Trump supporters burn Maga hats after he dismisses Epstein files furor as ‘hoax’ | Jeffrey Epstein

Published

2 months ago

July 17, 2025

Donald Trump’s efforts to dismiss the criticism over his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files as a “hoax” showed no sign of working on Thursday as more prominent figures from across the political spectrum emerged to attack the US president and some of his supporters recorded videos burning their signature Make America Great Again hats.

Days after the Republican speaker of the House, the Trump loyalist Mike Johnson, called for the release of all documents relating to the late financier, a convicted sex offender and longtime former friend of Trump’s, rebellion continued to simmer within the president’s normally diehard base.

Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence, told CBS News on Wednesday that “I think the time has come for the administration to release all of the files regarding Jeffrey Epstein’s investigation and prosecution”, while the conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, a frequent close adviser to Trump, called for the appointment of a special counsel to handle the Epstein files investigation. “Obviously, this is not a complete hoax given the fact that [Epstein associate] Ghislaine Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in prison in Florida for her crimes and activities with Jeffrey Epstein, who we know is a convicted sexual predator,” she said.

The podcast host Theo Von, who attended Trump’s inauguration and told Fox News it was “inspiring”, commented “yeah what changed” on a video of the vice-president, JD Vance, appearing on Von’s show in 2024 and calling for the full Epstein list to be released.

Even some of Trump’s most loyal allies in Congress say they are not satisfied by his decision to not release additional files from the Epstein case.

Senator Josh Hawley questioned the justice department’s claims about the files, saying: “I think it is maybe a little difficult to believe the idea that DoJ and the FBI … don’t have any idea who Epstein’s clients were”, and called for Maxwell to testify.

In rare moment of friction between Trump and Johnson, meanwhile, the House speaker broke with the president on Tuesday, calling for the justice department to make more Epstein documents public, and urging Pam Bondi, the attorney general, to “come forward and explain” the situation. Bondi has come under particular attack for appearing to claim earlier in the year that she had a client list of Epstein’s, then declaring last week no such list existed.

Maga hats burn in an online video. Photograph: X | @ExtremePapist

Still, House Republicans voted twice this week to block Democratic attempts to force the public release of all Epstein files within 30 days, with only one Republican, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, voting in favor.

The controversy deepened on Wednesday evening after news that the federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI director James Comey, who worked on the criminal cases of both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, had been fired. The justice department provided no specific reason for her dismissal.

As the backlash spirals out of his normally firm grasp on the Maga voter, Trump slammed “foolish Republicans” on Wednesday who he said were helping Democrats by focusing on documents related to Epstein.

“Some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net, and so they try and do the Democrats’ work,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with the crown prince of Bahrain. “I call it the Epstein hoax. Takes a lot of time and effort. Instead of talking about the great achievements we’ve had … they’re wasting their time with a guy who obviously had some very serious problems, who died three, four years ago.”

Close to seven in 10 Americans in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll said details around Epstein were being concealed. Sixty-nine per cent said they believed there had been concealment of facts on Epstein’s clients by the federal government, with close to 25% unsure whether facts had been concealed, according to the poll.

Epstein was arrested on sex-trafficking charges and is believed to have died by suicide in prison in 2019, according to authorities. His former associate Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and is serving a 20-year sentence.

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Aaron Judge passes Joe DiMaggio with his 362nd career homer

Published

4 hours ago

September 13, 2025

Jimmy Golen

BOSTON (AP) — New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is done chasing Joltin’ Joe.

After his 362nd home run on Friday night moved him past Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio on the New York Yankees’ career list, Judge said he had no intention on going after another, even more famous DiMaggio record: his 56-game hitting streak.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m getting that one,” Judge said with a chuckle. “We can try, but I think that one’s untouchable.”

One game after Judge homered twice to tie DiMaggio with President Donald Trump at Yankee Stadium to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Yankees captain hit the second pitch he saw from Boston’s Lucas Giolito in the first inning over the Green Monster and onto Lansdowne Street.

The 468-foot shot gave New York a 1-0 lead over Boston as the longtime rivals battle for playoff position. The Yankees won 4-1, extending their lead over the Red Sox in the AL East to 1 1/2 games; both teams are in position for wild-card berths, trailing division leader Toronto, but only one would get the home-field advantage in the first round.

“It’s special, but just like all those guys in front of me on those lists, they weren’t playing for records. They were playing to win,” Judge said. “I’m just trying to follow in their footsteps. I’m here to win.”

Judge reached 362 homers in his 1,130th game. DiMaggio played 1,736 games and hit his last homer on Sept. 28, 1951, at the end of a 13-year career that was interrupted for three seasons because he served in World War II.

Judge broke a tie with Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra for fifth on New York’s career list Tuesday night and now has four homers in his last four games and 47 for the season.

He also walked twice on Friday night and raised his major league-best batting average to .323. The homer was the longest at Fenway Park this season, according to Sportradar, and the longest at the ballpark since his 470-footer last July.

“That was a big shot in the arm for us, to get it going,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the victory. “Aaron hitting one of those — you know, one of those Aaron blows — definitely got the boys going.”

Babe Ruth hit 659 of his 714 homers with the Yankees; Mickey Mantle (536) and Lou Gehrig (493) are the other Yankees ahead of Judge.

DiMaggio won nine World Series, and Ruth, Mantle and Gehrig all won seven apiece. Judge is chasing his first title.

“I’m trying to help put this team in the best position every single night,” Judge said. “That comes with homers, that comes with big moments like that. It’s pretty cool. But I think all those guys in front of me — and especially DiMaggio — all those guys they played to win in New York and and win for this team. So I’m going to keep trying to do that. And we can talk about the milestones at the end.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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Ukraine war briefing: Poland’s allies decry ‘flagrant violation’; Warsaw sends troops to border to monitor Belarus drills | Ukraine

Published

5 hours ago

September 13, 2025

Guardian staff reporter

Poland and about 40 of its allies on Friday denounced the intrusion of Russian drones into its airspace this week, calling on Moscow to avoid more “provocations”. Before an emergency meeting of the UN security council requested by Poland, deputy foreign minister Marcin Bosacki told reporters that Warsaw and its allies wanted to “draw the attention of the international community to yet another flagrant violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations committed by the Russian Federation”, which had brought “the entire region closer to conflict than at any time in recent years”. The comments were from a statement signed by about 40 countries, including the 26 other members of the European Union, Ukraine, the United States, Japan and Canada. “We take this opportunity to reiterate our call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its war of aggression against Ukraine, to renounce any further provocations, and to respect its obligations under the UN Charter,” he said. “Escalation cannot lead to peace.”

France, Germany and Denmark will contribute fighter jets and other military assets to an enhanced defence of Poland against future Russian drone incursions, Nato leaders announced at a press conference on Friday. The UK is also expected contribute to the Eastern Sentry mission, which will gradually be expanded from the Arctic in the north to the Black Sea and Mediterranean in the south to better tackle Russian drones and missiles.

The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. The military drills started on Friday, and include exercises close to the border with Poland and Lithuania and in the Baltic and Barents seas. Russia’s defence ministry posted a video showing heavy military equipment – including armoured vehicles, helicopters and navy ships – taking part in the drills. Poland said it would station about 40,000 troops near the Belarus border for the duration of the drills.

Prince Harry laid a wreath at a flower and flag memorial to Ukraine’s war dead in Kyiv’s Maidan Square during a surprise visit to support the country in its fight against Russia, saying he wanted to do “everything possible” to help the thousands of military personnel who have been seriously injured in the war against Russia. During the trip to Kyiv, Harry and a team from his Invictus Games Foundation gave details of new initiatives to support the rehabilitation of the wounded, with the eventual aim of providing help to all areas of the country.

Russia said peace talks with Ukraine were on “pause” as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. “Our negotiators have the opportunity to communicate through channels. But for now, it is probably more accurate to talk about a pause” in talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Speaking at a conference in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said the west should not trust Putin. “Putin’s goal is to occupy all of Ukraine. And no matter what he tells anyone, it is clear that he has set the war machine in motion to such an extent that he simply cannot stop it unless he is forced to fundamentally change his personal goals,” he said. The Ukrainian president also called on allies to encourage China to use its leverage with Russia to stop Moscow’s offensive.

Trump told Fox television his patience was being taxed by Russia’s refusal to end its invasion. “It’s sort of running out and running out fast, but it does take two to tango,” Trump told Fox television. “It’s amazing. When Putin wants to do it, Zelensky didn’t. When Zelensky wanted to do it, Putin didn’t. Now Zelensky wants to and Putin is a question mark. We’re going to have to come down very, very strong,” he added. The Ukrainian president has long been open to efforts to meet and agree a ceasefire.

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Musk’s XAI Just Laid Off Hundreds of Workers Tasked With Training Grok

Published

6 hours ago

September 13, 2025

Jake Swearingen

Elon Musk‘s xAI laid off at least 500 workers on its data annotation team on Friday night.

The company sent out emails notifying employees that it was planning to downsize its team of generalist AI tutors, according to multiple messages viewed by Business Insider.

“After a thorough review of our Human Data efforts, we’ve decided to accelerate the expansion and prioritization of our specialist AI tutors, while scaling back our focus on general AI tutor roles. This strategic pivot will take effect immediately,” the email read. “As part of this shift in focus, we no longer need most generalist AI tutor positions and your employment with xAI will conclude.”

Workers were told that they would be paid through either the end of their contract or November 30, but their access to company systems would be terminated the day of the layoff notice.

The data annotation team is xAI’s largest team. The workers play a key role in developing Grok by teaching the chatbot how to understand the world by contextualizing and categorizing raw data.

The main Slack room used by data annotators had more than 1,500 members on Friday afternoon; screenshots viewed by Business Insider Friday evening showed that number down to a little over 1,000, with that number continuing to decline over the course of reporting this story.

On Friday night, xAI posted on X that it was hiring for roles and plans to grow its team of specialist AI tutors by “10X.”

Specialist AI tutors at xAI are adding huge value. We will immediately surge our Specialist AI tutor team by 10x!

We are hiring across domains like STEM, finance, medicine, safety, and many more. Come join us to help build truth-seeking AGI!https://t.co/htpc2RijLG

— xAI (@xai) September 13, 2025

The layoff notices were sent out only a few days after several senior-level employees, including the team’s former head, recently had their Slack accounts deactivated, Business Insider reported earlier this week.

In the days that followed, workers were pulled into one-on-ones to review their responsibilities, projects, and achievements, nine workers told Business Insider. They were asked if there were any coworkers they wanted to highlight for their hard work, the workers said.

XAI told workers on Thursday night to prepare for a reorganization of the data annotation team.

In a team-wide announcement on Thursday night, the company asked some workers to drop everything and focus on a series of tests to determine their roles at the company going forward, asking staff to complete them by Friday morning West Coast time. The tests would be used to sort annotators and their supervisors based on their strengths and interests, according to a screenshot viewed by Business Insider.

The notice for tutors to prepare for testing was posted by Diego Pasini, who ten workers said recently became the team’s leader. Pasini asked workers to take at least one test by the following morning. The tests covered traditional domains like STEM, coding, finance, and medicine, as well as quirkier specialties like Grok’s “personality and model behavior” and “shitposters and doomscrollers.”

The company also listed tests for workers aiming to improve the chatbot’s safety, including by “red teaming” the bot, as well as tests dedicated to audio and video content.

Pasini joined xAI in January, according to his LinkedIn profile. He is “on leave” from his undergraduate studies at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, his LinkedIn shows.

Pasini and a representative for xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The announcement said the tests were aimed at supervisors and generalist tutors. XAI divides its teams between STEM, coding, finance, legal, and media specialties, as well as a large pool of generalist tutors who are tasked with a wide range of assignments, from annotating video and audio to writing.

Two workers said the STEM and coding tests took place on CodeSignal, a skills assessment platform, while other tests were hosted on Google Forms.

More than 200 workers responded to Pasini’s message with a green check-mark emoji, and over 100 replied to the post with questions and comments, according to a screenshot viewed by Business Insider.

One worker expressed frustration with the short time span that was given for the tests, according to a screenshot viewed by Business Insider.

“Doing this after people have gone home for the day is pretty shady,” the worker wrote. The worker’s Slack account was deactivated shortly after, multiple workers said.

Do you work for xAI or have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at gkay@businessinsider.com or Signal at 248-894-6012. Use a personal email address, a nonwork device, and nonwork WiFi; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.

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