Thursday, March 26, 2026. Did two of Epstein's employees perjure
themselves in testimony to Congress, during Chump's first term the
Justice Department told New Mexico to cease their investigation into
Epstein' ranch and, in the prison Epstein died in, personal papers were
trashed -- this was while Bill Barr was AG and maybe it's time for Barr
to testify in public, calls build for a special counsel to be assigned,
Iran is a trap of Chump's own making (just like Epstein), Stephen Miller
is getting on Chump's bad side, and much more.
Let's start with Donald Chump's buddy Jeffrey Epstein.
The pedophile has been dead for six years but he remains in the news.
In fact, Chump was talking about him in December.
Kevin Liptak (CNN) noted:
President
Donald Trump bemoaned Monday the potential reputational damage
inflicted on people who appear in photos released as part of the Jeffrey
Epstein files, which he insisted were only made public because of an
effort to distract from his accomplishments.
The comments mark
the first time Trump has addressed the files since his Justice
Department released hundreds of thousands of them on Friday pursuant to a
new law compelling them to do so. The measure cleared both the House
and Senate with support from all but one Republican and Trump signed it into law; his administration had previously said it did not plan to release any more Epstein materials after a thorough review. “A
lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other
people that really had nothing to do with Epstein. But they’re in a
picture with him because he was at a party, and you ruined a reputation
of somebody,” Trump said during an event in the library at Mar-a-Lago,
his Palm Beach club that he claims to have ejected Epstein from in the
early 2000s.
“A lot of people are very angry that this
continues. A lot of Republicans,” he said, claiming the issue was meant
to “deflect against a tremendous success.”
That
was in December. When the press could still write sentences like :
"Trump has long sought to downplay his own connection to Epstein –
noting, as he did the two had a falling out years ago – and he
has previously warned that releasing files might be unfairly damaging to
those referenced in them."
Noting?
That would be claiming.
An
unredacted email appears to reveal testimony that contradicts President
Donald Trump's longstanding narrative about Jeffrey Epstein's
relationship to Mar-a-Lago. The 2009 correspondence from Epstein's
attorney Jack Goldberger was substantially redacted in the Justice
Department's initial Epstein files release.
Representative
Dan Goldman displayed the complete email on the House floor Wednesday,
exposing its contents. The correspondence documents a telephone
conference involving Trump, his attorney Alan Garten, and a person
presumed to be Brad Edwards, representing Epstein's victims.
According
to Goldberger's summary, when asked whether Epstein was ever expelled
from Mar-a-Lago, Garten stated, "No he was not a member. May have been
his guest. Never asked to leave." A manager at the Florida estate
confirmed to Edwards that Epstein was "never asked to leave Mar-a-Lago."
Trump has publicly
maintained different positions. He stated he was not "friendly" with
Epstein and was "never" on his plane. White House Press Secretary
Karoline Leavitt asserted, "President Trump did nothing wrong and he
kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago for being a creep."
However,
the new evidence contradicts these claims. Trump appears thousands of
times throughout Epstein files. Photographs document Trump and Epstein
socializing together from the 1980s through the 2000s. Flight logs place
Trump on Epstein's aircraft. Membership documents indicate Epstein
maintained Mar-a-Lago membership until October 2007, more than one year
after his indictment for soliciting prostitution.
He
hasn't been asked about that. Nor has he commented on the other
discovery this month -- the Jane Doe who came forward and spoke to the
FBI four times. The first time she mentioned being assaulted by Epstein
and that document was released by Pam Bondi's Justice Department in
January. But three more documents -- where she goes into her assault at
the hands of Donald Chump -- were not released. It took NPR and MS NOW
calling out the Justice Dept to get those three documents released.
Chump
has insisted that he was "exonerated" by the release of the files.
There was no investigation so he couldn't have been exonerated of
anything. But the fact that at least one woman complained to the FBI
about him -- and the FBI interviewed her three times about this alleged assault means that the
release of the files did not 'clear him.' There does not appear to be
much effort -- on the part of the US Justice Dept -- to do anything with
regards to Epstein but cover up.
Police
searched the offices of Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild as part of an
investigation into a French diplomat who used to work at the bank and
was an associate of Jeffrey Epstein.
The raids
took place Friday at Edmond de Rothschild’s offices in central Paris and
a number of other locations, said Pascal Prache, the French financial
prosecutor.
French
authorities have been examining whether Fabrice Aidan, a diplomat and
former employee of the bank, was involved in the corruption of a
“foreign public official,” Prache said. The prosecutor didn’t disclose
further details or name the official in question.
Files
released by the U.S. Justice Department from its investigation into
Epstein included hundreds of emails between Aidan and the sex offender.
The disclosure sparked an uproar in France; the foreign minister called
for an investigation, saying “the facts are extremely serious.”
Aidan,
a longtime diplomat, was seconded to the United Nations from 2006 to
2013 and then worked for Edmond de Rothschild until 2016, when the bank
dismissed him, and he returned to the French foreign ministry. He was
working for the French energy company Engie until he was dismissed last
month after the extent of his relationship with Epstein became public.
The Justice Dept does not do much of anything about Epstein under
Chump. That was true during Chump's first administration and it's true
under his current administration.
OK notes:
Jeffrey
Epstein's tragic death has prompted renewed scrutiny as a newly
released report from the Department of Justice reveals unsettling
details surrounding the conditions at the Metropolitan Correction
Center.
Among the discoveries, investigators
found that the disgraced financier had excessive bed linens in his jail
cell, where he was found unresponsive on August 10, 2019. Epstein was
awaiting trial on s-- trafficking charges at the time, and the city's
medical examiner later ruled his death a suicide by hanging.
The
2023 Justice Department report outlines significant oversights by
prison officials, contributing to a narrative of negligence. According
to the findings, Epstein’s cell failed to undergo necessary safety
checks, allowing multiple hazards to remain unaddressed. "A search of
Epstein’s cell following his death revealed Epstein had excess prison
blankets, linens, and clothing in his cell, and that some had been
ripped to create nooses," the report stated.
Compounding
these issues, the report indicates that Epstein was isolated in his
cell and not adequately monitored, despite conflicting claims from the
jail regarding his treatment. Notably, on August 9, 2019, the day before
his death, Epstein's cellmate was transferred out, yet "no action was
taken to ensure Epstein was assigned another cellmate," the report read.
A
guard who was on duty at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center
when Jeffrey Epstein died is set to testify before the House Oversight
Committee on Thursday.
Committee chair Rep.
James Comer, R-Ky., issued a letter to Tova Noel on March 13 stating,
“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of
Justice, and documents obtained by the Committee, the Committee believes
you have information that will assist in its investigation.”
Questions surround Epstein co-executors’ potential payment to ‘Jane Doe 4’
Noel,
along with another guard, is accused of sleeping and browsing the
internet instead of monitoring Epstein the night he died in August 2019.
The
guards are also accused of falsifying prison records to make it appear
they had conducted required security checks before Epstein was found
dead in his cell.
Ari discussed these developments on MS NOW yesterday with THE MIAMI HERALD's Julie K. Brown.
Again,
that would have been during Chump's first administration. It was also
during Chump's first administration that officials in New Mexico were
told by the federal government to cease their investigation into
Epstein's ranch in New Mexico.
Jeffrey
Epstein's former attorney and co-executor Darren Indyke might have
committed perjury in his testimony to Congress, legal expert Lisa Rubin
told MS NOW's Alicia Menendez on Tuesday's edition of "Deadline: White
House" — but it's unclear partly because the FBI never bothered to look
at him as closely as they should have.
Indyke
and another Epstein associate, his accountant Richard Kahn, spoke to
Congress behind closed doors, with their testimony only now becoming
available. They both claimed to have had no knowledge of the deceased
financier and accused sex trafficker's crimes against children — but
there are holes in their story, Rubin said.
"We
discovered that at least two victims told the FBI specifically that
Darren Indyke had instructed them not to talk to law enforcement, not
that he said to them that it was their option and that a lawyer would be
provided for them if they wanted one," said Rubin.
This pattern of alleged obstruction appeared to extend beyond victims.
During
their testimony, both Kahn and Indyke revealed that at no time were
they ever contacted by federal investigators, an admission that “raises
questions about the depth of the Justice Department’s review of
Epstein,” NBC News reporter Raquel Coronell Uribe wrote in a report Tuesday.
Last July, President Donald Trump’s Justice Department said in a memo
that, after having conducted an “exhaustive” and “thorough” review of
matters related to Epstein, no evidence existed to pursue criminal
charges against any potential co-conspirators. The recent testimony from
Epstein’s advisors, however, appears to suggest that the Justice
Department’s (DOJ) investigation may not have been as “exhaustive” as
claimed.
At no time were they ever
contacted by federal investigators. Sounds like Bill Barr, the US AG
under Chump in 2019, needs to be called to testify. He says he and
Chump only spoke of Epstein twice -- once when Chump volunteered -- for
no reason -- that he and Epstein were no longer friends and a second
time when he called him to tell Chump that Epstein had died. Barr was
in charge when Epstein died. And now that we have all of this
information calling in the details of his death and circumstances into
question, one wonders why Barr didn't know this? Or did he know it all
along? We do know that, under Barr, the Justice Dept asked New Mexico
investigators to stop their investigation into Epstein's ranch -- where
it was rumored dead bodies were buried. We don't know why. But we do
know that Barr's Justice Dept asked that the investigation be halted.
US House Rep James Walkinshaw addressed these witnesses yesterday.
U.S.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., recently posted on X seeking clarity
about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s relationship with financier
Jeffrey Epstein. Documents suggest Lutnick maintained ties with Epstein
as recently as 2018. The two were reportedly involved in business
dealings even after Epstein had been charged. Despite emails and other
records, Lutnick has said he had “limited interactions” with Epstein.
On
Jan. 30, the Justice Department released more than three million pages
of documents related to Epstein, including thousands of videos and
images. The department said it would cooperate with legal authorities
following public pressure.
Emails
between Lutnick and Epstein have drawn renewed attention. Records
indicate they arranged calls, discussed meeting for drinks, and that
Epstein made donations in Lutnick’s honor.
Among
the released materials are emails suggesting Lutnick discussed a
potential family visit to Epstein’s private island. The emails are dated
2012, years after Lutnick had said he cut ties with Epstein.
Documents
from 2012 also show signatures from both Epstein and Lutnick on a
contract related to the acquisition of an advertising technology
company, Adfin. According to CBS News, Epstein signed on behalf of
Southern Trust Co., while Lutnick signed for a limited liability company
known as CVAFH I.
Epstein invited Lutnick to
lunch on Dec. 24, 2012. Afterward, Epstein’s assistant sent a message
thanking Lutnick, writing, “It was nice seeing you.”
In
a 2018 email, Lutnick wrote to Epstein, “You should put in a letter.
I’m sending a lawyer. Don’t ignore this,” referring to an expansion plan
involving the nearby Frick Collection museum.
Two
Democrat congressman, when asked by MeidasTouch reporter Pablo
Manríquez, expressed support for appointing a special prosecutor over
the Epstein files. Rep. Jim McGovern says he supports the idea of a
special prosecutor to handle the, Epstein files, arguing the
administration appears to be ignoring the law by not turning over
documents Congress voted to release.
McGovern
said he does not know the exact legal path to appoint one but suggested
members of the Judiciary Committee, including Rep. Jamie Raskin, would
be better positioned to outline next steps. He added that lawmakers
believe the administration is stalling in hopes the issue will fade, but
warned “it won’t go away.”
Rep.
Robert Garcia also backed the idea of pursuing a special prosecutor and
said Congress should use every available tool to force the release of
the Epstein files.
A
special counsel would be the best move that could be made on the
Epstein issue. It could cut through the nonsense that Chump's previous
Justice Dept threw up and the nonsense that Chump's current Justice Dept
throws up.
This, of course, brings us to Donald Trump, whose first real collision with his own supporters came over the Epstein files. Here was a conspiracy theory he’d elevated during his campaign — transparency and accountability, the whole nine yards — only to appear to suppress it once he took office.
That’s
the kind of reversal that makes people reach for explanations. And it
didn’t help that the surrounding circumstances were even more
suspicious.
None of this proves anything, of course — but it certainly looks curious.
From
there, the imagination fills in the blanks with whatever narrative best
justifies the confusion. In Epstein’s case, that meant whispers about
intelligence agencies, Israeli kompromat and shadowy financial dealings.
It's
amazing that Chump got away with using Epstein to portray others as guilty and untrustworthy for as
long as he did. After all, he was closer to Epstein than anyone else
for decades. And Epstein died in prison while Chump was president. If
there were these scary monsters in the shadows that Chump wanted to
expose, why hadn't he exposed them in his first term as president? But
Chump's base was never all that bright to begin with.
Iran
said on Wednesday it fired a volley of cruise missiles at a US aircraft
carrier, as strikes rained down across the Middle East despite alleged
back-channel diplomatic efforts to end the nearly four-week war.
Iran's
military said its cruise missiles at the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier
group had "forced it to change its position", warning of "powerful
strikes" when the "hostile fleet" comes into range.
Meanwhile,
Iranian newspapers on Wednesday ridiculed what they called President
Donald Trump's "lies" about ongoing diplomatic discussions to end the
war.
A caricature
of Trump with an Pinocchio-style nose looming over a map of the Strait
of Hormuz appeared on the front page of the conservative daily Javan,
under the headline "The world's most pathetic and dishonorable liar."
On
Monday, just hours before the expiry of an ultimatum he had set –
threatening strikes on power plants if Iran did not reopen the strategic
strait – Trump unexpectedly announced talks with Tehran. Iranian
authorities have denied there are any negotiations, direct or indirect.
Javan
accused Trump of lying to calm the markets and push down oil prices,
which is exactly what happened in the minutes before the Republican's
post about negotiations.
Each
day since the start of the war in Iran, U.S. military officials compile
a video update for President Donald Trump that shows video of the
biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48
hours, three current U.S. officials and a former U.S. official said.
The
daily montage typically runs for about two minutes, sometimes longer,
the officials said. One described each daily video as a series of clips
of “stuff blowing up.”
The highlight reel of
U.S. Central Command bombing Iranian equipment and military sites isn’t
the only briefing Trump gets about the war. He’s also updated through
conversations with top military and intelligence advisers, foreign
leaders and news reports, the officials said.
But
the video briefing is fueling concerns among some of Trump’s allies
that he may not be receiving — or absorbing — the complete picture of
the war, now in its fourth week, two of the current officials and the
former official said.
They said the videos are
also driving Trump’s increasing frustration with news coverage of the
war. Trump has pointed to the success depicted in the daily videos to
privately question why his administration can’t better influence the
public narrative, asking aides why the news media doesn’t emphasize what
he’s seeing, one of the current U.S. officials and the former U.S.
official said.
The
current and former U.S. officials said the military can’t brief Trump on
every strike — there are hundreds every day — and so the curated video,
while it showcases U.S. capabilities, doesn’t reflect the full scope of
the conflict.
“We can’t tell him every single
thing that happens,” a current U.S. official said. The official noted
that Trump’s briefings tend to draw better feedback from his aides when
they focus on U.S. victories.
Overall, the
official said, the information Trump gets about the war tends to
emphasize U.S. successes, with comparatively little detail about Iranian
actions.
Donald
Trump’s top war goons are briefing the president with two-minute-long
highlight reels showing frontline victories in the U.S.-Israeli war on
Iran, U.S. officials told NBC News.
Three
current U.S. officials and a former official told the news outlet that
the president is being fed a daily video mash-up summarizing the most
successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours of the
military operation in the Middle East, now in its fourth week.
The
footage depicts “stuff blowing up”, one official revealed, while others
said Trump’s allies are concerned that the clips may not fully capture
the overall situation on the ground.
"Every
day the Pentagon makes a video of cool explosions from Iran for the
president of the United States to watch, so he can bounce up and down in
his high chair, clap his little hands, and cry 'Yay! Make it go boom
again!'" posted MS NOW's Paul Waldman.
"They
are literally keeping Trump in a cocoon of ignorance in order to not
upset him the same as you would do with any other elderly dementia
patient," marveled Daniel Gilmore, a media studies and communications professor.
"'Last
week Trump said that he called a top military general after he saw
video of the USS Abraham Lincoln in flames and that the general told him
Iran fabricated the video using artificial intelligence,'" said physics and astronomy professor Britt Lundgren, quoting from the report.
"Good job. We have a President who falls for AI propaganda first and asks questions later," added military historian Michael E. Carter.
For
this, as ever, Trump can only blame himself (though that won’t stop him
from offloading it if needs be and he’s already started subtly pulling Pete Hegseth into the role of scapegoat).
First, it is his war of choice, and he has prosecuted it most likely in
direct defiance of warnings from his military commanders and diplomats
of the inevitable consequences on Gulf allies, other Western partners,
the risks of casualties and getting drawn into an endless conflict, and
the dangers to the world economy.
Trump knew best, as ever, and now he’s landed in a trap of his own making.
He cannot easily escalate the war without inflicting further damage on
the world, including America and his domestic standing, but the Iranians
won’t allow him to declare victory and cut his losses. So long as they
control the Strait of Hormuz, they control Trump.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers
have been deployed by the Trump administration to airports around the
country, and the idea appears to have started during call-in segments on
right-wing radio shows.
This is no exaggeration.
Journalists Ben Smith of Semafor and Brian Stelter of CNN
traced the ICE-in-airports idea to “Linda from Arizona,” who called
into a D-list conservative radio show hosted by Clay Travis and Buck
Sexton on March 20. Both Linda and the hosts were blunt that the goal
was not actually helping the Transportation Security Administration run
more efficient checkpoints but to trigger the liberals. “I think it would set their hair on fire,” Linda said, full of glee at the idea.
“Democrats would go absolutely insane,” agreed one of the hosts.
It’s
unclear why Linda and Clay-and-Buck thought that annoying Democrats
would pressure or persuade them to drop their opposition to funding the
Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE operations. DHS has
been shut down since Feb. 14, when the GOP refused to meet Democrats’
demands for significant reforms following the fatal shootings of
American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal
immigration agents. Although Linda and Clay-and-Buck did try to argue
that ICE agents would help TSA with security, their proposal makes
little sense in practice. Shorter lines would actually relieve pressure
to get a funding deal done by taking away a major pain point.
Liberals
hate ICE, the logic went, so why not inflict ICE on liberals and make
them squeal? But the MAGA coalition has not been known for its logic,
and it’s clear from the conversation that no one involved was really
thinking this through. Instead, the scheme was rooted in a childish —
and sadistic — impulse to bully.
Donald Trump often
seems composed of little more than sadistic impulses, and he has only
gotten angrier with age. After the idea percolated up from Linda to
Clay-and-Buck and then to Fox News, Trump thought it was a stroke of
genius. Since he couldn’t admit that he got the idea from a random woman
in Green Valley, Arizona, he took credit for it on Monday, comparing himself to the man who invented the paperclip in the process.
What
is remarkable is that everyone involved — all of them, from Linda to
Trump himself — are so consumed with the desire to trigger the liberals
that no one stopped to wonder if the plan to put ICE in airports would
backfire, as it appears to be doing.
Early reports show ICE is doing nothing to speed up security lines, many of which have hours-long waits
due to Republicans’ refusal to pass a Democratic proposal to fund the
TSA directly while still withholding DHS funding. The presence of ICE is
instead ratcheting up tensions at the already stress-laden airports.
Federal immigration officers can’t do the real work of screening
passengers, but they can harass and manhandle people suspected of being immigrants.
Scapegoats,
Chump needs a lot of them. Because nothing is ever his fault -- not in
his mind. And with that let's note Stephen Miller.
Srijony Das (INQUISITR) reports:
Reports
suggest Donald Trump is facing tensions with Stephen Miller. The
President is reportedly concerned about Miller’s efforts that could
undermine his time in the White House. However, it is also said that
Trump is miles away from taking any concrete steps to avoid clash with
Miller.
To put things in perspective, Trump is not on board with Stephen’s take on immigration policies.
A Wall Street Journal report
suggests that the 79-year-old doesn’t support a mass deportation agenda
for anyone under suspicion. He wants the process to scale back instead
of randomly snatching up undocumented people.
Stephen
Miller's hard line on immigration policy is considered unsettling for
voters, according to an internal document seen by The Wall Street
Journal and noted by analyst Greg Sargent. The New Republic columnist suggested the president may have been swayed by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to soften the admin's stance.
Sargent believes Trump is set to throw Miller "under the bus" as a result.
Sargent
wrote, "Trump wants to 'lower the profile of his mass deportation
effort,' the Journal reveals. He wants voters to think the targets of
these deportations are 'bad guys,' not noncriminal undocumented
residents.
"He wants less
visibility for ICE raids in cities, fewer public confrontations with
local officials, and less public talk about “mass deportations,” which,
he now grasps, are hideously unpopular.
"Tellingly,
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles now sees deportations as a
liability for the midterms, per the report," Sargent wrote. "That Trump
is siding with her on the politics here is a sign of political panic and
a rebuke to Miller, who apparently delights in flaunting the
administration’s vicious sadism and overt white nationalism — and seems
certain that latent majorities are quietly cheering along.
In
his report, Sargent wrote, “To be clear, this report deserves serious
skepticism. It very much bears watching whether ICE will actually end up
deprioritizing the removal of noncriminal immigrants. Trump mostly
wants the appearance of a pivot: According to the Journal, he wants a
focus on ‘criminals’ in GOP ‘messaging.’ But recalibrating the
‘messaging’ won’t address the public’s broad rejection of Trumpism’s
deeper anti-immigrant project. And all signs are that this project is
fully forging ahead.”
"To
be clear, this report deserves serious skepticism. It very much bears
watching whether ICE will actually end up deprioritizing the removal of
noncriminal immigrants. Trump mostly wants the appearance of a pivot:
According to the Journal, he wants a focus on 'criminals' in GOP
'messaging.'"
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
Senator Murray: “I
don’t think we can ignore the immediate threat to Social Security. And
that really is President Trump. Because seniors right now, today—are
having a very hard time getting their benefits. Why? Because Social
Security has pushed out—without any kind of plan—7,700 workers since
Trump took office.”
Los Angeles Times: ‘It’s a shambles’: DOGE cuts bring chaos, long waits at Social Security for seniors
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s remarks and Q&A at the hearing***
Washington, D.C. — Today, at a Senate Budget Committee hearing
on Social Security, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the
Senate Appropriations Committee, slammed the Trump administration’s
cuts to the Social Security Administration (SSA) workforce and
emphasized how it is making it harder for seniors to get the help they
need to access their Social Security benefits. Senator Murray questioned
witnesses on the very wealthiest Americans paying their fair share into
Social Security and how to address SSA solvency—noting that tens of
millions of hard-working Americans rely on Social Security for the
majority of their income, and have paid their entire careers into Social
Security—but could lose 24 percent of their benefits if Congress
doesn’t act. Murray made clear there is no reason for working people to
face drastic benefit cuts when the very wealthiest could simply pay
their fair share.
In opening comments, Senator Muray said:
“Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. We absolutely need do need to
talk about how we protect Social Security. But in addition to the
long-term solvency that people are focusing on here, I don’t think we
can ignore the immediate threat to Social Security. And that really is
President Trump.
“Because seniors right now, today—are having a very hard time
getting their benefits. Why? Because Social Security has pushed
out—without any kind of plan—7,700 workers since Trump took office. We
now have just one field office representative per 4,000 Social Security
beneficiaries, and there are at least [40] field offices that lost more
than 25% of their staff.
“And that’s just the beginning. The Trump administration
wants to cut field office visits in half. That would mean over 15
million people who were able to go to a desk and speak to a person last
year—would be out of luck this year. This is really a slow moving
trainwreck. Last summer the Social Security Administration moved 1,000
field office employees to the phone lines. At the end of the year it
moved 500 more. In January—it moved nearly 800 more employees from the
processing centers and the field office support and workload support—to
phone duty—often with very little training.
“That’s trying to fix one problem they created—worsening
telephone service—by creating new problems and backlogs everywhere. This
is really hurting seniors—who can no longer get an SSA meeting close to
home when they need it. It is hurting people with disabilities—as
people who could be processing their claims, are now answering phones.
And it’s burning out the hardworking staff Trump hasn’t pushed out.
“But this is all the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
Trump’s Social Security sabotage. Because there was the attempt to
punish a state by revoking contracts to report births and deaths. There
was a proposal to end many of the phone services—an idea that was
quickly reversed because it was so bad. And then there was the DOGE
purge—which wrongly kicked seniors off Social Security—including a
constituent of mine they incorrectly declared as dead!
“And mind you—that’s just the sabotage in the light of day.
But thanks to a whistleblower report, and ongoing internal
investigations, we know there was even more damage happening in the
shadows. Like when Trump let Elon and DOGE muck around with highly
sensitive, Social Security data. That is private, personally
identifiable information on hundreds of millions of Americans.
“We are talking about potentially unprecedented data breaches
here. Blatantly unqualified people getting practically unfettered
access—even after court orders. Private data copied onto unauthorized
third-party servers, or, according to reports even copied onto a thumb
drive!
“Believe me: I want everyone to know; I’m watching this
investigation closely and demanding accountability. If we want to
protect Social Security for decades to come, yes, we do need to talk
about solvency. But we also need to talk about the President who is
gutting the Social Security Administration right now—today—and callously
putting our seniors’ benefits, and their personal data—at risk.”
[BILLONAIRES PAYING THEIR FAIR SHARE]
Senator Murray began her questioning by asking Dr. Molly Dahl, Chief
of Long-Term Analysis at the Congressional Budget Office, about who is
and isn’t paying their fair share into Social Security, “Now
with that, Dr. Dahl, I want to turn to you, I do have a few questions,
particularly about who is and isn’t paying their fair share into Social
Security, and I want to make sure I have a few numbers right. Is it
right that those making under $184,500, their effective payroll tax rate
is roughly 12.4 percent?”
“That’s right, the statutory rate is 6.2 percent, but
consensus view is that the employee pays, basically the employer cost is
passed onto the employee, so the employee basically faces a rate of
12.4 percent,” responded Dr. Dahl.
“12.4 percent, for anybody earning under $184, 500. What is
the effective payroll tax for someone making a million dollars a year?” asked Senator Murray.
“So, they would pay the 12.4 percent on that first $185,00
roughly and then would not pay additional tax on the labored income
above that amount, and so that math would work out to about 2.2
percent,” answered Dr. Dahl.
Senator Murray replied, “Ok so, 12.4 percent for someone
under $184,500, a millionaire would be about 2.2, what if you’re a
billionaire—like Trump or Musk—your Social Security tax would be
effectively, on my understanding—”
“Very, very much smaller,” Dr. Dahl interjected.
“0.002 percent?” Senator Murray finished.
“Yes,” Dr. Dahl replied.
“That just doesn’t make sense to me. I mean when the richest
people in the country have the smallest effective tax rate—that does not
seem to me like a very fair system. Especially when we are now six
years away from retired workers facing this 24 percent cut in their
Social Security benefits, so I hope we all understand that and focus on
that,” Senator Murray concluded.
Last year, Senator Murray released a new report featuring
testimonials from Washington state residents—including employees at the
Social Security Administration who were recently fired through no fault
of their own—and detailing how the Trump administration’s wide-ranging
attacks on SSA risk depriving Washingtonians of the Social Security
benefits they have earned and deserve. More than 70 million Americans,
including 1.4 million—or one in six—people in Washington state rely on
Social Security benefits. Half of seniors nationwide rely on Social
Security for most of their income, and a quarter of seniors rely on
Social Security for at least 90 percent of their income. Senator Murray
has an extensive record of protecting Social Security benefits and
fighting to secure essential funding for the Social Security
Administration—and she has been tirelessly raising the alarm about the threat Elon Musk’s DOGE poses to Americans’ hard-earned benefits. Last March, Senator Murray held a press conference to
lift up the stories of SSA employees who are being pushed out by Elon
Musk through no fault of their own and hear from Washington state
residents who rely on Social Security. Last February, Murray released a fact sheet warning
of the Trump administration’s plans to make it harder for Americans
who’ve paid into Social Security to get the benefits they have earned.
Senator Murray has fought throughout her career—including as top
Democrat on the HELP Committee from 2017-2022—to ensure a secure
retirement for all Americans for decades. She was instrumental in
establishing a special financial assistance program to
the Central States Pension Fund in the American Rescue Plan, saving the
pensions of over half a million workers and retirees in 2022. Murray
has long held that we can protect and expand benefits for working
Americans by responsibly rightsizing our tax system to ensure that giant
corporations and billionaires simply pay their fair share.
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