Good morning. I’m Corinne Straight, and this is AlterNet America.
Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime assistant told House investigators she arranged multiple phone calls between Epstein and Trump before his presidency. The press corps is barred from the White House grounds Sunday so Dana White’s UFC can stage a cage fight on the South Lawn. A medical examiner ruled the death of an ICE detainee a homicide, and the evidence has gone missing or been destroyed. And the Trump administration is fast-tracking metal barriers through Big Bend National Park after handing out more than $4 billion in border construction contracts.
Corporate media is running cover. The FCC chair is making sure they know what happens if they don’t. And independent outlets are being bought out one by one. This is the news they don’t want you reading. AlterNet America is the people-powered response to the MAGA billionaire takeover of American media. We are reader-funded, editorially independent, and not for sale. We exist because of you. If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, please upgrade today.
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Epstein’s Assistant Says She Set Up Calls Between Epstein and Trump
The woman who scheduled Jeffrey Epstein’s massages says she also scheduled his phone calls with the future president, which is the kind of sentence that used to end careers.
Lesley Groff, Epstein’s longtime assistant of roughly 18 years, told the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door interview Tuesday that she arranged multiple phone calls between Epstein and Trump before he was president. Two Democrats on the panel relayed her account to reporters.
Rep. Stephen Lynch said Groff referred to “a time before Mr. Trump was president” when she set up the calls. Rep. Melanie Stansbury said Groff told the panel “she arranged calls for them to connect,” though not frequently.
Trump has insisted he cut ties with Epstein years before his death and has not been charged with any wrongdoing. The White House said he has “been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein.”
Groff was never charged either. She was named an unindicted co-conspirator in Epstein’s 2008 non-prosecution agreement, and a class-action lawsuit describes her as the secretary who “made travel arrangements for the girls” and “scheduled massage sessions.”
She scheduled the girls. She scheduled the president. Nobody scheduled her arraignment.
Press Banned From White House During UFC Cage Fight
Nothing honors the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence quite like locking reporters off the South Lawn so a billionaire’s friend can build a cage.
The White House Correspondents’ Association told members in an email that the press corps won’t be allowed on White House grounds Sunday, when Ultimate Fighting Championship hosts a bout on the South Lawn. Only the small pool of designated poolers gets in, unless UFC itself hands out credentials.
The White House is ceding control of credentialing to the company. Reporters will lose access to the briefing room, their workspaces, and “Pebble Beach,” the North Lawn area used for television hits.
WHCA president Weijia Jiang said the association pushed back and was told the North Lawn is being used as a “staging area for the fighters and UFC filming zone.” Journalists without a UFC credential will watch from the Ellipse or a nearby Marriott.
The event celebrates Trump’s 80th birthday and kicks off the country’s semiquincentennial. UFC is run by Dana White, a prominent Trump supporter and close friend. He’s not in the cabinet, he just controls who covers the White House this weekend.
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A Man Died in ICE Custody and Someone Lost the Evidence
Choking a man to death in federal custody carries surprisingly modest consequences if you hold the right government contract.
Geraldo Lunas Campos died on January 3 at Camp East Montana, the ICE detention facility in Texas, after an altercation with guards. The El Paso Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a homicide by asphyxiation.
A Government Accountability Office audit released today found that evidence associated with the incident was missing or destroyed. ICE filed a “discrepancy report” in February noting the private contractor had failed to hand over its use-of-force and death reports.
DHS initially claimed Lunas Campos had attempted suicide and died while guards were trying to save him. Detainee witnesses told Zeteo that guards choked him to death after he refused to stop asking for his medication. One recalled hearing him say, “They are choking me, they are choking me.”
An internal ICE inspection earlier this year found dozens of violations at the facility, including a detainee with tuberculosis who wasn’t isolated and another who escaped. The GAO also found ICE wasted millions expediting the contract.
ICE lost the evidence and then filed a report about losing the evidence, which is the most efficient form of corruption we’ve seen all week.
Trump Is Putting a $4 Billion Border Wall Through Big Bend
Big Bend National Park has almost no illegal crossings, which is apparently why it needs a $4 billion wall.
The Trump administration confirmed Tuesday it will install four-foot metal posts with a continuous cross beam through Big Bend, a decision that follows its earlier move to abandon a wall in the park. On the same day, the administration published a waiver exempting contractors from federal environmental rules to speed construction of barriers and roads.
The waiver covers a stretch running from Big Bend Ranch State Park to roughly 50 miles northeast of the national park.
The administration has already awarded more than $4 billion in border security construction contracts in and around the park. More than $2 billion has gone to Barnard Construction, a Montana firm whose chairman donated more than $1 million to Trump’s presidential campaigns.
The administration is facing a flurry of lawsuits from environmental groups, plus pushback from sheriffs and local officials. Environmental groups called the move “militarizing” the park and ruining its hiking trails and scenic overlooks.
Critics also note the 500-mile Big Bend Sector, stretching from El Paso to Lake Amistad, is too rugged for most migrants to cross. Fortunately, the contractor doesn’t get paid per crossing.
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POSITIVE STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
Trump Inner Circle Subpoenaed by BBC in $10 Billion Libel Suit. Trump sued the BBC for $10 billion over a documentary that edited his January 6th speech to make it appear he directly called for violence. The BBC apologized, but Trump sued anyway. Now, the BBC is using the lawsuit to subpoena 47 members of his inner circle, including his kids, his cabinet, and the DOJ, to find out what he knew before January 6th. Trump is calling it a fishing expedition. The BBC is calling it discovery. To win his own defamation case, Trump must prove he didn’t incite January 6th, which means he sued a news organization and accidentally put January 6th back on trial.
Nancy Mace Loses South Carolina Governor Primary. Nancy Mace spent years as one of Trump’s most reliable MAGA culture warriors, but somewhere between the airport meltdown, the House Ethics investigation, the hour-long floor speech accusing her ex-fiancé of rape and sex trafficking, and her push to release the Epstein files, South Carolina voters lost the thread. On Tuesday she finished fifth in the governor’s race, losing even her own home county, while Trump’s pick advanced to the runoff. Mace conceded before the race was even called and told supporters the Epstein files cost her the governorship. That is one explanation. The Ethics Committee has another.
Graham Platner Shrugs Off Scandals to Win Maine’s Democratic Senate Primary. Graham Platner, a 41-year-old Marine veteran and oyster farmer who has never held elected office, won the Democratic Senate nomination in Maine with 72% of the vote. His campaign survived a barrage of negative headlines, including reports of sexually explicit messages sent while married, an ex-girlfriend’s abuse allegations that he denied, a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol that he said he got without understanding its meaning, and old Reddit posts using slurs. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Ro Khanna stood by him, arguing voters cared more about healthcare and economic insecurity than the details of his marriage.
Effort to Ban Child Marriage in Ohio Moves Forward After Pressure and Protests. A stalled bill to bar minors from marrying in Ohio is moving again, with a Senate Judiciary Committee vote scheduled for Wednesday after renewed pressure and a Statehouse demonstration by the advocacy group Unchained At Last, whose members wore wedding gowns and chains. Only 17 states ban child marriage at the moment. Ohio currently allows 17-year-olds to marry with parental and judicial permission. Co-sponsor Sen. Bill Blessing, a Republican, noted minors can marry but cannot file divorce proceedings or smoke cigarettes. Other Republicans spoke against the bill, one of whom cited her grandparents. Talk about a self-report.
