Good evening everyone. Tonight I have a critical exclusive interview with Senator Ron Wyden. He tells us exactly what he found in his bombshell Epstein investigation and what Bari Weiss and CBS killed and tried to bury to protect the president.
Meanwhile, we have the first report from the New Mexico Truth Commission on what happened at Zorro Ranch, and New Mexico has sued the DOJ and Acting AG Todd Blanche for blocking its Epstein investigation. This all comes as Trump fights to keep the BBC from getting his financial records, and much more.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I will be relentless in pursuit of the truth. Unlike Bari Weiss and CBS, I will never trade access to the White House for the truth. That’s exactly why I’m publishing this interview, and I think everyone needs to see it.
Here’s the news:
Epstein News:
New Mexico sued the Department of Justice and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, alleging the federal government stonewalled Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes at his Stanley, New Mexico ranch. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., claims DOJ insisted on overly formal information requests and then rejected them anyway, and seeks judicial intervention to force the release of relevant materials, arguing the withholding “actively harms victims” since New Mexico may be one of the few remaining jurisdictions able to hold Epstein’s associates accountable.
It was filed the same day New Mexico released a report on its preliminary investigative findings. Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former associate now serving 20 years for sex trafficking, was linked at her 2021 trial to testimony alleging abuse occurred at the New Mexico property, which Epstein bought in 1993 and which was sold in 2023 to the family of Texas Comptroller Don Huffines, who has since rebranded it as a Christian retreat. The suit also comes amid ongoing criticism of the DOJ’s handling of Epstein files released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which lawmakers and victims have called poorly redacted and lacking context.
This interim report from New Mexico’s Survivors’ Truth Commission, created by unanimous House vote in February 2026, documents the first serious investigative effort into Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long presence at Zorro Ranch, his 7,600-acre New Mexico property acquired in 1993. Drawing on Epstein Files Transparency Act records, subpoenas, and witness interviews, the report finds evidence that at least five women and girls were abused at the ranch between 1996 and 2012, identifies dozens of Epstein employees and associates who managed the property’s operations, and documents Epstein’s apparent unlawful possession of firearms there after his 2008 felony conviction. It also raises questions about a dentist named as the primary beneficiary of Epstein’s estate and about his financial ties to scientific institutions like the Santa Fe Institute.
The report’s most pointed findings center on institutional failure: no federal or state authority ever conducted a full investigation into Epstein’s New Mexico conduct, and no search of Zorro Ranch occurred until March 2026, nearly seven years after his death. New Mexico’s Attorney General deferred its 2019 investigation to the Southern District of New York, which never prioritized the state’s cases and never followed through, while the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Mexico repeatedly offered assistance, including help with a search warrant, that SDNY never accepted.
Investigators describe the underlying evidence base as vast but severely compromised: the DOJ’s 3.5 million released pages are inconsistently redacted, poorly organized, and full of gaps, several federal offices, including SDNY, have refused to comply with the Commission’s subpoenas, and unverified claims (like anonymous reports of buried remains) remain unconfirmed despite a cadaver-dog search that found nothing. The Commission stresses these are preliminary findings, not conclusions, and that its investigation, including efforts to identify roughly 30 additional potential survivors, continues ahead of a final report due by the end of 2026.
A federal judge in Miami appeared skeptical of Trump’s arguments to revive his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over a July 2025 article about a “bawdy” birthday letter allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein. Judge Darrin Gayles previously dismissed the case in April for failing to adequately plead actual malice but let Trump refile, and on Wednesday he seemed unconvinced by claims of financial harm, calling them “rather conclusory,” while defense attorney Andrew Levander argued the amended complaint was “no better than the original” and urged dismissal. Trump’s attorney Alejandro Brito countered that the Journal lacked sufficient evidence to publish the story, since only Trump (who denies it), the deceased Epstein, the deceased bookbinder, and Ghislaine Maxwell (who says she doesn’t recall) could verify the letter’s authenticity. Defense attorney Katherine Bolger argued the Journal’s inclusion of Trump’s denial actually undercuts the malice claim, calling it “good journalism” rather than defamation. Gayles didn’t rule from the bench but indicated a decision is coming soon and agreed to pause discovery in the meantime.
Trump’s BBC Lawsuit
Lawyers for the trust holding Trump’s assets filed an emergency motion asking a federal judge to pause an order requiring the trust to hand over Trump’s financial documents to the BBC by Thursday. The dispute stems from Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit over a 2024 BBC “Panorama” documentary that misquoted his January 6 speech to supporters, and the BBC is demanding financial records to test whether the documentary actually caused damages anywhere near that sum. Trump’s attorneys argue that once the documents are disclosed there’s no way to “un-disclose them,” and are separately trying to amend the lawsuit to claim only his personal reputation, not his businesses, was harmed, which would undercut the need to turn over financial records at all. The BBC shot back that the request is a “transparent effort to evade” the court’s order and part of a “months-long refusal” to cooperate with discovery, noting Trump waited until the day before the deadline to seek relief. If the judge grants the pause, Trump’s trust wants the delay to last until 14 days after the court rules on the amended complaint and all appeals are exhausted, a process that could stretch on for months.
The BBC’s request seeks a sweeping range of financial materials, including the trust agreement, its total value, an annual accounting of value changes, tax returns, and details on hundreds of Trump-linked entities such as World Liberty Financial, Trump Media & Technology Group, and the Trump Organization, along with intellectual property, vehicles, jewelry, art, and cryptocurrency holdings. The judge previously narrowed the request to cover documents from 2023 onward, and a protective order in the case means some material could remain sealed even if handed over, though details are likely to surface in future filings regardless.
Trump created the revocable trust, controlled by his son Donald Trump Jr., after his first election to distance himself from his businesses without divesting, though a recent Forbes investigation found he remains more hands-on with the companies than he’s publicly claimed. The underlying suit centers on the documentary’s editing of Trump’s January 6 remarks, splicing his “we fight like hell” comment, made more than 50 minutes after his actual walk-to-the-Capitol remarks, to make it appear as a direct call to violence; the BBC has since apologized for the misleading impression but maintains the documentary wasn’t defamatory. Forbes currently estimates Trump’s net worth at $6.5 billion, with virtually all of that wealth held inside the trust now at the center of the dispute.
Other news:
Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Thomas Massie, and former Trump national security official Joe Kent met at Carlson’s Maine compound over the weekend to lay groundwork for a possible third-party presidential run centered on ending U.S. involvement in foreign wars, particularly opposition to the Iran conflict. Greene declared “the movement has begun” in a social media post, accusing Trump of betraying his “no more foreign wars” promise, while Kent said the group agreed the current political system “just simply doesn’t work” despite acknowledging how difficult a third-party run would be. All three broke with Trump during his second term over Middle East military coordination with Israel, with Greene and Massie also clashing with him over his resistance to releasing Epstein investigation files. Attendees reportedly urged Carlson to run in 2028, but he said he wouldn’t, leaving leadership of the nascent movement unclear as Kent floated a narrow platform focused solely on anti-interventionism rather than domestic issues.
The Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC director, giving the agency its first permanent leader in about a year after a string of acting directors, including Susan Monarez, who was fired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after just 29 days, and Jay Bhattacharya, who had been running CDC alongside the NIH since February. Schwartz, a former Navy physician and deputy surgeon general under Trump's first term, inherits a measles outbreak at its highest level in 35 years and a growing cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to shredded lettuce, along with rising vaccine hesitancy. Her nomination drew criticism after a Senate hearing where she said vaccines are safe and effective but dodged questions about specific Kennedy vaccine policies, prompting Sen. Bill Cassidy to initially accuse her of evasiveness before ultimately backing her, and leading the National Public Health Coalition, a group of former CDC staffers, to oppose her confirmation over vague commitments to shield CDC guidance from political interference.
Florida Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Haridopolos endorsed Ryan Elijah over Trump-backed incumbent Rep. Cory Mills in the state’s 7th District GOP primary, with Luna going further to say Mills “needs to not be seeking reelection.” The move piles onto pressure facing Mills, who is under a House ethics investigation and a restraining order stemming from a former girlfriend’s accusation that he threatened to release explicit videos of her, which he denies. Elijah, a former FOX 35 Orlando anchor, faces Mills and two other Republicans in the August 18 primary, and says he’s focused on the seriousness of the allegations rather than personal attacks. Democrats are watching the race as a potential flip opportunity given Mills’ ethics troubles and weak fundraising.
Michael Joseph Simpson, 51, was arrested after allegedly cutting off an 18-year-old diver’s air supply during a heated dispute over a lobster fishing spot near Miami on July 29. According to authorities, after a verbal confrontation between boats over who had claimed the diving location first, Simpson swam over to the victim’s floating “Brownie Third Lung” breathing device and turned it off, saying “I’ll turn the Brownie off if I want to,” leaving the diver gasping and disoriented when pulled to the surface. He was originally charged with attempted felony murder, but a judge agreed with his defense that the charge didn’t fit the facts and reduced it to second-degree attempted murder, setting a $10,000 bond. Simpson’s family disputes the allegations entirely, saying he never touched the diving equipment, that eyewitnesses back his account, that Florida wildlife officers cleared him on the water shortly after the incident, and that video actually shows the accuser, an off-duty officer, becoming tangled in his own gear. Simpson is a member of Miami-Dade’s Boater Safety and Bay Education Task Force and says he’ll present evidence in court to clear his name.
Disney and TikTok announced a first-of-its-kind deal letting TikTok creators use characters and scenes from Disney movies and shows, including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and FX titles, in short-form videos. A curated selection of those videos will also stream on Disney+ under a new “Verts” tab aimed at younger, mobile-first audiences, marking the first time TikTok content appears on another platform. A U.S. pilot launches in the coming months with plans to expand internationally; financial terms weren’t disclosed. The move follows a broader streaming industry shift toward vertical video, with Peacock, Paramount+, and Netflix’s Clips feature already testing the format, and Disney is betting the partnership will drive new viewers to Disney+, citing TikTok data showing 6.5 million daily film and TV-related posts and that nearly half of surveyed users watched something after discovering it on the app.
See you soon.
— Aaron
