Donald Trump wants to crush The Swamp. The leaks, the sneaks, and the secrets are all there. Our writers, David Gardner, Farrah Tomazin, Sarah Ewall-Wice, and Laura Esposito, are sifting through the ooze so you don’t have to. Don’t miss out.
In this week’s news from the ooze: Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, Jane Fonda, Markwayne Mullin, Joyce Beatty, Ric Grenell, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Raquel Debono, David Ellison, Stephen and Katie Miller, Abbe Lowell, Max Cohen, Kamala Harris, Candiace Dillard Bassett, Joan Baez, NeNe Leakes, and Adolf Hitler
We’re the Millers—Turn Left Into Our Street and We’re the Last on the Right
It started out as a neighborhood dispute in Arlington, Virginia, where Stephen Miller lived with his non-trad podcaster wife, Katie, and their three young children. The Millers apparently loved their newly-built six-bedroom $3.75 million home.
But the neighbors made no secret of their dislike of the Millers. Wanted posters with the White House deputy chief of staff’s face on it were stuck on utility poles, calling him a Nazi, and including the couple’s address, and anti-Miller slogans were chalked on the sidewalk in their street. A neighbor reportedly approached Katie in the street the day after Charlie Kirk’s assassination and told her, “I’m watching you.” Suffice to say, it’s unlikely the Millers were invited to join Neighborhood Watch.
But now the little local matter is no longer being played out over the fence; it’s become a struggle between Left and Right in Washington.
MAGA Republican Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has taken up the Millers’ case and is now at odds with Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, who has instructed high-profile defense attorney Abbe Lowell to fight her case and the neighbors.
Jordan wrote to Dehghani-Tafti on Friday, complaining about her lack of cooperation in the panel’s investigation into the “disturbing campaign to threaten, harass, and dox a senior White House official and his family.” The Rep. is unhappy that the FBI was blocked from getting a warrant to probe a protester who doxed the Millers and accused the local prosecutor of “politically-motivated actions in a case involving a far-left agitator.”
But Dehghani-Tafti is not backing down. “For seven years, I have served the people of Arlington County as their Commonwealth Attorney without regard to politics or party. Every decision made in my office rests on two things, and two things only—the facts and the law,” she told The Swamp.
“That standard applies whether a matter involves a President’s aide, a local business owner, or a neighbor down the street. Chairman Jordan’s subpoena is an overreach, a trespass on state and local sovereignty with no legitimate federal interest. It also threatens the centuries-old principle of prosecutorial discretion, a principle that Chairman Jordan has shown no difficulty embracing when the prosecutors in question are Republican. I have retained counsel to explore whether any proper accommodation can be reached in this matter, but I will defend the independence of this office and will not allow political pressure to drive prosecutorial decisions.” Not a philosophy the Millers would seem to ascribe to.
Abbe Lowell also sent a statement to The Swamp, saying: “Since President Trump took office, House Republicans have made clear that harassing political opponents takes priority over actually governing to bring down the cost of living, keep families safe from rogue federal agents, and ensure our children aren’t sent off to fight illegal wars.
“Chairman Jordan’s latest subpoena reinforces those misguided priorities with a demand for information about a local investigation that is clearly outside of his jurisdiction and plainly none of his business. The Commonwealth Attorney has asked us to explore whether any accommodation is possible, and we will make that effort in good faith, but are fully prepared to raise the substantial legal issues this attack on state and local authority raises.”
Understandably, as they have three young children, the Millers, feeling unloved and insecure, have moved to temporary digs for their own safety. Their new neighbors were Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and (until she was fired) Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on a military base in D.C. In their gated, walled, fenced, new fortress, the Millers could at least order a serviceman or woman to lend them a cup of sugar.
Anyway, the legal fight is now more about principle than neighborly relations. And the Millers have put their house on the market for high six-figures over its current value.
The ICE Cowboy on a Mission from God
Markwayne Mullin, the Oklahoma Senator replacing Kristi Noem as Homeland Security, has so far not played dress-up like his predecessor. But he does like to put on the armor of God. He has been an enthusiastic attender at City Elders, a group in Tulsa, Oklahoma, whose founder Jesse Leon Rodgers, preaches that some people are “anointed” to lead. Just not Democrats or Muslims, and obviously nobody who supports abortion. “People say, ‘Separation of church and state.’ Get out of here with that nonsense,” Rodgers declared in a November 2024 video seen by The Swamp. “That’s ungodly. That’s carnal… The church is supposed to speak into and hold accountable, and pray for and install and anoint people into government.” Sources say Muller didn’t just drop by at City Elders out of curiosity. He’s been a repeat presence at City Elders events, praising the group’s mission to get “godly” people elected, sharing stories about violently threatening a teenage boy dating his daughter, and talking up his controversial mission to save Americans trapped in Afghanistan after the U.S. pulled out of the country. Now, critics warn, he’s about to advance City Elders’ far-right agenda at DHS, following in the footsteps of Pete Hegseth, who recently invited misogynist pastor Doug Wilson to a Pentagon prayer meeting and now invokes Bible verses into his briefings on the Iran war. “Putting in an extremist nationalist viewpoint in this seat of power that will oversee security for our country, and very specifically, enforcement of that security, should alarm us all,” Reverend Shannon Fleck, the executive director of progressive Christian group Faithful America, told The Swamp. Mullin, of course, has the blessing of the man upstairs. Not that one, we mean Trump. Although he isn’t above an appeal to heaven. The president doesn’t just want Congress to pass the SAVE America Act for him—he wants them to “do it for Jesus.”
Alone at the Center
Joyce Beatty was the lone dissenter in the room when Donald Trump convened a Kennedy Center board meeting last week to advance his contentious overhaul of the storied performing arts institution. Once the cameras left and the meeting began, the Ohio Democratic Congresswoman was given exactly one minute to have her say, likening their vote on Trump’s overhaul to being asked to sign off on building a home without ever seeing the plans. She also reminded the room, which included newly ousted Ric Grenell and the newly anointed chief operating officer and director Matt Floca, that Congress had already given the Kennedy Center $256 million as part of Trump’s “Big Ugly Bill,” only for the institution to continue to bleed performers and memberships. Trump bristled at the pushback. “He looked at me, took opposition to my position on what Congress had done in the Big, Ugly Bill with the Kennedy Center, and we had a small exchange, let’s say,” she explained in a briefing call with The Swamp after the meeting. He didn’t cut her off, she added, but “we had a few stares,” and that said plenty. As for Grenell? The MAGA acolyte managed to go out the way he came in: lavishing praise on the president and proving that, even in exit, the loyalty audition never ends.
I’m Not Too Fonda You Either
Jane Fonda has been feeling the burn long enough and the 88-year-old actress—known for her activism—isn’t going to take it any longer. In 1972, Fonda controversially visited North Vietnam and was famously photographed on an “enemy” anti-aircraft gun, to see at first hand what damage the U.S. bombing had caused. The trip—which Fonda later admitted was a “lapse of judgment”—earned her the nickname “Hanoi Jane.” On Friday, the legendary Hollywood star, who has formed a Committee for the First Amendment to push back against Trump 2.0, will be visiting what she will see as the scene of another crime. No, not Tehran —this is much closer to home: the Donald J. Trump Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
There is little chance she would ever agree to appear inside the center after Trump’s MAGA takeover, but Fonda will be joined by another peace icon, singer Joan Baez, outside the building on the banks of the Potomac from 2 pm to “speak, sing, perform, and celebrate art and freedom of expression.” Other guests will include Billy Porter, Maggie Rogers, and Rupi Kaur. “Together, with one voice, we will fight back against political intimidation, institutional capture, and censorship in the arts, culture, and media,” said Fonda.
Spare Any Change for Kamala
Apparently, Kamala Harris has been thinking about how best to get involved in the next election, or at least that’s what she said in an email distributed to the folks who supported her in 2024. The best she could come up with was a request for $25 as a contribution to her “Fight the People PAC.” The Swamp is still wondering what on Earth happened to the $2 billion Dems helped her raise the last time around. Perhaps when that question is answered, they’ll decide if they want to waste any more money.
Spotted: The Real Housewives of Capitol Hill took shape when the Real Housewives stars Candiace Dillard Bassett, Melissa Gorga, NeNe Leakes, Erika Jayne, Phaedra Parks set the drama aside and headed to D.C. to advocate for HIV prevention and treatment with a stop in the Senate Russell Building where they rubbed shoulders with Sens. Cory Booker and Tammy Baldwin and posed under the Capitol Dome.
Young Republicans Go MAGA for a Democrat Love Story
Where do young Republicans look for inspiration these days as an alternative to Trump? Perhaps back to the 1990s, to an Ivy League-educated political dynasty anchored in a World War II hero, known for presidential history and future aspirations, not to mention preppy style. But, no, it’s not the Bushes. One group of Republicans has decided the ultimate Republican heroes are, in fact, the Kennedys. Yes, those Kennedys. The Democratic dynasty Kennedys. The sudden popularity of the Ryan Murphy and Connor Hines series Love Story about the tragedy of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy inspired scores of young MAGA to party like it was 1999 in Manhattan on Saturday. The a-historic gathering focused not on the couple’s politics, but on their hotness, because this $46-a-head (plus cash bar) event was part of Raquel Debono’s “Make America Hot Again” series of parties—semi-monthly gatherings she throws for young conservatives in New York. The invite to an evening “inspired by the effortless elegance of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy,” somehow omitted some key facts about the Kennedys. “This is Americana at its most refined — not loud patriotism, but quiet confidence. The kind of Republican energy that lives in generational homes, summer estates, and well-cut navy blazers.” Debono has emerged as a prominent right-wing influencer—dubbed “Raq is Right” online—with a combined 100,000 followers on Instagram and X, although the law-school–educated socialite in her late 20s could not cast a vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 election, because she’s Canadian. At the event, men outnumbered women three to one, some dressed in Kennedy Jr.’s signature backwards caps and patterned button-ups, while the two dozen or so women were in Levi’s blue jeans, oversized blazers, and other staples of Bessette-Kennedy’s much-lusted-after minimalist look. Sipping cocktails were Russ Belli, a partner at the political consulting firm Red Wing Strategies, and Max Cohen, a.k.a. “Murray Hill Guy,” known more for posting about his endless use of dating apps than his MAGA views. Some less forthcoming guests said they were variously a former reporter at The Daily Wire and an investment banker whose relative works for billionaire Trump donor David Ellison’s Oracle. Turning the Kennedys into MAGA icons is part of a civil war inside the Republican world, against followers of yet another preppy New Englander. “It’s a question of who’s going to win out: the young conservatives or the woke right wing, Tucker Carlson people,” an attendee said, adding that he hopes to “stamp them out”—even if he’s doing so dressed as a Democratic president’s son.
So Will Young MAGA Go Mad for This?
Speaking of Kennedys, the black sheep of the dynasty, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has earned the ultimate accolade: a biographer by the renowned investigative journalist Isabel Vincent. Vincent has previously pried open the secrets of murdered billionaire banker Edmond Safra and his widow, “Gilded” Lily Safra, and “Gold Bar” Bob Menendez, the fallen New Jersey senator. Tantalizingly, publisher Harper Collins is already teasing that it includes unseen RFK Jr. diary entries, including, “I knew daddy was watching me, and that he loved me. But I also felt I was disappointing him.” RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise is out on April 15 and The Swamp will be reading closely.
