Week 37 — The Return – The Weekly List

This week the Epstein files, which have turned into the biggest scandal of Trump’s second regime, continued to be front and center. As I wrote in my Substack article here, up until now, Trump has been extremely successful at throwing shiny coins to distract and change the subject. This scandal marks his first failure to control the narrative.

In the early part of this week, both he and his regime frantically threw shiny coins, including attacking Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, revealing a health issue, and firing U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey. Nothing seemed to work, but then he did get a reprieve by taking on a boogeyman for the MAGA movement, the media, as he sued News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch over a bombshell story published in the Wall Street Journal. Trump also took the remarkable step of accusing former President Barack Obama of “treason” and attempting to orchestrate a “coup” of the 2016 election, again in an effort to change the subject and steer his splintering MAGA base in another direction. Speaker Mike Johnson also took the unusual step of starting summer recess for the House of Representatives a day early to avoid a vote on releasing the Epstein files.

As we hit the six month mark of the Trump regime, and Trump attempts to take a victory lap for his actions to date, polling shows the country souring on him and his policies. His overall approval hit a new low, with just 38% approving, 59% disapproving in one poll. His signature legislation is wildly unpopular, with 6 in 10 saying it will help the rich and hurt the poor. An increasing share of Americans think he is focused on the wrong priorities. By a 2-to-1 margin, Americans believe his policies have hurt them versus helped them. Just 17% approve of his handling of the Epstein files.

There are some notable attacks on the media this week, including the aforementioned lawsuit filed by Trump against Murdoch and his companies. After the article’s publication, Trump banned WSJ reporters from the press pool on a trip to Scotland. CBS News, whose parent company Paramount settled a bogus lawsuit with Trump in Week 34, announced the cancellation of “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert, a Trump critic, and Trump promised more firings. The Associated Press also lost an appeal to gain full access to Trump.

An AP-NORC poll found that 49% of Americans say Trump’s policies have hurt them, while one-quarter say they have helped, and another quarter say they have not been impacted. Trump’s polling continued to be net negative on every issue.
An analysis by the Post of 165 lawsuits against the Trump regime found Trump and his regime have defied around one in three judges who ruled against him. Plaintiffs say the Justice Department is also providing false information, and failing to turn over evidence.
Health and Human Services Sec. Robert Kennedy, Jr. fired two top aides, Heather Flick Melanson, his chief of staff, and Hannah Anderson, his deputy chief of staff for policy, both of whom were viewed as practical and effective government veterans.
Ken Pagurek, the head of FEMA’s urban search and rescue unit resigned, telling colleagues that the Trump regime was causing “chaos” at the agency, which delayed the response to deadly floods in Texas. Pagurek also cited needing approval for expenditures above $100,000.
NYT reported that the Trump regime is planning to refashion Title X, a 55 year-old government program that provides federal funding for birth control to low-income women, and will instead shift funding towards programs to help women get pregnant.
On Wednesday, Trump denied he plans to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, after news in the morning caused markets to trade lower. Trump told reporters, “We’re not planning on doing it,” adding, “I think it’s highly unlikely, unless he has to leave for fraud.”
WSJ reported that CEOs of some of the largest banks have spoken out publicly on the importance of the independence of the Fed, including chief executives of JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Bank of America.
On Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Powell was “one of my worst appointments,” and criticized former president Joseph Biden for extending Powell’s term, adding, “And the Fed Board has done nothing to stop this “numbskull” from hurting so many people.”
On Monday, Treasury Department Sec. Scott Bessent called for a review of the Federal Reserve, telling CNBC, “What we need to do is examine the entire Federal Reserve institution and whether they have been successful,” adding, “Has the organization succeeded in its mission?”
On Tuesday, the Fed agreed to allow top aides to Trump to tour the construction site at its headquarters and see the ongoing renovations on Thursday.
Trump told reporters Tuesday, “People aren’t able to buy a house because this guy [Powell] is a numbskull, he keeps the rates too high,” and adding, he “probably is doing it for political reasons.”
On Wednesday, Maurene Comey, a veteran assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan who worked on the criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, was fired, via a letter citing powers of the president in Article II of the Constitution.
No reason was given for the firing. The day prior, she had argued against releasing any information publicly related to the cases. Some feared she was being set up as a scapegoat by the regime. Comey is also the daughter of former FBI director James Comey.
On Wednesday, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found 69% believe the government is hiding details about the Epstein investigation, with just 6% disagreeing. Just 17% approved of Trump’s handling of the issue, with just 35% of Republicans approving, 29% disapprove.
On Wednesday, Elon Musk mocked Trump for calling the Epstein files a “hoax,” posting on X, “Wow, amazing that Epstein “killed himself” and Ghislaine is in federal prison for a hoax,” adding, “He should just release the files and point out which part is the hoax.”
On Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi toured the former Alcatraz prison in Sausalito, CA, amid the Epstein file release uproar, and calls by Trump to reopen the prison 60 years after it was closed and turned into a national park.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which she said was “a benign and common condition,” and that bruising on the back of his hand was due to “frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin.”
On Thursday, WSJ reported on a bawdy letter from Trump that was included in Epstein’s 50th birthday album, which contains typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, with a squiggly “Donald” mimicking pubic hair. The text was highly suggestive.
Hours later, Trump said he would sue the WSJ over the story, posting on Truth Social, “President Trump has already beaten George Stephanopoulos/ABC, 60 Minutes/CBS, and others, and looks forward to suing and holding accountable the once great Wall Street Journal.”
Shortly after, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had authorized AG Bondi to “produce any and all Grand Jury Testimony, subject to Court approval,” in the Epstein investigation, citing “the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein.”
NYT noted the contrast of Trump deferring to the court on the Epstein matter, while in other matters related to his agenda, Trump has frequently sought to undermine the judicial branch, and threatened judges who do not rule in his favor.
On Thursday, some House Republicans refused to fall in line on Trump’s $9 billion rescission of foreign aid and public broadcasting funding, over the Epstein files. Republicans feared Democrats would add release of the Epstein files as an amendment, and get their vote on record.
WSJ reported after Trump’s break with Musk in June, the regime initiated a review to look for ways to kill some of the government’s SpaceX contracts, but determined they could not eliminate most of those contracts because they are critical to the Department of Defense and NASA.
Reuters reported that Trump is looking for an alternative to SpaceX for his Golden Dome missile defense system, including courting Jeff Bezos’s Project Kuiper and big defense contractors.
Early Friday morning, the House voted 216–213 to approve Trump’s rescission of $9 billion in funding. The votes in the Senate and House marked an unusual surrender of congressional spending power.
On Friday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a memo falsely claiming the Obama administration tried to get intelligence to alter its findings about Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election, in order to harm Trump.
Gabbard claimed her office found “overwhelming evidence” that government officials committed “treasonous conspiracy in 2016” to set up a “yearslong coup” against Trump.
On Friday, Trump lied that Democrats were behind the Epstein files and claimed he was not mentioned, posting on Truth Social, “If there was a ‘smoking gun’ on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems” who “had Garland and Comey in charge, use it? BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!”
On Friday, Trump sued WSJ owner Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp, and the reporters who wrote the article, Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo, for $10 billion in defamation, claiming they had caused him to suffer “overwhelming” financial and reputational harm.
Trump posted on Truth Social, “We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article,’” and threatened “Rupert and his ‘friends’” with hours of depositions and testimonies.
On Friday, Bondi and deputy AG Todd Blanche filed a motion, asking a federal judge to unseal grand jury testimony, citing public interest in the case, and referring to Epstein as “the most infamous pedophile in American history,” and facts in the case “a tale of national disgrace.”
On Sunday, Rep. Tim Burchett, one of 10 House Republicans who signed off on an effort to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files, called for their release on CNN and ABC News, saying, “You know, this town doesn’t give up its secrets very easy.”
On Sunday, NYT reported that Maria Farmer, a former Epstein employee, told the FBI about troubling encounters with Trump in 1996 and 2006, hence possibly in the files, including Epstein telling Trump, “No, no. She’s not here for you,” when Trump thought she was 16.
On Sunday, in another apparent effort to distract from the Epstein story, Trump posted an artificially rendered video on Truth Social of former president Barack Obama being arrested, showing FBI agents dragging him out of his chair and cuffing his hands behind his back.
The video also included an image of Pepe the Frog, a popular internet meme that was added to a hate symbol database during the 2016 election. The band the Village People said they were trying to find the person who made the video to get their song “Y.M.C.A.” removed.
Trump also posted on Truth Social on Sunday about topics other than Epstein, including attacking Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, Samantha Power, the former administrator of USAID, and even posted a video compilation of 25 wacky and incredible stunts.
On Thursday, CBS, whose parent company settled with Trump in Week 34 for $16 million plus undisclosed terms, announced Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ was being canceled. Colbert, a harsh critic of Trump, has hosted the show for a decade.
CBS claimed the cancellation was due to the show losing money. On Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!”
On Tuesday, Trump threatened others on Truth Social, saying, “The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone,” adding, “These are people with absolutely NO TALENT.”
Trump also claimed on Truth Social that the CBS settlement includes $20 million in “Advertising, PSAs, or similar Programming,” calling it “another in a long line of VICTORIES over the Fake News Media, who we are holding to account for their widespread fraud and deceit.”
A federal judge dismissed a case brought by Trump against journalist Bob Woodward and Simon & Schuster over the release of interview recordings from the first regime, saying Trump failed to “plausibly” show he had a copyright interest in his answers to questions.
On Monday, Politico reported that the White House removed the reporter from the Journal from the press pool traveling to Scotland with Trump, due to the newspaper’s Epstein bombshell story.
The White House Correspondents’ Association said, “This attempt by the White House to punish a media outlet whose coverage it does not like is deeply troubling, and it defies the First Amendment,” and that should “concern all who value free speech and an independent media.”
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court upheld an earlier ruling, allowing the Trump regime to restrict the Associated Press from covering Trump in certain spaces, including the Oval Office and Air Force One.
On Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson retreated from his demand last week for transparency and the release of the Epstein files, telling reporters that the Trump regime needs “to have the space to do what it is doing,” ahead of the summer recess which starts on Thursday.
Later Monday, business on the House Rules Committee, which sends bills to the floor for debates and votes, was put on hold, after some Republicans on the committee threatened to block other business unless there was a procedural vote on releasing the Epstein files.
On Tuesday, Johnson said he would send House members home early for summer recess on Wednesday, in order to forestall a call from Democrats and some Republicans for a vote, putting other planned business on hold. The House comes back into session in September.
On Monday, the Trump regime released, without any notice, 6,000 documents related to the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., despite the family’s objections, another notable distraction. Historians said the download provided few new revelations.
On Tuesday, during a meeting in the Oval Office with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Trump lashed out at Obama, and called for the DOJ to investigate him, saying, “It’s time to start, after what they did to me, and whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people.”
Trump pivoted from a question about the Epstein files, calling the false claims in the memo released by Gabbard the real “witch hunt” that should be investigated, and said that other Democrats including Hillary Clinton and former President Joe Biden should be investigated.
An Obama spokesman issued a rare response to Trump’s comments, saying, “These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” and noting nothing in Gabbard’s memo undercuts the conclusion that “Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes.”
He added that the findings “were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”
On Wednesday, Gabbard released an older report from the House Intelligence Committee that took issue with the conclusion that Russia had favored Trump, and said that the Obama administration was “promoting the LIE” that Russia helped Trump win.
On Tuesday, deputy AG Blanche announced that the DOJ is hoping to meet with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former associate who is in prison, to discuss anyone else “who has committed crimes against victims,” citing Trump’s directive to release more evidence.
The announcement came hours before the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Maxwell to testify before the Republican-led Congress. Rep. Burchett proposed the motion, saying, “I want justice for those thousands of young ladies who were abused.”
On Tuesday, House Republicans included an amendment to a spending bill that would designate the Kennedy Center’s opera house as the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.” The measure would still need to pass the full House and Senate.
On Wednesday, Trump posted on Social Media that he was ending federal funding for California’s High-Speed Rail project, saying, “Thanks to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum [sic] SCAM ever again.”
On Thursday, California sued the Trump regime, saying the federal government’s decision to cancel the $4 billion in funding was political retribution against the state.
On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that Trump’s firing of Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a Democratic FTC commissioner, was illegal, saying she was a “rightful member” of the agency. The firing went against longstanding precedent allowing firings for a narrow set of reasons.
On Friday, Trump’s birthright citizenship restrictions remained blocked, after a ruling from a federal judge went into effect. The judge had given the regime time to appeal, but nothing was filed. Another federal judge appeared ready to also rule against the regime.
On Friday, a federal judge ordered the Trump regime to restore funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, calling its legal arguments “nonsensical” and its decision to withhold funds “unprecedented.”
On Friday, a federal judge said that Trump’s executive order punishing people who work with the International Criminal Court likely violated the First Amendment, and shielded two U.S. human rights activists who were targeted from any penalties.
On Wednesday, a coalition of legal groups representing immigrants filed a class action lawsuit to block ICE from making arrests at immigration courthouses, arguing such arrests are unlawful and violate due process protections.
On Wednesday, NYT reported on chaotic early days at Alligator Alcatraz detention center, where inmates say the tents leak, lights are on all night, there is insufficient food and medicine, rampant illnesses, and sleep deprivation. Little information is provided, or recreation.
AP reported, according to an agreement, ICE was given access to personal data of 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including home addresses and ethnicities, in an effort for the regime to track down immigrants not living in the country legally.
On Thursday, the DOJ asked sheriffs across the state of California to provide lists of inmates in state jails who are not U.S. citizens. The ACLU said any sheriff that complied could be in violation of California’s so-called sanctuary state law.
NYT reported as some National Guards troops were pulled out of Los Angeles, many were questioning their mission there, and morale is low. Several said they had raised objections to being involved with an immigration crackdown, and called their involvement a “fake mission.”
ProPublica reported according to DHS data, the Trump regime knew that the vast majority of the 238 Venezuelan immigrants sent to CECOT in El Salvador had not been convicted of a crime in the U.S., despite Trump and the regime repeatedly asserting that criminals were sent.
Data revealed that only six of the immigrants were convicted of violent crimes, 67 had uncategorized pending charges, and 130 of the deportees did not have any criminal convictions or pending charges, but were simply labeled as only having violated immigration laws.
NYT reported that providers that operate nursing homes and home care agencies say Trump’s ending temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of migrants has strained the workforce for senior care. Some have had to raise wages to fill vacancies.
On Monday, a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general sued the Trump regime over its restricting undocumented immigrants from receiving benefits from more than a dozen health and education programs, including Head Start.
On Monday, the Trump regime began withdrawing the 700 U.S. Marine troops stationed in Los Angeles who were dispatched last month. The move comes after 2,000 National Guard troops left in Week 36.
WSJ reported with passage of Trump’s legislation, ICE will have $45 billion to spend on building detention centers, including tent camps, for an additional 100,000 beds by the end of the year, as the regime looks to speed up deportations, which have been held back by overcrowding.
On Monday, a federal appeals court lifted a lower court ruling preventing the Trump regime from stripping temporary protected status for an estimated 14,600 Afghans and 7,900 Cameroonians, saying they no longer merited the protected status.
On Tuesday, WAPO reported that the Trump regime is increasingly using Border Patrol agents, who are meant to be stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border, to instead carry out deportations in cities around the country, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, and New York.
The 1946 statute that established Border Patrol says that the agency’s jurisdiction stretches within a “reasonable distance” of the border. The DOJ later set the boundary as 100 miles from any border. The Trump regime is considering the entire U.S. perimeter as the border.
On Wednesday, in a court filing, the DOJ asked that Brett Hankison, a former police officer found guilty of violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor in 2020, be given just one day in jail. Taylor’s killing by police was a pillar of the Black Lives Matter movement.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth replaced Vice Adm. Yvette Davids, the Naval Academy’s first female superintendent, with a Marine. It was the academy’s first time being run by a Marine.
On Thursday, the DOJ launched an employment discrimination probe into George Mason University, a state university in Virginia, claiming it “is engaged in discriminatory practices” by using “race and sex [as] motivating factors in faculty hiring” in order to achieve diversity goals.
On Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Washington’s football franchise and Cleveland’s baseball team “should IMMEDIATELY change their name back” to the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians, adding, “OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!”
NBC News reported the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee updated its policies to comply with Trump’s executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports. The document was quietly posted to its website on July 18.
A clinic at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, one of the oldest and largest providers of gender-affirming care for transgender youth, said it would close after pressure from the Trump regime, leaving families struggling to find care.
On Thursday, WAPO reported Vice President JD Vance and seven cabinet members, along with Trump, had crypto stakes worth millions. Trump has at least a $51 million personal stake in digital assets. Also, 70 nominees and officials of the regime had large crypto holdings.
On Friday, Trump signed the “Genius Act,” the first major cryptocurrency bill, into law, which established federal rules for stablecoins. Trump harangued Biden for having mistreating the crypto industry. He did not take questions from reporters.
On Monday, CNBC reported that Trump Media and Technology Group had accumulated roughly $2 billion in bitcoin and related assets, accounting for about two-thirds of its total liquid assets.
CNBC reported while Musk was still part of the Trump regime’s DOGE, his company Neuralink labeled itself a “small disadvantaged business” in a federal filing, which gives “preferential access to federal procurement opportunities,” shortly before being valued at $9 billion.
The House Oversight Committee scheduled four more voluntary interviews with officials from the Biden administration as part of their so-called investigation into his mental fitness in office and his use of the autopen, which have become the focus of MAGA conspiracy theories.
On Friday, Trump held a swearing in ceremony in the Oval Office for his ally Billy Long, the new commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. The position is typically viewed as non-partisan, and commissioners usually do not change over with new presidents.
NBC News reported a new U.S. assessment on the impact of Trump’s strikes on three Iranian nuclear enrichment sites found that one was mostly destroyed, but the other two were degraded only to a point where nuclear enrichment could resume in the next several months.
On Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. would revoke the visa of Alexandre de Moraes, a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, after the court imposed new restrictions on Jair Bolsonaro. Rubio also accused de Moraes of conducting a “political witch hunt.”
On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would eliminate its scientific research arm, and began the process of firing hundreds of chemists, biologists, toxicologists, and other scientists, after the Supreme Court ruling in Week 36.
The EPA is proposing in a draft to rescind a landmark 2009 legal opinion that greenhouse gas emissions put human health at risk, the only tool the agency has to limit the pollution from vehicles, power plants, and other industries, effectively ending its ability to fight climate change.
More than 140 employees of the National Science Foundation, in a letter to Rep. Zoe Lofgren, ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Science, denounced the Trump regime for abruptly firing workers, withholding funds, and decimating the agency’s budget.
The letter cited that grants now undergo a “covert and ideologically driven secondary review process” before being given to scientists and institutions, which runs contrary to the agency’s apolitical mission.
WAPO reported that Jeremy Lewin, a 28-year-old former agent of DOGE, was central in the mass firings of 1,300 State Department employees. Critics say the firings were arbitrary, part of the “break stuff” ethos, and will damage U.S. standing in the world.
CBS News reported Justin Fulcher, who was named a senior adviser to Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth in late April, after joining the department as part of DOGE, was fired. Fulcher was at least the sixth senior staffer to Hegseth to exit.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who cast the deciding vote passing Trump’s tax bill in the Senate after winning concessions from Trump for her state, said Trump and his regime issued orders after that she said seemed designed to quickly quash the projects she was promised.
On Monday, Trump attacked the federal judge presiding over Harvard University’s lawsuit against the regime, posting on Truth Social, “She is a TOTAL DISASTER,” and this is “an automatic ‘loss’ for the People of our Country!” adding he planned to appeal if the regime loses.
Trump also attacked Harvard on Truth Social, calling the school “anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-America,” and touting the regime’s decision to freeze billion in grant funding.
On Wednesday, the State Department opened a new investigation into Harvard’s use of international visas. Without citing wrongdoing, the agency said the inquiry was necessary “to assist the department in meeting its policy objectives.”
In announcing its quarterly results, U.S. automaker General Motors said Trump’s tariffs had cost the company more than $1 billion, and cut its second quarter profit by more than a third. Stellantis said Trump tariffs had cost the company $350 million, with U.S. sales plummeting 25%.
On Tuesday, a panel of federal judges in New Jersey rejected Trump nominee Alina Habba’s bid to stay in the job as the state’s U.S. attorney at the end of her 120 day interim term, invoking a rarely used power to select an experienced prosecutor, Desiree Leigh Grace.
Shortly after, in a social media post, AG Bondi said that Grace, the first assistant to Habba, “has just been removed,” and adding, “This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges — especially when they threaten the President’s core Article II powers.”
Grace has been a prosecutor in the Newark office since 2016. NYT reported that she was sent a letter on Tuesday saying that she had been fired. Habba had met with the federal judges in an effort to persuade them of her competence.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a memo claiming overwhelming evidence that the Obama administration committed “treasonous conspiracy in 2016” to set up a “yearslong coup” against Trump.