THE EPSTEIN GAME: Attorney General Pam Bondi informed president Trump that he is mentioned in the investigative files regarding sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, but in what context is unknown, The NY Times reports.

  The story comes on yet another day in which Trump is trying to smother questions about his relationship with Epstein, who died an apparent suicide in jail while facing charges.

  Bodi and Deputy Attorney Gen. Todd Blanche, both of whom previously served as lawyers for Trump, told the President that his name and those of other high-profile figures were in the documents connected to the case that they had reviewed, the Times reports. Again, there’s no detail.

  Trump admits to having been a friend of Epstein’s for 15 years and CNN showed pictures of Epstein attending Trump’s 1993 wedding to Marla Maples. No one has suggested Trump did anything wrong with the Epstein sex recruits. Nevertheless, Steven Cheung, the White House firebrand communications director called any suggestion of  wrongdoing “fake news” and said Trump had ejected Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club for “being a creep.”

  In a win for Trump yesterday, a federal judge in Florida denied the administration request to release grand jury transcripts from the Epstein investigation, giving President Trump the opening to say, “We tried.” But what the people calling for transparency want is the investigative files, not the grand jury testimony.

WITHOUT REASON: Given the chance yesterday to explain in court why he butchered four University of Idaho students in November 2022, the impassive Bryan Kohberger said nothing. When asked if he would speak, Kohberger told the judge, “I respectfully decline.”

  Kohberger is on the autism spectrum and doesn’t show emotion … or much of anything.

  He agreed to plead guilty to the four murders and was sentenced yesterday to four consecutive life sentences in prison. The dead were Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, all living in the same off-campus house.

  Documents released by the Moscow, Idaho police revealed the brutality of the killings, including that Kernodle suffered as many as 50 stab wounds, many of them defensive as she tried to fight off Kohberger.

  Kohberger’s sentencing followed impassioned victim-impact statements from friends and family. “Because of him,” said Dylan Mortensen, who lived in the same house, “four beautiful, genuine, compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason.” 

  “”Today you have no name,” said Steve Goncalves, father of Kaylee. “Nobody cares about you. You’re not worth the time, the effort to be remembered. In time you’ll be nothing but two initials forgotten to the wind.”

REGIME NEWS:

— In a deal that will restore the university’s federal research funding,

Columbia University yesterday bowed to President Trump, agreeing to pay a $221 million fine to settle claims that it failed to fight harassment of Jewish students 

  Trump said in a social media post, “Columbia has also committed to ending their ridiculous DEI policies, admitting students based ONLY on MERIT, and protecting the Civil Liberties of their students on campus.”

  Columbia agreed to follow laws banning consideration of race in admissions and hiring, and honor other commitments to reduce antisemitism and unrest on campus. Acting Columbia President Claire Shipman said in a release that, “The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track.” In other words, they gave up the fight for their independence.

— Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard yesterday released a document that she said undermines the conclusion of intelligence agencies during the Obama administration that Russia favored the election of Donald  Trump in 2016. 

  What she released was a draft report from the House Intelligence Committee under Republican control in 2017. It differed from the conclusions previously reached in 2016 when Barack Obama was President that in fact Russia favored Trump.

  Gabbard said in a social media post that the information she released showed the “most egregious weaponization and politicization of intelligence in American history.” The Obama administration, she wrote, was “promoting the LIE that Vladimir Putin and the Russian government helped President Trump win the 2016 election.”

 — President Trump appears to have revealed that there was more than just a $16 million settlement in his lawsuit against Paramount and CBS’s “60 Minutes.” He said in a social media post that, “Paramount/CBS/60 Minutes have today paid $16 Million Dollars in settlement, and we also anticipate receiving $20 Million Dollars more from the new Owners, in Advertising, PSAs, or similar Programming, for a total of over $36 Million Dollars.”

  What this seems to suggest is that Trump conditioned his settlement on approving the Paramount-Skydance merger and requiring Skydance, “the new Owners,” to pay up as well with free airtime. 

— The Supreme Court ruled to allow President Trump to fire without cause President Biden’s appointees to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

— Republican members of Congress moved this week to rename the Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington after the first lady, Melania Trump. Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican Idaho, said in a statement that naming the theater after Mrs. Trump “is an excellent way to recognize her appreciation for the arts.”

THE SPIN RACK:  More than 100 aid agencies and rights groups yesterday warned that “mass starvation” is spreading across Gaza as Israel’s war on Hamas militants drags on. — A Russian passenger plane carrying 50 people has crashed in the country’s far east, likely killing all on board. — Six months after the Los Angeles area wildfires, a 31^st body was found in Altadena. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Following the congressional vote to take money away from public broadcasting, Boston’s public television station WGBH hung out a banner on its building saying, “Local. Trusted. Defunded.”

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