Vice President JD Vance’s vacation in the English Cotswolds was protested by residents on Tuesday, who carried altered images of the vice president’s face and signs that read, “GO AWAY.”
At a demonstration organized by the “Stop Trump Coalition,” protesters could be seen carrying signs that read, “GO AWAY,” “SOD OFF!” “WAR CRIMINAL,” “JD Vance Claps When the Plane Lands,” and “Cotswold Childless Cat Ladies Say Go Home.”
Protesters also carried edited images of Vance’s face and Palestinian flags, with one man wearing a t-shirt which read, “Tiny Dick Tator.”
A protest against the visit of US vice-president J.D. Vance has been staged in Charlbury, the Oxfordshire town closest to his holiday venue. The demonstration, organised by the Stop Trump Coalition and locals, featured placards such as “Cotswold childless cat ladies say go home”. pic.twitter.com/ftL8F7fZNd
“JD Vance, shame on you!” the protesters could be heard chanting.
A political campaign group called “Everyone Hates Elon” also drove a van around the area of the vice president’s vacation, displaying the same edited image of Vance’s face on a screen.
A van displaying an altered image of US Vice President JD Vance drove through the English town of Charlbury near where he was holidaying with his family. The stunt was organized by the British political campaign group, 'Everyone Hates Elon' pic.twitter.com/PXICz0sMWD
“He’s on his holiday. I normally wouldn’t protest against people on their holiday, but there’s clearly a political angle to this,” one protester toldThe Guardian. “You know, he spent the weekend with our foreign secretary and so I think that means, you know, anything goes, really. I think, you know, you have to be respectful of people, but at the same time, he’s here, he’s carrying out political business, and it’s appropriate to carry out a po
During his trip, Vance met with U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, shadow home secretary Chris Philp
First Lady Melania Trump participates in the Senate Spouses Luncheon at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, May 21,2025. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)
Things are about to get ugly…
First Lady Melania Trump is threatening to sue former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, for $1 billion over “defamatory” claims linking her to late financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Melania’s attorney Alejandro Brito demanded that Biden “immediately retract the false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory statements made about Mrs. Trump,” which were contained in a video interview with Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan and posted to Youtube in early August.
Read the full letter:
“Failure to comply will leave Mrs. Trump with no choice but to pursue any and all legal rights and remedies available to her to recover the overwhelming financial and reputational harm that you have caused her to suffer,” Brito wrote.
In the video interview, titled “Hunter Biden Returns” video earlier in August, the former first son claimed “Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. The connections are, like, so wide and deep.”
Biden also claimed that “Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania, and that’s how Melania and the first lady and the President met.”
“If you do not comply with the above by August 7, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. EST, Mrs. Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce her legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for over $1 Billion Dollars in damages,” Brito wrote. “You are on notice.”
A source close to the matter told Fox News that Biden did not comply with the requests by the set deadline.
After Fox News published the piece, however, Melania Trump got Biden’s reply addressing the attorney’s letter when Callaghan posted a further interview with him to YouTube on Thursday.
Callaghan, holding up a copy at the interview’s opening, declared: “The day of presidential litigation has arrived!”
“We’re here, maybe, to give you the platform to apologize to the first lady for your statements that you made about her possible connection to Jeffrey Epstein,” the host said to Biden.
“F*ck that! That’s not going to happen,” Biden laughed.
Defending his comments as citation, Biden continued:
First of all is that, what I said was what I have heard and seen reported and written, primarily from Michael Wolff but also dating back all the way to 2019 when the New York Times – I think Annie Carney and and Maggie Haberman – reported that sources said that Jeffrey Epstein claimed to be the person to introduce Donald Trump to Melania at that time.
Biden added that he would not bow down to pressure or lawsuit threats: “I also think they’re bullies and they think that a billion dollars is going to scare me.”
I have this to say to them: If they want to sit down for a deposition and clarify the the nature of the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein, if the president and the First Lady want to do that and all of the known associates around them at the time of whatever time that they met, I’m more than happy to provide them the platform to be able to do it.
The letter comes after the Daily Beast pulled the article detailing allegations by journalist Wolff that Melania Trump was introduced to her husband Donald Trump via a modeling agent connected to Epstein, after a challenge from the first lady’s lawyers.
“Editor’s Note. After this story was published, The Beast received a letter from First Lady Melania Trump’s attorney challenging the headline and framing of the article. After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding,” The Daily Beast posted in place of the article. The url for the article appears to have been amended to remove the original headline and now reads: thedailybeast.com/epstein-this-story-has-been-removed.
It also comes after famed Democrat strategist James Carville apologized to the first lady after repeating the same claim.
“In last week’s podcast episode, we spoke with Judd Legum,” he said. “After the episode, we received a letter from Melania Trump’s lawyer. He took issue with our title of one of those YouTube videos from that episode and a couple of comments I made about the first lady. We took a look at what they complained about, and we took down the video and edited out those comments from the episode. I also take back these statements and apologize.”
An aide to the first lady, Nick Clemens, told Fox News in a statement, “First Lady Melania Trump’s attorneys are actively ensuring immediate retractions and apologies by those who spread malicious, defamatory falsehoods. The true account of how the First Lady met President Trump is in her best-selling book, ‘Melania.’”
Casa Rosada (Argentina Presidency of the Nation), CC BY 2.5 AR via Wikimedia Commons
It’s on…
California Governor Gavin Newsom is moving forward to draw new congressional lines in the Golden State that will aim to threaten Donald Trump’s presidency according to a blistering new attack.
“DONALD ‘TACO’ TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, ‘MISSED’ THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE ‘BEAUTIFUL MAPS,’ THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!),” Newsom wrote Tuesday night, in a post written in the style of President Donald Trump’s occasionally all-caps social media posts.
The announcement comes amid Texas Republicans’ efforts to redraw congressional maps in their party’s favor. The redistricting showdown in Texas has led blue states to threaten to retaliate — with Newsom proposing to cut five GOP-held seats in California.
The redistricting battle in Texas — and potentially other states — has national implications, with control of the U.S. House potentially at stake. The Texas GOP’s proposed congressional map could net Republicans between three and five seats in next year’s midterm elections — seats that could make a difference as Republicans work to maintain their small majority in the U.S. House.
A spokesperson for California State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas confirmed to ABC News that the state legislature is aiming to release draft maps on Friday.
Newsom sent a letter to Trump on Monday asking the president to tell Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican governors to abandon efforts to draw new congressional maps. Texas Democrats have fled the state in protest of the maps.
The Texas House of Representatives was once again unable to reach a quorum Tuesday. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said that the House will convene once again on Friday, adding if there’s no quorum by then, Abbott will adjourn the current session and call a second special session to begin immediately.
The Texas Attorney General is working towards throwing Democrat politician Beto O’Rourke behind bars over his role in helping fundraise for the Democrats who fled the Lone Star State earlier this month.
In a statement released Tuesday, AG Ken Paxton said O’Rourke “blatantly” violated a restraining order when he continued to raise money for the lawmakers who fled Texas amid a contentious redestricting battle.
District Court Judge Megan Fahey, who was appointed in 2019 by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, wrote in Friday’s order that she believes O’Rourke and his group “have and will continue to engage in unlawful fundraising practices and utilization of political funds” that either violates or causes the Democrats to violate state law and House rules.
Evoking the almost 200-year-old Texas refrain “Come and Take It,” Paxton celebrated the ruling in a statement.
“Today, I stopped his deceptive financial influence scheme that attempted to deceive donors and subvert our constitutional process. They told me to ‘come and take it,’ so I did,’” said Paxton, who is challenging U.S. Sen. John Cornyn for his Senate seat in next year’s GOP primary.
The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Mexico reached a deal with the United States to hand over 26 top cartel leaders.
The cartel figures were scheduled to fly to the U.S. on Tuesday.
“Today is the latest example of the Trump administration’s historic efforts to dismantle cartels and foreign terrorist organizations,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News. “These 26 men have all played a role in bringing violence and drugs to American shores — under this Department of Justice, they will face severe consequences for their crimes against this country. We are grateful to President Sheinbaum and the Mexican government for their collaboration in this matter.”
Abigael González Valencia, a leader of the “Los Cuinis,” cartel, which is aligned with the notorious Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) and Roberto Salazar, who is accused of participating in the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy, are among those being handed over to the U.S.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office and Security Ministry confirmed the men were being handed over, saying the deal was made after the U.S. Justice Department said it wouldn’t seek the death penalty.
President Donald Trump has also reportedly secretly authorized U.S. military force against cartels in Latin America designated by the U.S. as terrorist organizations, which would allow U.S. forces to engage with them.
The move, reported by the New York Times, would give U.S. forces permission to engage the cartels, which traffic drugs like fentanyl across the US-Mexico border,
“The president is determined to not just dismantle – but completely destroy – [Venezuelan dictator Nicolas] Maduro’s Cartel de Los Soles and obliterate their operations in the Western Hemisphere,” a source close to the White House said, the New York Post reported.
The anti-cartel effort is being coordinated among several departments, including the Department of Defense, Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Treasury, the source added.
“President Trump’s top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations,” deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News.
It also comes ahead of 25% tariffs on Mexican goods coming into the U.S. imposed by Trump.
Mexico also extradited 29 cartel leaders in February, including Rafael Caro Quintero, who prosecutors say was behind the torture and murder of a DEA agent in 1985.
“The previous Administration allowed these criminals to run free and commit crimes all over the world. The Trump Administration is declaring these thugs as terrorists, because that is what they are, and demanding justice for the American people,” the White House said at the time.
Sections of the U.S. border wall that had been auctioned off by the Biden administration will reportedly be returned to the Trump administration to support Trump’s “border protection plans.”
The Daily Wire previously reported that the Biden administration sold off portions of the border wall in Arizona for pennies on the dollar in December, just one month before Trump reentered office in a move that critics called an attempt to hamstring the new administration. Now, those materials will be handed back over to the federal government.
GovPlanet, the government supply auctioning site that listed the border wall materials, says that it will expedite the return of the materials to the federal government, citing its support for the Trump administration’s border security plans.
“GovPlanet has reached an agreement, working with the Office of the Border Czar, to return border wall materials that were previously deemed surplus and sourced by the federal government to GovPlanet via existing contracts,” the company explained. “We are expediting the transfer of these materials to support the administration’s border protection plans.”
Construction continues on new border wall system project near Yuma, AZ. Recently constructed border wall near Yuma, Arizona on June 3, 2020. CBP photo by Jerry Glaser.
The sale of the border wall materials, Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) told The Daily Wire, was an attempt by the Biden administration to hamstring the Trump administration.
“The Biden Administration is well aware they shouldn’t have reversed the construction of the border wall. If it’s true, they’re purposefully hamstringing an incoming president, it wouldn’t be shocking,” Crane charged. “Why would they want to see President Trump succeed with policies they aggressively sabotaged?”
The Republican Congressman from Arizona called the sale “a direct affront to the will of the people,” who had given President Trump a mandate to secure the border just a month before The Daily Wire broke the news of the auctions.
The materials will now be handed over to a firm that has been contracted by the government to build the wall, GovPlanet says. “We value our longstanding partnership with the U.S. government and look forward to continuing to support America’s federal agencies,” GovPlanet added. “A third-party firm that has been contracted for construction of the border wall will take receipt of the materials over the next 90 days.”
GovPlanet also said that the supplies will be returned to the federal government “at-cost” in order to “protect the millions of dollars that U.S. taxpayers had already invested in this initiative.”
New York City’s Socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is officially launching his “Five Boroughs Against Trump” tour in the Big Apple.
Mamdani kicked off his anti-Trump tour alongside Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) in Manhattan on Monday morning. He reportedly plans to visit Brooklyn on Tuesday, Staten Island on Wednesday, the Bronx on Thursday and Queens on Friday, Fox News has confirmed.
The 33-year-old self-described socialist’s tour is a rejection of the Trump administration’s sweeping second-term agenda and his so-called “authoritarian” attack on working New Yorkers, specifically, immigration and health care reform.
“There is no borough that will be free from Trump’s cruelty,” Mamdani said on Monday. “We will feel the pain of this legislation, whether we are in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens or Staten Island, and we will shine a light this week and every week on the costs of this vision that is coming out of Washington, D.C.”
“Donald Trump is waging a full-scale assault on American democracy, dismantling our institutions, attacking our universities and our scientific research base, using government power to serve himself and his donors, and targeting New York City because New Yorkers have always seen him for what he is – a narcissistic, wannabe dictator,” Nadler said during the event on Monday.
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams are also running as an independents, and CEO of the Guardian Angels, Curtis Sliwa, is the Republican nominee.
“Comrade Mamdani is the American people’s worst nightmare,” White House spokeswoman, Abigail Jackson, told Fox News Digital. “His communist policies will crater our economy, increase crime, crowd out Americans with free health care for illegal immigrants, and defund the brave men and women of law enforcement who keep us safe.”
The White House added that “Mamdani’s idea of ‘immigration reform’ is no borders and amnesty for all the violent criminal illegal aliens that Joe Biden released into our country. The American people have repeatedly rejected this Communist agenda and the more Mamdani shares his radical policies, the more the American people will recoil.”
The New York Times reported last week that Trump recently spoke on the phone with Cuomo and has been speaking with associates about which candidate has the best chance to beat Mamdani in November. Meanwhile, Mamdani has described how his administration would be Trump’s “worst nightmare.”
“We see far too many parallels between Donald Trump and Andrew Cuomo, far too many stories that make clear that both administrations have been characterized by corruption, by a sense of impunity, by an inability of an executive to understand that no means no, a prioritization of the interests of billionaires over working people, and an agenda that is driven by little else beyond the retention and accumulation of power,” Mamdani said Monday.
On Monday, A federal judge refused the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury materials used to charge Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime accomplice of late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Trump administration looked to break the normal secrecy of grand jury proceedings amid mounting public pressure, including from much of the president’s political base, to release more files on the case.
“Contrary to the Government’s depiction, the Maxwell grand jury testimony is not a matter of significant historical or public interest. Far from it,” U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer wrote in his 31-page ruling.
“It consists of garden-variety summary testimony by two law enforcement agents. And the information it contains is already almost entirely a matter of longstanding public record.”
The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed her subordinates to convene a grand jury to investigate whether officials from former President Barack Obama’s administration politicized intelligence to falsely link Donald Trump to Russia during the 2016 election. The inquiry stems from a criminal referral submitted by Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard, who accused senior Obama officials of manipulating national security assessments.
Bondi has formed a special strike force to scrutinize Gabbard’s claims, which allege a coordinated effort — rooted in the Crossfire Hurricane probe — to leverage intelligence as political ammunition. The investigation is reportedly examining figures including former CIA Director John Brennan, former DNI James Clapper, and former FBI Director James Comey.
Gabbard declassified documents she says provide direct evidence of a “treasonous conspiracy” to frame Trump — a claim that contradicts past bipartisan reviews affirming Russia attempted to meddle in the election, but did not change the vote count.
A former senior Justice Department official torched the move as a “dangerous political stunt.”
Another former national security official pointed out that multiple investigations — including Republican-led ones — had already found no criminal misconduct tied to the origins of the Russia probe.
“There’s no logical, rational basis for this,” the official said, speaking anonymously.
Meanwhile, a senior Trump administration official confirmed there’s no timeline yet for the grand jury to convene — warning it could be months before proceedings formally begin.
Fox News was the first to report on Bondi’s letter to prosecutors:
Bondi personally ordered an unnamed federal prosecutor to initiate legal proceedings and the prosecutor is expected to present department evidence to a grand jury, which would allow the department to secure a potential indictment, according to a letter from Bondi reviewed by Fox News Digital and a source familiar with the investigation.
United States Department of Justice, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment on the report of an investigation but said Bondi is taking the referral from Gabbard “very seriously.” The spokesperson said Bondi believed there is “clear cause for deep concern” and a need for next steps.
The DOJ confirmed two weeks ago it received a criminal referral from Gabbard. The referral included a memorandum titled “Intelligence Community suppression of intelligence showing ‘Russian and criminal actors did not impact’ the 2016 presidential election via cyber-attacks on infrastructure” and asked that the DOJ open an investigation.
No charges have been brought at this stage of the investigation against any potential defendants.
While Obama himself enjoys presidential immunity for official acts, DOJ may focus on lower-level officials or alleged false statements to Congress — though statute of limitations could limit prosecution.
Bondi hasn’t ruled out criminal charges if sufficient evidence emerges. For now, the scope of the investigation remains opaque.
What to Watch Next
Will the grand jury lead to indictments — or stall amid immunity and timing issues?
How will critics respond to Bondi’s motives and whether the allegations are partisan?
Might a high-profile hearing or public release of documents emerge if lawmakers press for oversight?
Will emerging revelations around intelligence protocols impact ongoing or future probes?
Bottom Line
With grand jury proceedings officially underway, the DOJ marks a major escalation in the political and legal repercussions of the Russiagate era. Whether this yields accountability or deepens partisan divide depends largely on what evidence is presented — and whether immunity, timing, or lack of new corroboration stymies action.
(Miami - Flórida, 09/03/2020) Presidente da República Jair Bolsonaro durante encontro com o Senador Marco Rubio..Foto: Alan Santos/PR
President Donald Trump has made his clearest endorsement yet for a future Republican presidential candidate, declaring that Vice President JD Vance is “most likely” to carry the MAGA torch after his second term ends.
Speaking on Tuesday, Trump described Vance as “probably the favorite” to lead the Republican Party into the next election cycle.
“He’s most likely the heir,” Trump said, referring to Vance. “He understands the movement, he understands the people, and he’s doing a phenomenal job as Vice President.”
This is the furthest Trump has gone in positioning a successor to his populist-nationalist agenda, formally known as the Make America Great Again movement.
Rubio: VP Vance Would Be a “Great Nominee”
Trump also praised Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling him “somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form,” suggesting Rubio could play a key role in a future Vance-led administration or campaign.
Rubio, for his part, echoed Trump’s praise of Vance during a recent interview with Lara Trump on Fox News.
“I think he’s doing a great job as Vice President. He’s a close friend, and I hope he intends to do it,” Rubio said of Vance.
Although recent polling has shown Rubio with some early support among Republican voters for a potential 2028 run, conventional political wisdom indicates he wouldn’t start publicly signaling interest in running for president until much closer to the election.
“You never know what the future holds,” Rubio said. “But if I’m able to finish this term strong and we accomplish what we’ve set out to do, I’ll be satisfied with that as the apex of my public service career.”
Still, Rubio did not rule out a future run, leaving the door open for a possible challenge or alignment with a Vance ticket.
DeSantis on the Sidelines
Noticeably absent from the conversation was Governor Ron DeSantis, once seen as a natural successor to Trump’s political movement. Despite building a national profile and gaining traction in earlier cycles, Trump’s latest comments suggest DeSantis’s national ambitions may be deferred.
DeSantis has not commented on Trump’s endorsement of Vance, and there have been no signs of reconciliation between the two since the heated 2024 GOP primary battle that Trump won decisively.
After Trump tapped Marco Rubio to serve as Secretary of State, many within the GOP expected Florida’s open Senate seat to go to Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law and a rising star within the Republican Party. However, DeSantis declined to appoint her, widely viewed as a political snub. Months later, President Trump publicly endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds for governor of Florida—despite growing rumors that First Lady Casey DeSantis was quietly laying the groundwork for her own gubernatorial bid.
JD Vance: Rising Star with Trump’s Blessing
Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy and a former venture capitalist turned U.S. Senator from Ohio, has quickly risen through the ranks. Since joining Trump’s 2024 ticket, he has been a key spokesperson for the administration, often on issues like immigration enforcement, trade reform, and a restrained foreign policy.
With Trump now openly calling Vance the future of the movement, the groundwork appears to be laid for a smooth transition of MAGA leadership — one that could shape the GOP’s identity for years beyond Trump’s final term.
A federal appeals court panel voted 2-1 Friday to scrap a judge’s probable cause finding to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for disobeying his order to turn around deportation flights ultimately destined for El Salvador.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled the administration was entitled to an intervention because U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s efforts to punish administration officials raised immediate concerns.
“The order forces a coequal branch to choose between capitulating to an unlawful judicial order and subjecting its officials to a dubious prosecution,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, who was in the majority.
U.S. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard, an appointee of former President Obama, dissented.
“Even when faced with what reasonably appeared to him to be foot dragging, evasion, and outright disregard for his jurisdiction and his orders, he responded with unfailing composure,” Pillard wrote.
“The majority does an exemplary judge a grave disservice by overstepping its bounds to upend his effort to vindicate the judicial authority that is our shared trust,” she continued.
Boasberg entered the national limelight for being assigned the first lawsuit when Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act in March to swiftly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to a notorious Salvadoran megaprison.
At a hastily convened Saturday hearing that weekend, Boasberg ordered the administration turn around any airborne planes deporting migrants under the rarely invoked statute. The order was later wiped by the Supreme Court.
