Donald Trump repeats intention to sue Michael Wolff and again denies ever visiting Epstein’s island
Over on Truth Social, Donald Trump has reiterated his intention to sue Michael Wolff because he “conspired in order to damage me and/or my Presidency”, and reasserted that he never visited Jeffrey Epstein’s island home.
Trump also claimed that he “wasn’t friendly” with Epstein. In fact, he and Epstein were close friends for some 15 years until they had a falling out around 2004.
Not only wasn’t I friendly with Jeffrey Epstein but, based upon information that has just been released by the Department of Justice, Epstein and a SLEAZEBAG lying “author” named Michael Wolff, conspired in order to damage me and/or my Presidency. So much for the Radical Left’s hope against hope, some of whom I’ll be suing. Additionally, unlike so many people that like to “talk” trash, I never went to the infested Epstein island but, almost all of these Crooked Democrats, and their Donors, did.
A reminder that Trump said on Saturday evening that he would probably sue Wolff, the author of an unauthorized biography of the president, for “conspiring” with Epstein to damage him politically. He told reporters aboard Air Force One:
So we’ll probably sue Wolff on it. And maybe the Epstein estate I guess, I don’t know, but we’re certainly gonna sue him … because he [Epstein] was conspiring with Wolff to do harm to me politically. That’s not a friend.
Wolff featured prominently in the tranche of Epstein files released by the DOJ back in November, which appeared to show him acting as an unofficial adviser and publicist for Epstein.
To recap briefly, in one email, Wolff suggested that Epstein could be the “bullet” to end Trump’s 2016 campaign. In another, he advised Epstein in 2015 to let Trump “hang himself” regarding his denials of visiting Epstein’s house or flying on his plane. He suggested that Epstein use Trump’s potential lies about their relationship as “valuable PR and political currency” depending on the outcome of the 2016 election. “You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt,” Wolff wrote to Epstein.
Key events

Robert Tait
Ron Johnson, a GOP senator from Wisconsin, said he did not “have a problem” with ICE officers wearing cameras, one of the key demands made by Democrats who are currently blocking the agency’s financing.
“I don’t have a problem with that personally,” Johnson, the chair of the Senate’s homeland security committee, told CNN’s Dana Bash on the State of the Union program.
Wearing body cameras has been among the conditions attached by Democrats to agreeing to continued funding of the agency, whose operations have come under fierce scrutiny over its patrols in Minneapolis following the fatal shootings of two people, Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
The Senate passed a package of five measures last Friday to fund government departments until next September, as well as a bill to continue homeland security operations for two weeks.
The House of Representatives will consider the legislation this week. Democrats in the House are expected to continue demands for reforms to ICE’s activities after its caucus met on Sunday to plot a strategy.
Many Republicans in both chambers have said that that their demands are non-starters.
Johnson told CNN that agents were “on hair-trigger alert” and claimed some had been shot at and had their cars rammed by protesters. He conceded Bash’s point that wearing body cameras might serve to illuminate such situations.
But he rejected the call for judicial warrants, portraying that as the Democrats’ central demand and a “sneaky way” to derail Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.
“This is immigration law that has always been adjudicated through … administrative judges,” he said. “We’ve got millions of cases backlogged. We’re talking about general criminal law. You’re talking probably hundreds of thousands of cases. We have millions of cases so demanding judicial warrants is their sneaky way of basically neutering our ability to enforce our immigration laws.”
Renee Nicole Good’s brothers to testify before Congress
A note that on Tuesday, there will be a bicameral hearing led by Democrats to hear testimony on the tactics and use of force by federal immigration agents during crackdowns across the country. Senator Richard Blumenthal and congressman Robert Garcia will lead the hearing, and two of the witnesses will be Renee Nicole Good’s brothers, Brent and Luke Granger.
Last month, Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis. Her death sparked further protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Two weeks after Good’s death, another US citizen, Alex Pretti, was killed by federal officers.
Donald Trump repeats intention to sue Michael Wolff and again denies ever visiting Epstein’s island
Over on Truth Social, Donald Trump has reiterated his intention to sue Michael Wolff because he “conspired in order to damage me and/or my Presidency”, and reasserted that he never visited Jeffrey Epstein’s island home.
Trump also claimed that he “wasn’t friendly” with Epstein. In fact, he and Epstein were close friends for some 15 years until they had a falling out around 2004.
Not only wasn’t I friendly with Jeffrey Epstein but, based upon information that has just been released by the Department of Justice, Epstein and a SLEAZEBAG lying “author” named Michael Wolff, conspired in order to damage me and/or my Presidency. So much for the Radical Left’s hope against hope, some of whom I’ll be suing. Additionally, unlike so many people that like to “talk” trash, I never went to the infested Epstein island but, almost all of these Crooked Democrats, and their Donors, did.
A reminder that Trump said on Saturday evening that he would probably sue Wolff, the author of an unauthorized biography of the president, for “conspiring” with Epstein to damage him politically. He told reporters aboard Air Force One:
So we’ll probably sue Wolff on it. And maybe the Epstein estate I guess, I don’t know, but we’re certainly gonna sue him … because he [Epstein] was conspiring with Wolff to do harm to me politically. That’s not a friend.
Wolff featured prominently in the tranche of Epstein files released by the DOJ back in November, which appeared to show him acting as an unofficial adviser and publicist for Epstein.
To recap briefly, in one email, Wolff suggested that Epstein could be the “bullet” to end Trump’s 2016 campaign. In another, he advised Epstein in 2015 to let Trump “hang himself” regarding his denials of visiting Epstein’s house or flying on his plane. He suggested that Epstein use Trump’s potential lies about their relationship as “valuable PR and political currency” depending on the outcome of the 2016 election. “You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt,” Wolff wrote to Epstein.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics said today that the closely watched jobs report for January will be not be released on Friday because of the partial government shutdown.
“The release will be rescheduled upon the resumption of government funding,” Emily Liddel, associate commissioner at the BLS, said in a statement.
Trump says US and India have reached trade deal and will lower tariffs immediately
Donald Trump has announced that after a call with India’s prime minister Narendra Modi they had agreed to lower tariffs between their countries.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said that India had agreed to halt purchases of Russian oil, committed to reducing tariffs on US goods to zero, and committed to purchasing over $500bn worth ofAmerican products, covering energy, technology, and agriculture. In return, Trump announced a reduction of “reciprocal” tariffs on Indian goods from 25% to 18% “effective immediately”.
Truth added that India had agreed “to buy much more [oil] from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela”.
Modi confirmed the tariff reduction in a post on X, where he also praised Trump’s “efforts for peace”.
Trade talks between the US and India stalled last year owing to several factors, including New Delhi’s continued reliance on Russian oil, which proved a major sticking point amid Trump’s efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Top homeland security Democrat urges lawmakers to vote against remaining funding bills
In a letter to Democratic House members, the ranking member of the homeland security committee, Bennie Thompson, has urged his colleagues to vote against the package of bills that would keep much of the government funded, and a stopgap measure to keep the Department of Homeland Security operating for two weeks while negotiations continue.
“Democrats must act now to demand real changes that protect our communities before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) receive another dollar in funding,” Thompson writes in a letter, co-signed by his Democratic colleagues on the House homeland security committee.
Thompson notes that Democrats should not pass the short-term relief to allow for negotiations. Noting that they should ensure several provisions, like the use of judicial warrants to carry out arrests and ensuring immigration officers are identifiable, are already included.
Immigrant rights groups sue Trump administration over visa ban on 75 countries
Immigrant right groups, nonprofits, legal organizations and several citizens have sued the Trump administration over the visa ban on 75 countries, issued in January.
In the lawsuit, they accuse secretary of state Marco Rubio and the state department of implementing a “categorical nationality-based ban on legal immigration” for nationals of 75 countries based on “an unsupported and demonstrably false claim that nationals of the covered countries migrate to the United States to improperly rely on cash welfare and are likely to become ‘public charges’”.
Filed in a federal court in Manhattan, the plaintiffs cite examples of people from the list of countries – the overwhelming majority of which are non-European with significant nonwhite populations – who are unable to continue pursuing legal pathways to stay in the US because of the ban. In some cases, they are living with family members who have valid status in the US.
Democratic lawmaker slams Trump’s proposal to close Kennedy center for two years
Democratic congresswoman Joyce Beatty has slammed the Donald Trump’s announcement that the John F Kennedy Center, DC’s foremost performing arts venue, will cease events for two years while it undergoes renovations.
Beatty, a representative from Ohio, said that the president had “acted with total disregard for Congress”, since the center receives a portion of its funding through appropriations. “Congress should have been consulted on any decision to shut down its operations or undertake major renovations, especially for a two-year period,” she said in a statement.
“Countless employees, artists, and others have existing contracts and agreements with the Center. What happens to them? Has Trump or his handpicked Board given any consideration to their livelihoods or futures? This is precisely why congressional oversight is essential,” she added.
After Trump returned to office last year he jettisoned the existing board, installed himself as chairman, and ensured that his handpicked board of trustees voted to rename the venue as the “Trump-Kennedy Center”. However, any official legal change to the name would require congressional approval.
In response to the president’s takeover, several artists and production companies have decided to cut ties with the Kennedy Center in protest.
New CBS News contributor mentioned more than 1,700 times in latest Epstein files drop
A new CBS News contributor, Peter Attia, is mentioned more than 1,700 times in the latest release of Epstein files from the justice department. Just days ago, the Guardian reported that Attia – who hosts a popular podcast about longevity –had joined the ranks at CBS under embattled editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
Throughout the email exchanges released by the DoJ, Attia corresponded with Epstein on dozens of occasions after the late sex-offender pleaded guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution, and registers as a sexual offended.
“I get JE withdrawal when I don’t see him,” Attia writes in an email to Epstein’s assistant on 21 January 2016.
In CBS News’ press release, announcing Attia’s hiring, they note that he is “the founder of Outlive”, a new app that translates longevity science into personalized daily practice” as well as Early Medical, “a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients, aiming to simultaneously lengthen their lifespan and increase their healthspan”.
In a 2023 interview with the Guardian, Attia outlined many of his theories around the science of longevity.
A rightwing Brazilian influencer who claimed Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown only targeted “crooks” has been arrested by ICE agents in New Jersey.
Júnior Pena, whose full name is Eustáquio da Silva Pena Júnior, declared his support for the US president in a recent video message to his hundreds of thousands of social media followers.
“I [support] Donald Trump – I like the guy,” announced the South American TikToker and Instagrammer whose account purports to show “the reality of the United States” from a migrant’s perspective.
In a previous video, Pena reportedly urged Brazilians to stay calm and not “despair” after reports that ICE agents were rounding up migrants, including Brazilians. “But they’re all crooks. The lot of them,” he falsely claimed of the migrants being seized.
On Saturday, Pena was himself reportedly detained and sent to the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. One friend told the local newspaper the Brazilian Times that Pena had been taken into custody after missing a court hearing. The detainee’s lawyer, Andrew Lattarulo, was reportedly trying to resolve the situation and prevent him being transferred to another state.
The Brazilian influencer has reportedly lived in the US since 2009 and hails from Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, a state long known as a major source of migrants to the US and Europe.
#Donald #Trump #denies #visiting #Epsteins #island #repeats #threat #sue #journalist #politics #live #Congress