Now, the deluge. Back in action after resolution of the record federal shutdown, a House committee has released 23,000 documents related to President Trump’s convicted and now-dead sex-offender pal Jeffrey Epstein.
■ At least one indicates Trump “spent hours” with an alleged victim at Epstein’s house.
■ Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer: “We now have an email from Jeffrey Epstein that says Trump knew about what Epstein was up to and that he spent time with one of the victims.”
■ Ryan Cooper at The American Prospect: “How on Earth are we just now hearing about Trump’s ‘hours’ with an Epstein victim?”
■ Journalist Aaron Parnas, who “spent much of last night” reading those docs: “The White House is virtually paralyzed this morning.”
■ Popular Information: At least one newly released record contradicts Trump’s claims of ignorance.
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “I can’t wait to hear all about how Joe Biden’s autopen went back in time and ginned up a bogus email confirming that Donny asked Ghislaine to stop befriending and then trafficking the Motel-a-Lago ‘spa girls’ whom Donny and Eppie used to fight over.”
■ Got a few days? See those files yourself here.
■ Law prof Joyce Vance: “There is more. The FBI’s investigative files have not been released. The Trump White House is still doing everything it can to prevent their release.”
■ Columnist Charlie Madigan says the Epstein files are useless: “The president has already created a record that would send a normal person to holy hell. Why are you looking for more proof he is a worthless creep?”
■ Gov. Pritzker’s fear: “He’s going to do everything in his power to distract.”
‘There’s no back to normal.’ CNN: Resolution of the shutdown doesn’t mean the federal goverment’s peachy-keen today.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “The Democrats … gave the Republicans just enough votes to end the shutdown. For nothing. They got nothing. They lost.”
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: “House Democrats were right to call it the ‘Epstein Shutdown.’”
■ White House Watch: “Indivisible, MoveOn and 50501 have all issued demands for Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer to step down after he failed … to keep his caucus united against a massive increase in health insurance premiums.”
■ A Tribune editorial (gift link, courtesy of those whose financial support underwrites the cost of producing Chicago Public Square) defends Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who voted to reopen the government, as an “honorable public servant.”
■ Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman: “The Republican brain doesn’t want to understand health care.”
615 freedom-bound. A federal judge has ordered the release of about a third of the people detained by U.S. Customs and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Chicago area since June.
■ In another courtroom, a judge has ruled that the government’s detention of a Chicago preschool teacher was illegal.
■ ProPublica on ICE’s infamous Chicago assault: “Venezuelans were rounded up in a dramatic midnight raid but never charged with a crime.”
■ “The Broadview Six”— Democratic candidates, officeholders and activists including a congressional candidate and an Oak Park village trustee—all pleaded not guilty to charges of impeding agents outside that ICE facility.
■ They face up to seven years in prison.
■ Block Club: University of Chicago workers want the university to take a stronger stand against immigration intimidation on campus.
■ Add U.S. Catholic bishops to those condemning Trump’s immigration policies.
■ The sculptor of Chicago’s “Bean” is threatening to sue border agents who posed by his work.
R.I.P., the penny. Ending a 230-year run, the U.S. Mint has minted its final one-cent piece.
■ Infuriating City Council conservatives, Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin has unilaterally chosen to protest the Trump administration’s policies by ending city investment in U.S. Treasury bonds. (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ The New York Times (gift link): The Trump team has plans that could put as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people back on the streets.
Failing hospitals. Although Illinois’ overall ratings for hospital safety are up in the latest report from the nonprofit Leapfrog Group, four—three in the Chicago area—got Fs.
■ Search for your hospital here.
■ The latest Michelin ratings strip a star from Chicago’s celebrated Alinea.
Blood money. A small-town Kansas newspaper published by a former University of Illinois journalism professor (2023 link) has won $3 million from Marion County for disavowed raids—one on the home of the publisher’s mother and co-owner, who died of cardiac arrest aggravated by the appearance of as many as seven cops.
■ Former Trib editor James O’Shea sees a severe threat to the First Amendment in a case now before the Supreme Court.
■ Indiana University’s backing away from its move to cut funding for its student newspaper print edition.
Check that password. Watchdog website Have I Been Pwned reports the hacking of passwords from almost 2 billion online accounts.
■ Check your email address for data breaches here—and, if so, update your logins.
‘A towering achievement.’ A.V. Club’s Hunter Ingram praises documentarian Ken Burns’ new PBS series, The American Revolution.
■ The Trib’s Rick Kogan (gift link): “Watching this series will prepare you … to confront some hard truths.”
■ Here’s Burns interviewed by Stephen Colbert about the series …
■ … which premieres Sunday.
■ Until then, we have South Park, which The Hollywood Reporter says last night portrayed Trump and Vice President Vance “making love in the Lincoln Bedroom—in a scene that goes on and on and never gets comfortable to watch.”
■ The Jerusalem Post: “Adolf Hitler likely had micropenis.”
Thanks. Chris Koenig and Mike Braden made this edition better.
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