The president battles a rare backlash from his supporters, many of whom say he is hiding vital information. Plus, a climate expert calls for a tax on AI and crypto
Good morning.
Donald Trump has turned on his Maga base, blasting his supporters as gullible “weaklings” for believing the government is holding out on crucial information about the disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The president is facing a crisis as his supporters suspect the administration is hiding details of Epstein’s crimes to protect members of the child sex offender’s elite circle – which, at one point, included Trump. In a post on Truth Social, the president claimed his voters had fallen for what he called a “radical left” hoax to discredit him.
It is unusual for his base to question Trump – but it comes after the president stirred up conspiracy theories during his election campaigns, including that the US is controlled by “deep state” elites.
What are his supporters upset about? A key sticking point has been the government’s announcement that Epstein did not keep records of a “client list”. It’s particularly contentious because the attorney general, Pam Bondi, had previously said such a list was “sitting on my desk right now to review”, though she later claimed she was referring to other documents.European missile manufacturer selling parts for bombs that have killed children in Gaza
Europe’s largest manufacturer of missiles, MBDA, is selling key components for bombs that have been used in multiple Israeli airstrikes that have killed Palestinian children and other civilians.
A Guardian investigation with the independent newsrooms Disclose and Follow the Money has examined the GBU-39 bomb’s supply chain and how it has been used against Gaza.
The investigation identified 24 cases where the GBU-39 was deployed in attacks that killed civilians. Each attack included children among the dead, and many took place at night, without warning, on sites where displaced families were sheltering.
