RON FILIPKOWSKI DOES A BRILLIANT JOB REPORTING SIGNIFICANT ISSUES.... 

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Today in Politics, Bulletin 274. 12/19/25 Ron Filipkowski Dec 19 ∙ … Under federal law, DOJ was supposed to release ALL of the Epstein files today with minimal redactions just to protect the identity of victims. Once again, AG Pam Bondi and Dep. AG Todd Blanche violated the law by only releasing some of the documents in the files, with many of those heavily redacted. … MS NOW legal analyst Lisa Rubin: “This is not a rolling deadline. DOJ appears to be interpreting that as long as they start today, they can continue to produce for a couple of weeks. That’s not what the text of the bill says. It says not later than 30 days after the enactment of this act, the AG must produce all of the documents.” … MS NOW host: “We were just given a joint statement by ranking members Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin. They wrote, ‘We are now examining all legal options in the face of this violation of fed law. The survivors of this nightmare deserve justice. The co-conspirators must be held accountable, and the American people deserve complete transparency from the DOJ.’” … Sen. Chuck Schumer: “The law Congress passed and Trump signed was clear as can be - the Trump admin had 30 days to release ALL the Epstein files, not just some. Failing to do so is breaking the law. This just shows DOJ, Trump, and Bondi are hellbent on hiding the truth. Senate Dems are working closely with attorneys for the victims of Epstein and with outside legal experts to assess what documents are being withheld and what is being covered up by Bondi.” … “We will not stop until the whole truth comes out. People want the truth and continue to demand the immediate release of all the Epstein files. This is nothing more than a cover up to protect Trump from his ugly past.” … Todd Blanche was on Fox: “I expect we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today, and those documents will come in all different forms - photographs, etc. Just so everybody appreciates - Trump has said for years that he wants full transparency.” … Epstein survivor Danielle Bensky on MS NOW: “I just read Todd Blanche’s statement saying that we’re going to see more in the coming weeks. That makes me really nervous. We had hoped that we would see everything today, and the fact that we still haven’t seen anything feels nerve-wracking.” … Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ): “I don’t trust this WH because they have not proven to be trustworthy all year. They have been covering up the truth. Trump himself has blatantly lied about his relationship with Epstein. Anyone who was involved in either perpetrating abuse or rape of girls and women or enabling the cover up should be held accountable.” … When the partial files were finally released, they appeared to be a lot more heavily-redacted than the statute mandated. … MAGA influencer Byl Holte to his 150K followers: “I’m just gonna say it: Dan Bongino’s sudden and abrupt RETREAT is another MASKS OFF moment for the Republican Party. Bongino went in guns blazing - and came out 9 MONTHS LATER with his tail between his legs. No Epstein. No major Democrat arrests. No J6 JUSTICE. NO NOTHING. I have ZERO confidence in Trump’s DOJ after this. But hey Dan, can you hold the door for Kash on your way out?” … Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) announced today that she is dropping out of the race for NY governor and retiring from Congress: “While spending precious time with my family this Christmas season, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for Governor and will not seek re-election to Congress. I did not come to this decision lightly for our family. It is not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like NY.” … Translation, she is dropping in the polls badly and has zero chance to win, Trump screwed her over by pulling her nomination for US Ambassador and then holding the love fest with Mamdani when her entire campaign was to run against his platform, and she has been publicly feuding with Mike Johnson after he wouldn’t return her to a place in House leadership. We will not miss her. I doubt her Republican colleagues will either. … This is what I posted on social media 15 minutes after Trump’s meeting with Zohran Mamdani started. The day the music died for Stefanik’s political career. … Politico: “After appearing in a closed-door deposition with the House Judiciary Committee earlier this week, Jack Smith still wants the chance to defend his work in a public hearing – and defend himself against continued Republican attacks. Attorneys for Smith are pressing for their client to be allowed to testify in an open forum in a new letter to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan: “We reiterate our request for an open and public hearing.” … Smith’s attorneys also requested that the videotape of Smith’s testimony be released in full so that he can speak to the public directly “rather than through second-hand accounts.” Smith’s deposition spanned more than 8 hours Wed, as he spoke to House Judiciary members under oath and stood by his decisions to levy criminal charges against the then-former president for allegedly mishandling classified documents and attempting to subvert the results of the 2020 election.” … Sen Maj Leader John Thune was asked on Fox about Trump trying to rename the Kennedy Center: Q - “Is that going to fly on Capitol Hill? Thune: We are just starting to process that announcement. Q - But you know the pushback—It’s not just Democrats. There will be some Republicans that these are historic monuments that need to be named the thing that they were named. Thune: I’m not familiar with the process of how this is done. I’m sure we will get all the answers to that in due time.” … Maria Shriver issued another statement: “The Kennedy Center was named after my uncle, President JFK. It was named in his honor. He was a man who was interested in the arts, interested in culture, interested in education, language, history. He brought the arts into the WH, and he and my Aunt Jackie amplified the arts, celebrated the arts, stood up for the arts and artists.” … “It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy. It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not. Next thing perhaps he will want to rename JFK Airport, rename the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Lincoln Memorial. The Trump Jefferson Memorial. The Trump Smithsonian. The list goes on.” … Rep. Joyce Beattie (D-OH) is one of the few Dems still on the board of the center. She disputed Karoline Leavitt’s claim that the vote was unanimous to change the name: “For the record. This was not unanimous. I was muted on the call and not allowed to speak or voice my opposition to this move. Also for the record, this was not on the agenda. This was not consensus. This is censorship.” … It doesn’t matter what the board voted, though. The Kennedy Center was created and named by an act of Congress. But that doesn’t matter to Trump - he had a crew change the name on the side of the building today. … Trump held an event at the WH today with 9 drug company CEOs to talk about drug prices. He show up 90 minutes late as they stood there behind his empty podium waiting. One woman in heels appeared to be struggling mightily to stand in one spot that long, shifting her feet back and forth uncomfortably. Low-energy Trump then showed up and attempted to read their names, and butchered every one. … Trump started out by holding up one of his Trump Gold Cards with his left hand (because his right one was black again), where people can buy US citizenship for $1 million. He said that Howard Lutnick has taken in $1.3 billion so far selling citizenship cards. … He then announced that his new drug program was going to be named after, you guessed it, Donald J. Trump: "Trump RX.gov. And I didn't name it that. Somebody named it that. Did you name it, Oz? Did Bobby name it? Oz: We all named it together. Trump: I'm honored to have the name." … Trump then had the CEOs come up one by one to praise his leadership. … Then he claimed that all he had to do was ask CEOs to lower drug prices and they agreed to do that for him: “Now you are going to see numbers that nobody would believe. Think of that - prices coming down 500%, 600%, 700%, 800%.” … Trump then finally announced his new healthcare plan: “We should have a meeting with the insurance companies, I would say that maybe with one talk they would be willing to cut their prices by 50%, 60%, or 70%.” … Big if true. … Knowing that the Epstein files was today’s lead story, Trump refused to take any questions and walked out: “I think I won't take questions today because there's no way I can take questions that are in a comparable to what you just witnessed. I really don't want to soil it up by asking questions, even questions that I would love to answer. I think we have to just stop right here.” … Even Fox host John Roberts wasn’t buying it. He had Howard Lutnick on: Q - “If you cut something by 100%, the cost goes down to 0. If you cut it by 600%, the drug companies are actually paying you to take their product. How much of the speech was hyperbole? Lutnick: No. What he’s saying is if a drug was $100 and you bring the drug down to $13, if you’re looking at it from $13, it’s down 7 times.” … Roberts: “But it’s not a 600% cut. Lutnick: But it’s 700% higher price before. It’s down 700% now. So $13 would have to go up 700% to get back to the old one. So it all depends on when you look at it.” … I wish I had Lutnick grading my math exams in school. … Dr. Jonathan Reiner was on CNN: Q - “Earlier today - and this isn’t the first time this has happened - the president appeared to be struggling to keep his eyes open during a public WH event. Does that worry you? Reiner: It’s jarring to see the president go from basically asleep in the Oval to a rapid fire pace during a 30-minute speech he gave in 18 minutes. There’s been a lot of health issues.” … Sen. Maj. Leader John Thune was asked about the economy on Fox: Q - “So when you look at polls of Americans not liking the economy, you say to those constituents, ‘hold on’? Thune: Well, I think, you know - yes. It takes a little patience.” … Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick today on Fox: "Look for the 2nd quarter of 2026 to be amazing!” … Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on March 14th on Fox: “In the 4th quarter of 2025, this economy is gonna be humming!” … When Lutnick was blaming Biden last March for everything, he was asked when it was going to be Trump’s economy: “Ok, Donald Trump’s economy? We own the economy in the 4th quarter of 2025.” … Here we are in the 4th quarter, and they are still blaming Biden. What a surprise. … Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer on Fox: “With more people searching for jobs, the unemployment rate can tick up because that means more people are getting off the sideline and finally wanting to be part of the American economy. Fox host: That was an interesting diplomatic move, to say a 4-year high for unemployment is actually good news.” … CNBC host on new consumer sentiment numbers: “50.4 is a new all time low, and my database goes back into the 1970s.” … Fox Business host: “Home sales numbers - not strong at all. Consumers are just worried about the price of things and long-run inflation expectations. But the market seems to like it because they expect these bad numbers to lead to rate cuts. The weakness I think is attractive. Bad news is actually good news for the market, maybe.” Boy, was this a long week. Hopefully things will calm down a little next week for the holidays, but most likely Trump will invade Venezuela or something. Reminder that tomorrow is my one day off! and we are heading to see a performance of the Victorian Nutcracker. I have a HUGE special on Substack for the end of the year. Starting on Dec 27, I am going to post my list of the 500 Worst Things Trump Did In 2025. It will be 100 a day, in chronological order, from Dec 27-31. It will be the most comprehensive chronicle of the horrors of the first year of this admin that you will find anywhere. I am also going to include links on each one. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. That you for reading and subscribing to support my work. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribed … NBC: “The CDC had logged 26,632 cases of whooping cough in 2025. The last time the US saw so many cases was more than a decade ago. Whooping cough is preventable. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children get 4 doses of the DTaP vaccine - which protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis - before kindergarten. But DTaP vaccination rates are plummeting across the country, as part of a larger, troubling trend of growing vaccine hesitancy that is fueling a resurgence of preventable diseases, including measles.” … “35 states provided data on DTaP vaccination rates, including 31 that provided specific data on how many kindergarteners got the first 4 doses of the vaccine. About 70% of the counties and jurisdictions in those 31 states were below the 95% target rate recommended for community protection. 58% of the counties in TX came in below that recommended rate.” … MS NOW: “HHS is essentially going to eliminate 7 different grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics. They will be eliminating aid to prevent infant mortality, aid to prevent birth defects, an elimination of help for young adults, early detection of autism.” … Andrew Nixon, HHS Spokesperson: “The grants were cancelled along with a number of other grants to organizations because they no longer align with the Department’s mission or priorities.” … CNN: “HHS is planning a major overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule in the US. We’d be losing vaccinations against a number of different diseases including RSV, which of course is the leading cause of hospitalization among infants, rotavirus, flu, chickenpox, hepatitis A, and meningococcal disease.” … CNBC: NY Federal Reserve President John Williams said that ‘technical factors’ likely distorted Nov’s inflation data, pushing the headline reading lower than it otherwise would have been: “There were some special factors that really are related to the fact that they weren’t able to collect data in Oct and in the first half of Nov. And because of that, I think the data were distorted in some of the categories, and that pushed down the CPI reading.” … “Williams said the data may have a downward bias because it was collected mainly in the second half of Nov, when Black Friday sales were widespread, and noted there were also complications with rents and other categories not being reported at all. … Economist Gordon Johnson: “Why has inflation collapsed? The govt stopped reporting the data in Oct./Nov. That the media isn’t focused on this shame of a report is amazing. It’s actually quite funny. They are literally only reporting gas prices/car prices. Food, shelter, healthcare, and several other categories? Missing.” … Congressional reporter Jamie Dupree on Trump illegally seizing $2.6 billion appropriated by Congress for military housing allowances and giving it out as bonus checks: “Sen. Susan Collins, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, told us she did not know any of the details about this Pentagon money shift.” … I’m sure, as usual, she will prattled about how “concerned” she is while doing nothing. … CNBC host Andrew Sorkin to Meidas: “The President said that China was going to buy 12 million metric tons of soybeans by the end of the year. I’ve repeatedly asked members of the admin: the end of the year is basically here—we’re about 15 days away. I think we’ve sold about 300,000 metric tons. So how do you get from 300,000 to 12 million? The math just doesn’t add up.” … Sorkin: “This is now state-sponsored capitalism. This is not really capitalism. Everything runs through the WH now. We have never had a time where CEOs and business leaders are making their decisions daily where their strategy is based on whether it’s going to be in line with the president, whether he’s going to agree or disagree, or decide to sue or not over whatever you’re doing. That is a fundamental re-shift, and that is something that’s more akin to places like China.” … Politico: “Members of the MAGA faithful gathered here to kick off Turning Point USA’s America Fest, the largest meeting for the org since its founder, Charlie Kirk, was shot to death. Despite that somber backdrop, the event quickly devolved into a spectacle of MAGA infighting. Ben Shapiro, the first speaker after Erika Kirk, ripped into those who would take the same stage in the coming hours and days. He blasted Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Steve Bannon as ‘frauds and grifters.’” … Shapiro: “The conservative movement is in serious danger from charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle but actually traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty. ‘Just asking questions’, positing vague conspiracies, raving like Alex Jones about secret confederacies, none of it makes your life better. None of it. In fact, it makes your life worse. If you truly believe nothing in your life is in your control, you cannot take control of your own life.” … Shapiro: “When Steve Bannon accuses his foreign-policy opponents of loyalty to a foreign country, he is not making an argument based in evidence but maligning people he disagrees with, which is indeed par for the course from a man who was a PR flack for Jeffrey Epstein. (That comment drew some booing from Bannon fans) … Shapiro then called out Megyn Kelly for refusing to condemn Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens’ conspiracies that Israel was behind Kirk’s assassination: “What Megyn Kelly said this week - she sees no purpose in inserting herself into this on one side. That is a moral and logical absurdity.” … A few hours later, Tucker took the stage and went after Shapiro: “That guy is pompous. Calls to deplatform at a Charlie Kirk event? That’s hilarious. Can we not see what is happening here? C’mon, my fellow Americans! Wake up! This is not dignified. This is not funny. It’s downright weird. It’s obsessive in a weird way. Just when you think someone can’t stoop any lower, down they go.” … Tucker then called out Christians at the event for supporting Israel: “It’s the essence of the Christian faith, and killing tens of thousands of children and making excuses for it on behalf of a foreign govt is not in the Bible. It’s antithetical to that. Sorry. It doesn’t make me a hater. It makes me the opponent of hate. So now that I’ve alienated most of the crowd and made everyone mad, are there any questions I can answer?” … The crowd wasn’t especially happy with either one of their speeches. … Marge’s Greene’s fiancee Brian Glenn was at the event: “All this talk is horrible for us winning the 2026 midterms. This does nothing to improve anyone’s life. And if I seem a little angry about it, I am. We waste so much time on who said this, who said that, all these conspiracy theories. All this bullshit - I’m over it.” … Podcaster Tim Pool: “The fracturing of the right is demoralizing.” … Erika Kirk concluded her speech by endorsing her very good friend JD Vance in the 2028 Republican primary: “We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible.” … This photo was taken by one of the attendees at the event. … WaPo: “At least 20 people who have received clemency from Trump so far this year were also forgiven of financial penalties totaling tens of millions of dollars. Some of these offenders owed money to victims of fraud. Marian Morgan, for example, was sentenced in 2013 to nearly 34 years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme and was ordered to pay $17.5 million to dozens of investors, most of which remains unpaid.” … “In 2021, Morgan filed a statement in court saying, ‘I want to pay restitution to my victims so they know I am truly sorry for the damage I caused.’ But in May, Trump commuted her sentence ‘to time served with no further fines, restitution, probation or other conditions.’” … Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “This time last year, Sen. Jon Ossoff was considered to be the Democratic Party’s likeliest casualty on the 2026 Senate map. Now, Georgia Democrats increasingly are confident of his midterm chances, and Republicans are the ones sounding pessimistic.” … NATO chief Mark Rutte: "Russia has brought war back to Europe, and we must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents and great grandparents endured." … Putin responded to Rutte at a press conference today: "What are you talking about when you talk about preparing for war with Russia. Can you read? Have you read the US National Security Strategy? It doesn't mention Russia as an adversary. US is the main backer of NATO. And yet the General Secretary of NATO is preparing it for war? It's just a lack of basic professional competence." … Putin has a point. Trump’s national security strategy document does seem to align us with Russia and against Europe. … Marco Rubio today on Russia-Ukraine: “It’s not our war. It’s a war on another continent.” … DNC Chair Ken Martin summarized their lengthy study of what went wrong in the 2024 campaign: “Democrats did spend more on CTV and digital ads than Republicans in 2024, but given our reliance on cord-cutting, digital-native younger Americans who rarely engage with broadcast or cable TV, this delta needs to get wider.” … “In addition, Trump’s overperformance with young voters was bolstered by a network of right-wing digital media publishers. Democrats must play catch up – scaling up both strategic investments and ‘earned’ engagement with new media. Influencer engagement should also be paired with organizing tactics, reflecting how the right wing media ecosystem deploys influencers to drive turnout and organize voters.” … “The DNC is taking action to ensure we continue modernizing and protecting our critical infrastructure, including issuing a RFP focused on ‘tools and technologies that will power the next generation of organizing’ and piloting a number of new tools in 2025 races – voter and volunteer data management systems, platforms for moving volunteers to take action, and tools for engaging with, and listening to, voters in new ways.” … “In 2024, voters were telling us what they cared about and we were not responsive to these concerns. This was evident on issues like public safety and immigration – where Democrats operated from a defensive or avoidant posture, ceding ground to Republicans – as well as on the economy – which was messaged on but with a massive credibility gap. Going forward, Democrats must listen to what voters’ concerns are and actually address those issues head on in our messaging. … “Here’s our North Star: winning elections. To that end, we are aligned on what’s important, and that’s learning from the past and winning the future. Democrats are on the march towards winning back Congress in 2026 – we’re laser focused on the midterms, and every member of our ecosystem should have their sights trained on building toward those victories.”