Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 7-27-2025

Image from Bowlby's Bric-a-brac

#trump from Art de Trump

 

Image from Liberals Are Cool

 

#mike johnson from Liberals Are Cool

 

https://www.tumblr.com/reagan-was-a-horrible-president/790078167335436288

https://www.tumblr.com/reagan-was-a-horrible-president/790085465059540992

BREAKING – Trump gives Ghislaine Maxwell “limited immunity” to talk to administration officials Are they letting Maxwell out of prison in exchange for lying that Trump was never part of Epstein’s sex trafficking?Why else would govt talk to Maxwell – who’s already convicted?

— Tristan Snell (@tristansnell.bsky.social) 2025-07-26T00:43:51.674Z

 

#Instagram from Saywhat Politics

This means his personal lawyer Todd Blanche is telling Maxwell to talk about Clinton and not about Trump.

— Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.com) 2025-07-25T20:02:17.124Z

Absolutely plausible…

— Being Liberal ®🗽🏳️‍🌈 (@beingliberal.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T21:36:10.440Z

 

#ghislaine maxwell from Liberals Are Cool

 

Image from Liberals Are Cool

 

Image from Liberals Are Cool

 

https://www.tumblr.com/reagan-was-a-horrible-president/790083683711320065/comicsareforkids-fourth-in-a-series-i-of-comics

#republican hypocrisy from Alan's Posts

Image from RECORD GUY

Love this for him

— Adam Parkhomenko (@adamparkhomenko.bsky.social) 2025-07-26T15:50:32.018Z

 

Image from Robert Reich

Three asylum-seekers leaving routine court hearings at San Francisco immigration court Thursday morning were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, including one man who a judge had just said might be mentally impaired.

— Mother Jones (@motherjones.com) 2025-07-25T17:58:24.038Z

Hmm… Imagine if everyone wore masks, sunglasses and flak vests. It would be so confusing. And of course no one identified as a police officer. #ResistanceFashion

— Being Liberal ®🗽🏳️‍🌈 (@beingliberal.bsky.social) 2025-07-26T12:30:52.120Z

 

 

"No he didn't. [Trump] said all Muslims would be banned. Not true, Piers. People can Google it right now. You're wrong and I'm right, as ever."You can watch my latest clash with @piersmorgan on Trump's Islamophobia & fascism, & mass deportations, here:www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C6O…

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) 2025-07-26T16:48:58.295Z

Image from Liberals Are Cool

Image from Liberals Are Cool

Image from Depsidase

If you say “I’m fine with immigration as long as it’s legal” or “I came the right way” but you’re not sounding the alarm over this, you’re lying.A company says an employee was detained by federal agents during an immigration court hearing, despite being here legally with a valid work permit.

— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) 2025-07-26T14:12:06.846Z

Image from Liberals Are Cool

#late stage capitalism from Liberals Are Cool

#social security from Social Justice In America

#republican assholes from Social Justice In America

Image from Robert Reich

Pisses me off these moralist religious nuts want to save souls by exerting control on the marginalized. Like Jesus didn't hang out with criminals and sex workers to shame them. The people he usually shamed were the ones on their high horses trying to break these people.

— Otter (@oceanotter.bsky.social) 2025-07-26T15:51:30.672Z

Image from Bowlby's Bric-a-brac

This is genocide. And our tax dollars are funding it.

— Abdul El-Sayed (@abdulelsayed.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T20:13:12.183Z

Image from Good Stuff

 

 

Image from Good Stuff

Image from A sudden, violent jerk....

#Motivation from ItsTimeToMotivate

Tumblr: Image

How long will South Park, whose creators just signed a 50-episode deal with Paramount, last under Trump’s regime? Let’s hope the company's new "bias monitor" finds Trump jokes funny.

— Mother Jones (@motherjones.com) 2025-07-26T16:31:26.025Z

 

 

Image from Liberals Are Cool

Image from Liberals Are Cool

#fuck trump from Wooddove2

 

Trump, FCC want to reshape the media landscape starting with CBS

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-fcc-want-reshape-media-landscape-starting-with-cbs-2025-07-25/?taid=6883edff636c00000106647c&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

By 

The CBS broadcasting logo is seen outside the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan
Item 1 of 2 The CBS broadcasting logo is seen outside the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan, New York, U.S., July 30, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
[1/2]The CBS broadcasting logo is seen outside the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan, New York, U.S., July 30, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
  • FCC chair says Trump administration reshaping media
  • Democrats say FCC actions violate First Amendment rights
  • FCC not dropping complaint against CBS over ’60 Minutes’ interview with Harris
WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump and the Federal Communications Commission have vowed to force American broadcast media outlets to make significant changes.
CBS may be just the beginning.

Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here.

“President Trump is fundamentally reshaping the media landscape,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr told CNBC Friday. “The media industry across this country needs a course correction.”
On Thursday, the FCC voted 2-1 to approve the $8.4 billion merger between CBS parent Paramount Global (PARA.O), opens new tab and Skydance Media after Skydance agreed to ensure CBS news and entertainment programming is free of bias, hire an ombudsman for at least two years to review complaints and end diversity programs.
Trump has repeatedly attacked broadcast networks for what he perceives as unbiased news coverage and called on Carr to rescind their licenses.
“The new owners of CBS came in and said, ‘It’s time for a change. We’re going to reorient it towards getting rid of bias,” Carr said. “At the end of the day that’s what made the difference for us.”
Carr’s comments suggest the FCC will ramp up efforts to rid mainstream media of what he and President Trump consider a deep and enduring liberal bias, creating an opening for more conservative views among the biggest media companies.
The FCC regulates broadcast media outlets, which use the public airways and are required to act in the public interest. Carr has cited the public interest standard in seeking the changes at CBS.
Democratic FCC Commission Anna Gomez accused Paramount of “cowardly capitulation” to the Trump administration. She also said the FCC was imposing “never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment, in direct violation of the First Amendment and the law.”
Earlier this month, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a $20 billion lawsuit filed by Trump, claiming CBS News’ “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Paramount did not admit wrongdoing.
Some Democrats have called the payment a bribe and vowed to investigate. “Trump demands allegiance from everyone around him and it’s disgusting to see companies like Skydance and Paramount bowing to his endless and illegal demands,” Representative Frank Pallone said.
Soon after being designated chair by Trump in January, Carr reinstated a “60 Minutes” complaint, as well as complaints about how Walt Disney’s (DIS.N), opens new tab ABC News moderated the pre-election televised debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump and Comcast’s (CMCSA.O), opens new tab NBC for allowing Harris to appear on “Saturday Night Live” shortly before the election.
Disney and Comcast did not immediately comment Friday.
Carr told Reuters Thursday the FCC is not closing its investigation into the “60 Minutes” interview.
The FCC has required companies like T-Mobile (TMUS.O), opens new tab and Verizon (VZ.N), opens new tab to end diversity programs before approving deals. Carr in February told Comcast he was opening a probe into its diversity efforts.

Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Edward Tobin

Peace & Justice History For 7/27

July 27, 1919
A riot began in Chicago when police refused to arrest a white man who was responsible for the death of a young black man, Eugene Williams. The 29th Street Beach on Lake Michigan was used by both black and white Chicagoans. But the man had been throwing stones at the black boys swimming there before hitting Williams.

The Coroner’s report on the riot described the events as follows: “Five days of terrible hate and passion let loose, cost the people of Chicago 38 lives (15 white and 23 colored), wounded and maimed several hundred, destroyed property of untold value, filled thousands with fear, blemished the city and left in its wake fear and apprehension for the future . . . .”
The city’s booming economy, especially jobs in the stockyards, had drawn many blacks during the Great Migration from the South, more than doubling their population in just three years. Only one policeman died in the chaos, Patrolman John Simpson, 31, an African American working out of the Wabash Avenue Station. 
Gangs and the 1919 Chicago Race Riot. 
July 27, 1953
After three years of bloody and frustrating war leading to stalemate, the United States, the People’s Republic of China and North Korea agreed to a truce, bringing the Korean War—and America’s first experiment with the Cold War concept of “limited war”—to an end (South Korean President Syngman Rhee opposed the truce and refused to sign). U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower had taken office six months earlier, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin had died that March.

Korean War Memorial photo: Heather Stanfield
The armistice signed this day ended hostilities and created the 4000-meter-wide (2.5 miles) demilitarized zone (DMZ), a buffer between North and South Korean forces, but was not a permanent peace treaty. It also set up a system for exchanging prisoners of war: 12,000 held by the North, 75,000 by South Korea, the U.S. and the U.N. allied forces.
There were four million military and civilian casualties, including 16,000 from countries which were part of the U.N.-allied forces; 415,000 South and 520,000 North Koreans died.
There were also an estimated 900,000 Chinese casualties. 36,516 died out of the nearly 1.8 million Americans who served in the conflict.
July 27, 1954
The democratically elected Guatemalan government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, after receiving 65% of the vote, was overthrown by CIA-paid and -trained mercenaries. There followed a series of military dictatorships that waged a genocidal war against the indigenous Mayan Indians and against political opponents into the ’90s. Nearly 200,000 citizens died over the nearly four decades of civil war.
“They have used the pretext of anti-communism. The truth is very different. The truth is to be found in the financial interests of the fruit company [United Fruit, which controlled more land than any other individual or group in the country. It also owned the railway, the electric utilities, telegraph, and the country’s only port at Puerto Barrios on the Atlantic coast.] and the other U.S. monopolies which have invested great amounts of money in Latin America and fear that the example of Guatemala would be followed by other Latin countries . . . I took over the presidency with great faith in the democratic system, in liberty and the possibility of achieving economic independence for Guatemala.”

Jacobo Arbenz
More about Arbenz 
The real coup story through official U.S. documents 
July 27, 1996

Trident sub being loaded
Known as the “Weep for Children Plowshares,” four women were arrested for pouring their own blood on weaponry at the Naval Submarine Base at Groton, Connecticut, on the morning of the launch of the last-built Ohio-class submarine, the U.S.S. Louisiana. The 18 such submarines carry about half of the U.S. nuclear deterrent – 24 Trident I & II missiles with a range of 7400 km (4600 miles), each with several warheads known as MIRVs (multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles).
Details of the action  

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjuly.htm#july27

Trump’s DEATH TRAP Leaks… and CHAOS ERUPTS

Open Windows, & Clay Jones

Mexican Coke by Clay Jones

And not the kind of coke Don Jr wants Read on Substack

Trump has tried several deflections from the Epstein Files, including revoking Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship, forcing the Washington Commanders to change its name back to the racist one, claiming President Obama committed treason by ordering an investigation into Russia’s election meddling in 2016, and now Mexican Coca-Cola.

The Coca-Cola available in the USA is made with corn syrup. The Coca-Cola made in Mexico is made with cane sugar. A lot of people claim the soft drink made with sugar tastes better than the version made with corn syrup. I’m sure I had it when I was younger, but I don’t remember if it was better.

I do love Coca-Cola. I do think Coke in a glass bottle tastes better than it does in plastic. Sometimes, fountain Cokes, depending on where you get them, taste better than all of them. I grew up drinking Coca-Cola. (snip-MORE)

Gazans are starving by Ann Telnaes

Historical reflection Read on Substack

And a reminder since there will be people who try to change the narrative of this cartoon: Criticizing the Israeli government and its policies is not antisemitic.

==============

South Park Treason by Clay Jones

South Park hits Trump in his tiny penis Read on Substack

Back in 2000, the guys from South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, created a new TV series titled That’s My Bush. Guess who it was about. While the series included topics like abortion, the death penalty, drugs, drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, and gun control, it was mostly a hit on family-based sitcoms, except this family just so happened to live in the White House. It came complete with an annoying neighbor. The main character, George W. Bush, would say to his wife, Laura Bush, “One of these days, Laura, I’m gonna punch you in the face!”

You would expect a show from the South Park guys about George W. Bush to rip the president apart. While it did make him out to be an idiot, he was also a lovable oaf with good intentions. He was not hateful, evil, or mean. Though it did hit Dick Cheney pretty good, and showed him commit a hostile takeover in one episode, and Bush temporarily became a Luchadore professional wrestler until he was restored to office. Critics loved the show, but it was too expensive for a small network like Comedy Central. It only lasted eight episodes. Even if it had been renewed, I’m sure 9/11, which occurred five months after the last episode aired, would have killed it.

The show was planned to be about a President Al Gore, but surprising Parker and Stone, Florida happened, so the entire thing had to be rewritten.

One thing that did not happen was outrage expressed by the Bush administration. I’m sure there were people in the White House who were aware of it, and either snickered at it or were outraged, but these were the days when most people in government were adults.

President Bush never stood in the driveway howling to reporters about the losers lampooning him on TV, or talked about low ratings, or how they were the stupid ones, not him, etc, etc. These were the days before social media, but I still don’t think Bush would have cried to his base on Twitter. The Bush administration ignored it. (snip-MORE)

Trump Train For Ghislaine by Clay Jones

What’s in it for Ghislaine Maxwell? Read on Substack

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who used to be Donald Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, spent nine hours over two days interviewing Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell about the Epstein case.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding Epstein in the sex trafficking of minors. As you know, the deceased pedophile committed suicide in a New York jail while waiting to stand trial.

The Justice Department has granted Maxwell “limited immunity,” just so long as she tells the truth. That “truth” will be what the Trump administration wants to hear. Trump’s name is in the Epstein Files…a lot. Attorney General Pam Bondi warned Trump before she announced the files wouldn’t be released.

Maxwell’s attorney, David Markus, told ABC News on Friday that Maxwell was asked about “maybe 100 different people” and “She didn’t hold anything back.” I’m sure she and her attorney have figured out what they need to say, which is what Trump’s criminal attorney needs to hear.

Maxwell’s attorney also said, “This is not a situation where we are asking for anything in return for testimony or anything like that. Of course, everybody knows Ms. Maxwell would welcome any relief.” Wink-wink, nudge-nudge, pardon-pardon.

When asked if he was considering giving Mazwell a pardon or commuting her sentence, right before he jumped on Air Force One at our expense to play golf in Scotland, Trump said he hasn’t thought about it, but he does have the “power” to do it.

Trump also said he trusts Todd Blanche. This is the setup. This is what will happen. (snip-MORE)

‘I Call It Israeli Settler Terrorism’ — Father of Killed Palestinian-American Speaks Out

Sayfollah Musallet, a Palestinian-American born in Florida, was visiting family in the West Bank town of Al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya when Israeli settlers brutalized him, beating him unconscious and blocking an ambulance from reaching him, according to the victim’s family. The young Palestinian-American was pronounced dead by the time he arrived at a hospital.

And although days have passed since Sayfollah was apparently killed by Israeli settlers, no one from the White House has contacted the family. No one from Congress. No one who represents Florida, where Musallet hails from.

Kamel Musallet, Sayfollah’s father, spoke with Zeteo’s political correspondent Prem Thakker about the lack of accountability from both US and Israeli officials over the ongoing settler violence in the West Bank. “An American has been killed by Israeli violence… Israeli settler terrorism,” Kamel told Prem.

Sayfollah is the seventh American killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the past 21 months. Most US politicians remain conspicuously silent about the widespread violence carried out by Israeli settlers.

This video was released earlier on Zeteo.com, if you want to get earlier access, make sure you subscribe: zeteo.com/subscribe

After helping GOP-led Texas, Trump admin denies FEMA aid to another Democratic-led state

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/maryland-fema-aid-flooding-texas-trump-wes-moore-rcna220869

The denial of federal money to assist Maryland’s flood recovery continues a trend of spurning devastated residents in states with Democratic governors.

By Ja’han Jones

On Wednesday, Donald Trump’s administration denied Maryland’s request for FEMA aid to deal with the fallout of devastating floods in May, continuing the administration’s disturbing trend of denying disaster aid to states led by Democrats.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, denounced the administration’s determination that the aid is “not warranted.” In a social media video, Moore vowed to appeal the decision and said the federal government is effectively telling residents of western Maryland — where many are still coping with the effects of the flooding — “you’re on your own.”

https://x.com/iamwesmoore/status/1948421286927257884

After the recent deadly flooding in Texas, Trump and his administration promised, and ultimately approved, FEMA aid for the Republican-controlled state. In the time since, FEMA’s response there has received criticism — including from the agency’s now-former head of urban search and rescue operations, who just resigned in disgust.

But the fact that Texas received a promise of FEMA aid at all was noteworthy. As I wrote at the time, it was a markedly different stance than the one Trump’s administration has taken with numerous states led by Democratic governors — such as North Carolina, Washington and California — who’ve had their requests for federal assistance denied.

Trump has sought to effectively shutter FEMA and force states to handle the financial burden of natural disasters on their own. But in the meantime, the denial of funds to Maryland is yet more evidence that the administration sees FEMA as a political tool for aiding its allies and harming its perceived foes — leaving Americans’ lives and livelihoods hanging in the balance.

Ja’han Jones

Ja’han Jones is an MSNBC opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. He is a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include “Black Hair Defined” and the “Black Obituary Project.”

 

While We Watch Colbert and South Park, They Build A $1.2 B Desert Concentration Camp In Texas

https://beingliberal.substack.com/p/while-we-watch-colbert-and-south?r=3j50y&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true

While America’s distracted by the Steven Colbert Show drama and South Park revenge, Trump’s government just dropped over a billion dollars to build the largest detention center in U.S. history

Being Liberal
Jul 25, 2025

Welcome to Fort Bliss—A $1.2 Billion Dystopian Human Suffering Factory—Funded By You.

You read that right.

Everything is bigger in Texas. $1.26 billion taxpayers money funneled to private pockets. 5,000 prisoners. No due process. Tent concentration camp in a desert.

America 2025 – Detention Will Make You Free

What’s Being Built—And Why It Should Terrify You

  • A $1.26 billion federal contract has been awarded to construct a 5,000-bed detention camp at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.
  • It will be operated under military supervision with private contractors and no guaranteed legal oversight.
  • This is part of a broader Trump-era policy goal: scaling ICE detention to 100,000 beds nationwide—up from around 40,000.
  • This facility is slated to fast-track deportations under EO 14159, which targets up to 1 million removals per year.

Fort Bliss? It’s Another Alligator Auschwitz,
Of Texas Desert Kind

Let’s be clear: this isn’t just a holding site—it’s inhumane state-sanctioned cruelty.

Fort Bliss sits in El Paso’s desert, where summer temps regularly hit 100–110°F. Inside tents, that can spike above 120°F. No air conditioning. No proper plumbing. Just canvas and suffering. And in winter? Temperatures dip below freezing at night, with no insulation to protect detainees.

The result?

Heat exhaustion. Hypothermia. Dust storms. Insects. Infections. Psychological breakdowns.

Just like at Florida’s now-notorious “Alligator Alcatraz,” ambulances driving through the gate will be a daily feature. Already, reports from that prototype camp detail detainees suffering from medical neglect, contaminated food, and makeshift showers rigged with hoses. Some have called it “worse than jail”—and Fort Bliss will be five times bigger.

Here’s what we know—and why it’s enraging—that private contractors stand to profit from building this $1.2 billion tent detention camp at Fort Bliss:

Who’s Getting Rich from the Fort Bliss Camp?

Acquisition Logistics LLC (Prime Contractor)

  • Awarded the main Department of Defense contract—worth $1.2‑$1.26 billion—to construct and operate the 5,000‑bed tent camp for ICE detainees at Fort Bliss, supported by $232 million in Army funds so far.
  • Based in Virginia, without previous large-scale detention experience, mostly focused on smaller administrative and logistics contracts (often under $2 million).

Disaster Management Group (Subcontractor)

  • A key subcontractor owned by Nathan Albers, a Republican donor whose former firm pleaded guilty in 2019 for employing undocumented workers under a shell-company scheme.
  • Disaster Management specializes in erecting large-scale temporary housing (often used in refugee projects). It has received over $500 million in federal contracts since 2020.
  • Its workforce practices have drawn legal and ethical scrutiny: a 2022 Department of Labor review found wage and overtime violations, leading to nearly $16 million in recovered back pay and compliance enforcement.

Amentum (Another Subcontractor)

  • A large engineering and tech services firm tapped to support unspecified portions of the Fort Bliss project, likely involving logistics, structure builds, and base coordination.

Why This Should Outrage You

It’s Yet Another Trumpian Grift! Public Funds Are Fueling Private Profits
Taxpayer money is funding manufacturers of suffering—people with no due process detained in harsh, tented desert conditions. It’s a state funded deliberate cruelty.

The Blueprint of Authoritarianism

Let’s break it down:

  1. Scapegoat a vulnerable group.
  2. Detain them en masse with no trial.
  3. Use military infrastructure and private contractors to bypass accountability.
  4. Build in remote areas—out of sight, out of mind.
  5. Brand it with Orwellian irony.

“Fort Bliss”? That’s not just cruel. It’s fascist stagecraft.

This isn’t about security. It’s about dehumanization at scale, with taxpayer money funding open-air internment that recalls the ugliest chapters of history. Sound familiar?

PolitiSage
The International Criminal Court Must Indict Donald Trump NOW.
Read more
10 days ago · 2292 likes · 111 comments · Morgaan Sinclair, Ph.D.

What You Can Do

Expose it – Share this article. Make people say the name: Fort Bliss Concentration Camp.

Share

  • Mobilize; Organize or attend protests in Texas. Follow groups like the ACLU , RAICES, and the Detention Watch Network.
  • Demand Oversight: Call reps. Demand medical transparency, independent inspections, and an immediate halt to construction.
  • Support Legal Aid: Many detainees will have no lawyer. Contribute to immigrant defense funds now.

Final Thought

Stop saying “it can’t happen here.” It already is.

We’re not just locking people up—we’re engineering human suffering. And we’re doing it with public funds, in military facilities, under desert sun, with names like Alligator Alcatraz, Fort Bliss to mock our conscience.

If we let this slide, history won’t ask if we knew. It will ask why we stayed silent.

Being Liberal Substack – From Revolution to Resistance is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe. Resist. Share. Fight.

 

Ghislaine Maxwell received limited immunity during meetings with deputy attorney general: Sources

https://abcnews.go.com/US/deputy-ag-blanche-set-meet-2nd-day-ghislaine/story?id=124064062

“She didn’t hold anything back,” Maxwell’s attorney said earlier.

ByAaron Katersky, Katherine Faulders, Brandon Baur, and Jon Haworth
July 25, 2025, 5:55 PM
Trump doesn’t rule out pardon for Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine MaxwellIt comes as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell – who’s serving 20 years in prison for sex trafficking – for a second time.

Ghislaine Maxwell, who sources told ABC News initiated the meetings with the Department of Justice, answered questions for about nine hours over two days after being granted a limited form of immunity, the sources said.

The immunity allowed Maxwell to freely answer Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s questions without fear that her responses could later be used against her, the sources said.

The so-called proffer immunity is commonly granted to individuals prosecutors are seeking to make cooperators in a criminal case. Maxwell has already been tried, convicted and sentenced for sex trafficking underage girls.

PHOTO: Jeffrey Epstein,Ghislaine Maxwell
FILE – Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, points to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, during a news conference in New York on July 2, 2020.
John Minchillo/AP

DOJ did not immediately respond to request for comment. A lawyer for Maxwell did not immediately respond.

The second meeting between Maxwell and Blanche lasted for about three hours.

Maxwell’s attorney, David Markus, told ABC News afterward, “There have been no asks and no promises.”

Markus said Maxwell was asked about “maybe 100 different people” during her interview with the deputy attorney general. He said she answered every question.

“She didn’t hold anything back,” Markus said.

He declined to be specific about who Maxwell was asked about or whether she provided information about others who might have allegedly committed crimes against victims, as Blanche said he was seeking.

“We haven’t asked for anything. This is not a situation where we are asking for anything in return for testimony or anything like that,” Markus added on Friday. “Of course, everybody knows Ms. Maxwell would welcome any relief.”

Blanche didn’t speak to reporters upon his arrival at the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida. On social media, Blanche said he would reveal what he learned from Maxwell “at the appropriate time.”

PHOTO: Jeffrey Epstein,Ghislaine Maxwell
FILE – Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, points to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, during a news conference in New York on July 2, 2020.
John Minchillo/AP

The first meeting between Maxwell and Blanche on Thursday lasted six hours.

Maxwell is currently appealing her 20-year prison sentence for child sex trafficking and other offenses in connection with Epstein, the deceased financier and convicted sex offender.

“We don’t want to get into the substance of the questions,” Markus had said about Thursday’s meeting. “There were a lot of questions and we went all day and she answered every one of them. She never said ‘I’m not going to answer,’ never declined.”

It is almost unheard of for a convicted sex trafficker to meet with such a high-ranking Justice Department official, especially one who used to be the president’s top criminal defense attorney.

ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked President Donald Trump on Friday if clemency is on the table for Maxwell.

“I can’t talk about that now because, you know, it’s a very sensitive interview going on,” Trump responded. He went on to call Blanche a “great attorney” and said “I don’t know exactly what’s happening. But I certainly can’t talk about pardons.”

Trump was also pressed by ABC News’ Bruce if he can trust what Maxwell is telling the DOJ during these interviews.

“Well, he’s a professional lawyer. He’s been through things like this before,” Trump said, referring to Blanche.

After Trump’s comments on Friday about clemency, ABC News asked Maxwell’s attorney whether that gave her an incentive to tell Blanche what he wanted to hear.

“No,” Markus answered. “She wants to tell the truth.”

Markus said Maxwell’s legal team has not approached Trump about a pardon, but suggested it could happen in the future.

“We haven’t spoken to the president or anyone about a pardon just yet. And listen, the president this morning said he had the power to do so we hope he exercises that power in the right and just way,” he said.

Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche look on as US President Donald Trump (not on frame) speaks during a news conference in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on June 27, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Andrew Caballero-reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Annie Farmer, who testified against Maxwell at trial, questioned why Maxwell was granted a meeting with the deputy attorney general in the first place.

“It’s very disappointing that these things are happening behind closed doors without any input from the people that the government asked to come forward and speak against her in order to put her away,” Farmer said. “There were so many young girls and women that were harmed by her.”

Maxwell’s attorney said on Friday she’s been treated poorly for the last five years and is grateful to be able to meet with Blanche as she appeals her sex trafficking conviction and seeks to leave prison.

“If you looked up scapegoat in the dictionary, her picture would be next to the definition,” Markus said. “She’s keeping her spirits up as best she can.”

Blanche’s meetings with Maxwell comes as the Justice Department has tried to quiet calls from Senate Republicans to release more information about Epstein and his interaction with high-profile figures.

And it comes as questions swirl about Trump’s connections to Epstein and reports that his name appeared in the Epstein files.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump in May that his name was mentioned in the Epstein files multiple times, along with other high-profile people.

Trump has denied that account, and appearing in the files is not necessarily indicative of any wrongdoing.

“I want all the information out,” said Republican Sen. Josh Hawley.

“Just put everything out, make it as transparent as you can,” echoed Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

The Justice Department said earlier this month that it planned to release no additional information despite an earlier commitment to do so.

 https://www.joemygod.com/2025/07/doj-gives-ghislaine-maxwell-limited-immunity/

Under Trump, Paramount’s Merger Deal Must Include a “Bias Monitor”

Under Trump, Paramount’s Merger Deal Must Include a “Bias Monitor”

Brendan Carr

Brendan Carr listens during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee hearing to examine the Federal Communications Commission on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 24, 2020. Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via AP

Brendan Carr

Brendan Carr listens during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee hearing to examine the Federal Communications Commission on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 24, 2020. Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via AP

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On Thursday, the head of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, approved the $8 billion merger between Skydance Media and Paramount, a deal that would allocate more than a billion dollars towards the latter company’s staggering debt.

But the agreement came with one major caveat: The media company must appoint a “bias monitor.”

According to reporting from The Wrap, an FCC “ombudsman” would work directly with New Paramount’s president, Jeff Shell, to review “any complaints of bias or other concerns” regarding CBS News, a subsidiary under Paramount.

Paramount also agreed to eliminate its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, including scrapping all DEI messaging from its internal training programs and removing DEI objectives in its compensation plans.

This move comes after the company announced the cancellation of The Colbert Report only a few days after the eponymous host critiqued the network’s recent settlement with the president. Earlier this month, Paramount agreed to cough up $16 million to Trump after the president sued the network for allegedly unfairly editing an interview with Kamala Harris, an accusation that many legal experts have called “baseless.”

As my colleague, Inae Oh, has reported, Colbert’s cancellation marks a dark new chapter for our culture as a whole. Oh writes:

Though his second term has already produced a string of stunning capitulations by some of the most powerful forces in the country, one could argue that Trump’s attacks had yet to take down our actual culture. I’m talking about the literal content we consume—the television, art, movies, literature, music—no matter how much Trump complained. That it remained protected and free-willed, a rare area of control for a public that otherwise feels powerless to take action. Clearly, that was magical thinking. If this can happen to Colbert and a storied franchise, this can happen to anyone.

And when it comes to using his presidential power as a cudgel against the media that critiques him, Trump clearly shows no signs of stopping. This week alone, the president threw a tantrum over two TV shows that joked about him. On Wednesday, the White House issued a statement threatening the ladies of The View after host Joy Behar joked that Trump was jealous of former president Barack Obama’s “swag.”

A White House spokesperson told Entertainment Weekly, “Joy Behar is an irrelevant loser suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

A White House spokesperson told Entertainment Weekly, “Joy Behar is an irrelevant loser suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome” who “should self-reflect on her own jealousy of President Trump’s historic popularity before her show is the next to be pulled off air.”

Behar’s joke was tame compared to the animated show, South Park‘s treatment of Trump, who was depicted naked in bed with Satan. In response, the White House claimed that the show hasn’t been relevant in “20 years” and said “no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump’s hot streak.”

How long will South Park, whose creators just signed a 50-episode deal with Paramount, last under Trump’s regime? Let’s hope the ombudsman finds the Trump jokes funny.