Trump gatecrashes soccer celebrations as MAGA row erupts
Donald Trump has stunned some of soccer’s biggest stars, as the civil war within his administration over the Jeffrey Epstein files escalates. Follow updates.
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All eyes were on Mr Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at the FIFA Club World Cup final in MetLife Stadium.
They arrived to thunderous applause, getting a preview of the even grander soccer tournament the US is set to host next year.
The President and his wife had trekked up from the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster to watch Chelsea triumph over Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
After the 3-0 victory, Chelsea hero Cole Palmer appeared bemused as Mr Trump gatecrashed the Blues’ celebrations, staying on stage for the entire trophy lift.
Palmer: ‘What’s he doing’ ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ pic.twitter.com/POY1iWN9N1
— ًًً (@Marescaholic) July 13, 2025
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‘BETRAYED’: MAGA CRISIS ERUPTS OVER EPSTEIN
US President Donald Trump has responded to the growing crisis inside his administration surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein files with a lengthy rant on Truth Social.
In his post, Mr Trump backed Attorney General Pam Bondi and demanded his MAGA base move on.
He wrote: “What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’
“They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! “We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening.
“We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and ‘selfish people’ are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein.”
Ms Bondi has been a particular focus for MAGA since the memo was released last week, targeted by those who believe she is part of a deep-state cover-up involving Jeffrey Epstein’s client list and his death by suicide.
She previously said the so-called Epstein “client list” was on her desk for review. It later transpired that no such list exists.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is reportedly deeply unhappy with Ms Bondi’s handling of the case.
The issue was raised on Fox News show, Media Buzz.
Host Howard Kurtz said: “The refusal to release anything from Jeffrey Epstein has really struck a nerve, a deep nerve, among many Trump supporters, many people in the MAGA movement, who say they feel betrayed. Why?”
HOW TRUMP WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED
The US President has revealed what he wants history books to remember him for after he leaves office.
“A good person, but a person that saved our country,” the president told his daughter-in-law during an interview on Fox News’ My View With Lara Trump.
“I really believed our country was going down for the fall.”
He added: “I don’t know if it ever could’ve come back. It was very close to the edge — and I really would like to be known as the man that saved our country.”
Throughout his 2024 campaign and early days back in the White House, Mr Trump has painted a bleak picture of the country’s state of affairs before he returned to power.
This includes his public concerns about the border crisis, inflation and foreign policy posture under the Biden administration — all of which have been key priorities during his second term.
“When people see the horror show that we had for four years,” Mr Trump said, “it was almost like they tried to kill our country — and the beautiful thing is, now we have the hottest country in the world.”
Mr Trump crowed that his first term was “phenomenal” and mused that “now, we’re doing things that are even on a different level.”
One reason he feels that way is because of the team he has in place this time around.
“We have really good people this time and they get along with each other. They love each other, they love the country, and it’s smoother,” the president said.
Lara Trump’s interview with her father-in-law dropped a day before the one-year anniversary of his brush with death after an assassin’s bullet came within a quarter inch of taking his life during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The president opened up about the chilling assassination attempt, which marked the closest a gunman came to killing a US president since 1981.
“Well, it was unforgettable,” he reflected. “I didn’t know exactly what was going on. I got whacked. There’s no question about that. And fortunately, I got down quickly. People were screaming, and I got down quickly, fortunately, because I think they shot eight bullets.”
Despite the scare, Mr Trump insisted that “I have great confidence in these people.”
“They should have had somebody in the building [Thomas Matthew Crooks shot from], that was a mistake,” he said. “They should have had communications with the local police, they weren’t tied in, and they should have been tied in. So there were mistakes made … But I was satisfied in terms of the bigger plot, the larger plot.”
“And I have great confidence in these people. I know the people. And they’re very talented, very capable. But they had a bad day. And I think they’ll admit that. They had a rough day.”
TRUMP THREATENS TO STRIP STAR OF US CITIZENSHIP
President Trump raged that he’s giving “serious consideration” to taking away comedian Rosie O’Donnell’s US citizenship – but the actress fired back with a flurry of posts ripping him and picturing him with Jeffrey Epstein.
The social media sparring between the longtime rivals reignited when Mr Trump argued the former talk show host is a “Threat to Humanity” in a fiery post on Truth Social.
“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her,” Mr Trump’s post continued.
The A League of Their Own star clapped back in a series of Instagram posts, blasting him as a “dangerous old soulless man.
“Hey Donald – you’re rattled again? 18 years later and I still live rent-free in that collapsing brain of yours,” O’Donnell said in one post, featuring a photo of the president posing with Epstein.
“You call me a threat to humanity – but I’m everything you fear: a loud woman a queer woman. A mother who tells the truth an american who got out of the country b4 u set it ablaze,” she railed.
“You crave loyalty – I teach my children to question power you sell fear on golf courses – I make art about surviving trauma you lie, you steal, you degrade – I nurture, I create, I persist. You are everything that is wrong with america… I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
It’s unclear what legal basis Trump could use to strip O’Donnell, who was born on Long Island, of her American citizenship.
O’Donnell, 63, moved overseas, to Dublin with her 12-year-old nonbinary autistic child in January in response to Mr Trump’s victory against Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
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