Tim O'Brien

“The riches Trump is harvesting as president represent a raw financial conflict of interest that shreds the integrity of his office and the bona fides of some of his core policy goals.” My column today: bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

TONIGHT: @TimOBrien and @Mimirocah1 talk to @Lawrence on The #LastWord at 10pm ET.

If Trump is serious about his libel claim vs. the WSJ, he’ll have to prove that a cautious outlet published its Epstein story with reckless disregard for its veracity. He’ll also have to endure potentially embarrassing discovery if he stays the course. bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

Trump is on the downward, slippery slope of a conspiracy theory he helped set in motion with no obvious barriers emerging to break his slide. It’s always been thus when scandal and Washington intersect, but this moment is vividly Trumpy and full of karma. bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

“It’s tough to blame the deep state when you are the deep state.” - ⁦@maureendowd⁩ nytimes.com/2025/07/19/opi…

“As a former US attorney, I know the importance of separating prosecution from politics. The DOJ’s Principles of Federal Prosecution strictly prohibit federal prosecutors from basing charging decisions on political factors.” - @BarbMcQuade bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

“Trump, of course, would have as much interest as anyone who traveled in Epstein’s world in keeping a lid on revelations. As I noted in a column in 2019, for a while he was more than just a casual acquaintance of Epstein.” bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump told New York magazine in 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

With his new stance toward the Kremlin, Trump just demonstrated the positive role that personal frustration, embarrassment and vanity can play in world affairs. bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

Virtually no one thought about the dust, bugs, pet hair, skin cells, mold spores, and all the other gunk that piles up inside this newsletter. bloomberg.com/opinion/newsle…

When no one knows which conspiracy theory to believe, and you partake in a movement animated by conspiracies about everything, two things tend to happen: fault lines develop within the cult and then its members start turning on one another. bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

Will Trump lose his base over the Epstein scandal? “They always find a way to blame everybody but him,” says @DavidMDrucker x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Stephen Colbert recreates the Coldplay kiss cam incident with an animated Donald Trump and the Paramount logo.

Ghislaine Maxwell sued Virginia Giuffre for defamation and it didn’t go so well for Maxwell — who is now serving 20 plus years in prison. All the incriminating discovery in that defamation case became public as a result of ⁦@MiamiHerald⁩ cnbc.com/2025/07/18/tru…

Always shrewd politicking to threaten and potentially alienate Rupert Murdoch when you depend on Fox to be one of your messaging megaphones.

A national model of physical fitness and nutrition wants everybody to consume more sugar.

Trump savaging an independent Federal Reserve and Jay Powell — simply because he wants to try to goose an economy he’s saddling and damaging with tariffs and simply because he can — is a thing to behold.

Trump is likely to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell soon, a White House official said, and discussed the possible move in a meeting with congressional Republicans on Tuesday night: bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Trump: I don't understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody. It's pretty boring stuff. I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.