Unreleased Epstein recordsdata embrace bawdy letter from Trump – report
The Wall Road Journal reports that one of many paperwork within the justice division recordsdata on the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein is a bawdy letter Donald Trump despatched to Epstein for his fiftieth birthday, in 2003.
In line with the newspaper, which is owned by Trump supporter Rupert Murdoch, Trump had been requested to put in writing a birthday letter to Epstein by Ghislaine Maxwell, who requested dozens of his associates and associates to contribute pages for a leather-bound album to mark his birthday.
Pages from the album-assembled earlier than Epstein was first arrested in 2006-were examined by justice division officers who later investigated Epstein and Maxwell, the Journal says.
The letter bearing Trump’s title, which was reviewed by the Journal’s reporters, “comprises a number of traces of typewritten textual content framed by the define of a unadorned girl, which seems to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. A pair of small arcs denotes the lady’s breasts, and the longer term president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ beneath her waist, mimicking pubic hair.”
The Journal reviews that letter concludes: “A pal is a superb factor. Glad Birthday – and should every single day be one other fantastic secret.”
On Tuesday night, Trump denied writing the letter or drawing the image in an interview with the Journal. “This isn’t me. This can be a pretend factor. It’s a pretend Wall Road Journal story,” he stated.
After being contacted by the Journal in regards to the letter on Tuesday, Trump spent a lot of Wednesday suggesting that a few of the paperwork within the justice division’s Epstein recordsdata had been fabricated as a part of “a hoax” carried out by Democrats.
Key occasions
Kira Lerner
Lots of of protesters are gathered in Franklin Park in downtown Washington, many holding indicators with John Lewis’s image and the phrases “Good Hassle Lives On”.
It’s over 90F and plenty of are huddled within the shade beneath bushes. One protester from northern Virginia named Michael, who didn’t need to share his final title, stood proudly within the solar holding two giant indicators. One learn “No Extra Ice” and the opposite in contrast Ice brokers to masked kidnappers and criminals (“Spot the distinction. Trace: There isn’t one.”)
Michael stated he needs extra folks to seek advice from the Trump administration as what it’s: “A fascist authoritarian takeover.”
Mary Baird traveled to Washington from North Carolina this morning and spent the sooner a part of the day going door to door on Capitol Hill asking lawmakers why they haven’t voted to question Trump.
“Fascism will fall and when it falls, in case you had been complicit, you’ll be held accountable,” she stated she advised members of Congress. “And we didn’t have an amazing response. One Democrat had voted sure for the articles of impeachment Al Inexperienced dropped at Congress. It was tremendous disappointing.”
Federal Reserve chair Powell responds to White Home accusations he mismanaged renovations
In a letter to the White Home funds workplace director, Russ Vought, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, responded to accusations from the White Home that he has mismanaged the renovation of the Federal Reserve Board’s Eccles constructing and 1951 Structure Avenue constructing.
Powell refuted a number of of the claims made by Vought in a letter despatched final week, informing his that the challenge was underneath investigation. “These renovations embrace terrace rooftop gardens, water options, VIP elevators, and premium marble,” Vought claimed.
“As defined on the Board’s public web site, we take severely the duty to be good stewards of public assets as we fulfill the duties given to us by Congress on behalf of the American folks,” Powell wrote in his letter to Vought.
He then corrected Vought’s claims, level by level.
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There are not any terrace rooftop gardens, Powell defined, only a entrance garden that was known as a “backyard terrace” in a planning doc, and a inexperienced roof, “used to assist with stormwater administration and to extend constructing effectivity and roof longevity”.
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“There are not any VIP eating rooms being constructed as a part of the challenge,” Powell wrote. Convention rooms which might be used for “mealtime conferences” are being renovated.
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The Fed buildings “had been initially constructed with marble within the façades and stonework”, Powell wrote. “The challenge has salvaged the unique exterior marble to be reinstalled and can use new home marble sourced from Georgia in locations the place the unique was broken or the place wanted to maintain with historic preservation pointers.”
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“There are not any particular, non-public, or VIP elevators being constructed as a part of the challenge,” Powell defined.
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Though the Board’s preliminary design did embrace new water options for the 1951 Structure Avenue constructing, “they’ve been eradicated”, Powell wrote. “Fountains that had been authentic to the Eccles constructing are being restored.”
Powell despatched his letter after the White Home’s official “fast response” account on X shared video with its 1.1 million followers of Vought telling Fox Enterprise that he’s investigating the pricey renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters. That renovation has been cited by Trump as a attainable pretext he may use to fireside Powell and declare it was “for trigger”.
“As you understand, Larry,” Vought stated to Fox Enterprise host Larry Kudlow, who suggested Trump throughout his first time period, “the president’s a builder, he finds it exasperating the extent to which this constructing is so costly, and the extent to which it’s value overrun, and we’re going to search for as a lot data as we are able to get our fingers on.”
Earlier on Thursday, consultant French Hill, the Arkansas Republican who chairs the Home monetary companies committee, had tried to pour chilly water on hypothesis that Donald Trump may be on the verge of touching the third rail of the worldwide financial system by firing Powell.
Requested by CBS correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns if he thought there was “any circumstance by which the president may and will fireplace the Fed chair”, Hill replied: “He’s not gonna fireplace Jay Powell, and I don’t imagine he can fireplace Jay Powell.”
However whereas Hill and different Republicans attempt to tamp down considerations that the president may trigger monetary panic by eradicating the US central financial institution’s chairman, Vought and others within the White Home look like working to make life very uncomfortable for Powell, maybe hoping that he will be pressured to resign.
George Chidi
The legacy of consultant John Lewis rang loud within the Atlanta streets on Thursday as anti-Trump administration demonstrators marched down Auburn Avenue to the courtyard of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s famed church, Ebenezer Baptist.
The protest was certainly one of a whole lot deliberate to happen on Thursday throughout the nation, on a day of motion organizers are calling Good Trouble Lives On, evoking a phrase the civil-right protest icon Lewis liked to use: “Get in good bother, vital bother.”
“We honor John Lewis’s private legacy, 5 years after being referred to as residence,” stated the Rev Dr Jonathan Jay Augustine, the newly appointed senior pastor of Massive Bethel AME Church. “He’s somebody who gave his life for inclusion and for inclusiveness, and the issues he gave his life for are underneath assault and being eroded away.”
About 1,000 folks marched from Massive Bethel and the landmark five-story tall mural of Lewis to Ebenezer Baptist, the place the Rev Raphael Warnock, a Democratic senator from Georgia, is its senior pastor. Politics and religion are intertwined on these Atlanta streets, and Lewis’ legacy of political protest – and the distinctive animosity Donald Trump had for him, and for Atlanta’s fifth district, which Lewis represented – isn’t removed from the ideas expressed by civil rights and voting rights leaders right here.
“Right this moment we go to ship a message from the birthplace of civil rights to … the one that wishes to destroy the Division of Training, the one that wishes to deport thousands and thousands upon thousands and thousands of individuals in search of a greater life, the one who received’t launch the Epstein recordsdata, the one who had the nerve to name the fifth district horrible and falling aside,” stated Georgia NAACP president Gerald Griggs. “We nonetheless have a message for that man. In Georgia, nobody is above the regulation. You continue to have a court docket date within the fifth district.”
White Home releases memo from Trump’s physician with power venous insufficiency analysis
The White Home simply launched a copy of a memorandum from Donald Trump’s physician to the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, dated at present by which Navy doctor, Sean Barbabella, DO, describes the checks that exposed the 79-year-old president has power venous insufficiency.
The memo says that “there was no proof of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or arterial illness” and says that current pictures of bruising on the again of Trump’s hand “is in line with minor tender tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the usage of aspirin, which is taken as a part of a normal cardiovascular prevention routine.”
The memo concludes with this abstract: “President Trump stays in wonderful well being.”
Dr Barbabella, a Navy emergency doctor who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, is the third consecutive osteopathic doctor to function Doctor to the President.
The US Home of Representatives voted 308-122 to go a invoice to create a regulatory framework for US-dollar-pegged cryptocurrency tokens often called stablecoins, sending the invoice to Donald Trump, who is predicted to signal it into regulation.
The No votes included 110 Democrats and 12 Republicans.
The vote marks a watershed second for the digital asset trade, which has been pushing for federal laws for years and poured cash into final yr’s elections to be able to promote pro-crypto candidates.
Home lawmakers additionally handed a invoice growing a regulatory framework for crypto. That can transfer on to the Senate for consideration.
The stablecoin invoice, dubbed the Genius Act, acquired bipartisan assist, with many Democrats becoming a member of Republicans to again the proposed federal guidelines. The 294-134 vote in the marketplace construction invoice, often called the Readability Act, was additionally supported by dozens of Democrats.
Stablecoins, a sort of cryptocurrency designed to take care of a continuing worth, normally a 1:1 greenback peg, are generally utilized by crypto merchants to maneuver funds between tokens. Their use has grown quickly in recent times, and proponents say that they could possibly be used to ship funds immediately.
If signed into regulation, the stablecoin invoice would require tokens to be backed by liquid belongings – reminiscent of US {dollars} and short-term Treasury payments – and for issuers to publicly disclose the composition of their reserves on a month-to-month foundation.
Among the many most vigorous opponents of the Genius Act has been Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator who was one of many nation’s prime consultants on chapter earlier than she ran for workplace.
‘Weaponization of knowledge’: Ice given entry to Medicaid knowledge in transfer critics name a privateness betrayal
Jessica Glenza
Critics have slammed an agreement between Medicaid officers and Ice – which permits brokers to look at a database of People’ private data, together with residence addresses, social safety numbers and ethnicities – as a privateness betrayal carrying severe civil rights and well being dangers.
“That is in regards to the weaponization of knowledge, full cease,” stated Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic US consultant from Washington state, who has labored extensively on US healthcare, in an announcement on social media.
“Trump stated he would go after the ‘worst of the worst’ immigrants, but now’s giving ICE EVERYONE’s Medicaid knowledge, whilst ICE targets US residents. Oh, and undocumented immigrants can’t even enroll in Medicaid.”
Undocumented migrants are usually not eligible for Medicaid and just some lawfully current migrants might receive protection underneath this system. Eligible noncitizen immigrants characterize solely about 6% of individuals at the moment enrolled in Medicaid, in line with the healthcare analysis non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation. The Trump administration has deeply reduce Medicaid by including forms and pink tape.
It’s unclear whether or not Ice brokers have already accessed Medicaid data, in line with the Related Press, which first reported on the agreement. Nonetheless, even the existence of such an settlement may deter folks from in search of wanted medical care, together with for youngsters.
“That is a privateness violation of unprecedented proportions and betrayal of belief, as the federal government has explicitly stated, for many years, that this data won’t ever be used for immigration enforcement,” stated Ben D’Avanzo, a healthcare strategist on the Nationwide Immigration Legislation Middle, on social media.
The day to date
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Donald Trump will not name a special counsel within the Jeffrey Epstein case, his White Home press secretary confirmed. And requested to make clear what facet of the case Trump believes to be a “hoax” Karoline Leavitt stated he was referring to “the truth that Democrats have now seized on this”. However Trump’s efforts to dismiss the criticism over his administration’s dealing with of the Epstein case has showed no sign of working today, with extra outstanding figures from throughout the political spectrum – together with his personal allies – have emerged to assault the president. A few of his supporters even recorded movies burning their signature “Make America nice once more” hats.
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An analysis of swelling within the president’s decrease legs have revealed power venous insufficiency, “a typical situation, notably in people over the age of 70”, Leavitt stated, studying from a health care provider’s letter. she added: “Latest pictures of the president have proven minor bruising on the again of his hand. That is in line with minor tender tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the usage of aspirin, which is taken as a part of a normal cardiovascular prevention routine.”
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The Home of Representatives is predicted to vote tonight on Donald Trump’s $9bn funding reduce to public media and to overseas support, after the Senate delivered a victory for the president when it approved the package last night, although speaker Mike Johnson stated it could slide to tomorrow. Congress faces a deadline tomorrow to approve the rescissions package deal if the Trump administration is to keep away from having to spend the cash.
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Republican senators advanced through the judiciary committee Emil Bove’s nomination to function a choose on a federal appeals court docket, after Democrats walked out of the session in protest of the GOP’s refusal to name a whistleblower who alleged the nominee advocated for ignoring court docket orders. Erez Reuveni, a former justice division official who was fired from his publish, alleged that in his time on the justice division, Bove advised legal professionals that they “would want to think about telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore any such court docket order” blocking efforts to take away immigrants to El Salvador. The GOP confirmed little indication of sharing these considerations, and voted to advance Bove together with 11 different nominees to federal judgeships nationwide.
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Regardless of the Trump administration’s claims to be specializing in the “worst of the worst” offenders in its extremely aggressive and controversial deportation marketing campaign, the newest Ice knowledge suggests many undocumented immigrants with out violent felony information have been ensnared within the course of, CBS News reports. Of the estimated 100,000 individuals who had been deported between 1 January and 24 June by Ice, 70,583 had been convicted criminals, however most of those documented transgressions had been site visitors or immigration offenses. Lower than 1% had homicide convictions and fewer than 2% had convictions for intercourse crimes or sexual assault. Round 15% had been convicted of assault. Slightly below 30% had no felony convictions in any respect.
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On that subject, Ice officers will probably be given entry to the non-public knowledge of the nation’s 79 million Medicaid enrollees, together with residence addresses and ethnicities, to trace down immigrants who will not be residing legally within the US, in line with an settlement obtained by The Associated Press.
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Trump’s large spending increase for the Pentagon will produce a further 26 megatons (Mt) of planet-heating gases – on a par with the annual carbon equal (CO2e) emissions generated by 68 gasoline energy vegetation or the complete nation of Croatia, new research reveals. The funds bonanza will push the Pentagon’s whole greenhouse emissions to a staggering 178 Mt of CO2e, leading to an estimated $47bn in financial damages globally, in line with new analysis by the Local weather and Neighborhood Institute (CCI), a US-based analysis thinktank, shared solely with the Guardian. It comes amid worsening local weather breakdown, and as People – lots of them Trump voters – are being hit by harmful excessive climate occasions reminiscent of wildfires, extreme heat and the current floods in Texas, in addition to sea-level rise and different slow-onset local weather results.
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A brand new US evaluation has discovered that US strikes in June destroyed solely certainly one of three Iranian nuclear websites, NBC Information reports, citing present and former US officers aware of the matter. Trump rejected a army plan for additional complete strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, which might have lasted a number of weeks, the report added.
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Two months after Trump floated the farfetched thought of reopening Alcatraz as a federal prison, his legal professional common Pam Bondi and inside secretary Doug Burgum visited the tourist site today. “The deliberate announcement to reopen Alcatraz as a federal penitentiary is the Trump administration’s stupidest initiative but,” California Democratic congresswomen and former Home speaker Nancy Pelosi stated in an announcement.
Trump supporters burn Maga hats after he dismisses Epstein recordsdata furor as ‘hoax’
Joseph Gedeon
As we’ve simply heard from his press secretary, Donald Trump will not name a special counsel within the Jeffrey Epstein case. And asked to clarify what facet of the case Trump believes to be a “hoax” Karoline Leavitt stated he was referring to “the truth that Democrats have now seized on this”.
However Trump’s efforts to dismiss and deflect the criticism over his administration’s dealing with of the Epstein case has confirmed no signal of working at present, with extra outstanding figures from throughout the political spectrum – together with his personal allies – have emerged to assault the president. A few of his supporters even recorded movies burning their signature “Make America nice once more” hats.
Days after the Republican speaker of the Home and Trump loyalist Mike Johnson referred to as for the discharge of all paperwork regarding the late financier, a convicted intercourse offender and longtime former pal of Trump’s, insurrection has continued to simmer throughout the president’s usually diehard base.
Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence, told CBS News yesterday: “I feel the time has come for the administration to launch all the recordsdata relating to Jeffrey Epstein’s investigation and prosecution”. And much-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, a frequent shut adviser to Trump, called for the appointment of a particular counsel to deal with the Epstein recordsdata investigation.
“Clearly, this isn’t a whole hoax given the truth that [Epstein associate] Ghislaine Maxwell is at the moment serving 20 years in jail in Florida for her crimes and actions with Jeffrey Epstein, who we all know is a convicted sexual predator,” Loomer stated.
Trump referred to as Netanyahu after strike on church in Gaza, White Home says
Donald Trump referred to as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deal with an Israeli strike on Gaza’s sole Catholic church, Leavitt says.
Requested for Trump’s response to the information, Leavitt says: “It was not a constructive response.”
The strike killed three folks and injured 10 others together with the parish priest, who used to obtain each day calls from the late Pope Francis.
Leavitt dismisses considerations about cuts to NPR’s funding, saying “I’m unsure how NPR helps the general public security of our nation”, calling the general public broadcasting group a “propaganda voice for the left”.
The European Union continues to be very keen in negotiating commerce with the US, says Leavitt.
The bloc is in search of “methods to decrease their tariff and their non-tariff obstacles that we’ve got lengthy stated hurt our staff and our firms”, she stated, including that Donald Trump wouldn’t settle for a postponement of the 1 August deadline when greater duties would come into impact.
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