Jamie Raskin released a 53-page report Monday morning that calls Donald Trump "an active participant" in Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of young women and names Paolo Zampolli, Trump's model scout and until recently his envoy, a likely co-conspirator in the same ring. Then it names who is covering it up: Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's former defense lawyer. It is a minority staff report. Raskin's Democrats wrote it alone and released it eight days before the vote. The FBI files inside it do not know that. A girl of 18 or 19 arrived from Poland or Slovenia with no money and no papers. Zampolli signed her, got her a visa and put her in a model apartment on Varick Street with 10 other women. Epstein came to the castings and went through the portfolios. Two women told the FBI that is how he found them.
Donald Trump is leaning toward a major strike on Iran and wants the midterms out of the way first. Two US officials told CNN on Monday that the forces are in place, with a target list covering Iran's energy plants, military sites and nuclear facilities, ready to go "within 96 hours of receiving" his order. The White House declined to comment. The date is the story. Trump posted on Oct. 8 that "we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections."
Tina Peters told 60 Minutes she is "willing to do whatever needs to be done to save this country." She has done it once already. Bill Whitaker read her the charges on Sunday night. "You took an oath." "I did." "Why turn off the security cameras?" "It was not against the law." "You gave an outsider fake credentials. Did you break the law?"
Lula told Trump to stay out of Brazil's election. Then he won it. In July 2025 Trump put 50% tariffs on Brazil, partly over Jair Bolsonaro's coup trial, and Marco Rubio restricted the visa of the judge running it. Days later the State Department named two Brazilian gangs terrorist organizations, and Flávio claimed the credit.
Dario Amodei filed on Monday to take Anthropic public on Nasdaq. Buyers will trade it as ANT. Amodei is showing them a net loss of $80.7 billion for the first six months of 2026.
Three ballots, one week. Brazil voted Sunday defeated teh strongman; Serbia's leaderless students did the same. Next Israel must choose between their dictator or a cabinet which represents its population. America votes in eight days with the president's Justice Department already preemptively suing against the result while an election official keeps talking about seizing ballots. Two lawyers are writing drafting pardons for White House staff. Democracy is one for three, Serbia the honorable mention. Tomorrow Israel. The last ballot is ours. We’re watching.
Fivestack — 3 PM ET, Dean Blundell and Zev Shalev.
