Trump slams MAGA ‘weaklings’ for demanding Epstein files release

President Donald Trump on Wednesday derided some MAGA loyalists as “weaklings” for demanding that he order the release of files related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

As outrage builds over his effort to turn the page on the scandal, Trump slammed a group of what he called his “past supporters” for refusing to back down from the demand for transparency.

“Their new scam is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein hoax, and my ‘past’ supporters have bought into this bulls--t hook, line, and sinker,” Trump posted on his social media site.

“Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work ... because I don’t want their support anymore,” he added. The White House is hoping Trump can tamp down right-wing outrage over what they call a cover-up of the Epstein case, calling it a slow news summer scandal that will soon blow over.

—New York Daily News

Marjorie Taylor Greene isn’t afraid to split with Trump, but don’t call it a break

WASHINGTON — Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene disagrees with President Donald Trump on funding weapons for Ukraine, on whether the Epstein files are worth releasing and on how to regulate cryptocurrency.

And that’s just this week. She also has split with him on support for Israel and, for a time, on passing his signature legislation known as the “big, beautiful bill.”

But Greene doesn’t believe she’s in conflict with Trump, whose conservative Make America Great Again agenda she supports wholeheartedly. Instead, she says she is merely sticking to her principles and blames people surrounding Trump for not doing the same.

“I’m not fighting with President Trump,” Greene said. “I’m fighting with the people that are trying to take over the agenda.”

—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Researchers add some clarity to search for extraterrestrial life

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Depending on how you look at it, UC Irvine doctoral candidate Te Han and his adviser, Paul Robertson, just made an already unimaginably difficult job – finding and observing planets outside our solar system – a lot harder or a lot more accurate.

Either way, what both men insist they didn’t do is transmogrify into the bane of exoplanet researchers everywhere – “planet killers” – people whose work dents or even erases work that might bring humanity closer to hooking up with other intelligent life forms.

“This isn’t a flaw that we just discovered,” Han said. “It’s something people were already worried about. We just (brought) out the details of it.”

The “it” Han is talking about is light. Specifically, he’s referencing solar light that’s essential to finding and observing exoplanets (planets that reside outside our solar system), and that sometimes – when issued by more than one star – can prompt a miscalculation of a planet’s size and composition.

—The Orange County Register

Riot at Gaza aid site leaves 20 dead, Israeli-backed group says

TEL AVIV, Israel — Twenty people were killed during a riot at an aid distribution point in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning, according to the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). In a statement, the private foundation said 19 of the victims were trampled to death, while one person was fatally stabbed.

"We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd — armed and affiliated with Hamas — deliberately fomented the unrest," the GHF stated, saying the incident took place at a distribution center in the southern city of Khan Younis.

GHF personnel claimed they observed firearms among those gathered, with a U.S. staff member threatened at gunpoint by an individual in the crowd. The foundation's account has not been independently verified, and the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas has not issued a comment.

The GHF, which began operating at the end of May with backing from Israel and the United States, is currently overseeing food distribution in the Gaza Strip following months of Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries.

—dpa