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Attorney General Todd Blanche could be held in contempt for failing to release the Epstein files. Former DOGE staffers are back in the White House, spearheading the AI takeover of government services. The Pentagon’s own inspector general has revealed that the Iran war destroyed more American bases and aircraft than previously known. And the Trump administration repealed a 17-year-old executive order that coordinated federal cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay, just because.
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Trump’s Attorney General Threatened With Contempt Over Epstein Files
Todd Blanche has now blown more deadlines than a college freshman during finals week.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan warned the attorney general on Wednesday that he could be held in civil contempt if the Justice Department does not comply with court orders to release information from the Epstein files. He gave Blanche until Sept. 24 to produce the records.
Sullivan said the DOJ has not been following his orders to remove redactions from Epstein documents, saying his arguments against releasing them are “without merit.” He also rejected the DOJ’s claim that it could withhold foreign language documents simply because it was inconvenient to review them.
The ruling requires the DOJ to turn over handwritten notes from an FBI interview with a woman who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her as a minor after being introduced to him by Epstein. It also orders Blanche to justify the redactions, and to begin reviewing foreign language records that may fall under the law.
The case was brought by attorney and journalist Katie Phang, who sued the DOJ for violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Sullivan had already ruled in June that the DOJ likely violated the law, but Blanche missed the July 2 deadline the court set for compliance.
Sullivan said that a contempt finding would be premature at this point, but made clear that the option remains on the table.
DOGE Staffers Are Leading AI Takeover of Government Services
The people who accidentally cc’d a teenager on classified budget documents now want your tax returns.
Former staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency are leading an AI takeover of government services, launching a website called America.gov that would handle everything from passport renewals to potentially filing taxes for free. The project is run out of the White House’s National Design Studio by former DOGE worker Joe Gebbia, a co-founder of Airbnb.
The plan would replace federal employees with an AI chatbot for services that require navigating multiple agencies. The site would also use Login.gov, a government identity verification system at the General Services Administration, leaving sensitive personal data vulnerable.
One of the former DOGE staff members working on the project is Edward Coristine, known by the online handle “Big Balls.” Trump administration officials told the Washington Sun they hope to have the site up by the end of September so Republican candidates can run on it ahead of the November midterms.
Pentagon Watchdog Reveals Devastating U.S. Losses in Iran War
We burned through the GDP of Iceland in four months, except Iceland still has its buildings.
The Department of Defense inspector general issued its first full report on the Iran war this week, covering the period from Feb. 28 to June 30. The findings confirmed what independent reporting has known for months — the U.S. has experienced far more damage than the administration publicly acknowledged.
Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings at U.S. bases in eight countries across the region. Dozens of American aircraft were destroyed or damaged, including four F-15E Strike Eagle fighters, one F-35A, one A-10, seven KC-135 refueling tankers, and up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones, which cost about $30 million each.
The war has cost $33.4 billion in just four months, with $22.3 billion going to munitions alone. The military burned through its weapons stockpile so fast that manufacturers cannot replace them, and experts estimate it will take roughly three years to catch up.
By late July, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put the total cost at $37.5 billion. That was before the ceasefire fell apart, so the real number is already worse.
Trump Administration Repeals Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Order
Trump found a government program that was actually working and couldn’t let that stand.
Trump revoked an Obama executive order on Wednesday that had coordinated the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay since 2009. The order had joined federal, state, and local governments in seven jurisdictions to successfully cut pollution in the nation’s largest estuary.
The administration’s justification for gutting the order was that it worked too well. Officials said jurisdictions had already reached 100 percent of their sediment reduction goal and 90 percent of their phosphorus goal, and determined the order was no longer necessary. They also blamed it for stormwater management fees they called “rain taxes,” although nothing in the original order required them.
Nitrogen reduction had only reached 57 percent of its goal, meaning the cleanup was still under way when Trump pulled the plug. Scientists had predicted the bay’s annual oxygen-starved dead zone would be the smallest since 1985 this year, a sign that marine life was starting to come back.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore condemned the decision, calling it another attack on the state’s farmers, fishermen, and the millions of residents who rely on the watershed. Annapolis Mayor Jared Littmann said the environmental health of the Chesapeake Bay “is not open for debate; it is not a policy preference that can be dialed back by Executive Order.”
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POSITIVE STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
Democrats Vow to Pursue “Trump Crime Family” If They Win the House. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, who would lead the House Oversight Committee if Democrats take control of the House in November, told the Financial Times that the committee’s first order of business would be investigating what he described as the “Trump crime family.” Garcia said he plans to target Trump’s sons, as well as billionaire allies of the president, including Elon Musk, to try to build an impeachment case. His staff has already been tracking the profits of the Trump family from cryptocurrency and foreign deals, estimating that Trump made $2.25 billion in foreign payments in his first year back in office.
Republican Turns on Trump in Campaign Ad, Saying Hispanic Voters Feel “Betrayed.” Rep. María Elvira Salazar of Florida, who endorsed Trump’s 2024 campaign and received his endorsement in return, ran a re-election ad this week that directly criticized the president’s immigration crackdown. She told Trump that 50 percent of the 50,000 people detained in July had no criminal history and that the Hispanic voters who helped put him in the White House now feel betrayed. Salazar faces Democrat Eliott Rodriguez in Florida’s 27th Congressional District, a race where internal polling shows a dead heat.
Tennessee Democrat Plans Bill to Ban Corporate Money in State Politics. State Senator Charlane Oliver of Nashville announced that she will introduce legislation in January to ban corporations and dark money organizations from spending money in Tennessee state politics as a condition of receiving a business license. The bill is based on legislation already passed or moving forward in Hawaii and Montana, and is modeled after the Corporate Power Reset Act promoted by the Center for American Progress. Oliver cited the passage of Tennessee’s private school voucher program, which followed a more than $3 million spending campaign by the School Freedom Fund, as a prime example of corporate money overriding the interests of taxpayers.
U.S. Clean Energy Spending Is on Track to Hit a Record $180 Billion in 2026. Even as the Trump administration rolled back Biden-era clean energy incentives, investment in renewable energy technology reached $74 billion in the first half of 2026 and is projected to reach $180 billion by year’s end. The demand from data centers and artificial intelligence operations has driven the rise in renewable projects, while the volatility in fossil fuel markets triggered by the Iran war has further accelerated the transition. Battery storage capacity in the U.S. has grown at an annual average rate of 70% over the past three years, to 52 gigawatts, and grid operators expect to add another 54 gigawatts through the end of 2028.
