Good afternoon, everyone. Today, I want to focus this update on one person: Dani Bensky, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse who put everything on the line by becoming the first survivor to testify before Congress. Her testimony was powerful, deeply personal, and incredibly courageous. She described how the Justice Department exposed victims’ private information and criticized Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche for refusing to listen to survivors while insisting nothing had been mishandled.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt promised that President Trump’s speech tonight will “shock” the public, even as news broke that a longtime Trump teleprompter technician allegedly made more than $100,000 betting on Trump’s speeches through the prediction market Kalshi. I also speak with Iowa Democratic Senate nominee Josh Turek.
Here’s what you can expect tonight after Trump’s speech. I’ll watch it so you don’t have to, and I’ll fact-check it in real time. If there is significant news, I’ll have another update for you afterward. If it turns out to be another repetition of his familiar election conspiracy claims, I may not send a follow-up.
For me, today is about the survivors, and that’s where my focus will remain. I’m working around the clock to bring you the latest developments as quickly and accurately as possible. If you value this reporting, please consider subscribing today. The Justice Department has not appreciated our coverage, and people aligned with the White House regularly send threats in response to our reporting. Your support makes it possible for me to keep doing this work and keep pushing forward.
Here’s the news:
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to say whether President Trump would accept the results of the 2026 midterm elections if Republicans lose. When asked directly, she did not give a yes-or-no answer, instead reiterating the administration's focus on election integrity and the president's concerns about the security of U.S. elections.
Todd Blanche Hearing:
Jeffrey Epstein survivor Dani Bensky urged the Senate to reject Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, arguing that he has ignored victims while mishandling the release of sensitive Epstein files. She said Blanche repeatedly claimed “nothing was mishandled,” despite the Justice Department releasing survivors’ nude images and identifying information. Bensky described that position as “absolutely egregious,” saying no government should ever distribute victims’ intimate photos regardless of politics. She also testified that Blanche “has never attempted to listen to us, the crime victims,” calling his silence over the past eight months “deafening.” Bensky argued that survivors deserved accountability and respect rather than public exposure.
Bensky also criticized Blanche for meeting extensively with Ghislaine Maxwell while failing to meet with Epstein’s victims. She testified that Blanche spent roughly nine hours interviewing Maxwell but “did not even spend nine minutes meeting with a survivor.” Bensky said that imbalance demonstrated a lack of concern for victims and questioned whether Blanche was committed to holding everyone who facilitated Epstein’s crimes accountable. She argued that an attorney general should prioritize listening to survivors rather than focusing solely on convicted offenders. Her testimony framed Blanche’s conduct as inconsistent with the responsibilities of the nation’s top law enforcement official.
Bensky accused the Justice Department of repeatedly exposing her personal information despite being warned in advance which names should be redacted. She said attorneys submitted a list of 350 victims whose identities needed protection before the files were released, yet her name appeared in multiple releases. According to Bensky, later disclosures included her phone number, former addresses, workplace, and other identifying information, alongside documents describing sexual abuse. She said that after her information continued appearing in successive releases, “it became difficult to believe that this was not intentional.” Bensky argued that instead of investigating and addressing those failures, the Senate was considering promoting the official she holds responsible to become attorney general. When asked by a Senator whether Blanche had a dismissive attitude toward the survivors, she said: “1,000 percent. Yes.”
Former Justice Department pardon attorney Liz Oyer renewed her criticism of Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche, disputing his testimony that her recommendation regarding actor Mel Gibson's firearm rights was unrelated to her dismissal. Oyer said documentary evidence contradicts Blanche's account and urged senators not to confirm him, arguing it would further damage the Justice Department.
As a result of Bensky’s testimony, the first Republican came out and said he would not vote to confirm Todd Blanche unless Blanche met with the survivors:
Hegseth Flyover:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said controversial low-altitude military flyovers will continue after a U.S. Navy Blue Angels jet flew so low over a Florida beach that it sent umbrellas and chairs flying.
Responding to the backlash, Hegseth posted on X that “the flyovers will continue until morale improves.” The White House also defended the display, sharing an illustration of the flyover with the caption, “It’s okay to love America.” The Navy said it is reviewing the incident because the aircraft flew lower than standard procedures during its arrival, causing a disturbance on the beach.
The Pensacola flyover is the latest in a series of incidents where Hegseth has defended military pilots accused of unsafe or controversial maneuvers. He recently reversed the suspensions of eight Apache helicopter pilots who flew at low altitude over a crowded South Carolina beach during the Fourth of July holiday after publicly pledging to “fix the suspensions.” Earlier this year, he also intervened after two Apache pilots were suspended for flying near Kid Rock’s Nashville home. In both cases, Hegseth argued the pilots should not face disciplinary action and said there would be “no punishment” or further investigation.
Hegseth has linked the flyovers to broader efforts to improve morale as the military works to recover from years of recruiting and retention challenges. The armed forces have faced staffing shortages since the COVID-19 pandemic, with additional strains from the Iran war and budget cuts. Pentagon officials say recruiting has rebounded significantly, with several military branches already meeting their 2026 recruiting goals. The Defense Department has described the current recruiting performance as the strongest it has seen in 15 years.
Trump speech & Leavitt Briefing:
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump remains focused on the 2020 election because, in her view, the media has failed to acknowledge that "tens of millions of Americans" share his concerns about election integrity. Responding to questions about reports that Trump would present new claims of Chinese interference in the 2020 election, Leavitt said the president's forthcoming findings would be supported by facts and evidence and predicted they would "shock" the public. She urged viewers to watch the address for the full presentation.
NBC will not air the speech:
Trump is expected to argue that the intelligence community concealed information from him about China’s efforts related to the 2020 election. However, the Intelligence Community Assessment in question was compiled during his first term under then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and, according to the timeline, Trump was briefed on it on January 7, 2021, before leaving office.
Senator Jon Ossoff sharply criticized President Trump's planned primetime speech on the 2020 election, calling him "the world's most famous sore loser" and arguing he is revisiting long-debunked grievances while more pressing issues demand attention. Ossoff said any attempt by Trump to declare Georgia's 2020 election or its elected senators illegitimate would amount to questioning the legitimacy of Georgia voters themselves. He also accused Trump of attempting to overturn Georgia's election results by pressuring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to reverse his loss, referring to the recorded phone call between the two.
Leavitt confirmed that ICE will continue conducting vehicle stops, saying President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin agree the tactic is a necessary tool for carrying out the administration’s deportation campaign. The confirmation follows reports that federal officers had temporarily paused traffic stops after two fatal ICE shootings during enforcement operations earlier this month.
Leavitt also confirmed that President Trump will attend Sunday’s FIFA World Cup final in New Jersey. She said the event represents a fitting conclusion to a tournament that demonstrated the United States’ ability to host major international sporting events.
Leavitt said the United States remains in negotiations with Iran despite several consecutive days of U.S. military strikes, arguing that Tehran still wants to reach a deal because it is "suffering devastating blows" from the U.S. military. She said the strikes were a response to Iran's alleged violations of its memorandum of understanding with the U.S. and attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that President Trump is determined to impose consequences for what she described as acts of terrorism while keeping diplomatic talks ongoing.
Russ Vought Hearing:
Today, Russell Vought, the Trump Administration’s Office of Management and Budget Director testified on Capitol Hill. Here are the highlights:
During the Senate hearing, Sen. Tina Smith questioned Vought about whether the administration’s proposed restrictions on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) funding could jeopardize medical research focused on childhood cancer in Black children. Vought responded that the administration is committed to eliminating DEI-related policies wherever possible and said it would no longer fund programs it views as promoting critical race theory. The exchange highlighted disagreements over whether research that examines racial disparities in health could be affected by the administration’s anti-DEI policies.
Senator Thom Tillis sharply criticized Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought over DOGE's claimed budget savings, accusing him of giving "word salad answers" and questioning his private-sector experience. Tillis noted that his understanding was Vought's last business job was at B. Dalton Books while in law school and said he did not "love the idea of DOGE shit we're picking up because people did it wrong," arguing that flawed implementation had created unnecessary problems with the administration's cost-cutting efforts.
Other News:
Trump Media & Technology Group announced a new paid data service that will give banks, hedge funds, and trading firms the fastest access to posts from influential Truth Social accounts, including President Donald Trump’s. The product, called Truth API, is designed for firms that rely on rapid access to market-moving information, as Trump’s social media posts have frequently influenced financial markets. The service will launch on August 1, provide an archive of posts dating back to 2022, and marks Trump Media’s first major move into selling financial data. The company says it already has customers signed up and plans to crack down on firms that have been scraping Truth Social data without authorization.
According to ABC News, Federal investigators believe White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez earned more than $100,000 by betting on the contents of President Trump's speeches through the prediction market Kalshi, allegedly using inside knowledge gained through his job. Perez, who has operated Trump's teleprompter since 2016, is reportedly in settlement talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission after investigators found he placed bets on more than a dozen speeches and, in some cases, adjusted his wagers mid-speech when Trump deviated from prepared remarks.
Kalshi said it detected the suspicious activity, referred it to regulators, and is cooperating with the investigation, while the Justice Department declined to pursue criminal charges. Following ABC News' reporting, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump called the allegations "a disgrace" and placed Perez on unpaid administrative leave, adding that no other staff members are known to have engaged in similar conduct. The investigation has prompted renewed scrutiny of prediction markets and the risks of insider trading involving nonpublic government information.
Smoke from hundreds of active wildfires in Canada, along with fires in Minnesota, has spread across more than 20 U.S. states, prompting widespread air quality alerts and exposing millions of people to unhealthy or hazardous conditions. The worst air quality has been reported in parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes region, with Detroit briefly recording the worst air quality in the world, while smoke has also reached major cities including New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Health officials are urging residents—especially those with respiratory conditions—to stay indoors, limit outdoor activity, and wear protective masks where necessary. Republican Senator Bernie Moreno from Ohio says that he wants to sanction Canadian officials for not doing more to stop the smoke from the fires.
New York City has extended its heat emergency measures, opened cooling centers, and distributed N95 masks as officials warn this could become the city’s most significant wildfire smoke event since 2023, though conditions are not yet expected to reach that year’s peak severity. Forecasters expect smoky conditions to persist through Friday and into the weekend in many areas, with rain potentially bringing some relief ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final in New Jersey.
The Guardian reports that the Trump administration’s Board of Peace has sharply scaled back its Gaza reconstruction plans, replacing its original vision for rebuilding the entire territory with a much smaller pilot project near Rafah for only a fraction of Gaza’s displaced population. The pilot would include temporary housing, a Palestinian administration, and an international security force, but construction has not begun and officials do not expect meaningful progress before Israel’s October elections, amid concerns Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could launch a new military offensive that would derail the effort. Negotiations over Hamas disarmament and Gaza governance have stalled as Israel continues military operations, while humanitarian aid and reconstruction remain heavily restricted despite private pressure from U.S. negotiators to ease those limits.
Greystar, the largest apartment owner and manager in the United States, is facing civil rights complaints in six states and Washington, D.C., accusing it of illegally refusing to rent to tenants who use federal Housing Choice (Section 8) vouchers where state and local laws require landlords to accept them. The complaints allege 114 violations of fair housing laws and are supported by undercover recordings in which Greystar employees allegedly rejected voucher holders or imposed unlawful conditions on their applications. Greystar said it is committed to fair housing and provides training to employees but did not directly address the specific allegations. The complaints add to the company’s recent legal scrutiny, following settlements over alleged rent collusion and hidden fees, though Greystar has denied wrongdoing in those cases.
Prediction market platform Kalshi announced it will expand into markets that allow users to bet on the outcomes of drug trials and FDA regulatory decisions, while also considering contracts tied to flight delays and cancellations. The company says the new markets are intended to improve transparency by providing real-time assessments of clinical trial prospects and has partnered with AI firm AppliedXL for the pilot program. The expansion comes amid growing scrutiny of prediction markets over insider trading and market manipulation, including recent investigations involving political betting. Kalshi says it will require employment verification and delay listing drug-related contracts until trial enrollment has closed to reduce the risk of insider trading, while continuing to position itself as a regulated prediction market rather than a gambling platform.
General Mills is recalling nearly 736,000 Pillsbury frozen bread rolls after the FDA warned they may contain glass fragments. The recall affects two commercial food-service products—Hard Roll Dough and Kaiser Roll Dough—that were distributed to 19 states and were primarily sold to restaurants and other food-service customers rather than retail consumers. Food-service operators are being urged to check inventory for affected products with use-by dates in October 2026 and remove them from circulation. The recall follows several other food recalls this year involving potential glass contamination, including frozen foods and desserts sold under multiple national brands.
Astronomers have discovered the first confirmed atmosphere around a rocky exoplanet located within its star's habitable zone, marking a major milestone in the search for potentially life-supporting worlds beyond our solar system. The planet, LHS 1140b, lies about 49 light-years from Earth and appears to have the key ingredients for habitability, including a rocky surface, temperatures that could allow liquid water, and an atmosphere that may help protect the planet from harmful radiation. Researchers detected helium escaping from the planet's atmosphere, confirming that it possesses a gaseous envelope, though scientists caution this does not indicate the presence of life. The discovery makes LHS 1140b one of the most promising nearby planets for future studies of habitability and the possible existence of extraterrestrial life.
See you soon.
— Aaron
