A judge on Wednesday rejected a Trump administration request to unseal transcripts from grand jury investigations of Jeffrey Epstein years ago in Florida, saying the request doesn’t meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under federal law that could make them public. A similar records request is still pending in New York.The Justice Department last week asked the judge to release records to quell a storm among Trump supporters who believe there was a conspiracy to protect Epstein’s clients, conceal videos of crimes being committed and other evidence.
The news came down as Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, touted the release of a House report that she claims helps undercut the reality of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump has repeated baseless claims that President Barack Obama engaged in treason.
Here’s the latest:
Supreme Court rules Trump can remove 3 Consumer Product Safety Commission members
Trump had previously fired the three Democratic members, but they were later reinstated by a federal judge.
The justices acted on an emergency appeal from the Justice Department, which argued that the agency is under Trump’s control and the president is free to remove commissioners without cause.
The court provided a brief, unsigned explanation that the case is similar to earlier ones in which it allowed Trump to fire board members of other independent agencies, whom Congress protected from arbitrary dismissals. The three liberal justices dissented.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission helps protect people from dangerous products by issuing recalls, suing errant companies and more. Trump fired the three Democrats on the five-member commission in May. They were serving seven-year terms after being nominated by former President Joe Biden.
▶ Read more about the ruling on the Democratic members’ firing
House Oversight Committee subpoenas Ghislaine Maxwell
The committee ordered that Maxwell, a convicted sex offender and girlfriend of the late Jeffrey Epstein, testify before committee officials on Aug. 11. Lawmakers and staff will conduct her deposition at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, where Maxwell is imprisoned.
The subpoena notes that Maxwell’s case has received “immense public interest and scrutiny” in recent years. The Trump administration has come under intense scrutiny to release documents related to Epstein after Trump vowed to do so on the campaign trail.
“While the department undertakes efforts to uncover and publicly disclose additional information related to your and Mr. Epstein’s cases, it is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of you and Mr. Epstein,” reads the subpoena’s cover letter to Maxwell.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said during a press conference that he doubted if Maxwell can “be counted on to tell the truth” but said he supported Oversight Committee Chair James Comer’s investigation.
Experts said release of Epstein grand jury records was a long shot
Before a judge turned down a request to release grand jury materials about Jeffrey Epstein, experts had expressed doubt that transcripts would reveal much.
Federal grand juries hear evidence in secret and then decide whether there is enough for an indictment. Experts say the transcripts likely would not offer surprises because prosecutors typically don’t introduce the entire investigation.
U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in Florida said the Trump administration’s request to release grand jury documents from 2005 and 2007 did not meet any of the exceptions to make them public under federal law. She said no in a 12-page opinion Wednesday.
Similar requests remain pending in New York federal court in separate grand jury investigations from 2018. Epstein, a wealthy financier, was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. He killed himself in a jail cell about a month later, authorities said.
House Democrats launch bid to subpoena Department of Justice for Epstein files
Congressman Summer Lee, a Pennsylvania Democrat, motioned for the committee to order the Justice Department release all files to the late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein during a House Oversight subcommittee meeting.
“If our colleagues on this committee don’t join us in this vote, then what they’re essentially doing is joining President Donald Trump in complicity,” Lee said of Republicans.
The vote is still pending after the Republican majority took a brief recess in the meeting. Democrats have for several weeks been eager to highlight the Trump administration’s reticence to release information connected to Epstein.
Republicans have suspended most business in the House to avoid more contentious votes on the subject before Congress enters a month-long August recess. Some Republicans have repeatedly raised the subject as a matter of government transparency alongside Democrats, who are eager to tie the president to Epstein.
Trump campaigned on releasing more information about the late sexual predator, while Attorney General Pam Bondi said earlier this year that the Justice Department would release more documents without specifying what materials.
Judge bars ICE from immediately taking Abrego Garcia into custody if he’s released from jail
A federal judge in Maryland has prohibited the Trump administration from taking Kilmar Abrego Garcia into immediate immigration custody if he’s released from jail in Tennessee while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges, according to an order issued Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the U.S. government to provide notice of three business days if Immigration and Customs Enforcement intends to initiate deportation proceedings against the Maryland construction worker.
The judge also ordered the government to restore the federal supervision that Abrego Garcia was under before he was wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador in March. That supervision had allowed Abrego Garcia to live and work in Maryland for years, while he periodically checked in with ICE.
Abrego Garcia became a prominent face in the debate over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies following his wrongful explusion to El Salvador in March. Trump’s administration violated a U.S. immigration judge’s order in 2019 that shields Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faces threats of gang violence there.
Judge rejects effort to unseal Epstein grand jury records in Florida
A judge on Wednesday rejected a Trump administration request to unseal transcripts from grand jury investigations of Jeffrey Epstein years ago in Florida, though a similar records request is pending in New York.
U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach said the request to release grand jury documents from 2005 and 2007 did not meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under federal law that could make them public.
White House doesn’t make it clear what kind of ‘accountability’ Trump wants of Obama
Trump has repeated baseless claims that Obama engaged in treason and Leavitt said the president wants his predecessor to be held accountable. But she had no details, when pressed, about how Trump wants to see Obama held accountable when the Supreme Court ruled last year in a case involving Trump that former presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for official acts that fall within their constitutional authority.
Leavitt said that the White House would let the Justice Department decide what to do.
“It’s in the Department of Justice’s hands and we trust them to move the ball forward,” she said.
Musk’s AI company won’t get Trump’s blessing
White House press secretary Leavitt said President Trump will not support federal agencies contracting with Elon Musk’s AI company.
Trump issued an AI action plan Wednesday meant to put the U.S. at the forefront of AI development, with recommendations including updated guidelines around federal contracting.
Asked at a press briefing if federal agencies would have Trump’s blessing to contract with xAI, Musk’s company, Leavitt said, “I don’t think so, no.”
Trump previously threatened to cut federal contracts with Musk’s companies as their relationship publicly flamed out in June.
Gabbard said she hasn’t seen a Jeffrey Epstein link to US or foreign intelligence
Asked to rule out that Epstein was connected to any kind of intelligence, Gabbard said she hadn’t seen any evidence or information to support that.
“I haven’t seen any evidence or information that reflets that,” Gabbard said.
She said if any information is found that “changes that in any way,” she supports “loud and clear” Trump’s statement that the American people should see “any credible evidence.”
Calls for retribution in Russia investigation run into reality of Supreme Court immunity ruling
As President Donald Trump urges scrutiny of fellow commander-in-chief Barack Obama, it’s worth remembering a simple fact: Former presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts they take in office.
That’s thanks to a Supreme Court opinion issued last year that shielded Trump in a case charging him with conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The topic has resurfaced thanks to efforts by the Trump administration to rewrite the history of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump has suggested that investigators should look into Obama and other senior officials, though none of them have been accused of any wrongdoing and the Supreme Court ruling in any event would foreclose the possibility of a prosecution of Obama.
Gabbard calls Obama’s response a ‘disservice’
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said former President Barack Obama did a “disservice to the American people” when his office attacked the government’s rehashed grievances over the Russia investigation that overshadowed President Donald Trump’s first term.
Obama’s post-presidential office issued a rare statement on Tuesday, condemning the Trump administration’s allegations as a “ridiculous and “a weak attempt at distraction.”
Asked about it at a Wednesday press briefing, Gabbard said Obama and others from his administration are “trying to deflect away from their culpability in what is a historic scandal.”
Gabbard doesn’t answer question about her motivations
The director of national intelligence didn’t address a question about those who suggest she is making the report public in order to improve her standing with Trump after she seemed to fall from favor earlier this year when he dismissed her assessments about Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Instead, Leavitt opted to answer the question for Gabbard, who said the only people questioning Gabbard’s motives were news reporters “who constantly try to sow distrust and chaos amongst the president’s Cabinet.”
Gabbard lashes out at Obama administration officials on Russia investigation
Tulsi Gabbard, the Trump administration’s director of national intelligence, is touting from the White House podium the release of a House report that she claims helps undercut the reality of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Gabbard made a surprise appearance just hours after she made public a declassified report from House Republicans that was produced during the first presidential administration.
The report does not dispute the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the election, but alleges tradecraft failings in how intelligence officials reached the conclusion that Russian President Vladimir Putin intended to have Trump win.
The release of the report, as Trump is facing backlash from elements of his base over the handling of records from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, is part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to rewrite the history of Russian election interference.
Gabbard lashed out during lengthy remarks at specific members of the Obama administration.
Gabbard appears at White House briefing
Leavitt brought Gabbard up to the podium as a surprise guest at the daily press briefing.
The director of national intelligence was accompanied by her cinematographer husband, Abraham Williams, who was filming her appearance in the White House briefing room. Williams is a filmmaker and was often seen filming Gabbard during her 2020 presidential campaign.
Government Accountability Office issues impoundments decision on Head Start
The audit watchdog for Congress has found that the Trump administration earlier this year withheld funds for Head Start programs in violation of federal law.
The finding Wednesday underscores Democratic lawmakers’ concerns that the administration is unilaterally canceling funding for programs it does not view as a priority.
The Government Accountability Office said that the Department of Health and Human Services between January 20 and April 15 significantly reduced the rate of disbursements for Head Start grants compared to the same period the prior year. Based on that evidence, it concluded the department was in violation of the Impoundment Control Act.
The GAO also said current data suggests that Head Start funds have since been made available at rates consistent with those from the year before.
Democrats said the damage was done, however.
“It does not matter how long these funds were frozen,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. “The chaos and uncertainty of illegally withholding these funds is costly and hurts the hundreds of thousands of families that depend on Head Start.”
White House condemns Kohberger as ‘vicious and evil killer’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt started a press briefing 45 minutes late on Wednesday and addressed the sentencing of Bryan Kohberger that had just concluded.
Leavitt started the briefing with condolences to the victim’s family and called Kohberger a “vicious and evil killer.”
“If it were up to the president, he would have forced this monster to publicly explain why he chose to steal these innocent souls,” Leavitt said.
Kohberger was sentenced to serve four consecutive life sentences without parole for the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students nearly three years ago.
Leavitt: Trump’s AI plan will ‘secure a brighter future for all Americans’
Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt praised Trump’s new AI plan, which incorporates familiar pitches from tech lobbyists, during her press briefing.
She noted Trump will speak on the plan at an event later in the afternoon and said he’ll also sign three executive orders there.
“Under president Trump’s leadership, our country will lead the world in AI to secure a brighter future for all Americans, massively grow our economy and protect our national security,” Leavitt said.
Trump’s new AI plan leans heavily on Silicon Valley ideas
An artificial intelligence agenda that started coalescing on the podcasts of Silicon Valley billionaires is now being forged into U.S. policy as President Trump leans on the ideas of the tech figures who backed his election campaign.
The “AI Action Plan” revealed by the White House on Wednesday includes some familiar tech lobby pitches: Accelerating the sale of AI technology abroad and making it easier to construct energy-hungry data centers in the U.S.
It also includes some of the AI culture war preoccupations of the circle of venture capitalists who endorsed Trump last year.
▶Read more on Trump’s new AI plan
FEMA acting chief defends response to Texas floods
The acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is pushing back on criticisms of the federal response to the central Texas floods that killed at least 135 people.
“I can’t see anything we did wrong,” FEMA acting administrator David Richardson told a House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee Wednesday morning, calling the relationship between state and federal agencies “a model for how disasters should be handled.”
Richardson denied reports that FEMA’s flood response was impaired by bureaucratic delays that slowed the deployment of urban search and rescue teams and left FEMA call centers unstaffed.
FEMA’s search and rescue leader, Ken Pagurek, resigned Monday.
The response “brought the maximum amount of capability to bear in Texas at the right time and the right place,” said Richardson.
Johnson says no need for House vote this week on Epstein records
Speaker Mike Johnson said the House doesn’t need to vote this week on releasing records related to the Jeffrey Epstein case because the Trump administration is “already doing everything within their power to release them.”
The comments come as Democratic repeatedly try to force votes on the matter, casting it as an issue of trust in the government. GOP leadership has also unveiled a resolution that has no legal weight but would urge the Justice Department to produce more documentation. None of those efforts will be brought before the House for a vote before lawmakers return home for the traditional August recess.
“There’s no point in passing a resolution to urge the administration to do something that they are already doing,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday. “That’s why we’re going to let that process play out.”
Johnson said that if the process for releasing the information stalls out, “then we’ll take appropriate action when everybody returns here, but we have to allow the court process to play out.”
As Trump targets Harvard, other Republicans take aim at higher education nationally
No government effort to influence a university — private or public — has gotten more attention than the clash at Harvard, where the Trump administration has frozen billions of dollars in federal funding as it seeks a series of policy changes. But far beyond the Ivy League, Republican officials are asserting control over public universities.
These conservatives in GOP-led states say colleges are out of touch, too liberal and loading students with too much debt. First they focused on the critical race theory that racism is embedded in the nation’s institutions. Then they went after diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Since Trump took office, officials in states including Indiana, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Iowa and Idaho have sought control over university governance — the rules for who picks presidents and boards and how curricula and tenure are determined. As at Harvard, they’ve sought to reduce the power of faculty members and students.
▶ Read more about GOP efforts to reshape higher education
What are Americans thinking? Check out the new AP-NORC polling tracker
Wondering how Trump’s approval rating has changed, or where U.S. adults stand on trust in the Supreme Court, or whether they think climate change is happening?
Take a look at the new AP-NORC polling tracker, which shows the latest poll numbers as well as how they’ve changed over time. The tracker shows AP-NORC polling results going back as far as 2018. Go deep into the data and look at how the results break down by party, race, gender, and age.
The polling tracker shows shifts in public opinion on trust in institutions, favorability of Trump and Vance, the state of the country’s economy, and more.
The Trump administration has opposed international mandates on global warming
The United States and Russia, both of whom are major petroleum-producing states, are staunchly opposed to the court mandating emissions reductions.
But those who cling to fossil fuels could go broke doing it, the U.N. secretary-general told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview this week.
Simply having the court issue an opinion is the latest in a series of legal victories for the small island nations:
1. Earlier this month, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found that countries have a legal duty not only to avoid environmental harm but also to protect and restore ecosystems.
2. Last year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that countries must better protect their people from the consequences of climate change.
The UN’s top court delivers landmark decision on tackling climate change
The United Nations’ top court’s advisory opinion Wednesday declares that a “clean, healthy and sustainable environment” is a human right.
The International Court of Justice’s opinion describes the obligations of every nation to tackle climate change — and the consequences they may face if they don’t.
The non-binding opinion, which runs to over 500 pages, is seen as a potential turning point in international climate law. Enshrining a sustainable environment as a human right paves the way for other legal actions, including states returning to the ICJ to hold each other to account, as well as domestic lawsuits.
“The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is therefore inherent in the enjoyment of other human rights,” court President Yuji Iwasawa said.
▶ Read more about the UN court’s landmark climate ruling
The Associated Press
