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 news from the ooze: Jen Psaki, Barron Trump, Ken Paxton, Michelle Obama, Byron Noem, Julia Varvaro, Tony Gonzales, Jeffrey Epstein, Kash Patel, Sophia Bush, John Cornyn, Eliza Orlins, Eric Trump, George Conway, Melania Trump, Katie Phang, Abigail Jackson, and Sneako, aka Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy.
The Cache of Grainy Photos Which Rewrite History
It is a collection of photos which we can be almost certain none of the people in them want to be seen.
But The Swamp has uncovered scores of pictures hidden—until now—of a key moment in American history: What happened inside the White House on January 20, 2017.
It was then that Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump were welcomed to their new home by Barack and Michelle Obama. And while photographs of the 44th and 45th president greeting each other outside the White House were published that day, The Swamp has located a cache of photographs from inside which really do shed new light on the moment.
What they show is Trump, Obama, and, intriguingly, Joe Biden together in remarkably candid moments. It is the only time the three men have ever met privately. There is no record of what they said to one another, but it is a situation that has never been repeated.
When the photos were taken, Biden was the outgoing vice president. They show him in animated conversation with Trump inside the White House. Some of the photographs suggest that Biden is telling Trump off in some way. There is also a set of pictures of Obama laughing with Melania, who was wearing a gray coat with a matching scarf and gloves. An emotional Michelle can also be seen saying farewell to White House staff.
The official White House pictures are included in the Obama Presidential Center’s vast digital library archive. The Center at 6001 S. Stony Island Avenue on the South Side of Chicago will open on June 19, but The Swamp obtained the digital records ahead of the date. They are not easy to find or view, being so well concealed on the website that the word “photographs” itself is mis-spelled. And there are only low-resolution versions available; It is unclear if high-resolution ones even exist. The photographer who took them is not credited. In total there are 44 pages of images from the morning of January 20: A secret history which at last we can begin to tell.
Cornyn’s Bungled Highway Suck-Up
Republican Senator John Cornyn last week unveiled what may be the most transparent piece of political thirst-trapping in recent memory: a bill to name 1,791 miles of interstate after Donald Trump. The suck-up attempt joined a growing pile of Trump-themed gestures from GOP sycophants competing in a crowded race to please Dear Leader: from proposals to put Trump’s face on a $250 bill or carve him onto Mount Rushmore, to renaming Washington Dulles Airport after the after 79-year-old president. Cornyn’s highway gambit would have rebadged I-287, which runs from Port Arthur in Texas to Choteau in Montana, as the “Trump Interstate.” But it did not buy what Cornyn was clearly after. On Tuesday, Trump endorsed Texas’s trouble-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton over Cornyn in the 2026 Senate race, a humiliating rejection for the four-term senator who has spent years trying to appease Trump without ever quite convincing MAGA diehards he’s a true believer. Paxton, meanwhile, arrives with more scandal than a reality TV reunion. He was impeached by the Republican-led Texas House in 2023 on allegations including bribery, abuse of office and helping a political donor under federal investigation, before being acquitted by the Texas Senate. A long-running securities fraud case against him was dropped last year after a deal with prosecutors. He has also faced highly public adultery allegations tied to the impeachment mess, with his wife filing for divorce on “biblical grounds.” So, only one question really… will I-287 get its new name?
Bacon and Begs for Ballroom Love
We know how much Trump loves his ballroom project but now he is going all out to butter up the press to roll out some support. The president’s unscheduled site visit on Tuesday included breakfast sandwiches (looking very much like classic BECs), with sodas, for the media. Was McDonald’s unavailable?
Vance Gets Brutal Fraud Backlash
JD Vance may do well to read the room when he talks about the theft of taxpayer dollars. The vice president has fully embraced his role as “fraud czar.” But, as many VP titles do, it could come back to haunt him. (Remember when Kamala Harris was “border czar”?) His anti-fraud crusade is getting fierce pushback as his boss creates a $1.776 billion fund to benefit his political allies. Vance traveled to Kansas City this week where he ranted about fraud with lines like: “When somebody steals $1.4 billion from the Medicaid program, that is theft from you, and that’s theft from people who deserve to be able to go see a doctor.” The vice president also bragged, “Fighting fraud in Washington, D.C., it’s a little bit like fishing in a barrel with a nuclear weapon.” But social media users were quick to seize on his comments and point out that Trump is accused of partaking in the ultimate grift. Online critics pointed to the Justice Department announcing on Monday that it had created the $1.7 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” as a settlement agreement for the president withdrawing his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. It’s fueled by taxpayer money and could end up in the hands of January 6 rioters and other Trump associates who accused the Justice Department under the Biden administration of weaponization. So that would be theft from you…
PS (aki)...Maybe Shelve for Now
Four days ago, Eric Trump threatened to sue former Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki and MSNOW over remarks she made about his alleged grifting on his dad’s state visit to China. It was a classic page from the president’s playbook. Except it doesn’t seem he followed through. Perhaps the 42-year-old has thought better of it after settling the family’s IRS lawsuit with a monster $1.8 billion slush fund for his father’s political friends and allies. After all, those same beneficiaries will be needed if Eric makes a stab at running for the presidency one day. MSNOW has been contacted for comment.
From Family Values to GOP Gone Wild
Someone is plastering D.C. with posters highlighting the juiciest gossip about Republican lawmakers and the administration in Washington, and looking for more dirt. It’s come a long way from the party of “family values.” A number of posters have popped up across the district under the headline “GOP Gone Wild” with images of tawdry activity. One image shows Kristi Noem’s husband Bryon in his balloon boobs with the words “Crossdressing! Bimbofication! Drag!” Another poster has the headline “Affairs with Staffers” along with images of former Rep. Tony Gonzales, who admitted cheating on his wife with his aide who then died by suicide, and Rep. Chuck Edwards, who is under investigation for an alleged affair with his former deputy chief of staff. Other “GOP Gone Wild” images include Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epstein, and Howard Lutnick on Epstein’s pedo island as seen in the released files. Then there is Julia Varvaro, who was deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism at DHS until her much-older boyfriend claimed she was on a “sugar daddy” website. Last but not least in the scandalous roundup is Kash Patel chugging a beer in Italy with the headline “governing under the influence.” Pete Hegseth also makes a poster appearance on that one. The images are headturning, the headlines are eye-popping and if there’s more jaw-dropping wild activity to be shared—drop The Swamp a line!
New York’s Epstein State of Mind
In Donald Trump’s hometown, the tony neighborhood of Tribeca is the center of the art world. And on Monday, the hottest gallery ticket in town was the “Donald J. Trump & Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room,” where every document the federal government has released related to Epstein is on display. Nearby, a detailed timeline of the president’s close friendship with the pedophile is in full view.
The main event was a 24 hour, non-stop reading by Epstein survivors, politicians, and activists of some of the three million redacted Epstein files the Department of Justice has—begrudgingly—released. Another roughly three million remain classified. The goal? To keep Epstein’s crimes—and Trump’s alleged involvement—at the forefront of voters’ minds. And, The Swamp theorizes, to find a new and inventive way to embarrass the president in the place he once referred to as “the center of the world.”
Among the orators were ex-Trump official Miles Taylor (no longer “Anonymous”), actress Sophia Bush, NY-10 Congressional candidate Brad Lander, journalist Katie Phang, MAGA rebel and NY-12 hopeful George Conway, host and podcaster Eliza Orlins, and, most notably, Epstein survivors themselves.
“When we see the failures of justice, like those of the DOJ, we must have the courage to face every allegation. Even those against our president,” said Marina Lacerda, who said she was sex trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein beginning at 14. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson dismissed the event in a statement to The Swamp. “Just as President Trump has said, he’s been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein,” she said.
At that, Save America Movement CEO and event organizer Mary Corcoran scoffed.
“Well, I would say that Donald Trump is mentioned over 38,000 times in the Epstein files that have been released, and there’s 50 percent more to go,” she told The Swamp at the gallery Monday night. “He’s also the President of the United States, so you don’t get to wave it off.”
Manosphere Vs. MAGA?
One New Yorker particularly amped up over Trump is Sneako, the far-right podcaster credited with helping the president win over young men during the 2024 campaign. Once one of Trump’s loudest supporters, the influencer—whose real name is Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy—turned on the president after his surprise invasion of Iran.
Awkward for Barron Trump, who is reportedly a big fan. But it wasn’t enough for Sneako to simply denounce Trump. Now, he’s hitting him where it hurts—by instructing his loyal followers to back Trump foe Rep. Thomas Massie. “I speak for all of MAGA when I say WE support Thomas Massie for Kentucky and DEMAND the release of the Epstein files,” the influencer wrote on X, alongside a smiling photo of himself with the president. Ouch.
