Morning Brief: The Epstein Firestorm, ICE Raids & Riots, California Vs Trump

President Donald Trump stands by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, ICE raids intensify in scope and reaction, and California wages a multi-front legal war with the Trump administration.

It’s Monday, July 14, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.

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Tensions Escalate Within Trump World In The Fallout Of The Epstein Case

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Topline: President Trump is standing by his attorney general, even as MAGA loyalists call for Pam Bondi to be ousted over her handling of the Epstein files.

Ever since the White House declared the Epstein investigation closed, concluding that there was no evidence the billionaire sex criminal died by murder, blackmailed powerful individuals, or had a “client list,” we’ve seen unprecedented backlash from the president’s most diehard supporters. They are confident there’s more to this story and want to know why there hasn’t been more transparency – and more importantly, why Bondi went from saying the Epstein client list was on her desk awaiting release, to saying there was never a list to begin with. 

Now we appear to be seeing legitimate signs of fracture within the administration. 

On Friday, we learned that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino got into a shouting match with Bondi at the White House last week. Bongino reportedly accused her of misleading the public, while Bondi reportedly accused him of throwing her under the bus and planting negative stories about her in the press. A source close to Bongino told Daily Wire White House Reporter Mary Margaret Olohan that he is so incensed by the Epstein debacle that he’s threatening to resign if Bondi is allowed to remain the chief legal officer of the federal government.

According to officials at the DOJ, FBI Director Kash Patel is also considering resigning if more documents are not released, and he wants Bondi out as well. However, Patel broke his silence on Saturday, saying he’ll continue serving Trump “as long as he calls on me” and the Epstein “conspiracy theories just aren’t true.”

In a lengthy Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump defended Bondi, who he said is doing a “fantastic job…We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening… ‘selfish people’ are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein. For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again. Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration.” The President went on to say the FBI would be better suited focusing on investigating voter fraud and political corruption as opposed to Epstein, before ending with a line that drew perhaps the most outrage from his base: “Let’s not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.”

ICE Raids & Protesters

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Topline: More details are emerging about the ICE raid of a marijuana farm in Camarillo, California, last week that resulted in the arrest of hundreds of illegal aliens. Officials say at least 14 children were on the farm, most of them unaccompanied and potentially victims of forced labor.

During the raid, anti-ICE protesters attacked agents with rocks and bricks; one person seemingly shot at officers. The government is now offering a $50,000 reward for that suspect. Videos of the raid show protesters attacking federal vehicles as agents drive away. One protester appeared to use their bike to try to block the road. Authorities deployed tear gas and smoke bombs to disperse the estimated 500 people there to protest or impede federal agents. At the end of the day, ICE arrested more than 300 illegal aliens.

The chaotic clash caught special attention from President Trump, who on Friday authorized any ICE agent who is attacked to “stop their car, and arrest these SLIMEBALLS.”

Democrats have blamed violent anti-ICE demonstrations on the Trump administration and its immigration enforcement tactics and policies. In the aftermath of the Camarillo raid, California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom singled out Stephen Miller, Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff and an immigration hardliner. The governor called the raid “inhumane” and said Miller’s methods “evoke chaos, fear and terror within our communities at every turn.”

“Everywhere you look in California, you see industrial child exploitation on a massive scale,” Miller told Fox News in response to the governor’s remarks. “There are likely hundreds of thousands of children in California who are being exploited for their labor or sexually exploited as part of sex trafficking. This administration is liberating these children and helping reunify them with their parents back in their home country.”

California vs Trump

Credit: Photo by Justin Sullivan via Getty Images

Topline:  California is doubling down on its war with the Trump administration, over everything from ICE raids to women’s sports, while several of its cities face growing crises.

Key areas of contention include environmental policy, where California has sued over rollbacks of emissions standards and protections for endangered species. The state has also challenged federal immigration policies, including the construction of a border wall and the treatment of asylum seekers. 

Houman Hemmati, a California political commentator, highlighted the state’s internal crises. 

“We have the public safety issues and then we also have the affordability issues,” Hemmati said. “On the public safety front, we still have exceedingly high crime and homelessness… And on top of that on the affordability front we have energy prices – electricity, gasoline – that are sky high, highest in the nation, going through the roof and with no end in sight. Water rates that are very high. Insurance rates that are sky high”. Hemmati noted that “every one of these crises is something that’s either preventable, predictable, or manufactured.”

Hemmati commented on the response of city and state officials to the escalation of violence against ICE, stating that leaders like Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Newsom are “openly calling for people to resist ICE and they’re using vilifying terms, fighting terms”. He added that Cynthia Gonzalez, the vice mayor of Cudahy, “actually asked for gang members to come out and fight them in the streets in no uncertain terms. So they’ve declared open war on federal officers, who are really there enforcing federal law and doing their jobs.“