“I Want to Make Sure I Don’t Wake Up with a Horse Head in the Bed Next to Me.”
People sometimes forget Steve Bannon has a background in Hollywood. He is a consummate performer.
But who is Bannon when there are no cameras or microphones?
People sometimes forget Steve Bannon has a background in Hollywood. He is a consummate performer.
But who is Bannon when there are no cameras or microphones?
I’ve spent today talking to sources in Trump World about their reactions to the testimony in last night’s Jan. 6th hearing. I was particularly eager to see if I could corroborate reporting I saw last night on TV that some of the former President’s loyalists were shocked to learn that, in the midst of the attack on the Capitol, members of former Vice President’s security detail called their loved ones to say goodbye.
What I learned did not corroborate that reporting. In fact, what I learned was antithetical—and worse. I spoke to three people—one big donor and two campaign officials—who all said that the calls and texts in Trump world, according to these three people, had nothing to do with the safety of Mike Pence or his security detail. A very senior 2020 campaign official who agreed to talk on the condition of speaking anonymously told me there are two huge concerns buzzing on the phones of Trump World last night and today.
I’ve spent the last few days canvassing sources who are deeply enmeshed in Middle East politics about the significance of Joe Biden’s recent visit to the region. (Some of these sources are people who informed my reporting for Kushner, Inc. about all the risky foreign policy-making they saw going on in plain sight during the Trump administration in the region—policy that now appears to have borne fruit with Jared Kushner obtaining a $2 billion investment from the Saudi Public Investment fund and with LIV, the new Saudi-backed golf tour, being played at Trump’s Bedminster golf course. Kushner has said there was no quid pro quo for his foreign policy-making.)
The universal consensus among my sources was that whatever was said or not said about Jamal Khashoggi, the visit was an unmitigated triumph for MBS, who hosted the meeting, and that it was not clear if the U.S. got anything at all out of it.
Six weeks ago, Carolyn Maloney sent a letter to Jared Kushner requesting he hand over all his communications with Saudi Crown Prince MBS. Here we are in mid-July, and the public has heard nothing. So, what’s going on?
According to my source, in a meeting this morning with the Murdaugh family at the house of Alex Murdaugh’s younger brother John Marvin, SLED investigators said they believe Alex Murdaugh acted alone when he allegedly killed his wife and son. What they did not reveal to the family was a motive. And they also did not say if they had found the two murder weapons. (One was a semi-automatic rifle and the other was a shotgun.)
Why the reticence about that?
In the wake of the courage and candor of 26-year-old former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson at the January 6th hearings, Pat Cipollone, the former White House counsel, is now slated to appear before the committee by this Friday. One imagines from what we’ve already heard from others—namely Hutchinson quoting Cipollone as saying about Trump’s desire to head to the Capitol, “We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen”—that Cipollone is likely to drop some neutron bombs in his observations. My phone has been ringing off the hook with speculation about how surely it’s inconceivable that in the wake of this, Merrick Garland will not act.
I spoke to Sam Nunberg, Republican consultant and former Trump campaign staffer, about Trump and Mark Meadows, whose aide Cassidy Hutchinson delivered the most damning testimony yet in the January 6th hearings.
Ghislaine Maxwell is set to learn her fate this morning. If everything goes according to plan (see my coverage from yesterday about why it might not), she will be sentenced on three of the counts on which she was found guilty: sex trafficking, conspiracy, and transportation of a minor with the intent to engage in illegal sexual activity. The government has asked for a sentence of no less than 30 years. If Judge Nathan chooses to grant that, it will mean Maxwell will likely spend the rest of her natural life in jail.
Once sentenced, Maxwell will be the only person formally held to account for the crimes perpetuated—yes by her, but also by Jeffrey Epstein.
But I ask: Where are the men who should be held to account?
In a case that’s already been a rollercoaster, we encounter yet another: Today should be the eve of Ghislaine Maxwell’s sentencing, but we’re now not certain it will go forward. After Maxwell was placed on suicide watch in prison over the weekend, her lawyers have asked to delay the sentencing.
While we’re waiting to hear, I checked in with David Weinstein, former AUSA for the Southern District of Florida-turned-litigator, about what happens next, including how Friday’s overturning of Roe v. Wade might have an impact on the Maxwell sentence.
In her taped interview with the House committee, Ivanka Trump was asked about her reaction to Bill Barr’s comments on December 1, 2020 about there being no widespread election fraud.
“It affected my perspective,” Ivanka testified. “I respect Attorney General Barr so I accepted what he said.”
However, what has since surfaced is a video shot nine days after Bill Barr’s statement in which Ivanka tells a very different story.