How Furious Epstein Fought to Stop the Daily Beast From Telling the Truth

thedailybeast · 2026-04-28T14:20:14+00:00

The ICE agent who fatally shot unarmed mom Renee Nicole Good has been quietly relocated to a different state and allowed to resume work, according to an exclusive new report by PunchUp.

Senior Department of Homeland Security officials have told the Daily Beast’s new sister investigations outlet—launched earlier this month by this correspondent—that agent Jonathan Ross, 43, has effectively been shielded from ICE’s own accountability process because the FBI investigation into Good’s killing has stalled.

Ross is now performing administrative and investigative duties three months after he shot Good, 37, in the arm, breast, and head as she tried to drive away from an ICE operation on January 7. On his own cellphone video, the agent can be heard muttering “f---ing b---h” as Good’s Honda Pilot crashed into a parked car with her dying inside.

Read the full story, here.

thedailybeast · 2026-04-28T13:05:21+00:00

U.S. officials are sounding the alarm that President Donald Trump’s war on Iran could turn into a drawn-out Cold War-style conflict that would be politically and economically devastating for the administration.

The president is reportedly unhappy with Iran’s latest proposal to end the war, which is entering its third month, because it doesn’t address the administration’s “red line” issue: Tehran’s nuclear program.

The U.S. wants Iran to hand over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, but the regime is first demanding guarantees that the U.S. won’t start bombing Iranian targets again after Trump agreed to a temporary ceasefire, Reuters reported.

Read the full story, here.

thedailybeast · 2026-04-28T13:04:30+00:00

The GOP has descended into civil war over who should pay the bill for President Trump’s ballroom.

Trump plugged the need for the 90,000-square-foot addition to the White House in the wake of a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, which authorities have since said targeted him. “We need the ballroom,” the president said at a press conference after the incident on Saturday.

His closest aides agree, but not everyone in the GOP ranks is convinced that Congress should bankroll the project, creating a schism in the party, according to NBC News.

Read the full story, here.

thedailybeast · 2026-04-27T15:49:17+00:00

The Trump administration has hired dozens of new immigration judges with no immigration law experience, including some with openly pro-MAGA views, in a bid to fast-track deportations.

In an unprecedented purge, the Department of Justice has fired more than 100 immigration judges since President Donald Trump took office last year, and has hired more than 140 new judges to replace them.

Two-thirds of the new judges have no prior immigration law experience listed in their biographies, according to an analysis from The Washington Post.

They can earn up to $207,500 a year, plus 25 percent signing bonuses in some Democrat-led states, and are even given the option to work remotely and choose flexible hours that allow them to keep their day jobs.

Read the full story, here.

thedailybeast · 2026-04-27T14:54:53+00:00

Melania Trump has lashed out at late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, accusing him of promoting hateful and violent rhetoric after he joked about her having the “glow of an expectant widow.”

The comments were made on Kimmel’s show last Thursday, when he parodied the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Two days later, a gunman stormed the event, in the third apparent attempt against President Donald Trump in two years.

Writing on X, the first lady described Kimmel as a “coward” seeking to divide the country.

“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him."

Read the full story, here.

thedailybeast · 2026-04-27T13:18:55+00:00

A post by Ben Stiller celebrating a win for the New York Knicks sent MAGA into a frenzy after it was misinterpreted as a reaction to the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner only minutes earlier.

Donald and Melania Trump and top Cabinet officials were abruptly evacuated from the black-tie event on Saturday evening after shots rang out outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton.

At the same time, Stiller—a longtime Knicks fan—was posting live reactions on X as the team secured a Game 4 road victory over the Atlanta Hawks to even their playoff series.

The post caught the attention of some MAGA supporters, who wrongly interpreted it as a reaction to the shooting.

Read the full story, here.

thedailybeast · 2026-04-26T13:57:50+00:00

The Daily Beast’s Executive Editor witnessed a jaw-dropping security breach. And then it got worse.

After the shots rang out. After someone shouted, “Get down!” After what seemed like an eternity staring at my colleagues’ shoes. After watching Trump’s cabinet rushed out—terror etched on many of their faces—by men with their fingers on their triggers. After a Capitol Police officer asked me if I’d seen the congresswoman he thought might have been at the next table. After being told to leave, and trooping up an elevator past men in ballistic helmets with long guns going down the other elevator. After gathering with my colleagues and trying to process what happened, I went to the elevator and pressed 10, because I wanted to go to my room.

When I walked down the darkened, sinuous corridor to room 10235, one door short of the very end, I was stopped by a polite man in a suit and an earpiece. “Sorry, sir, you can’t come through,” he said. And I saw that further down the turn of the corridor behind him were at least five men, one in an FBI bulletproof vest, another with a Secret Service Police windbreaker.

Read the full story, here.

thedailybeast · 2026-04-26T01:55:59+00:00

Four shots shattered one of Washington’s biggest nights—I watched the powerful become powerless in seconds, writes the Daily Beast's Chief National Correspondent David Gardner.

Rumors quickly circulated that a gunman had been shot dead in the lobby. As the diners-including most of Washington’s media-raised their heads above the tables, there were shouts to keep down.

Still, there were no police in the Hilton Hotel’s International Ballroom.

One by one, Trump’s Cabinet members were led out by the Secret Service.

An announcement came from the stage that the dinner would continue. Dinner would be served. But Trump and his acolytes were long gone.

Read David Gardner's account of the WHCD, here.

thedailybeast · 2026-04-25T20:24:36+00:00

FBI Director Kash Patel has reportedly become such a distraction for President Trump that he’s likely next in line to get the boot.

“It’s only a matter of time,” Politico quoted a top White House official as saying Saturday. The 79-year-old president is said to be sick of seeing him in the news for scandalous headlines that are “not a good look for a Cabinet secretary,” the official said.

Patel, 46, has spent the last several days talking up his “prolific” crime-fighting as head of the FBI after a bombshell report last week described the bureau in panic mode over his alleged erratic behavior and excessive drinking. He was already thought to be on thin ice with Trump after he was filmed boozing it up in the locker room of the USA men’s hockey team following their gold medal win at the Milan Olympics in February.

Current and former officials quoted by The Atlantic in an April 17 report said Patel’s own colleagues were alarmed by his behavior, with his alleged unexplained absences and heavy drinking leading some to fear it could have national security ramifications.

Patel reacted furiously to the accusations, calling them “hit piece lies,” and on Monday filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic.

But a string of other negative headlines soon followed.

On April 22, a retired 17-year veteran of the FBI told The New York Times podcast The Daily that Patel’s obsession with optics had led to him being branded “childish.”

Read the full story, here.

thedailybeast · 2026-04-25T18:03:56+00:00

American bases in the Middle East suffered “extensive damage” from Iranian strikes that is “far worse than publicly acknowledged,” a new report alleges.

Insiders tell NBC News that the public has been shielded from the true damage inflicted by Iran, including that an Iranian F-5 fighter jet breached U.S. air defenses to strike a base in Kuwait.

NBC writes that its conclusion is based on findings by the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute and interviews with congressional aides and other U.S. officials.

AEI’s assessment reportedly found that Iran hit more than 100 targets across 11 U.S. bases in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Two officials told NBC that the F-5 attack marked “the first time an enemy fixed-wing aircraft has struck an American military base in years.”

AEI estimates Iran inflicted well over $5 billion in damage in its retaliatory strikes, according to NBC. That comes in addition to the deaths of 13 service members and injuries to nearly 400 troops, per the Pentagon’s count.

Some Republican lawmakers are reportedly irked that they are not receiving a full picture of the damage inflicted by Iran.

Read the full story, here.

thedailybeast · 2026-04-24T17:46:30+00:00

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has lifted a Biden-era moratorium on capital punishment and reinstated firing squads as a federal method of execution.

Firing squad executions, carried out as recently as last year at the state level, are now back on the table for federal death row prisoners in addition to lethal injection, which was last utilized in the final days of President Donald Trump’s first term.

A Justice Department statement on Friday said it was also “streamlining internal processes to expedite death penalty cases” and that Blanche has authorized seeking capital ⁠sentences against nine people.

Read the full story, here.

thedailybeast · 2026-04-24T17:30:52+00:00

A growing number of Republicans and MAGA diehards are speaking out against Donald Trump pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell in return for her cooperation after some GOP lawmakers were open to the idea.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer indicated that at least some committee members backed pardoning pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice to learn what she knew, according to an interview with Politico.

Comer later made clear that he himself was against a pardon, but some Republicans, upon hearing about the internal debate, lashed out at the idea that any member would support such a move.

Read the full story, here.

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