August 8, 2025 at 9:45 PM EDT
'Gigantic red flag': Jen Psaki reveals how new Epstein lawsuit is 'huge problem for Trump'

On Friday, legal group Democracy Forward filed a federal lawsuit asking the courts to compel President Donald Trump's administration to release the remaining evidence it has on convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. And MSNBC host Jen Psaki pointed out one particular element of the lawsuit that could prove to be a significant obstacle for Trump. During the latest episode of her show "The Briefing," Psaki delved into the group's lawsuit, which it filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Democracy Forward explained on its website that the suit is asking the court to order the release of the Epstein files "in an expedited manner," in accordance with federal public records laws.

August 8, 2025 at 8:30 PM EDT
Red state governor shuts down Trump's push to redraw congressional maps

Several Republican governors of states with GOP majorities in their respective legislatures are heeding President Donald Trump's call to redraw their congressional districts just five years after the last U.S. Census. However, at least one of those Republican trifecta states won't be joining them. Politico reported Friday that New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte (R) rejected Trump's push to squeeze more Republican seats out of deep-red states, even though she has (slim) Republican majorities in both chambers of the Granite State's legislature. She told Manchester, New Hampshire-based ABC affiliate WMUR: "The timing is off for this, because we are literally in the middle of the census period."

August 8, 2025 at 7:26 PM EDT
5 ways 'parasite-in-chief' Trump is turning America into a 'pale lifeless husk': analyst

According to one analyst, President Donald Trump is using the presidency as a vehicle to rapidly enrich both himself and his family at the expense of both tax dollars and the efficacy of federal agencies in five particular ways. In a Friday op-ed for the Daily Beast, columnist Michael Rothkopf likened Trump to a "vampire." He argued that world leaders like Trump are in office not to serve the public but to "suck that strength out of the institutions, economies and resources they have been entrusted with protecting and cultivating -- and take the wealth, status and influence for themselves."

August 8, 2025 at 6:00 PM EDT
'Walking a tightrope': Here's what the Smithsonian now says about Trump's 2nd impeachment

The Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History has now officially updated its presidential impeachment exhibit, and the language about President Donald Trump's second impeachment is noticeably cagey. That's according to a Friday article by the New York Times' Graham Bowley, who reported that the exhibit's new description of Trump's role on the day of the January 6, 2021 insurrection takes a more careful tone. Previously, the exhibit said Trump gave "repeated false statements" about the 2020 election, and that his speech that day "encouraged -- and foreseeably resulted in -- imminent lawless action at the Capitol."

August 8, 2025 at 5:11 PM EDT
'Stop the steal!' MAGA rep files bill for citizens-only Census following Trump's demand

A freshman Republican has introduced legislation in the House of Representatives to mandate a citizens-only U.S. census, following a demand from President Donald Trump. But legal scholars say the Constitution is clear: it requires counting all persons, including U.S. citizens, legal residents, and undocumented immigrants. U.S. Rep. Randy Fine filed the "Correct the Count Act" without any co-sponsors.

August 8, 2025 at 4:46 PM EDT
'I didn't accept': Epstein reportedly bragged about rejecting Trump White House job offer

Just days after President Donald Trump's first election victory in 2016, he reportedly called his longtime friend, convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and offered him a job in his administration. That's according to Epstein's former butler, Valdson Vieira Cotrin, who gave a wide-ranging interview to the UK-based Telegraph about his 18 years working for Epstein. Cotrin -- who managed Epstein's Paris estate -- recalled a conversation the two had while he was picking up Epstein at the airport upon his arrival in France.

August 8, 2025 at 4:16 PM EDT
'More like Billy not-for-Long!' Trump loyalist running IRS mocked after abrupt removal

Billy Long is no longer the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after just two months on the job, according to a report by the New York Times. The Times' Andrew Duehren, Maggie Haberman and Alan Rappeport reported Friday that Long's tenure atop the tax collection agency was abruptly cut short for unspecified reasons, and that he will soon be named to an ambassadorship. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as acting IRS commissioner until Trump names a permanent replacement.

August 8, 2025 at 3:24 PM EDT
'Grim': Top economist says Americans in for a 'nasty shock' on inflation thanks to Trump

Citing President Donald Trump's "really extreme policies on both trade and immigration," and particularly his tariffs, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, one of the nation's most prominent economic voices, is warning that the U.S. could soon face "stagflation"""a toxic mix of high inflation, rising unemployment, and stagnant demand. "It's Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Stagflation," Krugman wrote on Friday. Noting that "it's all about Trumponomics," he warned that "the data really are looking increasingly stagflationary."

August 8, 2025 at 12:11 PM EDT
'I was kidding myself': Lawyer regrets burying Trump's alleged affairs

Attorney Cameron Stracher tells the New York Times that he regrets being the lawyer who made two alleged affairs by then-candidate Donald Trump go away. Stracher was the general counsel for American Media in 2015 when former doorman Dino Sajudin approached The National Enquirer with a story that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock with a woman who had worked for him.

August 8, 2025 at 11:07 AM EDT
Hegseth under fire for endorsing Christian nationalist

In his short time as U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth has tested the boundaries of the separation between church and state at the Pentagon. On Thursday night, he took things a step further by promoting an interview of Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson""the leader of the church Hegseth follows""who has called for America to become a Christian nation, and the world a Christian one. "All of Christ for All of Life," Hegseth posted on social media, from an account marked with a grey checkmark that says, "This account is verified because it's an affiliate of @DeptofDefense on X."

August 8, 2025 at 11:04 AM EDT
'This is nuts': Prosecutor says 'there's a realistic chance' SCOTUS tosses Maxwell's conviction

Elie Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor, tells the Intelligencer that convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell's conviction could actually get erased. "There's a realistic chance the U.S. Supreme Court throws out Ghislaine Maxwell's child-sex-trafficking conviction and 20-year sentence," writes Honig. "I don't like it any more than you do " her chances are far better than the typical Supreme Court appellant's."

August 8, 2025 at 10:46 AM EDT
Failure to fund key program 'puts Republicans in a bind' ahead of make-or-break midterms

When President Donald Trump signed his "big, beautiful bill" into law over the 4th of July Weekend, many of the law's critics warned that its steep cuts to Medicaid would, according to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data, cause millions of Americans to lose their health insurance. Another major worry, critics say, is that failing to fund subsidies for the Affordable Care Act of 2010, a.k.a. Obamacare, will render countless Healthcare.gov users uninsured.