(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Donald Trump has nominated Emil Bove, the principal associate deputy attorney general, to serve as a federal judge—and some conservatives are under fire for voicing their puzzling opposition.
Trump nominated Bove to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which oversees legal matters in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Bove currently serves as a top DOJ official and previously worked as Trump’s attorney in his legal fight against leftist lawfare.
He had also served as a judicial clerk and as a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York beginning in 2012. Despite these bona fide credentials, attorney and National Review writer Ed Whelan publicly opposed the nomination.
“Some people whose judgment I respect say that they think Bove is a good pick for the seat. I hope that they are right. But I see ample reason to believe otherwise. I’ll outline my concerns here and offer some related observations,” Whelan wrote in a Friday entry for National Review.
One reason Whelan objects is that, in 2016, federal prosecutors blindsided Bove, then a prosecutor himself, by subpoenaing his wife, then a policy aide to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, in a corruption probe of de Blasio’s 2013 campaign fundraiser.
Whelan also cited a profile by the leftist New York Times that labeled Bove one of the DOJ’s “most formidable and feared political appointees” and described him as the “main enforcer of Mr. Trump’s demands for retribution.”
Another concern is Whelan’s suspicion that Bove could become a contender for a future Supreme Court vacancy.
Ed Whelan suggests that Emil Bove is a bad nominee for the Third Circuit because 9 years ago he got mad when his wife was blindsided with a subpoena from the office he worked for.
— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) May 30, 2025
Critics swiftly slammed Whelan on X over what they saw as weak grievances against Bove. “These are not serious people,” wrote Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Article III Project.
Journalist Julie Kelly echoed this sentiment, writing: “After launching a vicious attack against Emil Bove last week, Ed Whelan now insists HE is the victim in an unnecessarily personal hit piece against Emil at National Review. He also blocked a bunch of us so we cannot respond on X.”
After launching a vicious attack against Emil Bove last week, Ed Whelan now insists HE is the victim in an unnecessarily personal hit piece against Emil at National Review.
He also blocked a bunch of us so we cannot respond on X.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Joe Biden on Friday threatened to “beat the hell out of” Jake Tapper and co-author Alex Thompson after their book, Original Sin, exposed a “cover-up” of the former president’s cognitive decline.
Addressing reporters in New Castle, Delaware, Biden lashed out when asked about the book’s criticism of him.
“There’s also been a lot of discussion recently about your mental and physical capabilities while you were in office,” a CNN reporter began, only for Biden to cut her off.
“You can see that I’m mentally incompetent and I can’t walk? And I will beat the hell out of both of them,” Biden shot back, apparently pointing at Tapper and Thompson.
The reporter asked Biden about Democratic officials who claim, without evidence, the party stood a better chance against President Donald Trump with a much younger candidate.
“Why did you run against me then? Because I would have beaten them,” Biden shot back, stepping closer to the reporter.
When asked if he had any regrets, Biden replied: “No. I don’t. … There’s a lot going on, and I think we’re in a really difficult moment, not only in American history but in world history. I think in one of those inflection points in history where the decisions we make.”
“I’m very proud, I put my record as president against any president at all,” the former president continued.
Biden’s comments come just days after Original Sin’s release. The book reaffirms conservative outlets like Headline USA, which reported that Biden was visibly diminished and likely unfit to serve as president.
Original Sin paints a bleak picture of Biden’s presidency, quoting a White House official who described it as a government run by an unelected few.
“One person told us that the presidency was, at best, a five-person board with Joe Biden as chairman of the board,” Tapper recounted in an interview with KPBS.
Jake Tapper: A tightly-held group of senior advisors played an outsized role in Joe Biden’s presidency.
“By the end, it’s hard to not believe… that there wasn’t a tremendous amount of power vested in the hands of the politburo.” pic.twitter.com/8BnaESw6cU
— Honestly with Bari Weiss (@thehonestlypod) May 29, 2025
(Headline USA) The government is investigating after elected officials, business executives and other prominent figures in recent weeks received messages from someone impersonating Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s chief of staff.
Trump said Wiles is “an amazing woman” and “she can handle it.”
“They breached the phone; they tried to impersonate her,” Trump told reporters on Friday. “Nobody can impersonate her. There’s only one Susie.”
A White House official confirmed the investigation Friday and said the White House takes cybersecurity of its staff seriously. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that senators, governors, business leaders and others began receiving text messages and phone calls from someone who seemed to have gained access to the contacts in Wiles’ personal cellphone. The messages and calls were not coming from Wiles’ number, the newspaper reported.
Some of those who received calls heard a voice that sounded like Wiles, which may have been generated by artificial intelligence, according to the report. Some received text messages that they initially thought were official White House requests but some people reported the messages did not sound like Wiles.
The FBI warned in a public service announcement this month of a “malicious text and voice messaging campaign” in which unidentified “malicious actors” have been impersonating senior U.S. government officials.
The scheme, according to the FBI, has relied on text messages and AI-generated voice messages that purport to come from a senior U.S. official and that aim to dupe other government officials as well as the victim’s associates and contacts.
“Safeguarding our administration officials’ ability to securely communicate to accomplish the president’s mission is a top priority,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement Friday.
It is unclear how someone gained access to Wiles’ phone, but the intrusion is the latest security breach for Trump staffers. Last year, Iran hacked into Trump’s campaign and sensitive internal documents were stolen and distributed, including a dossier on Vice President JD Vance, created before he was selected as Trump’s running mate.
Wiles, who served as a comanager of Trump’s campaign before taking on the linchpin role in his new administration, has amassed a powerful network of contacts.
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A Secret Service whistleblower has alleged that President Joe Biden would regularly get lost in his own White House closet—the latest, and one of the most absurd, indications that Biden was not fit to serve.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., talked about the whistleblower claim Friday on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show.
“This Secret Service whistleblower was assigned to Biden, and he told me Biden used to get lost in his closet in the mornings in the White House. I mean, the guy literally stumbling around the White House residence couldn’t find the way out of his own closet—the President of the United States.”
🚨NEW: Josh Hawley says Secret Service whistleblower assigned to Biden told him "Biden used to get lost in his closet in the mornings in the White House"🚨
"The guy, literally stumbling around in the White House residence, couldn't find his way out of his own closet."… pic.twitter.com/GFSG1ei0Ai
The whistleblower disclosure corroborates what Republicans have been saying since the 2020 election, but what Democrats are only now starting to admit—that Biden was never mentally cut out for the job.
Audio of his interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur was finally released earlier this month, showing that the then-President struggled to recall key memories, including when his son, Beau Biden, died. The interview was conducted as part of Hur’s classified documents investigation, in which he declined to prosecute Biden on the grounds that he would present himself to a jury as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
The Secret Service whistleblower allegation was one of many that Hawley’s office received in the wake of last year’s assassination attempts on Trump. Last September, he published a “whistleblower report,” which, among other things, revealed that Secret Service intelligence units were absent from the Butler rally.
“Deployment of these units would have mitigated poor communication between different law enforcement components, which has emerged as one of the core operational failures of the day,” Hawley said in his report.
Furthermore, the Secret Service did not check IDs when issuing credentials that authorize access to restricted areas of the site, contrary to typical practice, according to Hawley.
Along with revealing new whistleblower disclosures, Hawley also said in his report that the Secret Service and DHS have refused to provide him with answers he and the public seek about July 13. In some cases, the Secret Service has outright refused to provide him with info, he said.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
(Will Porter, Antiwar.com) President Donald Trump argued that any revived nuclear accord with Iran should permit the United States to destroy the country’s nuclear infrastructure and send inspectors to Iranian facilities at any time.
The president outlined his vision for a new agreement during a White House presser on Wednesday, calling for a “very strong document” that would effectively give Washington carte blanche over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
“I want it very strong – where we can go in with inspectors, we can take whatever we want, we can blow up whatever we want, but [with] nobody getting killed,” he told reporters. “We can blow up a lab, but nobody is gonna be in the lab, as opposed to everybody being in the lab and blowing it up.”
He did not elaborate on those remarks, however, leaving it unclear whether Washington had actually pushed for such major concessions at the negotiating table. The Islamic Republic would be unlikely to accept a deal under those terms.
Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, later denounced Trump’s comments in a social media post, suggesting his proposal would cross Tehran’s “red lines.”
“Efforts to reach Iran’s nuclear plants and ‘blow up their facilities’ have been a dream of previous US presidents,” he wrote. “Iran is an independent state with a strong defense structure, a resilient people, and clear red lines. Negotiations are a means to progress and preserve national interests and honor, not submission and surrender.”
During the same news conference on Wednesday, Trump said he had urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from military action against Iran amid the ongoing nuclear talks, arguing the move would be “inappropriate” as the two sides were “very close to a solution.” He went on to claim that a new agreement could be reached with Tehran in “a couple weeks,” though his previous assessments have proven overly optimistic.
The threat of an Israeli attack has loomed large over the US-Iran negotiations, as Tel Aviv continues to accuse Tehran of pursuing nuclear weapons despite repeated American intelligence assessments to the contrary.
During a visit to Iran last month, Saudi Arabia’s defense chief reportedly warned top Iranian officials that failure to “quickly” reach a deal with the US could prompt airstrikes by Israel. The Saudi minister added that Trump had “little patience for drawn-out negotiations,” and suggested that a new conflict with Tel Aviv would destabilize the region, according to sources cited by Reuters.
(Money Metals News Service) Veteran market analyst Greg Weldon joined Money Metals’ Mike Maharrey for a sweeping conversation about the fragile state of the global financial system.
From runaway debt and stressed bond markets to gold, silver, and digital assets, Weldon delivered a no-nonsense warning: the clock is ticking.
(Interview Starts Around 5:24 Mark)
Tariff Talk and Gold’s Wild Ride
Gold’s recent surge to $3,500 was quickly followed by a sharp correction. Each tariff update or diplomatic rumor sends markets into a frenzy—rallying stocks, selling gold, or reversing course the next day. Weldon attributes this chaos to one consistent factor: uncertainty. With former President Trump’s erratic policy style still influencing market psychology, investors are desperate for any signal.
But long-term, the signal is crystal clear. Weldon says forget the noise and focus on the inevitable. The Federal Reserve will be forced to print more money. The nation is trapped in a “debt black hole,” and the only exit strategy left is inflation. What looks like chaos is actually a predictable, tragic cycle—and gold is the escape hatch.
Japan’s Trouble: A Glimpse Into the Future?
Weldon highlights Japan as a canary in the coal mine. With real interest rates sitting at -3% and a 40-year bond auction struggling, even the BOJ’s powerful tools seem to be losing their edge. Life insurers are sitting on unrealized losses. The Japanese Ministry of Finance is scrambling to rebalance its debt issuance, hoping surveys and signals can patch over structural rot.
Markets reacted as if Japan had solved the global debt crisis. Gold dropped $80 on the news. Weldon shakes his head at that reaction. For him, Japan’s debt dynamics mirror those developing in the U.S., only with a slight delay. Once the Fed steps back from the market and foreign buyers dry up, the U.S. will face the same reality.
U.S. Bonds: A Tidal Wave of Trouble
In the U.S., Weldon describes an approaching “tsunami of paper.” Over $9.3 trillion in debt is maturing in the next 12 months and $1.4 trillion in new borrowing is needed in just five months. The problem? The Treasury backloaded the bulk of that issuance. Little was done in the first half of the fiscal year.
At the same time, the Fed is pulling back, shedding $50 billion per month from its balance sheet. Foreign buyers are out. That leaves the American public—already overleveraged and under-saved—to absorb the slack. Weldon argues this dynamic, where the public funds its own deficit, is absurd and unsustainable. It’s a closed loop of debt with no meaningful escape velocity.
The Fed Will Fold: QE Is Inevitable
While expectations for 2024 once included four rate cuts, we’re now looking at maybe one. But Weldon sees that as irrelevant. If the bond market cracks, the Fed will race back into the market with quantitative easing. Inflation will take a back seat to economic survival.
“They’ll be buying bonds so fast it’ll make your head spin,” he says. It’s not a question of if—it’s when. And when it happens, the dollar will weaken, gold and silver will rise, and the Fed’s credibility will shatter. The setup isn’t about market timing. It’s about macro inevitability.
Consumers Are Quietly Collapsing
While everyone’s focused on Wall Street, the consumer economy is unraveling. Credit card debt has declined four consecutive months. Revolving credit has dropped for five. The last time that happened was during the 2008 crash and the 2020 pandemic collapse. Savings fell by $35 billion in a single month.
The situation is dire. Total savings now cover just 65% of outstanding credit card debt. Delinquencies have soared—13% of balances are over 90 days late, rivaling 2010 levels. Meanwhile, consumer sentiment has collapsed to its lowest point since 1979, right before Paul Volcker’s historic rate hikes. For Weldon, this is the most overlooked crisis in the economy.
Bond Market: The 40-Year Bull Is Dead
Weldon agrees with Jim Grant that the U.S. has entered a secular bear market in bonds. The 40-year downtrend is broken. Weldon traces the shift back to 2008 when total debt surpassed GDP. Now, with total U.S. debt reaching $55 trillion—186% of GDP—it takes $1.86 of debt to produce $1 of growth. That math is unworkable.
The U.S. is burning dollars to stay afloat. Weldon describes it as propulsion in a vacuum. It doesn’t generate forward motion—it just exhausts the system. The secular trend has changed, and pretending it hasn’t is the greatest risk of all.
De-Dollarization Is Real—and Accelerating
Internationally, de-dollarization is accelerating. BRICS nations are ramping up discussions on alternatives. Asian countries are tightening trade ties. The European Union is being drawn into new alliances. And punitive U.S. sanctions are pushing countries toward non-dollar systems.
These developments are more than symbolic. They reflect a growing unwillingness to fund America’s deficits. Weldon sees this as both a political and economic turning point. Fewer buyers means higher yields. Higher yields stress the system. And gold benefits from both.
Can Gold Still Win in a High-Rate World?
Weldon challenges the idea that higher rates must hurt gold. If rates rise due to collapsing trust in U.S. bonds, gold wins. So does Bitcoin. The correlation between bond volatility and crypto prices has become striking. For many in the developing world, crypto is far more accessible than gold—and that matters.
In countries like Nigeria, Pakistan, or Turkey, digital assets are gaining traction as lifelines against collapsing fiat currencies. Weldon sees this as a powerful force that will evolve alongside physical gold demand. Both represent rebellion against paper. Both are gaining ground.
Silver: Waiting in the Shadows
Silver has frustrated many investors, but Weldon says it’s holding up surprisingly well. Despite a strong dollar, silver has stayed above $27.50, even challenging the $35 level multiple times. It hasn’t exploded yet—but its resilience is telling.
Silver’s moment will come, Weldon says, when the dollar finally breaks. And it’s close. A long-term uptrend in the dollar—stretching back to 2011—has just snapped. The setup, he says, is beautiful. Once the technical and macro stars align, silver will explode.
PGMs: The Under-the-Radar Opportunity
He’s also bullish on PGMs—platinum and palladium. Platinum in particular faces its third or fourth straight annual deficit. By year’s end, above-ground stocks could shrink to just three months of consumption. Supply is tight, demand is rising, and inventories are vanishing. That’s a powerful mix.
Weldon sees the same dynamics forming in currencies. He’s bullish on the Polish zloty, Czech koruna, Swedish krona, and Peruvian sol. Many of these currencies are closely tied to China or commodity exports. Some are breaking out technically. Others are benefiting from regional realignments and rate policy shifts.
Conclusion: Prepare, Don’t React
Ultimately, he urges investors to think bigger than headlines. The U.S. twin deficits—budget and trade—are at record levels. The dollar’s purchasing power is eroding. Central banks are buying gold. And the bond market is no longer safe. There is no soft landing. There’s just preparation or denial.
Greg Weldon recommends owning gold. Owning silver. Keeping an eye on platinum. Watching the bond market like a hawk. And, yes, owning some crypto—especially if you live in a place where trust in government money is a luxury. The monetary storm is no longer approaching. It has arrived.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A federal employee and five individuals have been indicted in what the Trump-led DOJ called “the largest food stamp fraud” in the nation’s history.
Prosecutors alleged on Thursday that Arlasa Davis, a staffer at the Department of Agriculture, participated in a fraud scheme that resulted in the theft of more than $66 million in SNAP benefits—colloquially known as food stamps.
Davis allegedly exploited her privileged access to federal systems to sell hundreds of EBT license numbers. These numbers are needed for certain authorized stores to process EBT payments.
According to court documents, the scheme began in 2019 when Davis photographed handwritten merchant numbers meant for authorized stores and passed them to an intermediary.
These numbers were then sold to co-conspirators Michael Kehoe, Mohamad Nawafleh, Omar Alrawashdeh, Gamal Obaid and Emad Alrawashdeh.
These individuals used the illegally obtained license numbers to set up EBT terminals at stores not approved by the USDA, including smoke shops, and redeemed $36 million in fraudulent SNAP benefits.
Kehoe appears to be accused of running a separate network that funneled $30 million in benefits through 160 unauthorized outlets. He submitted some 200 fraudulent applications for EBT terminals.
The schemes proved profitable for Davis, who the DOJ said received large bribes disguised in communications as “birthday gifts” and “flowers.”
DOGE: USDA Employee And Five Others Charged In Multimillion-Dollar Food Stamp Fraud And Bribery Scheme. The defendants, MICHAEL KEHOE, MOHAMAD NAWAFLEH, OMAR ALRAWASHDEH, GAMAL OBAID, EMAD ALRAWASHDEH, and ARLASA DAVIS, are charged with conspiracy to steal government funds and to… pic.twitter.com/hQJMCmauNp
All six defendants were each charged with one count of conspiracy to steal government funds and misappropriate USDA benefits, one count of theft of government funds and one count of misappropriation of USDA benefits. These charges cap a combined maximum sentence of 35 years.
Meanwhile, Davis was additionally charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, one count of bribery and one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, reaching a total maximum of 40 years in prison if found guilty.
Nawafleh was separately charged with one count of failure to appear, facing a maximum of 10 years in prison.
These stunning charges follow President Donald Trump’s vow to root out fraud within the federal government. “This is a new day, and President Trump promised, as he was traveling across the country over the last few years, that it would not be the government that we know,” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in an interview with Fox News.
Waste, fraud, and abuse is NO LONGER tolerated in Washington under @POTUS’ leadership.
We are rooting out fraud in SNAP/Food Stamps & across @USDA programs – keeping our promise to taxpayers. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/DlgVgoJMC0
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) May 30, 2025
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Barron Trump, President Donald Trump’s youngest and tallest son, is living a relatively normal life at New York University and even has a girlfriend, despite legacy media’s obsession with every aspect of his life.
Barron has friends and a “really nice girlfriend” with whom he often hangs out, NewsNation reported on Thursday, quoting a friend of the younger Trump.
“He does have friends he just (unlike his father Donald Trump) screws the limelight,” the friend said anonymously.
He added that Barron is “much more like his mother, Melania” in that he “keeps his head down and gets on with it.”
“He is not trying to be BMOC (big man on campus),” the friend continued.
Still, that hasn’t stopped the legacy media and leftist activists from attacking him since he turned 18.
For example, a spokesperson for First Lady Melania Trump had to squash the viral conspiracy that President Trump was defunding Harvard because it rejected Barron’s college application.
“Barron did not apply to Harvard, and any assertion that he, or that anyone on his behalf, applied is completely false,” the spokesperson toldPeople Magazine.
Vanity Fair went even further, publishing a 16,000-character deep dive into Barron’s life. The leftist magazine faced backlash for quoting Kaya Walker, the former president of the NYU chapter of the College Republicans, who smeared Barron as an “oddity.” Walker was forced to resign following her bizarre comments.
Barron isn’t new to leftist attacks. As soon as he turned 18, leftist influencer Mike Sington called him “fair game.”
Sington, a self-described retired “senior executive at NBCUniversal,” quickly backtracked amid the mounting backlash.
“Someone pointed out to me ‘fair game’ could mean fair game to be harmed. I don’t wish physical harm on anyone, so I took it down. I listen to the comments and criticism I receive,” he said.
(Headline USA) A claim by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that an immigrant threatened the life of President Donald Trump has begun to unravel.
Noem announced an arrest of a 54-year-old man who was living in the U.S. illegally, saying he had written a letter threatening to kill Trump and would then return to Mexico. The story received a flood of media attention and was highlighted by the White House and Trump’s allies.
But investigators actually believe the man may have been framed so that he would get arrested and be deported from the U.S. before he got a chance to testify in a trial as a victim of assault, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
The DHS touted the arrest this week of an illegal immigration who allegedly threatened to kill Trump, but it turns out that was likely a hoax. The illegal immigrant is set to testify in a trial against someone who assaulted him, and it's believed that the letter was sent to get… pic.twitter.com/TJpJxwkhJE
Law enforcement officials believe the man, Ramon Morales Reyes, never wrote a letter that Noem and her department shared with a message written in light blue ink expressing anger over Trump’s deportations and threatening to shoot him in the head with a rifle at a rally. Noem also shared the letter on X along with a photo of Morales Reyes, and the White House also shared it on its social media accounts. The letter was mailed to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office along with the FBI and other agencies, the person said.
As part of the investigation, officials had contacted Morales Reyes and asked for a handwriting sample and concluded his handwriting and the threatening letter didn’t match and that the threat was not credible, the person said. It’s not clear why Homeland Security officials still decided to send a release making that claim.
In an emailed statement asking for information about the letter and the new information about Morales Reyes, the Department of Homeland Security said “the investigation into the threat is ongoing. Over the course of the investigation, this individual was determined to be in the country illegally and that he had a criminal record. He will remain in custody.”
His attorneys said he was not facing current charges and they did not have any information about convictions in his record.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s records show Morales Reyes is being held at a county jail in Juneau, Wisconsin, northwest of Milwaukee. The Milwaukee-based immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera, which is advocating for his release, said he was arrested May 21. Attorney Cain Oulahan, who was hired to fight against his deportation, said he has a hearing in a Chicago immigration court next week and is hoping he is released on bond.
Morales Reyes had been a victim in a case of another man who is awaiting trial on assault charges in Wisconsin, the person familiar with the matter said. The trial is scheduled for July.
Morales Reyes works as a dishwasher in Milwaukee, where he lives with his wife and three children. He had recently applied for a U visa, which is carved out for people in the country illegally who become victims of serious crimes, said attorney Kime Abduli, who filed that application.
The Milwaukee Police Department said it is investigating an identity theft and victim intimidation incident related to this matter and the county district attorney’s office said the investigation was ongoing. Milwaukee police said no one has been criminally charged at this time.
Abduli, Morales Reyes’ attorney, says he could not have written the letter, saying he did not receive formal education and can’t write in Spanish and doesn’t know how to speak English. She said it was not clear whether he was arrested because of the letters.
“There is really no way that it could be even remotely true,” Abduli said. “We’re asking for a clarification and a correction from DHS to clear Ramon’s name of anything having to do with this.”
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has claimed that the bureau has video proving that deceased multimillionaire sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. However, the DOJ Inspector General has already released a report stating that no such video footage exists.
Bongino made his implausible claim in an interview with Fox & Friends that aired Thursday.
“There’s video clear as day. He’s the only person in there and the only person coming out. You can see it,” he said. A Fox & Friends host asked him if there’s video of Epstein actually hanging himself. While that doesn’t exist, the available footage shows Epstein was alone in his cell on the night he died, according to Bongino.
“There is video and when you look at the video — and we will release it, we’re working on cleaning it up to make sure you have an enhanced – and we will give the original so you don’t think there are any shenanigans – you will see no one in there but him. There’s just nobody there,” Bongino said.
“I say to people of the time — if you have a tip, let us know — but there is no DNA, there’s no audio, there’s no fingerprints, there’s no suspects, there’s no accomplices, there’s no tips. There is nothing. If you have it, I’m happy to see it.”
Bongino’s claims run counter to a DOJ-OIG report released in 2023, which showed that only two cameras in Epstein’s housing unit were recording—and that those cameras had numerous blind spots. For instance, the camera in Epstein’s cell block, which had at least three other inmates, wasn’t recording. Nor was the camera covering one of the elevator bays that led to Epstein’s floor.
Again, Bongino's claim is impossible. Epstein had three other inmates on his cell block, and the camera there wasn't recording. Even if no one came to kill Epstein from the outside, we can't rule out these other inmates.
According to the DOJ-OIG report, prison officials actually knew about the malfunctioning cameras the day before Epstein died.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz said his staff interviewed an MCC technician, who started to repair the cameras on Aug. 8, 2019, but did not finish his work. The technician told the inspector general he had “no idea” why he did not stay at the facility to resolve the problem that day.
Epstein’s death was ruled a suicide by hanging after he was found dead in his jail cell on August 10, 2019. But his lawyers contested that claim. Skeptics point to malfunctioning surveillance cameras, sleeping guards, and broken bones in Epstein’s neck as indications that his death was something other than suicide.
Because of Epstein’s extensive fraternization with high-profile politicians and celebrities such as Bill Clinton, former Israeli PM Ehud Barak, Prince Andrew and Bill Gates and many more, some claim that Epstein’s death was actually a hit job to silence him. Proponents of that theory include Epstein’s former partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, who’s serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.
“I believe that he was murdered. I was shocked, and I wondered, ‘How did this happen?’ Because I was sure he was going to appeal, and I was sure he was covered by the non-prosecution agreement,” Maxwell told British reporter Jeremy Kyle of TalkTV in 2023.
The non-prosecution agreement referenced by Maxwell was a sweetheart deal Epstein signed with the Department of Justice in 2008, in which he pleaded guilty to a state charge of procuring for prostitution a girl below the age of 18. Epstein was housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County Stockade, and was reportedly allowed to leave the jail on “work release” for up to 12 hours a day.
After the Miami Herald published an expose on Epstein and his non-prosecution agreement in late 2018, Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019, on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
