Posted by Matt Kiser

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2025/08/20/day-1674/

Today in one sentence: A federal judge refused to release the Jeffrey Epstein grand jury transcripts and accused the Trump administration of using the request as a “diversion”; Trump demanded that Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook resign after his housing regulator Bill Pulte accused her of mortgage fraud; Jeanine Pirro – then a Fox News host, now the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia – told RNC chair Ronna McDaniel in a 2020 text that she was working to help Trump and Republicans; more than 750 current and former Health and Human Services employees accused Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of spreading misinformation that led to the Aug. 8 mass shooting at the CDC in Atlanta; Elon Musk backed off plans to launch the “America Party,” telling allies he needed to protect his companies and his relationship with JD Vance; and Trump claimed he’s ended “six wars” – or “seven,” depending on the day – and called himself a “war hero.”

1/ A federal judge refused to release the Jeffrey Epstein grand jury transcripts and accused the Trump administration of using the request as a “diversion.” Judge Richard Berman said the Justice Department already holds a “trove” of 100,000 pages of Epstein records that “dwarf” the 70 pages of grand jury material. He noted the transcripts contain only “a hearsay snippet” from an FBI agent “who had no direct knowledge of the facts.” Berman is the third judge to deny Trump’s effort, which came after the Justice Department announced that no new charges or evidence would be released – directly contradicting Attorney General Pam Bondi’s earlier claim that a client list existed and was under review. (CNN / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Axios / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)

2/ Trump demanded that Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook resign after his housing regulator Bill Pulte accused her of mortgage fraud. Pulte claimed Cook took out mortgages on two homes in 2021, each listed as her “primary residence” to fraudulently obtain better mortgage terms, but later rented one. He said this gave Trump “cause to fire” her, posting online that “Lisa Cooked is cooked.” Trump added on Truth Social that “Cook must resign, now!!!” Notably, a New York judge in 2024 ordered Trump and his company to pay $355 million for inflating property values to secure favorable loans. And, separately, a Manhattan jury convicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / Politico / New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post / Axios)

3/ Jeanine Pirro – then a Fox News host, now the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia – told RNC chair Ronna McDaniel in a 2020 text that she was working to help Trump and Republicans, according to newly unredacted filings in Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation case against Fox. “I work so hard for the party across the country […] I’m the #1 watched show on all news cable all weekend. I work so hard for the President and party,” Pirro wrote in September 2020. The filings also showed Pirro sought a pardon for her ex-husband, called Sean Hannity an “egomaniac” after an Oval Office meeting, and urged Sidney Powell to “Keep fighting.” Powell later pleaded guilty in Georgia for her efforts to overturn Trump’s loss. Smartmatic said Pirro and other Fox hosts pushed false fraud claims to stay aligned with Trump, even though Pirro later testified that the election was “fair and free” and that Biden was “legitimately elected.” (Washington Post / The Hill / New York Times)

4/ More than 750 current and former Health and Human Services employees accused Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of spreading misinformation that led to the Aug. 8 mass shooting at the CDC in Atlanta. Law enforcement said the gunman attacked the agency to protest the Covid vaccine. In a letter to Kennedy and Congress, the workers called him “complicit in dismantling America’s public health infrastructure and endangering the nation’s health by repeatedly spreading inaccurate health information” and accused him of fueling “the harassment and violence experienced by the CDC staff.” An HHS spokesperson, meanwhile, called linking Kennedy’s policies to the gunman was an effort “to politicize a tragedy.” Kennedy, however, has never acknowledged the shooter’s motive, saying instead that “public health agencies have not been honest” and that “trusting the experts is not a feature of science or democracy, it’s a feature of totalitarianism.” (Bloomberg / NPR / The Guardian / Axios / The Hill)

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shut down federal autism research divisions and canceled more than $40 million in grants while launching his own $50 million initiative under a nontraditional review process. He told Tucker Carlson that “We need to stop trusting the experts,” and claimed prior studies were “trickery.” A coalition of scientists, meanwhile, said Kennedy “casually ignores decades of high quality research” and warned his actions could set progress back “probably decades.” (ProPublica)

5/ Elon Musk backed off plans to launch the “America Party,” telling allies he needed to protect his companies and his relationship with JD Vance, who is seen as a likely 2028 presidential candidate. His feud with Trump had already put his businesses at risk: Tesla has faced consumer backlash along with cuts to EV subsidies in Trump’s spending bill, while Trump threatened to cancel SpaceX’s federal contracts before a review found them essential to defense and NASA. Vance said his hope was that Musk would “come back into the fold” by the midterms. Musk spent nearly $300 million backing Trump and Republicans in 2024. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times)

6/ Trump claimed he’s ended “six wars” – or “seven,” depending on the day – and called himself a “war hero” for ordering U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in June. He added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also “a war hero ’cause we worked together.” Trump never served in the military, avoiding Vietnam with five draft deferments, including a 1968 bone spur diagnosis that the doctor’s family later said was done as a favor to his father. Israel’s military, meanwhile, said it was calling up about 60,000 more reservists, nearly doubling its forces in Gaza, as Netanyahu approved an expanded ground campaign into Gaza City. Israel’s nearly two-year military campaign in Gaza, launched after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that killed about 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians – including thousands of children – displaced most of the enclave’s 2 million residents, left about 70% of buildings uninhabitable, and driven a famine that has killed at least 193 people, including 96 children. (New York Times / Politico / CNN / Bloomberg)

The midterm elections are in 440 days.

• Today last year: Day 1309: "The future is here."
• Four years ago today: Day 213: "Strategic ambiguity."
• Five years ago today: Day 1309: "Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't."
• Six years ago today: Day 943: Fundamentals.
• Seven years ago today: Day 578: "Truth isn't truth."

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https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2025/08/20/day-1674/

Posted by Matt Kiser

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2025/08/18/day-1672/

Today in one sentence: Trump paused a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to call Putin and “began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined” between the two leaders; Trump pledged to sign an executive order to “get rid of mail-in ballots" and voting machines before the 2026 midterm elections; Texas Democrats ended a two-week walkout, returning to the Capitol and giving Republicans the quorum needed to advance a rare mid-decade redistricting plan backed by Trump to add five House seats before the 2026 midterms; Republican governors pledged to send up to 750 National Guard troops to Washington, joining the 800 already deployed under Trump’s emergency order and takeover of the city’s police; the Justice Department said it would begin providing Jeffrey Epstein investigation records to the House Oversight Committee on Friday – three days after the panel’s Aug. 19 subpoena deadline; Newsmax agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $67 million to settle a defamation lawsuit over false claims that Dominion rigged the 2020 election; the State Department stopped issuing all visitor visas for people from Gaza after far-right activist Laura Loomer posted misleading videos of wounded Palestinian children arriving in the U.S. for treatment and called them “Islamic invaders from an Islamic terror hot zone”; and Trump’s approval rating fell to 38% – down from 41% in June.

1/ Trump paused a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to call Putin and “began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined” between the two leaders. The meeting would be followed by a trilateral with Trump. The Kremlin confirmed the roughly 40-minute call, describing it as “frank” and “very constructive,” but didn’t say whether Putin agreed to meet Zelenskyy. Earlier, Trump met Zelenskyy and top European leaders – including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubb – and said the U.S. would support European-led security guarantees: “We will give them very good protection, very good security,” without ruling out American troops. Rutte called the U.S. pledge “a big step, a breakthrough,” while Merz said, “I would like to see a ceasefire from the next meeting.” Trump, however, countered: “I don’t think you need a ceasefire.” Russia’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, warned that NATO forces in Ukraine would be “categorically unacceptable” and could trigger “unpredictable consequences.” The White House talks came after Trump’s Alaska summit with Putin, which ended without a ceasefire and left Trump backing Moscow’s demand for a “full settlement” – a deal that would require Ukraine to surrender territory Russia occupies and abandon its NATO bid. While Zelenskyy signaled openness to a three-way meeting, he rejected ceding territory, as Russian strikes killed 10 civilians in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia during the talks. (Associated Press / Axios / NBC News / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Axios / Politico / Wall Street Journal)

2/ Trump pledged to sign an executive order to “get rid of mail-in ballots” and voting machines before the 2026 midterm elections. “I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS,” Trump said, adding that states “must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them.” Trump repeated his claim that mail-in voting is fraudulent, though no evidence supports it, and said even Putin told him U.S. elections were “rigged because you have mail-in voting.” Constitutional scholars, meanwhile, flatly rejected Trump’s idea, calling it legally impossible since states control elections. Judges has also already struck down parts of a March order on voting rules, making any new directive almost certain to be blocked in court. (Reuters / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / Politico / Salon / Axios)

3/ Texas Democrats ended a two-week walkout, returning to the Capitol and giving Republicans the quorum needed to advance a rare mid-decade redistricting plan backed by Trump to add five House seats before the 2026 midterms. House Speaker Dustin Burrows said Democrats who had been under arrest warrants would only be allowed to leave the chamber if placed in the custody of state police escorts, adding: “We are done waiting. We have a quorum. Now is the time for action.” Democratic caucus chair Gene Wu defended the walkout, saying, “We killed the corrupt special session and rallied Democrats nationwide,” and vowed to challenge the map in court. Meanwhile, California Democrats introduced legislation to create up to five new Democratic-leaning seats if Texas proceeds. The plan would go before voters in a November statewide referendum and temporarily override the state’s independent redistricting process, as other Republican-led states including Florida, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio and Democratic-led states such as New York, Illinois, Maryland, and Oregon consider similar moves. (NBC News / ABC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)

4/ Republican governors pledged to send up to 750 National Guard troops to Washington, joining the 800 already deployed under Trump’s emergency order and takeover of the city’s police. Trump declared the “emergency” and said “The place is going to hell and we’ve got to stop it” even though Justice Department data show violent crime has fallen since 2023. More than 300 arrests have followed, many targeting undocumented immigrants and homeless residents, while Guard troops have patrolled federal sites, but not made arrests. A White House official said they “may be armed.” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued, calling the takeover “brazenly unlawful,” and a federal judge forced the Justice Department to back off an attempt to replace the city’s police chief. Sen. Chris Van Hollen called it “a manufactured emergency” and “a total abuse of power.” (Washington Post / NPR / Axios / Politico / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / Democracy Docket / Axios)

5/ The Justice Department said it would begin providing Jeffrey Epstein investigation records to the House Oversight Committee on Friday – three days after the panel’s Aug. 19 subpoena deadline. Chair James Comer said “There are many records in DOJ’s custody, and it will take the Department time to produce all the records and ensure the identification of victims and any child sexual abuse material are redacted.” Democrats, meanwhile, demanded the “full, complete, and unredacted Epstein files” and any “client list,” warning that “if the committee does not receive the files, it will be clear the Trump Epstein Coverup continues.” The committee also began depositions with former Attorney General Bill Barr, who, according to Comer, testified that he “never had conversations with President Trump pertaining to a client list” and “had never seen anything that would implicate President Trump.” (Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / The Hill / Axios / Associated Press / New York Times)

6/ Newsmax agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $67 million to settle a defamation lawsuit over false claims that Dominion rigged the 2020 election. An SEC filing said Newsmax paid $27 million on Aug. 15 and would pay the rest in two installments by Jan. 15, 2027. Nevertheless, Newsmax said its coverage was “fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism.” In April, Delaware Judge Eric Davis ruled the challenged statements were “false and defamatory.” (NPR / CNN / Associated Press / New York Times)

7/ The State Department stopped issuing all visitor visas for people from Gaza after far-right activist Laura Loomer posted misleading videos of wounded Palestinian children arriving in the U.S. for treatment and called them “Islamic invaders from an Islamic terror hot zone.” Loomer celebrated the visa pause as “fantastic news” and urged Trump to expand his travel ban. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the move, saying “numerous” congressional offices had raised concerns that groups helping secure visas had “strong links to terrorist groups like Hamas,” though he provided no evidence or names. Hamas, meanwhile, announced it had accepted a ceasefire proposal from Egyptian and Qatari mediators. Israeli officials, however, said their positions “have not changed,” insisting the war will continue until all hostages are freed, Hamas is disarmed, and Israel retains security control over Gaza. (The Guardian / NPR / Bloomberg / Axios / Associated Press / The Hill / Associated Press)

poll/ Trump’s approval rating fell to 38% – down from 41% in June. Among his 2024 voters, approval fell from 95% at the start of his presidency to 85% today. Support among voters under 35 dropped to 69%, compared with nearly 90% earlier in his presidency. 37% said he “cares about the needs of ordinary people,” 36% called him “honest,” and 29% said he is “a good role model.” (Pew Research Center)

The midterm elections are in 442 days.

• Three years ago today: Day 576: "Brain fog."
• Four years ago today: Day 211: "A flood of bloodshed."
• Five years ago today: Day 1307: "A grave counterintelligence threat."
• Eight years ago today: Day 211: Smell ya later.

Support today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member

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https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2025/08/18/day-1672/

Posted by Matt Kiser

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2025/08/06/day-1660/

Today in one sentence: Trump threatened to impose a 100% tariff on all semiconductor and chip imports unless companies shift production to the U.S. or have “committed to build” domestically; hours later, Apple announced an additional $100 billion U.S. investment; Trump raised tariffs on Indian goods to 50%, citing India’s continued purchases of Russian oil; Trump plans to meet with Putin as early as next week, followed by a separate meeting with Putin and Zelensky; Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled $500 million in funding for 22 mRNA vaccine projects, including work on bird flu, COVID-19, and other viruses; JD Vance will host top Trump officials for dinner to discuss whether to release the transcript of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s interview with Ghislaine Maxwell; Stanford’s student newspaper sued the Trump administration, accusing officials of using federal immigration powers to intimidate noncitizen reporters into silence over Israel and Gaza; and key sections of the U.S. Constitution, including the ban on unlawful detention, disappeared from a government website run by the Library of Congress.

1/ Trump threatened to impose a 100% tariff on all semiconductor and chip imports unless companies shift production to the U.S. or have “committed to build” domestically. Trump, however didn’t say when the tariff would take effect or define what level of investment qualifies for exemption. “But the good news for companies like Apple is, if you’re building in the United States […] there will be no charge,” Trump said during a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook. Hours later, Apple announced an additional $100 billion U.S. investment – on top of its earlier $500 billion pledge – and a new domestic manufacturing program that includes plans to produce over 19 billion chips in 24 factories across 12 states. The move followed Trump’s earlier threat to slap a 25% tariff on iPhones, which are still assembled abroad. In 2023, the U.S. imported $64 billion worth of semiconductors while producing only about 10–12% of the global supply. (CNBC / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / New York Times / Axios / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)

2/ Trump raised tariffs on Indian goods to 50%, citing India’s continued purchases of Russian oil. A new executive order adds a second 25% tariff on Aug. 27, on top of the 25% set to take effect this week. Trump said India was “fueling the war machine” and accused it of profiting from reselling Russian oil, adding that “they don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed.” India, meanwhile, called the move “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,” saying its imports were based on “market factors” and needed for energy security. Trump also ordered officials to identify other countries importing Russian oil for possible trade penalties. (CNBC / Associated Press / Reuters / Wall Street Journal / Axios / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)

3/ Trump plans to meet with Putin as early as next week, followed by a separate meeting with Putin and Zelensky. Despite no agreement or commitment from either side, Trump disclosed the plan in a call with European leaders. “There’s a very good prospect that they will,” Trump said when asked if both leaders agreed to the talks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio added that the meetings depend on progress toward a short ceasefire and said “We now have some concrete examples of the kinds of things that Russia would ask for in order to end the war.” (New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Axios / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post)

4/ Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled $500 million in funding for 22 mRNA vaccine projects, including work on bird flu, COVID-19, and other viruses. Kennedy claimed the technology “poses more risks than benefits” and said the vaccines “fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections.” The Department of Health and Human Services said future investments would go toward older vaccine methods that use weakened or inactivated viruses instead of mRNA. Scientists disputed Kennedy’s claims, noting that mRNA vaccines helped slow the COVID-19 pandemic, saved millions of lives, and remain effective at preventing severe illness and death. Vaccine experts called the move “a huge strategic failure” and warned it would weaken U.S. readiness for future pandemics. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / BBC / Semafor / Associated Press / Axios / Reuters / NPR / Washington Post)

5/ JD Vance will host top Trump officials for dinner to discuss whether to release the transcript of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s interview with Ghislaine Maxwell. The meeting will include White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Blanche. Although the White House called the report “pure fiction,” Vance said, “We’re not meeting to talk about the Epstein situation.” Trump, meanwhile, defended Blanche’s interview, saying, “We’d like to release everything, but we don’t want people to get hurt that shouldn’t be hurt.” Maxwell, who is appealing her 2021 sex trafficking conviction, reportedly told Blanche that Trump “never did anything” concerning in her presence. The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Justice Department and several former officials Tuesday for Epstein-related files and testimony. (CNN / ABC News / The Guardian)

6/ Stanford’s student newspaper sued the Trump administration, accusing officials of using federal immigration powers to intimidate noncitizen reporters into silence over Israel and Gaza. The lawsuit, filed by the Stanford Daily and two international students, names Secretary of State Marco Rubio and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem as defendants and challenges policies that let them cancel visas if they decide someone’s views threaten U.S. foreign policy. The plaintiffs say reporters pulled articles, turned down assignments, and quit out of fear of retaliation. DHS called the lawsuit “baseless” and said it “doesn’t arrest people based on protected speech.” DHS, however, added: “There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers.” (The Mercury News / USA Today / New York Times / Bloomberg)

7/ Key sections of the U.S. Constitution, including the ban on unlawful detention, disappeared from a government website run by the Library of Congress. The deleted text included all of Article I Sections 9 and 10, which limit congressional and state power, and the line, “The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended.” The Library blamed a “coding error” and said the issue had been fixed. Screenshots and archives confirmed the deletions, which also removed the foreign emoluments clause. The sections remained online through mid-July, weeks after Trump officials publicly pushed to suspend habeas corpus. (Axios / Washington Post / TechCrunch / 404 Media)

The midterm elections are in 454 days.

• Today last year: Day 1295: "It’s personal."
• Four years ago today: Day 199: Extended.
• Five years ago today: Day 1295: "It wouldn't hurt."
• Six years ago today: Day 929: "The least racist person."
• Seven years ago today: Day 564: A complete fabrication.

Support today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2025/08/06/day-1660/