Beltway Insider: Trump/Epstein Files, GOP Breaks, Political Retribution, Ukraine/Russia, Texas Floods

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Saturday, 19 July 2025 19:27; Written by Janet Walker

President Trump continues his effort to deflect blowback from his days as a Jeffrey Epstein associate, by increasing retribution against former rivals, including the Biden Administration, and alleging the Epstein Files were created by former President Barack Obama.

The President's job approval rating, according to The New York Times for the period ending July 20, 2025, of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President remained constant at 44% and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as president increased by one percent to 53%. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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Trump, Jeffrey Epstein Files

President Trump and his Attorney General Pam Bondi have appeared to present a level of transparency in dealing with the allegations that Mr. Trump was involved on some level with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide while in Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.

Trump, prior to his days as a presidential candidate was a real estate developer in Manhattan, with properties in Nevada and Atlantic City, NJ. Epstein was a financier, and was well-connected to House of Windsor, and through his association with Ghislaine Maxwell, connected to media as well. They were often invited to the same social events.

"Epstein and Trump spent time together in the 1990s and early 2000s and were photographed at social events, including with Maxwell and Melania Trump. A 1992 tape from the NBC archives shows Trump partying with Epstein at his Mar-a-Lago estate; Trump is seen pulling a woman toward him and patting her behind," reported The Wall Street Journal.

Trump has never denied his association with Epstein and there are so many photographs, before the advent of deep-fakes and AI, that even Mr. Trump cannot deny their one-time frequent association. What the president does deny is being a part of Epstein cabal of powerful men, who Epstein would arrange massages and other sexual demands, procured by underage girls, in exchange for favors.

After Epstein's arrest, in 2019, his homes in Manhattan, Palm Beach, Fl., and Little St. James, his home in the Virgin Islands, were searched and evidence seized. Included in the evidence are flight logs, guests lists, and other damaging information. The seized documents have become widely known as the Epstein files.

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Evidence recently came to light, and reprinted in the Wall Street Journal, which resulted in Mr. Trump, filing a $10 billion lawsuit, against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch, allegedly he defamed, libeled, and portrayed in bad light, as the newspaper printed a hand-drawn depiction of a woman with a typewritten note that concluded with the president wishing his "pal" a happy birthday and suggesting the two shared a common "secret."

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has attempted to get ahead of this brewing, and potentially midterm election derailing, nightmare, by releasing in February to trusted MAGA influencers a slick binder labeled "The Epstein Files, Phase 1." Conservative influencers, expecting to receive clear, irrefutable proof, were left feeling disappointed as Phase 1 failed to bring any new information to light and clearly didn't distance their beloved leader from the center of this storm.

GOP Allies Break from Blind Support

Over the course of the week, the Epstein Files have dominated conversations on the hill, and while Mr. trump has attempted to redirect the people's thinking by his usual retribution tactics, even his staunchest allies in the House have demanded the president release the files.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) broke rank this week with President Trump and spoke openly about his belief that the Jeffrey Epstein files, which allegedly have secret lists of many of his wealthy friends, include Mr. Trump, who visited his homes on multiple occasions. However, when the issue was pressed in the House, Johnson remained loyal to Trump and voted against the procedural motion.

"On Saturday morning, Trump posted about the request on his Truth Social account, writing: "I have asked the Justice Department to release all Grand Jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to Court Approval. With that being said, and even if the Court gave its full and unwavering approval, nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request. It will always be more, more, more. MAGA!,"' NPR.com reported.

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Trump's Political Retribution

President Trump continues his effort to deflect blowback from his days as a Jeffrey Epstein associate, by increasing his political retribution against former rivals, and enemies. His dedicated republican base has broken ranks with him this week, and to stop the fissure from expanding, he is upping the attacks on former President Biden by escalating the Autopen scandal, and through his litigation against The Wall Street Journal.

Biden Autopen House Hearings

Former President Biden, his staff, and aides, have become the latest target in the Trump Administrations effort to divert media attention generated from the Epstein files by smearing all other democratic administrations before the three week recess that begins in August.

Former President Biden, who was maligned in a recent book "Original Sin," by J.D. Tapper and Alex Thompson, which indicated the Mr. Biden had become unable to fulfil his duties as presidents due to his rapidly declaiming mental acuity.

"Biden has begun to more publicly push back against the central allegations of the probes — that aides and family members wielded an autopen to execute the duties of a mentally diminished president. Biden has dismissed the accusations, telling the New York Times in an article published this week that he "made every decision" about pardons during his presidency," reported The Washington Post.

Each of those called to testify before the House Oversight Committee have invoked their Fifth Amendment right to self-incrimination, which of course, is gasoline to the Republican MAGA militia base.

Aides to the former president and First Lady Jill Biden, the White House doctor, Biden's Chief of Staff, his Press Secretary and other aides have all been scheduled to testify before the House Oversight Committee before the August 10 session break.

Southern District Prosecutor Maurene Comey

Southern District prosecutor Maurene Comey, daughter of former F.B.I. Director James Comey who was known to be highly critical of Mr. Trump, was terminated from her position this week. Comey, a career prosecutor had been with the office for more than a decade and was the lead prosecutor in the Sean Combs and Jeffrey Epstein case.

"The notice informing the younger Comey of her termination did not provide a reason, citing the broad powers afforded to the president in the U.S. Constitution, according to one of the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. The notice was signed by Francey Hakes — a political appointee in the Justice Department who runs the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys," reported The Washington Post.

The termination of Ms. Comey was part of Mr. Trump's maneuvering to keep a recognizable name of his chiefs rivals in the media, so to keep his MAGA base seething, hoping the name recognition will be enough to generate a negative reaction, and impress upon his constituents the evils of the democratic regimes.

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Ukraine/Russian War Intensifies

Even as President Trump has attempted to intervene in the Ukraine Russian war, in recent days the shelling on both sides has intensified with Ukraine and Russian forces trading drone strikes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has shelled the city of Odesa with 371 drones while Ukraine has also fired upon Moscow with several drones being shot down before reaching their intended targets.

"The latest wave follows a series of reported Ukrainian drone attacks across Russia on July 17, including strikes on Moscow, St. Petersburg, Belgorod, Voronezh, and other oblasts. Ukraine has not commented on the overnight drone activity," reported The Kyiv Independent.com.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed another round of peace talks, and as Putin has indicated through his team, Russia's willingness to meet, especially after "Trump gave Russia 50 days to strike a peace deal or face sanctions."

Coronavirus Total

At the order of the President of the United States, the U.S. no longer recognizes the value of The World Health Organization. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine, annually. The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from the newer variants.

For the 7 days ending July 13, 2025, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by the World Health Organization increased by 112,957 to 778,365,795. The total worldwide death toll increased by 304 to 7,098,155 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated June 29, 2025, from the World Health Organization).

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Hundred Still Missing in Texas Floods

The Kerr County, July 4, floods that killed 132, including 27 campers and counselors, at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp, is entering its third week of recovery as officials continue to scour the debris for the approximately 100 still missing.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, said, "As of now, [. . .] everyone who was at a camp or hotel in the flooded area has been identified or accounted for. "Those who are missing on this list, most of them, were more difficult to identify because there was no record of them logging in anywhere," [. . . ] adding that friends, family members and co-workers had reported them missing," reported The Washington Post.

With the waters still receding, and recurring heavy rains hampering search and recovery efforts, the gravity of the loss has begun to sear itself on the hearts and minds of the survivors and officials who daily confront the one question of why were early warning ignored.

The National Weather Service released a life-threatening flood warning, indicating flooding was imminent at 1:14am on July 4, 2025, and over the next three hours, those warnings, which were sent out again, and accompanied by infrared scans of deep red and black imagery of a cluster of storms cells sitting atop Kerr County. After decades of seeing weather reports using color coded infrared imagery, one understands deep red/black translates to destructive trouble, no additional information should have been needed to sound the alarms that trouble was on its way. A layman's understanding of weather phenomena along with common sense should have been all the information needed to generate a county wide activation. Even a simple single police cruiser with a blaring siren, and a loud speaker, could have saved lives.

As it is, those questions and many others are for another day, as the July 4, 2025 Kerr County floods will be examined for culpability. Unless there is accountability, these deaths will simply be one for the record books, as survivors live with the lifelong heartache of unfathomable loss.

NYC Mayoral Race - Cuomo to Run

Andrew Cuomo, who failed to secure the necessary 51% to capture the top spot on the democratic ticket in the hotly contested New York City mayoral race, has announced he will join the race and run as an independent and challenge front runner name Zohran Mamdani, who secured a sizeable 9 percentage point victory over Cuomo after the primary.

In the days following Mamdani, decisive victory many of the unions that endorsed Cuomo have backed former NYC Assemblyman Mamdani.

"Mamdani, the upstart democratic socialist who convincingly won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, was endorsed on Friday by the city's powerful health care union, Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union," reported The New York Times.

For more information on President Donald Trump: Whitehouse.gov.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.