AVDD Press Round Up
25 July 2025
How a Frantic Scouring of the Epstein Files Consumed the Justice Department; The New York Times, 24 July 2025
Key Points:
Last spring the FBI and Justice Department made an all-out push to scour the Jeffrey Epstein files to find any new information that could be released to satisfy “the angry legions of President Trump’s supporters.” At the end of this “fruitless” process officials acknowledged that they had little to show for their efforts, and came to realize that there was no specific “client list”, which previous investigators had known for years.
Digging into the Epstein files was one of the Trump administration’s top priorities upon entering the White House.
Efforts by the Justice Department and FBI were “a frenetic scramble to sort more than 100,000 pages of material related to Epstein.” Justice Department officials diverted hundreds of FBI employees and prosecutors from “critical missions” to go through the documents at least four times, including once to flag any references to Trump or any other prominent figures.
FBI raised concerns that the investigation was being rushed, and could violate laws and international protocols to protect witnesses, child victims and grand jury material from being released.
FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi were displeased with the first batch of 900 documents which were brought to them and ordered several re-scrubs.
By finding nothing new “the document review has created deep fissures among the president’s followers, who have found themselves not knowing who or what to believe about a story that they have been fed for years.”
Gabbard’s Attacks on Obama Put the Attorney General in a Tough Spot; The New York Times, 24 July 2024
Key Points:
Tulsi Gabbard’s public claims of an Obama-directed conspiracy to overstate Russia’s meddling in the 2016 elections in order to damage Trump were not coordinated with Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose Justice Department may be stuck with leading an “investigation with unpredictable legal and political consequences.”
Gabbard’s announcement is described as a “diversionary tactic” to relieve Trump from the Epstein scandal. The article argues that Gabbard is now back in Trump’s good graces after he excoriated her over a video she filmed during a trip to Asia that he saw as self-promotional.
Trump has complained that the Justice Department was not moving fast enough to investigate those he has labelled as criminals, including Obama.
“Former officials said Ms. Gabbard, by accusing Mr. Obama of wrong doing, stepped outside the boundaries meant to contain intelligence officials. Making accusations of criminal wrongdoing is the job of prosecutors, not spy agencies, they said.”
Convictions may be besides the point, Trump has regularly demanded the investigation and prosecution of politicians and entertainers, but his motivation, according to people around Trump, is to “humiliate his enemies”. Trump stated on Tuesday “After what they did to me, and whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people.”
AVDD Comment: It remains unclear whether Gabbard, in accusing the Obama administration of a “treasonous conspiracy” was acting on her own initiative or at the behest of the White House. For an acting Director of National Intelligence to be selectively releasing skewed information and analysis designed to politically benefit a sitting president, at the direction or suggestion of the president and/or administration, would be an unprecedented example of corruption and politicization at the highest level of the intelligence community and executive branch of government.
See also: Tulsi Gabbard is setting Trump’s base up for the next Epstein disappointment; The Hill, 25 July 2025
Supreme Court Justice Kagan says independence of judges is under threat; The Washington Post, 24 July 2025
Key Points:
Speaking at a judiciary conference, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said yesterday that the independence of judges is under attack by threats of violence, vitriolic reactions to rulings and defiance of court orders, particularly by government officials.
“The response to perceived lawlessness of any kind is law…Judges just need to do what they are obligated to do…which is to do law in the best way they know how to do, make independent, reasoned judgements based on precedent, based on other law, to not be inhibited by any of these threats” Kagan said.
Kagan’s comments come as threats against judges have spiked and President Donald Trump and his allies have escalated diatribes against judges and called for the impeachment of some.
Kagan also said that the vilification of judges had crossed a line and that litigants' increasing willingness to flout rulings “is just not the way the system works.” She did not mention Trump by name, but said “most especially” the biggest offenders have been government officials.
White House Seeks Payments From Other Universities–Including Harvard–After Columbia Deal Sets Precedent; The Wall Street Journal, 25 July 2025
Key Points:
A White House official confirmed that the recent deal struck with Columbia University was now the Trump administration’s blueprint for dealing with other colleges, including Harvard University, that the administration claims failed to stop anti-semitism on campus.
Columbia agreed to pay $200 million to the federal government over three years to settle allegations it violated anti-discrimination law and to restore its federal funding.
The administration is in talks with Harvard, Cornell, Duke, Northwestern and Brown universities, presumably in pursuit of similar agreements.
The administration is hoping to extract millions of dollars from Harvard “in a deal that would make Columbia’s $200 million payment look like peanuts.” Harvard has chosed to sue the administration in federal court. Billions of dollars in Harvard’s federal research money remains frozen and the university has been cut off from future grants.
The deal drew mixed reactions from academics and university leaders from across the country.