Good evening everyone. I wanted to come to you tonight to preview what will be an exceptionally busy and consequential week ahead. News updates from today are below.
While this week marks the end of the year, it is also the week we are expected to receive additional Epstein files. I promised you from the beginning that I would not stop working until survivors receive justice, and that commitment does not pause now. But tonight, I come to you more concerned than usual. As I explain below, the Department of Justice under Donald Trump was caught monitoring a journalist in 2019 who helped expose Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. This is deeply serious, and it demands immediate answers.
Many will attempt to silence this reporting. Others will try to sanitize it or explain it away. I refuse, even if it can expose me to monitoring. Before I go any further, I want to ask you directly: if you are able, please consider subscribing tonight. Subscriptions are the sole reason I am able to do this work full time. This newsroom exists because of you. Journalism that refuses to back down has no shortcuts and no safety net. It survives only when people who believe in the truth choose to sustain it.
At a moment when the White House is publicly targeting journalists by name, and coordinated bot networks are working to intimidate and silence independent reporters, your support is what keeps this operation alive. It is the foundation that allows us to keep asking hard questions and publishing stories others are unwilling or afraid to touch.
Let us keep going. Let us keep digging. Let us keep fighting back together.
This week, I will be speaking with more members of Congress, candidates running for office, and potentially conducting special interviews with individuals I cannot yet name.
We are living in an era where chaos is no longer accidental. It is deliberate, and it is especially visible in how the Epstein files are being handled. Political strategy has become an exercise in exhaustion. The truth still exists, but it is constantly buried beneath a tidal wave of noise.
They can flood the zone. They can try to exhaust the public. They can attempt to bury the truth under endless distractions. And we will still be here. We will still be reporting. We will still be cutting through the noise together.
I am working on new projects that will strengthen this platform even further. Yes, we face resistance. Donald Trump’s political allies and MAGA influencers have tried to discredit us, overwhelm us, and shut us down. They cannot erase a movement that millions are watching. They cannot silence a community that refuses to look away.
We are here. We are growing. And we are not done. Here’s what you missed:
In 2019, the Trump Justice Department was actively monitoring Julie K. Brown, one of the top journalists covering Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell:
According to the Daily Beast, Donald Trump’s inner circle is bracing for a possible New Year shakeup as mounting scandals and internal frustrations fuel speculation that senior advisers and Cabinet officials could be pushed out, even as core loyalists like Susie Wiles, Stephen Miller, and Karoline Leavitt are expected to remain protected.
Photos taken on Christmas Eve show visible discoloration on Donald Trump’s right hand, with subsequent images suggesting similar discoloration has now appeared on his left hand as well, prompting renewed public speculation.
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy projected optimism after meeting in Florida, saying a Ukraine-Russia peace deal is roughly 90% complete despite unresolved disputes over territory and security guarantees, following Trump’s phone call with Vladimir Putin and amid continued Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv.
Responding to questions about Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine, Donald Trump suggested Ukraine has also carried out significant strikes inside Russia and implied the explosions originated from Ukraine rather than outside actors, framing the escalation as reciprocal rather than evidence that Vladimir Putin is uninterested in peace.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation surged additional resources into Minnesota to investigate large-scale Covid-era fraud schemes after uncovering a $250 million case, with Director Kash Patel claiming it is only a fraction of broader alleged fraud and as the Donald Trump administration escalates rhetoric and immigration actions targeting the state’s Somali community, prompting pushback from Ilhan Omar.
Two helicopters collided midair near Hammonton Municipal Airport in southern New Jersey around 11:25 a.m., killing one pilot and injuring another; the Federal Aviation Administration said only the pilots were onboard, emergency crews extinguished a post-crash fire, and the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation.
Brigitte Bardot, the iconic French film star who later devoted her life to animal rights activism, died at 91, her foundation confirmed, prompting tributes for her cultural impact and advocacy alongside renewed attention to the controversies that marked her later years.
According to the Guardian, a Texas father used his daughter’s phone parental controls to locate and rescue his 15-year-old daughter after she was allegedly kidnapped at knifepoint while walking her dog in the Houston-area suburb of Porter, leading to the arrest of 23-year-old Giovanni Rosales Espinoza on charges including aggravated kidnapping and indecency with a child, authorities said.
See you tomorrow.
— Aaron
