You don’t have time for three hours of doomscrolling, twenty half-baked takes, and some guy online screaming READ THE THREAD. We are Front Page Detectives, this is your morning Drive-By, and here is what is real.
WASHINGTON: Epstein Reportedly Wanted to Expose Trump Before His Death
A dead predator, a sitting president, and notes that read like a match struck in a sealed room.
A new report claims Jeffrey Epstein was fixated on exposing Donald Trump before his death in 2019, with The New York Times reporting that the convicted sex offender wrote notes about the president while trying to negotiate with prosecutors from inside Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center.
According to the report, Epstein described Trump in his notes as a “total con artist” built on “smoke & mirrors,” and allegedly claimed Trump “never had money.” Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing related to Epstein and has not been charged in connection with Epstein’s trafficking operation, but their past friendship has remained one of the ugliest loose wires in the entire scandal.
The report also revisits Epstein’s final days, including claims from former cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione that Epstein had asked about making a noose before his first alleged suicide attempt. Tartaglione reportedly said Epstein later accused him of trying to kill him, but an internal prison investigation cleared him.
When Epstein was found dead on August 10, 2019, investigators reportedly discovered multiple linens and nooses around him. A reported suicide note, now the subject of a legal fight for release, allegedly said it was “time to say goodbye.” The question hanging over all of it is the same one that never goes away: what did Epstein know, who was he willing to trade, and why did the most powerful people in America survive him better than his victims did?
Hot Take
Epstein died in a cell, but the stink got out. It keeps crawling under the doors of men who thought money, power, and a presidential seal could keep the room closed.
NEW YORK: Rex Heuermann Faces Sentencing in Gilgo Beach Serial Killings
The architect who hid in plain sight is finally standing at the end of the road.
Rex Heuermann is set to be sentenced after admitting in court that he murdered eight women in the Gilgo Beach serial killings, closing one of New York’s most infamous cold case chapters. The Long Island architect is expected to receive a life prison sentence in Riverhead, where families of the victims are due to confront the man who stole years of answers from them.
Heuermann pleaded guilty in April to murdering seven women: Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, and Sandra Costilla. He also admitted killing Karen Vergata, though he was not charged in her death. Many of the victims were sex workers whose remains were found along Ocean Parkway.
The case broke open after renewed investigation linked Heuermann to a pickup truck, cellphone data, and eventually DNA from a discarded pizza crust matched to genetic material recovered from degraded hair fragments. Prosecutors later found what they described as a “blueprint” for murder in his computer files, including checklists about cleaning bodies and destroying evidence.
Hot Take
Serial killers count on the dead being forgotten. Gilgo Beach proves the sand keeps secrets, but not forever.
NEW YORK: DA Paperwork Blunder Keeps Luigi Mangione Out of Court
The prosecution came to court without the one thing courts worship most: paperwork.
Luigi Mangione was expected back in Manhattan Criminal Court this week, but the hearing fell apart after the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office failed to file the federal writ needed to bring him from the Metropolitan Detention Center to state court. The judge had reportedly drafted the request, but prosecutors never formally submitted it.
Defense attorney Karen Agnifilo called the mistake “human,” which is generous enough to make a prosecutor blush. The hearing is now expected to resume Wednesday, with jury questionnaires, scheduling, media access, and questions surrounding a mysterious sealed proceeding from earlier this month all likely to be addressed.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state charges accusing him of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Midtown hotel in December 2024. His parallel federal case has also been shuffled, with a status conference pushed to June 29. For a prosecution carrying this much political weight, the administrative stumble is not fatal, but it is not nothing either.
Hot Take
The state wants to cage a man for life and still misplaced the permission slip. In a case this big, even the paper cuts bleed.
WASHINGTON: FBI Disrupts Alleged Plot Against White House UFC Event
A cage fight on the South Lawn almost became something much darker.
Federal authorities say they disrupted an alleged plot to attack the UFC event staged on White House grounds, arresting multiple people after investigators uncovered encrypted messages discussing drones, firearms, escape routes, and a safe house. Court papers say roughly 20 participants were involved in chats about targeting the event.
One of those arrested, 19-year-old Tycen Proper of Ohio, came to law enforcement attention after his mother raised concerns about his firearms purchases and online communications. According to an FBI affidavit, Proper admitted he had participated in planning, though he claimed others intended to shoot people at the event.
The alleged plan was grim: detonate explosive drones near the White House, trigger panic, and then attack fleeing crowds. Messages cited in court papers suggest some members believed the country needed to be torn down and rebuilt, and that people connected to Jeffrey Epstein should not govern. Whatever one thinks of the rot around power, turning a crowd into a target is not resistance. It is murder in a costume.
Hot Take
America is full of men who smell corruption and reach for the wrong tool. A gun does not clean the swamp. It just fills it with bodies.
ARKANSAS: Judge Denies Joseph Duggar’s Bid for Unsupervised Visits With His Children
The former reality star wanted family access. The court said not like that.
Joseph Duggar has been denied unsupervised visits with his four children while he faces child molestation charges in Florida and child endangerment allegations in Arkansas. The former reality TV figure appeared by Zoom as his attorney argued that the Florida case should not automatically restrict contact with his own children, who are not the alleged victims in that matter.
The judge disagreed, and prosecutors noted that child welfare officials in Arkansas could supervise any contact. The decision adds another restriction to a case already pressing hard on the Duggar family, legally, financially, and reputationally.
Duggar’s wife, Kendra, has reportedly listed one of the family’s Arkansas properties for sale as the couple faces mounting legal pressure. Reports have also pointed to jail calls in which the couple discussed whether selling or renting property would make more sense if Joseph is convicted and incarcerated. Kendra herself is also facing child endangerment charges.
Hot Take
The Duggar machine was built on spotless family image. Now the gears are grinding in court, and no amount of soft-focus faith can drown out the sound.
Lol!! You have to seriously laugh, Epstein a low life Pedophile wanting to attack President Trump for being rejected by Trump once Trump found out about Epstein & his sick Pedophile ways and involment in sex trafficking, Trump terminated his association with Epstein & barred him from Mar Lar Go, and the funny thing, it was the Biden Administration DOJ who arrested & jailed Epstein not Trump and Epstein's own right hand associate, Geshwell Maxwell even says Trump was not associated with Epstein and did not go to Epstein Island!