970x125
Initial takeaways of Ghislaine Maxwell’s interview transcriptsThe transcripts are more than 300 pages, but here it goes …
Blanche said, on record, that their conversation wasn’t “promising to do anything” for Maxwell. But that anything she said couldn’t be used against her, unless she provided false statements or there was a retrial in her case.
970x125
According to Maxwell, Epstein didn’t have any video or photographic evidence of any high-profile individuals committing sexual offences. And to that point, Maxwell said she didn’t hear or witness any instances of Epstein blackmailing powerful people.
Maxwell recruited a number of masseuses for Epstein but “never checked their age or credentials”. She added that, throughout her time with Epstein, she never heard any examples of “sexually inappropriate contact” between Epstein’s guests and in-house masseuses.
Despite her claims that Epstein didn’t extort anyone, Maxwell does not believe that Epstein died by suicide. She chalked that up to “mismanagement” at the bureau of prisons.
In the interview Maxwell said she does believe that Epstein “did a lot of, not all, but some of what he’s accused of”. But she maintains that “he became that man over a period of time”.
Maxwell said that she “never” saw Donald Trump receive a massage. She also said that she “never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way,” adding that he was “a gentleman in all respects” whenever she saw the president.
Maxwell also didn’t recall former president Bill Clinton receiving a massage while travelling with Epstein.
One notable point is that Maxwell denied ever recruiting masseuses from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. “I’ve never recruited a masseuse from Mar-a-Lago for that, as far as I remember. I can’t ever recollect doing that,” she told Todd Blanche. A reminder that Trump claimed his falling out with Jeffrey Epstein stemmed from the convicted sex offender’s efforts to hire workers away from Trump’s Florida club.
Maxwell did not remember whether Trump submitted a letter for Epstein’s 50th birthday album, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. She also couldn’t remember asking Trump to contribute.
ShareUpdated at 21.47 BSTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureThe transcript of the interview between deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, and Ghislaine Maxwell show that he asked the convicted sex trafficker about her and Epstein’s interactions with a spate of prominent Democrats, including former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and billionaire Democratic donor George Soros.Maxwell did not implicate any of those individuals in wrongdoing.Maxwell said she worked with Bill Clinton on his philanthropic endeavors, and that he used Epstein’s plane for a trip to Africa. But she said Clinton never visited Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein was accused of abusing some girls.ShareTexas approves GOP’s redistricting plan as senator threatens a final filibusterSam LevineThe Texas legislature preliminarily approved a redrawn congressional map on Friday that gives Republicans a chance to pick up as many as five congressional seats, fulfilling a brazen political request from Donald Trump to shore up the GOP’s standing before next year’s midterm elections.The tentative map adoption passed in an 18-11 party-line vote.To get final approval, the state legislature’s upper chamber will take a vote, which is forecasted to happen this weekend, the Texas Tribune reports. However, a Houston Democratic state senator has plans to delay the final passage.Senator Carol Alvarado revealed her filibuster plans in a post on social media. “Republicans think they can walk all over us. Today I’m going to kick back,” Alvarado’s post read. “I’ve submitted my intention to filibuster the new congressional maps. Going to be a long night.”The Guardian’s Sam Levine has the full story:ShareVice President JD Vance said the FBI raids on former national security adviser John Bolton’s home and office were part of a legal process, not a political one against the now harsh critic of President Donald Trump.“We’re in the very early stages of an ongoing investigation into John Bolton. I will say we’re going to let that investigation proceed,” Vance said in an interview with MSNBC’s “Meet the Press.”“What I can tell you is that, unlike the Biden DOJ and the Biden FBI, our law enforcement agencies are going to be driven by law and not by politics,” he added. “And so, if we think that Ambassador Bolton has committed a crime, of course, eventually prosecutions will come.”ShareUS health department moves to strip thousands of employees of collective bargaining rightsThe US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has moved to strip thousands of federal health agency employees of their collective bargaining rights, according to a union that called the effort illegal.HHS officials confirmed Friday that the department is ending its recognition of unions for a number of employees and reclaiming office space and equipment that had been used for union activities.It’s the latest move by the Trump administration to put an end to collective bargaining with unions that represent federal employees. Previously affected agencies include the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).In May, an appeals court said the administration could move forward with Donald Trump’s executive order that the president aimed at ending collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees while a lawsuit plays out.“This action ensures that HHS resources and personnel are fully focused on safeguarding the health and security of the American people,” department spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement.Read the full story here:ShareIt looks like more defense officials were fired, shortly after we reported today that defense secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed Lt Gen Jeffrey A Kruse, who served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.The Associated Press is reporting that V Adm Nancy Lacore, who was chief of the Navy Reserve, as well as R Adm Milton Sands, a navy SEAL officer who oversaw Naval Special Warfare Command, were also fired.The reasons for their firings, the latest in a series of steps targeting military leaders, were not clear Friday.ShareUpdated at 00.45 BSTConvicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell said Hillary Clinton did not associate with Jeffrey Epstein, according to the recently-released transcripts of an interview conducted by Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, with Maxwell.When Maxwell was asked if Epstein “knew or had any sort of visit, dealings or associated with Hillary Clinton,” Maxwell responded, “I would say no.”“Did you ever see them together?,” asked Blanche. Maxwell responded “No.”Maxwell was also asked whether Epstein ever did any business with the Clintons. She said he may have given money to their foundation.“I think he did do that. And that, I believe, the money that he may have given could have been independent of me,” Maxwell said.ShareLauren ArataniThe Guardian’s Lauren Aratani brings us her analysis of Donald Trump’s push for steeper rate cuts and the Fed’s reality:Stocks soared on Friday following the strongest signal yet that US the Federal Reserve is gearing up to start cutting interest rates again this fall. But how long can this celebration last?While Wall Street cheered the biggest headline from the speech by the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, at the annual Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming, Powell also delivered a reality check on where interest rates could settle in the longer term.“We cannot say for certain where rates will settle out over the longer run, but their neutral level may now be higher than during the 2010s,” said Powell.In other words: even if the Fed does start cutting interest rates again this year, they may not fall back to their pre-pandemic levels. It’s a signal, despite the short-term optimism on potential rate cuts, that the Fed’s long-term outlook is more unstable.“Markets might be ahead of their skis on how aggressive the Fed is going to be in reducing interest rates, because the neutral rate might be higher than some believe,” Ryan Sweet, an economist at Oxford Economics, said.Higher rates means borrowing money for loans, such as mortgages, will be more expensive. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was just under 3% in 2021, when interest rates were near zero.Now the average mortgage rate is closer to 6.7%. Paired with home prices at near-record highs, elevated mortgages mean many Americans will continue to struggle to purchase a home.Although Trump has been pushing the Fed for months to decrease rates to 1%, claiming that Powell is “hurting the housing industry very badly”, it seems unlikely that rates will return to such a level any time soon.The Fed is trying to achieve a Goldilocks balance. Rates that are too high risk unemployment, while rates that are too low could mean higher inflation. Policymakers are searching for a “neutral” level, where everything is just right.Read the full analysis here:ShareTrump says Intel has agreed to give US government a 10% stakeThe US government has taken an unprecedented 10% stake in Intel in a deal with the struggling chipmaker and is planning more such moves, according to Donald Trump and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, the latest extraordinary intervention by the White House in corporate America.Lutnick wrote on X: “BIG NEWS: The United States of America now owns 10% of Intel, one of our great American technology companies. Thanks to Intel CEO @LipBuTan1 for striking a deal that’s fair to Intel and fair to the American People.”Trump met with Lip-Bu Tan on Friday and posed for a photo with Lutnick. The development follows a meeting between Tan and Trump earlier this month that was sparked by the US president’s demand for the Intel chief’s resignation over his ties to Chinese firms.Here’s the full story:ShareUpdated at 23.19 BSTThe Internal Revenue Service has halted planned layoffs and is offering jobs back to some employees who previously took the so-called “fork in the road” that encouraged staffers to take a buyout as the agency scrambles to boost staffing ahead of tax season, Axios reports.The so-called “department of government efficiency’s” (Doge) early days made headlines for targeting government workers with layoffs and pushing others to resign.But the IRS is now reversing course, joining other federal agencies, either rehiring terminated workers or pulling back on “reduction in force” plans.In February, the IRS laid off roughly 7,000 workers in Washington and around the country.ShareUpdated at 23.22 BSTDonald Trump announced that he named Sergio Gor to be the next US ambassador to India and special envoy for South and Central Asian affairs, according to a post on Truth Social.Gor is currently the director of the White House presidential personnel office, and is slated to remain in that position until his confirmation.“For the most populous Region in the World, it is important that I have someone I can fully trust to deliver on my Agenda and help us, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote on Friday.ShareUpdated at 22.35 BSTSam LevineCarol Alvarado, a Texas Democratic senator from Houston, says she intends to filibuster tonight in the Texas senate to delay Republicans from passing a redrawn congressional map.“Republicans think they can walk all over us. Today I’m going to kick back.I’ve submitted my intention to filibuster the new congressional maps. Going to be a long night,” she wrote in a post on X, accompanied by a picture of sneakers.Democrats have gone back and forth with Phil King, the bill’s GOP sponsor, since this morning, trying to get him to admit that he considered race in drawing the maps.The local television station KVUE has more on the rules Alvarado will have to follow as she filibusters the new congressional map.Alvarado will not be able to eat or drink and must stand at her desk the whole time without breaks for the bathroom, the outlet reported.ShareUpdated at 22.36 BSTThe national guard personnel deployed on the streets of Washington DC will now be armed, a defense official confirmed to The Guardian.Defense secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the nearly 2,000 of the national guard members to carry “service-issued weapons,” the official said.Members of the Mississippi National Guard cross 14th Street on the National Mall after Donald Trump deployed the National Guard and ordered an increased presence of federal law enforcement to assist in crime prevention in Washington DC. (REUTERS/Al Drago)“The Interim Commanding General of the D.C. National Guard retains the authority to make any necessary force posture adjustments in coordination with the D.C. Metropolitan Police and Federal law enforcement partners,” said the defense official.The Pentagon and the US army had said last week that troops would not carry weapons.Share
970x125
