Lutnick says Epstein was gross
Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says that the first time he met sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein he realized that Epstein was gross and he should have nothing to do with him. Lutnick was interviewed by the New York Post and described how Epstein, who lived next door to Lutnick, invited Lutnick over for coffee and then proceeded to show him his massage room and invited Lutnick to come back for massages. Epstein and some of his friends used young girls to give them massages and then had sex with them. When asked by the Post reporter, Lutnick did not explain how he was able to instantly recognize that he did not want to associate with Epstein while Donald Trump did not and had at least a decade-long friendship with Epstein, with Epstein saying he and Trump were best friends. Lutnick said that Epstein videotaped sexual encounters of his friends and associates and was a blackmailer.
FEMA withholds hundreds of millions from states
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has halted the release of hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency preparedness grants. The funds — called Emergency Management Performance Grants — totaled more than $300 million last year and help local communities prepare for disasters by paying for emergency management staff, training, equipment and public education. States began receiving notices that they must now submit a population certification as of Sept. 30 detailing their methodology and confirming that individuals removed under U.S. immigration laws are not included in the tally. The notices to states were sent hours after a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration from diverting similar FEMA grants away from about a dozen Democratic-led states. For months, the Trump administration has threatened some Democrat-controlled states with funding cuts, especially those with so-called sanctuary immigration enforcement policies.
Trump embraces Project 2025
After having claimed during his campaign to know nothing about the Heritage Foundation’s massive Project 2025 playbook for a second Trump administration, Donald Trump now is praising Project 2025 as a creation of his Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought. Trump yesterday praised Vought for having been a key force behind Project 2025. Others who contributed to Project 2025 are now working in the Trump administration and Trump had close ties with them during the campaign. They include immigration chief Tom Homan, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Trump’s close aide Stephen Miller.
Trump administration withholds money for Chicago
Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said today that the Trump administration will be withholding $2.1 billion that had been appropriated for infrastructure projects in Chicago. This follows Vought withholding $18 billion in funds for New York projects. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has spoken out against Trump sending armed military units to patrol Chicago, which he says copies tactics used by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pritzker also says Trump is suffering from dementia and has called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked and Trump removed from office.
ICE impersonators discovered
A CNN investigation has uncovered at least two dozen instances of people impersonating immigration officers in 2025 alone. The cases range from political agitators seeking to intimidate immigrants to others using the guise of authority to allegedly kidnap, rob or assault victims. Some experts and officials have attributed the rise in imposters to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics — including the use of masked agents. When agents wear masks, it creates confusion about how to identify real agents, critics argue. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last month making his state the first to ban agents from wearing masks during operations. However, the White House has declared the law unconstitutional and said ICE will not abide.
Venezuela says U.S. has staged military provocation
Venezuela said it had detected five U.S. fighter jets flying near its Caribbean coast. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino described the incident as a “provocation” by the U.S. that posed a threat to national security. This comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Caracas following the deployment of several U.S. warships in the Caribbean, which the U.S. claims is a mission to combat drug trafficking, but Venezuela believes is aimed at regime change to put back into office a dictator who Donald Trump likes. Recent U.S. strikes have targeted at least four boats, killing more than a dozen people with the US failing to provided concrete evidence that those targeted were criminals.
