The Trump administration’s attempt to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey hit two major snags on Wednesday.

First, interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan, who brought the indictment, admitted the entire grand jury did not vote on the final indictment—a shocking development. Instead, only two grand jurors reviewed the indictment before it was presented in court.

Earlier in the day, Justice Department lawyer Tyler Lemons, who is prosecuting the case, also told U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff that someone in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office ordered him not to disclose whether career prosecutors in the Department of Justice authored a memo recommending that Comey should not be indicted. Lemons said that he was told he couldn’t disclose privileged information without permission.

“At this point, my position would be, whether there was a declination memo, is privileged,” Lemons said. “I don’t know in the world of documents there is a declination memo.”

Nachmanoff pressed Lemons on whether that actually meant that he was told not to say anything by someone in Blanche’s office, but Lemons wouldn’t elaborate.

“I hope you understand that I am trying to answer your questions,” said Lemons.

While Lemons refused to answer the question, ABC News reported in September that career prosecutors did in fact recommend against indicting Comey. This latest development suggests that Blanche, formerly Donald Trump’s personal attorney, is trying to keep that info from being part of the official record.

The indictment is being challenged by Comey for being politically motivated and tainted by government misconduct, and Comey seems to have a lot of evidence on his side. Halligan, who had no prosecutorial experience prior to this case, is only in her position because her predecessor, Erik Siebert, refused to indict Comey due to a lack of evidence. With each development in Comey’s trial, Siebert’s decision is looking more and more correct.

Donald Trump’s approval rating is at an all-time low for his second term, and the president has his old pal Jeffrey Epstein to thank—and those pesky grocery prices.

Only 38 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s performance in office, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published Tuesday evening. That’s down a whopping nine points from Inauguration Day. But there’s still a far way to fall: Trump’s approval rating for his first term bottomed out at 33 percent.

Unsurprisingly, the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files seemed to be a particularly sore spot for respondents. Only 20 percent of Americans—including only 44 percent of Republicans—approved of how Trump has handled the case against the alleged sex trafficker. A whopping 70 percent of respondents, including 60 percent of Republicans, said that they believed the government was concealing information about Epstein’s clients.

After months of dismissing calls for more transparency as a Democratic “hoax,” Trump claimed Sunday that he was prepared to sign a bipartisan measure to force the release of all the government’s documents related to Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking.

The bill finally made its way to Trump’s desk Wednesday after being approved by the House and Senate, but it’s not clear that the president intends to sign it into law. House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested that Trump shared some of his so-called concerns about the unamended bill, indicating that Trump could still choose to veto the legislation.

Epstein wasn’t the only area of concern for Americans: Only 26 percent of respondents approved of Trump’s work managing the cost of living, down from 29 percent earlier this month.

After sweeping election victories for Democrats campaigning on the cost of living earlier this month, Trump ranted that he didn’t want to “hear about affordability.” And so far, it seems that the president’s renewed efforts to address Americans’ economic anxieties is simply to lie.

Trump has repeatedly claimed to have brought grocery prices down despite consumers experiencing the biggest price jump in more than three years, and pushed claims he has defeated Biden-era inflation even though it has steadily increased for the last five months in a row. Again, Trump has claimed that voter concerns were the result of a “con job” by Democrats. In reality, Trump’s tariffs and his crackdown on immigrants have significantly contributed to rising prices.

A January 6 rioter decided to lead a hate march Tuesday in Dearborn, Michigan, a city with a sizable Muslim and Arab American populace, and got punched in the face.

Jake Lang, who was pardoned by Donald Trump while facing 11 charges related to his actions at the Capitol in 2021, decided to hold his own march in the city while Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Anthony Hudson led a march of his supporters. Lang had a clear agenda in mind, holding a banner that read “Americans........

© New Republic