Owens posted on X. “Am I next?!”

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Trump Abruptly Ends CNN Interview After Being Questioned About New Epstein Photos

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US President Donald Trump hung up on a CNN reporter during a phone call Tuesday that lasted a mere 30 seconds after the journalist questioned him about resurfaced images showing Jeffrey Epstein at Trump’s 1993 wedding to his second wife, Marla Maples.

While appearing on Erin Burnett OutFront on Tuesday, reporter Andrew Kaczynski shared details about the abrupt phone call with Trump that ended in name-calling.

The call took place after CNN’s KFile found photos of Epstein and Trump that had not been widely reported on before. One photo showed the disgraced financier and sex offender attending Trump’s Plaza Hotel wedding to Maples.

In a separate image, Epstein was seen with Trump and his children at a Harley-Davidson Cafe that same year.

CNN also released a video of Trump and Epstein chatting with each other at a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in New York in February 1999.

Kaczynski told host Burnett that the call, in which he asked Trump about the images, ended with the president slamming CNN as “fake news” and hanging up after he refused to answer questions about his past connection to Epstein.

“We were not on the phone very long. I think our call was about 30 seconds or so,” Kaczynski told Burnett. “But when I asked him about the wedding photo, he said, he sort of paused for a second and then said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ before calling CNN ‘fake news’ and then hanging up on me.”

In a statement to CNN, Kaczynski said, White House communications director Steven Cheung said, “These are nothing more than out-of-context frame grabs of innocuous videos and pictures of widely attended events to disgustingly infer something nefarious.”

Cheung added: “The fact is that the president kicked [Epstein] out of his club for being a ‘creep.’”

Kaczynski’s heated yet ultra-brief conversation with Trump comes after the Department of Justice and FBI released a two-page memo earlier this month, claiming their Epstein investigation determined that there was no evidence Epstein was murdered or had a “client list” of powerful figures he could potentially blackmail.

Following the memo release, Trump faced scrutiny over his administration’s handling of the Epstein files, particularly from his own base. Since then, both Republicans and Democrats have called on the president and his administration to release more information.

Watch Kaczynski’s appearance below.

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Obama Team Issues Rare Rebuttal To Continued Trump Nonsense

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A spokesperson for former President Barack Obama on Tuesday dusted the cobwebs off his keyboard to type out a rare rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s incessant nonsense.

“Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,” wrote Patrick Rodenbush.

“But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”

Rodenbush was responding to Trump’s false assertions last week that he never sought, nor benefited from, Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

“Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes,” Rodenbush continued.

“These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”

Trump levelled the charge last week with the assistance of Russia-friendly spy chief Tulsi Gabbard, going so far as to say that Obama “manufactured and politicised intelligence” to launch a “years-long coup against President Trump.”

(The claim is plainly false: Even casual readers likely remember when Trump publicly called for Russian hackers to obtain and release private emails from Hillary Clinton’s private email server ― and they obeyed the same day.)

Nevertheless, Trump doubled down on the conspiracy on Tuesday, telling reporters in the Oval Office that he believed Obama ought to face “consequences.”

“They tried to rig the election, and they got caught. And there should be very severe consequences for that,” he said.

Rodenbush told HuffPost Trump’s Oval Office comments today called for a response.

Ned Price, a former spokesman for the National Security Council in the Obama administration, previously told HuffPost it sure looks like Gabbard is helping Trump try to distract the nation from the Epstein files.

“She’s fabricating a scandal as part of a cover-up, namely the Trump administration’s efforts to keep the Epstein files under wrap,” said Price.

“Gabbard’s trick here is a pretty obvious one: She’s intentionally conflating hacking and influencing.”

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Is That It? Kemi Badenoch Accused Of ‘Deckchair Shuffling’ After Frontbench Shake-Up

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Kemi Badenoch has been mocked over a Tory reshuffle that left nearly all of her senior frontbenchers in the same jobs.

The shake-up was prompted by the resignation of shadow health secretary Edward Argar for health reasons.

While former foreign secretary and Tory leadership contender James Cleverly made a comeback as shadow housing secretary, the rest of the reshuffle was seriously underwhelming.

It was also a major U-turn after her spokesman insisted in January that there would be no reshuffle before the next election.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick – who Badenoch beat to become leader last November – is staying in the same job, as are shadow home secretary Chris Philp, shadow chancellor Mel Stride and shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel.

Kevin Hollinrake becomes the new Tory chairman – as revealed by HuffPost UK this morning – while Stuart Andrew replaces Argar in the health role.

Nigel Huddleston replaces Andrew as shadow culture secretary, while Richard Holden becomes shadow transport secretary and Julia Lopez has been appointed shadow science secretary.

Badenoch said: “The Conservative Party’s mission of renewal continues, and these changes demonstrate exactly that.

“This new frontbench team reflects the rich experience within the party – from the tenacious campaigners fighting for Britain, to the experienced MPs who will keep holding this disastrous Labour government to account.

“Unlike Labour and Reform, the Conservative Party is unashamedly on the side of Britain’s makers: the people that work hard, do the right thing and want to get on in life.”

But Labour chair Ellie Reeves said: “No amount of deckchair shuffling can hide that the architects of 14 years of Tory failure still sit around Kemi Badenoch’s top table.

“The Conservatives haven’t changed and they haven’t once apologised for the mess they left behind. Only Labour is focussed on delivering a fairer Britain.”

The Lib Dems also picked up on the Titanic theme, pointing out that Cleverly had called on Tory MPs not to oust Liz Truss as prime minister.

Sarah Olney, the party’s Cabinet Office spokesperson, said: “Kemi Badenoch has appointed the very man who said that replacing Liz Truss as prime minister would be a terrible idea. It’s like appointing an iceberg apologist to a role steering the Titanic.

“The public won’t forgive this group of failed former Conservative ministers for the damage they did to our economy and NHS.”

But a former Tory cabinet member welcomed the reshuffle, telling HuffPost UK: “I think it’s positive and keeps us moving forward.”

Another former minister said: “There are some welcome moves which will hopefully bring some renewed energy to the frontbench.”

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How Does Farage Want To Protect The UK From ‘Collapse’? By Sending Prisoners To El Salvador, Of Course

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Nigel Farage has a brand new plan to help save Britain from “societal collapse”, apparently.

In a press conference, the Reform UK leader declared his party would cut crime in half amid a rise of alleged “lawlessness” in Britain.

As his party continues to lead in the polls, here’s the £17.4bn vision he set out for how Reform would manage criminals if it were to win the next general election – including the rather bizarre figures who inspire him…

Utilising other countries – like El Salvador

Farage suggested sending British prisoners overseas to countries like El Salvador in Central America to complete their sentences.

This is one of the arguments Reform has presented as part of the argument in favour of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.

Farage told the media today: “We can send some of our worst violent criminals overseas to serve their terms.

“If that means that [child murderer] Ian Huntley goes to El Salvador…our attitude is so be it.”

When reminded that the detainees in El Salvador have questionable human rights – they are isolated, do not have access to significant legal recourse and held in concerning conditions – Farage quickly backtracked, calling it an “an extreme example.”

Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin then jumped in: “If they [offenders] lose some human rights about family visiting or whatever else it might be, Sky News in the cell. then it’s a good thing, because it’s about time we got tougher with these people.”

But veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil still slammed the idea on Times Radio, saying: “I don’t like his idea of sending prisoners to El Salvador, to some godforsaken hellhole, we’re a civilised nation we shouldn’t be doing that.”

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\"I don’t like his idea of sending prisoners to El Salvador, to some godforsaken hellhole.”

Nigel Farage’s proposal to send prisoners to El Salvador is inhumane for a “civilised nation” like Britain, says @AFNeil. pic.twitter.com/gbC3Zn0nqb

— Times Radio (@TimesRadio) July 21, 2025

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“I don’t like his idea of sending prisoners to El Salvador, to some godforsaken hellhole.”

Nigel Farage’s proposal to send prisoners to El Salvador is inhumane for a “civilised nation” like Britain, says @AFNeil. pic.twitter.com/gbC3Zn0nqb

— Times Radio (@TimesRadio) July 21, 2025

Nightingale prisons

According to Farage, pop-up prisons inspired by the Nightingale hospitals set up during the Covid pandemic would help ease the capacity crisis in Britain’s justice system.

He said 12,400 offenders who have committed low-level crimes could be put up in these new constructions at the cost of £5bn over a five-year parliament.

But Farage overlooked how many of the Nightingale Covid centres never had a patient – as the Guardian reported in 2020 – and that two-thirds of those beds were allegedly unfit for use.

Reform would also unveil 100 pop-up custody centres for crime hot spots, and reopen 50 “mothballed premises” for use as courts.

Borrowing from Rudy Giuliani

Farage admitted his party’s attitude would be inspired by Rudy Giuliani’s crackdown on crime during his time as New York mayor three decades ago.

In his famous “broken windows” theory, Giuliani famously focused on lower level crime in an effort to deter larger criminal operations.

The Reform UK leader said they were “borrowing from the Giuliani playbook unashamedly”.

“What Rudy Giuliani did to New York in the 1990s was nothing short of a blooming miracle,” he said.

Giuliani, formerly a lawyer for Donald Trump, was disbarred in New York earlier this year when he was found to be in contempt of court for falsely accusing officials in Georgia of committing election fraud in 2020.

Inspired by Miliei

Although this plan would cost £17.4bn over a five-year parliament, Farage said:“It’s not really a question of ‘can we afford to do this?’ It’s a question of ‘can we afford not to do this?’ That’s just how grim and serious the situation is.”

“Of course you’re going to say where is the money going to come from,” he noted, before suggesting the funds would come from abolishing the HS2 project, Net Zero and diversity, equality and inclusion programmes.

He then pointed to Javier Milei, Argentina’s libertarian president.

He said Milei was accused of being a “madman” but “look what’s happening”.

Farage continued: “He has cut the size of the public sector by about 15%, 20% in some cases. Argentina is beginning to see the beginnings of an economic miracle.”

Miliei has undoubtedly improved the country’s struggling economy – its high inflation has cooled and its currency controls have fallen – but public sector salaries have also declined in response, and protests have become a weekly occurrence.

Yes, that Milei....
Yes, that Milei….

via Associated Press

Wait, what ‘societal collapse’?

Of course, all of Farage’s proposals are based on several assumptions.

Firstly, that the country is on the cusp of “nothing short of societal collapse” due to its high crime rate.

Secondly, he set out the premise for his plan by saying: “The crime survey for England and Wales is based on completely false data. If you look at police recorded crime… there are some significant rises in crimes of all kinds, particularly crimes against the person.”

There was a 14% increase in crime last year on the year before – but prior to that, there have been significant successive falls over the last three decades.

Thirdly, the MP for Clacton also claimed “tourists are increasingly reluctant to come to London”.

Actually, out of all the city destinations in the world, London had the second highest rate of international arrivals in 2023 with 18.8 arrivals, according to the UN World Tourism Organisation.

Is this all just ‘headline-chasing’?

Naturally, Farage’s political opponents were quick to tear into the announcement.

Labour Party chair Ellie Reeves said: “Nigel Farage repeatedly tried to block tough measures to make our streets safer.

“Reform is more interested in headline-chasing than serious policy-making in the interests of the British people.”

Chris Philp the Tories’ shadow home secretary, said: “Nigel Farage is writing his own crime fiction.

“Their own document admits it is unfunded – which means they are not being honest about the price you will pay for their policies just like Labour.

“This is the same Nigel Farage who calls immigration enforcement ‘divisive’, wants an amnesty for illegal immigrants who’ve ‘integrated’, and says mass deportation is a ‘political impossibility’. You cannot trust a word he says.”

And former chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, told Times Radio: “Where I think what he’s saying just doesn’t add up is that first of all, what he’s proposing will cost far, far more than he’s suggesting and secondly, I don’t actually think it will address the real concerns that people have got about crime.”

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