Missing Epstein Files Revealed, as Reflecting Pool Crumbles

The DOJ wants to bring back institutionalization for disabled and unhoused people, and a Catholic diocese is suing Trump as his border wall threatens to destroy a Jesus statue

Good morning. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.

Entire email accounts, Signal messages, prison surveillance footage, and thousands of indexed documents are missing from the Epstein files. Trump’s $14 million Reflecting Pool renovation is already falling apart, and he’s blaming vandals with no evidence. A new DOJ memo argues states have no obligation to let disabled Americans live in their own communities. And a Catholic diocese is fighting Trump’s border wall to stop it from desecrating a 29-foot statue of Jesus.

Corporate media is running cover. The FCC chair is making sure they do. And independent outlets are being bought out one by one. 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.

Now, let’s get into it.

Here’s What’s Missing From the Epstein Files

The Justice Department says it released “every document required” by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. A CBS News investigation found the archive is riddled with gaps.

The DOJ collected over 6 million pages but released only half. Nearly all the emails come from one Gmail account Epstein created around 2008. Missing are roughly 20,000 messages from an earlier Yahoo account and most messages from littlestjeff@yahoo.com, active when Epstein knew Trump socially and was recruiting underage girls.

The DOJ appears to have had access to that inbox. Screenshots appear in the files. Almost none of the actual emails do.

The holes compound from there. No Signal messages were released despite Epstein urging associates to use the app. A 69-page DEA report named him as a drug trafficking target, but none of the investigation’s records were included. Prison surveillance footage from 147 cameras was collected but not released. Massage scheduling records vanished after 2009.

A 2002 email signed “Love, Melania” had its sender and recipient fully blacked out.

After CBS News asked about several questionable redactions, some were quietly reversed — including one blacked out photo of Steve Bannon that anyone could already find on the internet.

Trump’s Pool Is Falling Apart. He’s Arresting Those Who Notice.

Trump spent $14 million of public money painting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “American flag blue” for July 4th. A Virginia contractor got the work on a no-bid contract. A nonprofit sued, arguing the administration bypassed required historic preservation reviews. The job was rushed through before a judge could rule.

Now the lining is peeling off and the water turned green. Aquatic ecologists told NPR the bloom was natural algae, common in shallow, sun-exposed water, likely accelerated by the renovation itself disturbing the water’s nutrient balance.

Rather than answer for any of this, Trump posted Saturday night claiming vandals carved “a 250-foot long gash” into the pool and poured “corrosive and destructive chemicals” into the water. He said Park Police had arrested “multiple individuals.”

He provided no evidence. No law enforcement agency publicly confirmed any arrests.

An administration official told CBS News five people had been arrested and five more issued citations. One is David Hearn, a former Olympian, charged Friday with destroying government property. Hearn says he reached into the pool to touch a piece of the lining that was already dislodged.

Trump says the pool will be drained again for repairs. He wrote it “was never so beautiful as it was just one week ago, even going back to 1922 when it opened.” The pool opened in 1923.

Most outlets ran with “vandals damage Reflecting Pool.” We asked who actually damaged it, and why the only person arrested was a bystander who touched a piece that was already falling off. If that reporting is worth something to you, please consider upgrading your subscription to paid.

DOJ Proposes Institutionalization for Disabled and Unhoused People

As America prepares to celebrate 250 years of independence, the Justice Department has decided that some Americans should celebrate it from inside an institution.

A new memo from the Office of Legal Counsel argues that states do not have to provide in-home or community-based care to people with disabilities. Alison Barkoff, who led disability law efforts under Obama and Biden, said it plainly: “It is now the position of the United States government that people with disabilities don’t have a right to be part of their communities.”

For decades, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the ADA were read to require services in the most integrated setting. In 1999, the Supreme Court agreed in Olmstead v. L.C. that institutionalization should be a last resort. By 2023, 8.4 million Americans were receiving home- and community-based services through Medicaid.

The memo, written by Lanora Pettit, argues there is no “integration mandate.” It even concedes its own novelty, admitting this view “is out of step with the common understanding of that decision within the federal courts.”

The timing is not accidental. A new case, Texas v. Kennedy, is challenging the integration mandate, and the federal government is now aligning with the plaintiffs. The memo also follows a Trump executive order pushing involuntary institutionalization of unhoused people.

Can’t afford a home? The government will give you one. You just can’t leave.

A Catholic Diocese Is Suing Trump Over the Border Wall

Nothing says “Christian nation” like seizing sacred land from actual Christians.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces is waging a legal holy war over 14 acres of church land that the Trump administration wants for a new border wall. The land sits near Mount Cristo Rey, home to a 29-foot limestone statue of Jesus.

In court papers filed Friday, the diocese said it would fight before it “surrenders even a square inch of its sacred land.” It called the border wall a “physical manifestation of this Government’s attitude toward migrants,” adding that “nothing could be less Catholic.”

The government filed last month to seize the land in Dona Ana County in exchange for about $183,000. The diocese says the construction site would be only a quarter-mile from the statue and “very likely will damage or restrict access to this sacred space.”

Deacon Jim Winder framed it as a battle between symbols: “One is a 29-foot statue of Christ the King, which is meant to symbolize unity and hope, and the other is a 30-foot iron monstrosity that symbolizes exclusion and division.”

The statue was erected in the 1930s after a local priest came up with the idea. Somebody should let JD Vance know his administration is suing his church over a statue of his savior.

No Billionaires, No Problem

The DOJ can black out Steve Bannon’s face. Trump can arrest bystanders who notice his institutions are literally falling apart. And one by one, the independent outlets that used to ask hard questions are getting bought out.

We don’t have a license to protect or a billionaire to please. We have a subscriber list. That is the entire business model, and it is the only reason we can tell you which names got redacted and which ones didn’t, who actually turned the pool green, and what a DOJ memo really means for 8.4 million people.

If you want this work to keep going, the math is simple. Hit the button below and become a paid subscriber today.

Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you tonight.

POSITIVE STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:

Iowa hands Trump first major statewide primary loss of 2026 in governor’s race. Trump endorsed Rep. Randy Feenstra for Iowa governor less than a week before the primary, calling him “MAGA all the way.” Feenstra lost by a point to businessman Zach Lahn, handing Trump his first major statewide primary loss of the 2026 cycle. Feenstra conceded Tuesday night and immediately pledged to support Lahn, telling supporters “you got to carry this torch” and urging them to rally behind the nominee against Democrat Rob Sand. The pivot was fast, the tone was gracious, and the underlying message was unmistakable: MAGA is scared.

Chicago Weighs Renaming the Street Outside Trump Tower After Obama. A Change.org petition with more than 30,000 signatures is pushing Chicago to rename a stretch of North Wabash Avenue, the road flanking Trump’s 92-story tower, as Barack Hussein Obama Avenue. The campaign is timed to the opening of the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side, and Alderman Brendan Reilly has introduced a measure for an honorary designation, though city rules typically restrict such names for living people. Petition creator Bryce Jones said the move would change the Trump property’s official address and “send a small message about the values we uphold as a city.”

Teacher and Parent Win $1 Million in Defamation Suits Against Conservative Pundit. Fairfax County Public Schools teacher Robert Rigby and parent activist Vanessa Hall sued David Gordon, creator of the conservative X feed The Virginia Project, after Gordon made posts in 2025 pairing their photos with allegations about grooming gangs and child abduction. Fairfax County juries ruled for both plaintiffs in back-to-back weeks. Rigby was awarded $350,000 and Hall $700,000, with juries finding zero evidence supported any of the statements. “This was a slam dunk,” Rigby said. “The only defense was that it was true, and it’s clearly, manifestly not true.” Gordon’s attorney says they plan to appeal, somehow.

DHS Scraps Plans to Turn a Georgia Warehouse Into a 10,000-Bed Detention Center. The Trump administration is abandoning its plan to convert a warehouse in Social Circle, Georgia, into a detention “mega center,” just four months after confirming the purchase. The original plan would have held up to 10,000 detainees, nearly double the entire town’s population, plus up to 2,500 employees. The government had paid $128.5 million for the property, more than four times its 2023 sale price of $29.4 million. The reversal is part of DHS scrapping plans for seven recently purchased warehouses from New Jersey to Utah, after Markwayne Mullin replaced Kristi Noem and began rethinking the $700 million detention program.