Donald Trump wants to crush The Swamp. The leaks, the sneaks, and the secrets are all there. Our writers, David Gardner, Farrah Tomazin, Sarah Ewall-Wice, and Laura Esposito, are sifting through the ooze so you don’t have to. Don’t miss out.
In this week’s booze from the ooze: Stormy Daniels, Mort Janklow, Robert Maxwell, Dylann Storm Roof, Jon Ossoff, Abdul El-Sayed, Andrew and Tristan Tate, Gavin Wax, Nick Fuentes, Ghislaine Maxwell, Michael Cohen, John Tower, Boris Ephsteyn, Gretchen Whitmer, and Scott “Swamp Fox” Bessent.
Blanche on the Carpet Over His Interview With Ghislaine Maxwell
Todd Blanche may have scraped through his Senate nomination (just), but The Swamp has uncovered documents exposing a major lie he appears to have missed during his controversial questioning of Ghislaine Maxwell.
Far be it from us to suggest that Blanche’s Ghislaine grilling was a way to ensure she didn’t reveal anything unseemly about the president’s friendship with Jeffrey “Kryptonite” Epstein. But it seems the British socialite who was conveniently moved to a cushy hotel prison after talking to Blanche misled the new attorney general about her own relationship with Trump.
Maxwell told Blanche on July 24, 2025, that she met Trump in 1990 when she flew to New York to help her media mogul father, Robert Maxwell, with “some advertising issues with the New York Daily News.
“And in fact, I met—I may have met Donald Trump at that time, because my father was friendly with him and liked him very much,” she continued. “And I think it should be said that he also very much liked Ivana, because she was also from Czechoslovakia, where my dad was from. So I don’t—I don’t remember if I did meet him or not in 1990 with my dad, but I knew that that’s how I knew about—about Mr. Trump.”
Maxwell went on to make the point that she didn’t meet Epstein until the following year, adding that her father never met the child predator who killed himself/was murdered exactly seven years ago last Monday.
The only problem is that The Swamp has unearthed a newspaper clipping from the May 17, 1989 issue of the New York Daily News which reports how both Trump and Ghislaine were guests at a party on board her father’s yacht—named Lady Ghislaine—with “caviar flown in from Paris on the Concorde and salmon served from the vessel’s stores by shoeless waiters.”
Also on board were John Tower, the former senator whose defense secretary nomination was shot down over his thrifting and heavy drinking, literary agent Mort Janklow and Peter Kalikow, then owner of the New York Post.
The report said Maxwell insisted his well-heeled guests took off their shoes before boarding his yacht. Trump, it said, had a “much bigger yacht and was happy to discuss them with Maxwell.”
The report, by gossip columnists Phil Roura and Tom Poster, was not just in the New York Daily News; it was syndicated nationwide.
The obvious question for Trump’s then deputy attorney general and now his top lawman is this: If Ghislaine was able to snow him so easily with this lie, how much else should we believe about her account of her and Epstein’s relationships with the president?
Swampy Scott the Silver Fox
Good to hear that a regular Swamp reader, Scott Bessent, has chosen “Swamp Fox” as his Secret Service handle. He says it’s a nod to his ancestor, “Swamp Fox” Francis Marion, a South Carolina military officer who led guerrilla-style attacks against British forces during the American Revolution. He earned the nickname because he used the region’s swamps to hide, maneuver, and launch surprise raids. Just like us. Welcome Scott.
Lindsey’s Nepo-Sister Has Secret History of Backing DEI
Newbie senator Darline Graham is fighting off nepo-sister accusations and making her final pitch for a full six-year term representing South Carolina in Congress in a run-off, but her political past, or lack thereof, is proving a liability with some MAGA diehards. Now it turns out, the 62-year-old has a history of backing DEI initiatives, another detail on her record that might not sit well with the conservative base. When the senator served as the commissioner on the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, she signed off on a report for 2019 and 2020 that touted its DEI efforts. The annual accountability report highlighted the commission’s effort to recruit qualified and “diverse staff” and “develop a culture of diversity and inclusion.” This enlightened stance comes after The Swamp also revealed the Senate hopeful twice donated to a GOP state senator after she helped block an effort by South Carolina Republicans to pass a near-total abortion ban in 2023. Graham has rushed to prove her conservative credentials as she seeks a full term. She has blasted criticism of her years of work in state government, arguing that the agency was helping blind people find jobs. But her largely unknown political past, from abortion to state agency DEI, has been a red flag for some of the most conservative and MAGA parts of the base. There’s another DEI hire that Graham is advocating for: herself. If elected, she would be the first woman to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate. Even her brother might have balked at her bold belief that she could replace a man.
Blanche’s Every Loser Wins Party Gift
They were the two lawyers who defended Trump (unsuccessfully) in the blockbuster trial that led to him becoming the first convicted felon to occupy the White House, thanks to his conviction for illegal hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, among others. You might think that for this duo, losing the highest-profile case of their careers would come with consequences. And indeed it did—although not the usual consequences for that sort of defeat. Instead, they got a reunion when federal appeals court judge Emil Bove got to swear in the above-mentioned Blanche as Attorney General.
The swearing in was followed by a pretty bonkers bad-taste party of MAGA’s finest, waving giant heads of Blanche. What was in the gift bags? As it turned out, a present Trump has been thirsting over for some time: Some handy extra protection from consequences, courtesy of Blanche. The Department of Justice’s Office of the Legal Counsel, a place where, in theory, the government’s finest legal minds consider its most important issues, pumped out a new memo which was unwrapped eagerly in the Oval. It says that “executive privilege” can cover Trump’s communications with people outside of government when they are advising him on official presidential business. Why does it matter?
If, as expected, Democrats regain control of Congress and launch inquiries or impeachment investigations into Trump, they could subpoena his advisers, their emails and other communications. This could be particularly useful when it comes to, let’s say, Boris Ephsteyn, who has served as an unofficial legal and political adviser to Trump for years. Now, however, the administration can argue their chats are off limits. What a gift! And if it ends up in front of a court, Judge Bove might be the person to rule on it. Isn’t MAGA life grand!
MAGA Candidate’s Pro-Anti-Weaponization Fund Stance
It’s hard to forget that Blanche got voted through by hoodwinking convincing two Republican senators—Thom Tillis and John Cornyn—that Trump’s infamous $1.7 billion slush fund for his cronies was dead and that, pinky promise, that tax immunity for him and his entire family was only retrospective. If you are wondering whether an incoming Republican senate would want to keep the fund dead, cast your gaze no further than Georgia, where Mike Collins is trying to unseat the rising Democratic star Jon Ossoff. The MAGA nominee was asked by Dominic Box, no innocent voter but a pardoned January 6 insurrectionist, whether he would support the fund or “some form of compensatory relief” for not just those who stormed the U.S. Capitol but any Americans who are “victims of a weaponized political system.” Collins couldn’t have been clearer: “A lot of things have been politicized and weaponized, and when the federal government harms you, then yes, they have a liability too. That’s easy,” he told Box, who had clearly identified himself as a January 6er at the event.
But when the Swamp asked, Collins’ campaign had a carefully parsed apparent change of heart. “Mike Collins fully supports holding the government accountable when federal agencies abuse their power and believes Americans who’ve been wronged by their government ought to have a path to seek justice,” said spokesperson Meyer Siegfried. “He does not support a blank-check fund or automatic taxpayer-funded payouts to anyone simply because they were prosecuted for January 6.” Sounds like a few loopholes in there, Mike. Let’s see how you vote if you win.
Tates Gallery Snacks Exhibits
As they await possible extradition to the U.K. on charges of rape and sex trafficking, Andrew and Tristan Tate have portrayed their stint in a Miami federal jail as something of a humanitarian catastrophe. In an epic whinge, the two misogynist brothers recently told a judge through their lawyers that they had “no commissary access” while Andrew complained that he was effectively cut off from basic comforts (cue the violins).
Enter federal prosecutors - and a remarkably well-preserved paper trail. In a filing this week, prosecutors included Government Exhibit 10: two commissary receipts dated August 5—one from each brother—showing they spent a combined haul of $75.40. And what did the allegedly starved brothers buy? Doritos. Snickers. Twix. Ramen. Coffee. Turkey-and-Swiss cheese sandwiches. Plus shampoo, body wash, a thermal mug and other assorted jailhouse essentials. In other words, it wasn’t exactly Les Miserables.
Still, look up guys. Maybe your one-time BFFs Barron Trump and Don Jr. will come visiting before you’re crated up for a transatlantic trip on ConAir. And their dad’s something of an expert on in-flight catering these days.
Schumer at Whit’s End
The elephant in the room in the Democratic Party’s Michigan debacle was Gretchen Whitmer. The popular governor, who is term-limited from running for a third time, was the first choice to run for the vacant Senate seat and was a virtual shoo-in to win. After all, her approval rate among Dems was 90 percent and 35 percent with Republicans. Even after she buddied up to Donald Trump, she managed to walk the high wire without falling off. But Whitmer said no to the Senate, saying she wanted to “walk the Earth a little while” (i.e., prepare for a presidential run), and they finally settled for fourth choice Hayley Stevens, who promptly spent $40 million losing to lefty non-DSA (but he is really) Abdul El-Sayed. The centrists of the party are convinced that El-Sayed is pushing uphill to beat Mike Rogers in a reliably purple state. So, if Whitmer is the elephant in the room, who is the dead duck? The Swamp would suggest Chuck Schumer, who failed (again) to get his woman.
