Trump Border Czar Whines That People Keep Saying Mean Things About ICE

Tom Homan’s responsibilities as border czar seemingly now include policing the bounds of acceptable dissent. On Tuesday, Homan fancifully blamed politicians’ criticisms of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for an uptick in violence toward the agency’s personnel.

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the border czar supported the practice of ICE agents concealing their identities with masks. “The masks, I think, are important. How do we get rid of the masks? Stop the hateful rhetoric,” he said, before alleging an eightfold increase in assaults on ICE personnel over last year.

Who, by Homan’s lights, is responsible for the rhetoric (and, in turn, the violence)? “I specifically mean members of Congress,” he said. “If members of Congress can compare ICE to the Nazis, that gives some of those people on the far left, the out of control people—it emboldens them to take action.”

Homan’s tone policing is consistent with other spurious attempts by the Trump administration to blame Democratic lawmakers for the reported (and exaggerated) increases in assaults against ICE agents.

Earlier this month, for instance, the White House issued a statement attributing a “surge” in assaults against ICE agents to “dangerous, inflammatory rhetoric from Democrat politicians.” The examples it provided, however, were all legitimate criticisms of ICE’s enforcement under Trump (likening the agents to “secret police” or “Gestapo,” for example, due to instances of masked, plainclothes officers plucking people off the street, at times for their political opinions) or of ICE in general (such as calls to abolish the agency).

In pointing the finger at Democratic rhetoric, the Trump administration conveniently ignores that the alleged increase in assaults comes as the agency, under Trump’s directives, has greatly increased the frequency of its operations—and become markedly more adversarial, embracing policing tactics that, according to law enforcement experts, put its agents in harm’s way.

But Homan would have you believe that the Trump administration couldn’t possibly be to blame. It must, instead, be the fault of Democratic lawmakers who have critical things to say about the increasingly unpopular force unleashed on American communities.

The president’s team is trying to stomp out coverage of his prior comments about young girls amid fallout regarding his alleged ties to pedophilic sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, torched The Daily Beast for dredging up remarks that Donald Trump made during an interview with Howard Stern in 2006, when he told the radio show host that the best part about being Donald Trump was that he could get “all the girls” he wanted—if he wasn’t married to his wife.

“Do you think you could now be banging 24-year-olds?” Stern asked.

“Oh, absolutely. I have no trouble,” a 60-year-old Trump replied.

“Would you do it?” pressed Stern, to which Trump said he had “no problem.”

But then Trump got into a questionable back-and-forth with the show’s co-host, Robin Quivers, who asked the real estate mogul: “Do you have an age limit?”

“No, no, I have no age—,” Trump started, before backtracking. “I mean, I have an age—I don’t want to be like Congressman Foley, with, you know, 12-year-olds.”

Trump was referring to former Representative Mark Foley, who had resigned that year for sending sexually explicit messages to underage boys. One of Foley’s victims was 16 years old at the time. Trump’s aversion to the ousted lawmaker was apparently temporary, however: The Florida Republican was spotted sitting in a reserved section, directly behind Trump, at a 2016 campaign rally.

When asked about Trump’s old remarks, Cheung lashed out. “The disgusting insinuation by The Daily Beast is beyond the pale and does a great disservice to survivors. The Daily Beast is devoid of morals or compassion, all because they want to play political games,” Cheung said.

Trump has a well-documented history with Epstein. Prior to his death, the New York financier described himself as one of Trump’s “closest friends.” The socialites were named and photographed together several times; the first time that Trump slept with his now-wife Melania was reportedly aboard Epstein’s plane, nicknamed the “Lolita Express”; and Trump allegedly penned a salacious letter to Epstein for the pedophile’s 50th birthday, as reported by The Wall Street Journal last week. Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Rupert Murdoch–owned paper over the alleged letter Friday.

The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday approved a motion to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell, which would force her to testify before Congress.

Maxwell was Epstein’s girlfriend and main accomplice and is currently incarcerated for helping him traffic and rape hundreds of women and girls. Maxwell’s subpoena would be a dramatic move, as she is widely believed to have particularly sensitive information on other prominent figures who were engaging in these horrendous acts alongside Epstein.

The motion was introduced by Tim Burchett, a Republican, further confirming the legitimacy of the internal rift that the Trump administration caused when it closed the Epstein case earlier this month. Trump has been on an intense defend and distract campaign since he first received backlash from his base, continuously acting as if his base is irrational for demanding the answers he’d been promising them for years.

On Monday, Trump attacked another Republican, Thomas Massie, after he filed a discharge petition for the files in full. Now Epstein’s closest confidant may be testifying in front of the entire country. The president’s questionable relationship to Maxwell and Epstein has been well reported. Time will only tell what the tone of his reaction will be.

Donald Trump’s administration is now hoping to distract Americans from Jeffrey Epstein by declassifying documents related to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and no one is impressed—including King’s own children.

National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard announced Monday that the government would release 230,000 files on the federal investigation into King’s assasination.

But Bernice King, who was only 5 when her father was killed, wasn’t falling for the government’s blatant misdirect. “Now, do the Epstein files,” she wrote on X Monday night.

In a statement following the files’ release, Bernice and her brother Martin Luther King III urged that the “files must be viewed within their full historical context” and echoed the family’s long-held contention that the man who’d been convicted of King’s assassination, James Earl Ray, was not solely responsible for the death of the civil rights leader.

“As the children of Dr. King and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, his tragic death has been an intensely personal grief—a devastating loss for his wife, children, and the granddaughter he never met—an absence our family has endured for over 57 years,” they wrote. “We ask those who engage with the release of these files to do so with empathy, restraint, and respect for our family’s continuing grief.”

This is the third week of fallout from the Trump administration’s disastrous rollout of the Epstein files—or lack thereof. The Justice Department announced earlier this month that the sex offender kept no incriminating “client list,” even though Trump’s attorney general claimed one had been sitting on her desk, sparking widespread backlash among Trump’s conspiracy-addled following.

The Trump administration has already tried several other subjects for its disastrous bait and switch, including threatening to prosecute and imprison several of the president’s political enemies, such as former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Senator Adam Schiff.

As Donald Trump seeks to allay public outcry over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, a top Justice Department official vowed Tuesday to meet with Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted Epstein accomplice currently serving out a 20-year sentence for her role in the late financier’s sex-trafficking operation.

In a statement on X, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced: “I have communicated with counsel for Ms. Maxwell to determine whether she would be willing to speak with prosecutors from the Department. I anticipate meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days.”

The deputy attorney general promised to hear out information she may have “about anyone who has committed crimes against victims.” In a follow-up post, Blanche added, “For the first time, the Department of Justice is reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell to ask: what do you know?”

In response, FBI Director Kash Patel approvingly wrote, “Get it.”

David Oscar Markus, a lawyer for Maxwell, confirmed on X “that we are in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully. We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case.”

Blanche’s announcement stood by the Justice Department’s findings in its July 6 memo, which stirred an uproar on both sides of the political aisle—but most notably among Trump’s base—by deflating Epstein-related conspiracy theories previously elevated by the president (despite his own storied history with Epstein).

Trump has not taken kindly to the clamor, lashing out against, and even disowning, supporters of his who remain interested in the case, which he now considers a hoax spun by his Democratic adversaries.

But, in recent days, the gravity of the scandal has seemingly become clear to the president. Over the weekend, he requested the release of grand jury testimony related to the case of United States v. Epstein. Critics, however, interpreted this request as a mere sop to his angry supporters; after all, if it’s granted—after a lengthy legal process—it would still fall far short of many’s hopes for the publication of all Epstein-related DOJ files.

It remains to be seen whether Blanche’s planned meeting with Maxwell will be viewed similarly—as a half-measure to quell MAGA infighting while snubbing calls to release the “Epstein files” in full—or if it will help restore Trump supporters’ trust in an administration that has, for over two weeks now, left them feeling jilted.