970x125
Trump again tries to brush off Epstein crisis as ‘nothing’ concocted by DemocratsDonald Trump has been posting on Truth Social early this morning, repeating his accusations about the Democrats regarding the Jeffrey Epstein case.
If there was a “smoking gun” on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the “files” for four years, and had Garland and Comey in charge, use it? BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!
Trump’s frustration that the story hasn’t gone away has been apparent all week, as he and others in his administration have tried to dismiss the whole affair by framing it as a Democratic-led conspiracy – as opposed to one that Trump and his allies have long fuelled.Indeed much of the fury and calls for release of the documents has come from his own increasingly fractured Maga base – who Trump attacked as “weaklings” and “stupid people” – and even key allies in Congress such as House speaker Mike Johnson.Finally last night, in a bid to tamp down further controversy over a story that he allegedly contributed a sketch of a naked woman to Epstein’s 50th birthday album, Trump – who was close friends with Epstein for 15 years – last night directed his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to seek the release of grand jury testimony related to Epstein’s sex-trafficking case.The president has said the letter is a fake, and that he will sue the Wall Street Journal over the story.ShareUpdated at 14.42 BSTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureUS rejects WHO global pandemic response accordThe United States has rejected an agreement adopted by members of the World Health Organization to improve preparedness for future pandemics following the disjointed global response to Covid-19, the government said.The Department of State and Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement they had transmitted on Friday the official US rejection of the legally binding pact, which was adopted in Geneva in May after three years of negotiations.The pact aims to ensure that drugs, therapeutics and vaccines are globally accessible when the next pandemic hits. It requires participating manufacturers to allocate a target of 20% of their vaccines, medicines and tests to the WHO during a pandemic to ensure poorer countries have access.US negotiators left discussions about the accord after Donald Trump began a 12-month process of withdrawing the US – by far the WHO’s largest financial backer – from the agency when he took office in January. Its exit means the US would not be bound by the pact.“Developed without adequate public input, these amendments expand the role of the WHO in public health emergencies, create additional authorities for the WHO for shaping pandemic declarations, and promote WHO’s ability to facilitate ‘equitable access’ of health commodities,” the American statement said.“Terminology throughout the 2024 amendments is vague and broad, risking WHO-coordinated international responses that focus on political issues like solidarity, rather than rapid and effective actions,” the statement, jointly issued by secretary of state Marco Rubio and secretary of health and human services Robert F Kennedy Jr, went on.Kennedy, who has a long history of sowing doubt about vaccine safety, had slammed WHO in a video address to the Assembly during its vote, saying it had failed to learn from the lessons of the pandemic with the new agreement.Kennedy and Rubio said on Friday that the rejection protects US sovereignty. In fact, the pact leaves health policy to national governments and contains nothing that overrides national sovereignty.ShareUpdated at 19.44 BSTMassachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren has weighed in on the latest CBS announcement of its cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show, writing on X:
“CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery.”
She went on to add:
“America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”
On Monday, during his monologue, Colbert said: “I don’t know if anything – anything – will repair my trust in this company. But, just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16m would help.” He mockingly added that the technical name in legal circles is “a big fat bribe”.Meanwhile, Jon Stewart, who works for Comedy Central – which is also owned by Paramount – condemned the deal on air last week, calling it “shameful”.He added: “I would assume internally, this is devastating to the people who work in a place that pride themselves on contextual, good journalism?”ShareUpdated at 19.27 BSTAaron GlantzThe US Department of Veterans Affairs has enthusiastically joined Donald Trump’s war on DEI – demanding that staffers report colleagues who engage in diversity initiatives, banning LGBTQ+ pride flags from VA hospitals and shuttering an office investigating why Black veterans are more likely to have their mental health disability claims rejected.Last week, VA secretary Doug Collins tweeted: “VA is now squarely focused on Veterans – not out-of-touch, woke causes such as DEI and gender dysphoria treatments.”Collins’ pronouncement comes as he faces tough questions from US Senate and House members in the wake of a Guardian report that the agency had quietly removed language from its hospital bylaws that explicitly barred discrimination based on patients’ marital status or political views.Seventy House members wrote to express “profound alarm” that doctors and other VA medical providers “will now be able to refuse treatment” based on veterans’ political views or whether they are unmarried, widowed or part of a same-sex couple.For the full story, click here:ShareUpdated at 19.03 BSTIsraeli spy chief visits US amid bid to move Palestinians out of Gaza – reportThe head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency visited Washington this week as Israel seeks the Trump administration’s help in moving Palestinian people out of Gaza, Axios is reporting, citing two sources with knowledge of the matter.Per Axios’s report, the spy chief, David Barnea, told White House envoy Steve Witkoff that Israel has been speaking in particular with Ethiopia, Indonesia and Libya.The Israeli government stands accused of ethnic cleansing in Gaza, with its stated goal of capturing the entire strip, deporting Palestinian people from the land, and remaining there indefinitely.While Benjamin Netanyahu’s government claims such “relocation” would be “voluntary”, legal experts describe it as “a blueprint for crimes against humanity”.Israel’s scheme to move the entire population of Gaza into a so-called “humanitarian city” on the ruins of Rafah before implementing its forced emigration plan breaks international law, Michael Sfard, one of Israel’s leading human rights lawyers, told my colleague Emma Graham-Harrison earlier this month.
[Israeli defense minister Israel Katz] laid out an operational plan for a crime against humanity. It is nothing less than that. It is all about population transfer to the southern tip of the Gaza Strip in preparation for deportation outside the strip.
While the government still calls the deportation ‘voluntary’, people in Gaza are under so many coercive measures that no departure from the strip can be seen in legal terms as consensual.
When you drive someone out of their homeland that would be a war crime, in the context of a war. If it’s done on a massive scale like he plans, it becomes a crime against humanity.
ShareUpdated at 18.28 BSTTrump reportedly pushing for 15-20% minimum tariff on all EU goodsDonald Trump is pushing for a minimum tariff of 15% to 20% in any deal with the European Union, the Financial Times is reporting, and the administration is now looking at a reciprocal tariff rate that exceeds 10%, even if a deal is reached.Trump has also been unmoved by the latest EU offer to reduce car tariffs, and would keep duties on the sector at 25% as planned, the report said, citing sources.ShareUpdated at 18.28 BSTHere is my colleague Edward Helmore’s story on Trump this morning launching a fresh defense of his conduct in the Jeffrey Epstein case after the scandal deepened last night following a Wall Street Journal report that he’d written the convicted sex offender a bawdy note with a sketch of a naked woman.ShareAccording to Trump’s schedule, the “big signing” at 2.30pm will be the Genius Act, the first major legislative overhaul of cryptocurrency regulations which the House passed overwhelmingly yesterday.Upon receiving his signature, the legislation will create new rules for stablecoins, delivering crypto companies a historic lobbying victory.ShareDonald Trump has said there will be a “big signing” at the White House at 2.30pm ET.He wrote on Truth Social:
Big signing at 2:30 in the White House. Congratulations to our GREAT REPUBLICANS for being able to accomplish so much, a record, in so short a period of time. All the Democrats do is complain and criticize, AND GET NOTHING DONE. They are a “Party of the Past!”
ShareUpdated at 16.16 BSTTrump says he looks forward to getting Murdoch to testify in threatened suit against WSJDonald Trump has said he would want Rupert Murdoch to testify after vowing to sue the Wall Street Journal and its owner over the outlet’s story detailing a 2003 birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein bearing Trump’s name.He wrote on Truth Social this morning:
I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his “pile of garbage” newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!
The WSJ report alleged that Trump had contributed a “bawdy” letter and featuring a drawing of a naked woman’s silhouette around a typewritten personal message to Epstein – to an album compiled by Ghislane Maxwell for Epstein’s 50th birthday.Trump denied to the Journal that he was the author of the tribute and, hours after the story was published, announced he intended to file a lawsuit against the publication.“I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third-rate newspaper,” Trump wrote last night.Share’We are finally on offense’: Steve Bannon says WSJ story has united Trump supporters – CNNSteve Bannon has said that the Wall Street Journal story about a Jeffrey Epstein birthday letter bearing Donald Trump’s name has united the president’s supporters behind him once again on an issue that, up until last night, had put him on a collision course with many members of his base.“We are finally on offense,” Bannon, Trump’s former aide and a leader of the Maga movement, told CNN. “President Trump has had enough and is fighting back – against his real enemies.”Bannon was one of several of Trump’s high-profile supporters who had blasted his administration’s handling of the Epstein case and helped keep the story going all week despite Trump’s repeated – and increasingly frustrated – attempts to dismiss the furore.Bannon also praised Trump’s move asking attorney general Pam Bondi to unseal pertinent grand jury testimony related to Epstein, calling it a “good start”.“Good start but stay on offense—it’s when Trump is @ his best –attack, attack, attack,” Bannon texted CNN when asked whether such a move will be enough to quell the pressure for more documents related to Epstein to be released.Bannon is a longtime critic of Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch, who Trump has vowed to sue – along with the newspaper – over the story about the birthday letter, which he says is fake.“Murdoch showed how much he loathes Trump,” Bannon said, arguing that Murdoch will further serve as a uniting force for the president’s base. “Murdoch tried to destroy the President and failed – now Trump strikes back.”Steve Bannon at the Semafor World Economy Summit 2025 in Washington DC on 23 April. Photograph: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty ImagesShareUpdated at 16.27 BSTTrump celebrates axing of Colbert showDonald Trump has also been posting about CBS’s cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which will end in May after a 33-year run, saying he “loves that Colbert got fired”.
I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.
Stephen Colbert on 4 February Photograph: CBS Photo Archive/CBS/Getty ImagesThe show’s cancellation comes just a few days after Colbert criticised the network’s parent company, Paramount, for settling a lawsuit with Trump for $16m (£12m) over the US president’s claim that CBS News deceptively edited an interview with then presidential candidate Kamala Harris.The settlement coincided with Paramount seeking approval from the US Federal Communications Commission for an $8.4bn merger with Skydance Media. Colbert called the settlement “a big fat bribe”.ShareUpdated at 16.29 BSTTrump again tries to brush off Epstein crisis as ‘nothing’ concocted by DemocratsDonald Trump has been posting on Truth Social early this morning, repeating his accusations about the Democrats regarding the Jeffrey Epstein case.
If there was a “smoking gun” on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the “files” for four years, and had Garland and Comey in charge, use it? BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!
Trump’s frustration that the story hasn’t gone away has been apparent all week, as he and others in his administration have tried to dismiss the whole affair by framing it as a Democratic-led conspiracy – as opposed to one that Trump and his allies have long fuelled.Indeed much of the fury and calls for release of the documents has come from his own increasingly fractured Maga base – who Trump attacked as “weaklings” and “stupid people” – and even key allies in Congress such as House speaker Mike Johnson.Finally last night, in a bid to tamp down further controversy over a story that he allegedly contributed a sketch of a naked woman to Epstein’s 50th birthday album, Trump – who was close friends with Epstein for 15 years – last night directed his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to seek the release of grand jury testimony related to Epstein’s sex-trafficking case.The president has said the letter is a fake, and that he will sue the Wall Street Journal over the story.ShareUpdated at 14.42 BSTMen deported by US to Eswatini will be held in solitary confinement for undetermined timeFive immigrants deported by the United States to Eswatini under the Trump administration’s third-country program are being held in solitary confinement in various prisons for an undetermined time, a government spokesperson said.Thabile Mdluli, the Eswatini government spokesperson, declined to identify the correctional facilities where the five men are, citing security concerns. She said they were being held in solitary confinement away from other inmates.She added that Eswatini planned to ultimately repatriate the five to their home countries with the help of a United Nations agency. Mdluli told The Associated Press it wasn’t clear how long that would take.The men, who the US says were convicted of serious crimes and were in the country illegally, are citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos.Their deportations were announced by US homeland security on Tuesday and mark the continuation of Donald Trump’s plan to send deportees to third countries they have no ties with after it was stalled by a legal challenge in the US.The Eswatini government said the men are considered to be “in transit” and will eventually be sent to their home countries. The US and Eswatini governments would work with the UN migration agency to do that, it said.The UN agency – the International Organization for Migration or IOM – said it was not involved in the operation and has not been approached to assist in the matter but would be willing to help “in line with its humanitarian mandate”.Eswatini’s statement that the men would be sent home was in contrast to US claims they were sent there because their home countries refused to take them back.It’s unclear how sending the men to Eswatini would make it easier for them to be deported home. There was also no timeframe for that as it depends on several factors, including engagements with the IOM, Mdluli said.“We are not yet in a position to determine the timelines for the repatriation,” she wrote.There have been no details on why Eswatini agreed to take the men and Mdluli, the government spokesperson, said “the terms of the agreement between the US and Eswatini remain classified”.ShareUpdated at 16.29 BSTHouse passes Trump plan to cut $9bn from foreign aid, public broadcastingThe US’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed president Donald Trump’s $9bn funding cut to public media and foreign aid early this morning, sending it to the White House to be signed into law.The chamber voted 216 to 213 in favor of the funding cut package, altered by the Senate this week to exclude cuts of about $400m in funds for the global PEPFAR HIV/Aids prevention program.Only two House Republicans voted against the cut – representatives Brian Fitzpatrick from Pennsylvania and Mike Turner from Ohio – along with Democrats.“We are taking one small step to cut wasteful spending, but one giant leap towards fiscal sanity,” said Aaron Bean, a Florida Republican representative.House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries countered that the funding cut “undermines our ability to keep our people safe here and to project America’s soft power all over the globe”, and argued rural Americans’ access to emergency information on public radio will be diminished.The funding vote was delayed for hours amid Republican disagreements about other legislation, and calls from some members of the party for more government transparency about the deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Related: Tensions over Epstein files complicate Republican plan to vote on cuts billTo satisfy the Epstein-related concerns without holding up the funding cut bill any longer, Republicans on the House rules committee introduced a resolution that calls for the release of Epstein documents by the US attorney general within 30 days.“It’s a sound, good-faith resolution that ensures protections for victims and innocent witnesses,” said representative Virginia Foxx from North Carolina, the Republican leader of the rules committee.But the top Democrat on the rules panel, representative Jim McGovern from Massachusetts, blasted the resolution as a “glorified press release” because it lacks an enforcement mechanism to make the justice department comply.When the chamber finally voted on the funding cut, it was the second close House vote on Trump’s request to claw back the funds previously approved by Democrats and his fellow Republicans in Congress.In June, four Republicans joined Democrats to vote against an earlier version of the rescissions package, which passed 214-212.House Republicans felt extra pressure to pass the Senate version as the administration would have been forced to spend the money if Congress didn’t approve it by Friday.ShareUpdated at 13.21 BST‘Devastating’: US public broadcasters condemn Trump cuts to key programsMaya YangPublic broadcast station leaders are condemning Donald Trump’s latest victory after the Senate approved a bill on Wednesday that will cancel all federal funding for public broadcasting programs including PBS and NPR.A March protest in Washington against cuts to US public broadcasters. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty ImagesFollowing the Senate’s decision to pass $9bn in spending cuts to public broadcasting as well as foreign aid, PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger saying that the Senate’s approval of the package “goes against the will of the American people”.“These cuts will significantly impact all of our stations, but will be especially devastating to smaller stations and those serving large rural areas. Many of our stations which provide access to free unique local programming and emergency alerts will now be forced to make hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead,” Kerger said.“Despite today’s setback, we are determined to keep fighting to preserve the essential services we provide to the American public.”Similarly, NPR’s CEO, Katherine Maher, said: “Nearly three in four Americans say they rely on their public radio stations for alerts and news for their public safety.“We call on the House of Representatives to reject this elimination of public media funding, which directly harms their communities and constituents, and could very well place lives at risk.”Since that statement, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed Trump’s $9bn funding cut to public media and foreign aid early this morning, sending it to the White House to be signed into law.ShareUpdated at 13.14 BST
970x125
970x125
