Yassamin Ansari

A Democratic lawmaker had sharp words for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Trump administration on Thursday — and vowed to take legal action.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) told MS NOW anchor Alicia Menendez that Blanche, who President Donald Trump nominated as attorney general, needs to face real consequences for his involvement in the Epstein files. She suggested that Vice President J.D. Vance and Blanche should face investigations over their involvement in concealing the files.

"This is the biggest coverup in American history," she said. "The White House's coverup of the Epstein files is so beyond shameful and there are so many people who need to be investigated and ultimately prosecuted for it. Let's not forget that J.D. Vance held a meeting in the White House Situation Room — this is a room where, historically, presidents convene national security experts to talk about matters of war and combatting terrorism."

Ansari described feeling in awe of Jeffrey Epstein's survivors and their courage following testimony from Dani Bensky. Bensky discussed how Blanche had not met with Epstein's victims or their representatives.

"Their lives have been upended because of Todd Blanche," she said. "I don't trust Todd Blanche at all. He is Donald Trump's attorney. He technically is his former personal defense attorney. But yesterday, as we heard in the confirmation hearing, he still called himself Donald Trump's lawyer. And they will do everything that they can to cover this up."

Blanche has been under oath in Congress, facing heated questions from lawmakers this week.

"We know that Todd Blanche met with Ghislaine Maxwell for nine hours," she said. "Dani laid this out very clearly in her testimony. He has not met with survivors. I would think that when Republican senators, at least one has made clear that he does need to do so. He may go through the motions. But Todd Blanche cannot be trusted. He was the one who was managing this entire situation. He is the one who has refused to release the entirety of the Epstein files. He is the one who has doxed survivors and upended their entire lives by releasing their personal information, unveiling information about Jane Doe's who now have to deal with the consequences of all of this when they didn't choose to.

"He's a monster. And Todd Blanche should go to jail — he belongs in jail. He should absolutely not be confirmed as the attorney general of the United States of America."

President Donald Trump's controversial elections speech on Thursday night has "scrambled" the agenda for Republicans in Congress once again and left one in particular with a big problem, Politico reported on Friday.

Per the report, Republican leaders have been trying to walk back the idea of adding portions of the SAVE America Act, Trump's pet project bill to place a bevy of new restrictions on voting, instead pushing a "clean" reconciliation bill.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has pushed a plan that "would fund the government well ahead of the normal Sept. 30 deadline in a Congress that’s already seen two record-breaking funding lapses."

According to Politico's anonymous sources, Johnson has been working hard to lobby Trump for his support.

"According to three people granted anonymity to discuss private conversations, " Politico reported, "Johnson has also been privately trying to convince Trump to endorse the plan in hopes of stoking another shutdown fight far in advance of the midterms, which Republicans believe would work to their party’s advantage at the polls."

This conflict arrises as Johnson and fellow House GOP leaders face mounting pressure, Politico noted.

"House GOP leaders are trying to put that budget resolution on the floor next week, too — setting up some serious whip operations for leaders trying to get buy-in from all corners of their conference on both measures," according to the report.

"It won’t be easy, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune provided Johnson with another cold reality check Thursday. After learning the speaker was telling reporters the Senate would adopt the House’s budget framework before August recess, Thune responded, 'That’d be news to me.'"

A top White House official is ramping up “apocalyptic and authoritarian rhetoric” with a barrage of threats to crack down on opposition to the Trump administration, Zeteo’s Andrew Perez argued Friday in a new analysis.

White House Chief of Staff and “shadow president" Stephen Miller on Thursday spoke at an event that critics have labeled as an affront on free speech, Perez wrote.

Titled the “Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism,” the Washington, D.C. event saw Miller boast of the Trump administration’s newfound focus.

Miller reportedly described an effort to “disrupt, identify, defund, debank, arrest, and prosecute these political terrorists that are operating in our country.”

Perez expressed concern that the Trump administration’s definition of terrorism has been broadly expanded in recent months.

Under a recent Trump directive, federal law enforcement agencies have been instructed to investigate Americans who meet new indicators of potential domestic terrorism, which include publicly expressing “anti-Americanism” views or expressing “hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family.”

“A Rush Limbaugh fan as a teen, Miller has always dreamed of crushing the left,” Perez wrote. “Now, he’s getting to use the full force of the federal government to lead an all-out war on liberals, progressives, and leftists – and he’s throwing it in all our faces with his characteristically apocalyptic and authoritarian rhetoric.”

The Trump administration has repeatedly blamed the “radical left” for the increase in domestic political violence, claims that were carried by Miller on Thursday. However, multiple studies have shown political violence in the United States is perpetrated by “right-wingers” at a significantly higher rate than those labeled as being politically left.

A study published last year from the CATO Institute found that terrorist attacks propagated by “right-wingers” accounted for 11% of murders since 1975, whereas “left-wing terrorists” were responsible for 2%. A 2024 study by the Justice Department (DOJ) found that right-wing acts of political violence “outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism,” though the Trump administration quietly scrubbed the DOJ study from its website last year.

“An administration concerned about political violence would not see its president offer mass pardons and clemency to the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as part of an effort to overturn the 2020 election, nor would it demand judges throw out related seditious conspiracy convictions against Proud Boys and Oath Keepers,” Perez wrote.

“No, this administration is led by fascists, like Stephen Miller, who is living out his violent fantasy.”