Bongino again at FBI after threatening to stop over Epstein row
FBI deputy director Dan Bongino returned to work yesterday and was anticipated on the workplace right this moment, a federal legislation enforcement supply instructed NBC Information this morning, days after he had threatened to stop over a justice division memo that successfully ended the federal government’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
The supply instructed NBC that Bongino was anticipated to remain on in his function, however that tensions remained excessive with the FBI, justice division and White Home making an attempt to climate the storm within the hope that the controversy may die down over the approaching days.
A supply instructed NBC final week that the previous podcaster was “out-of-control livid” after the memo was made public and had gotten right into a heated confrontation with lawyer common Pam Bondi over his frustration with how the justice division had dealt with the case.
He didn’t present as much as work final Friday and had threatened to stop except Bondi was fired, NBC Information reported.
However Trump has repeatedly backed Bondi and in addition expressed assist for Bongino over the weekend, saying that they had spoken and he sounded “terrific”.
Associated: How the Jeffrey Epstein row plunged Maga world into turmoil – a timeline
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‘Our memo speaks for itself’: Bondi breaks silence on to Maga furore over Epstein case
Chatting with NBC Information earlier, the embattled lawyer common Pam Bondi was after all requested concerning the frustration from Trump’s Maga base surrounding her division’s dealing with of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
She stated (on a special subject):
We’re going to combat to maintain America protected once more.
We’re preventing collectively as a staff. That’s what’s so necessary proper now. We’ve received a battle on medication. We’ve received a battle on human trafficking, we’ve received cartels on this nation … we’ve got received international adversaries round this world as nicely, and we’re all going to work collectively as a staff.
Requested concerning the president’s earlier remarks that she ought to launch no matter information she thinks are “credible”, Bondi added:
Immediately, our memo speaks for itself. We’ll get again to you on anything. I haven’t seen all of his statements right this moment.
At a press convention earlier on drug enforcement, Bondi had refused to reply questions on Epstein. She instructed reporters:
Immediately is about fentanyl overdoses all through our nation and individuals who have misplaced family members to fentanyl. That’s the message that we’re right here to ship right this moment. Not Epstein. Not going to speak about Epstein.
She additionally wouldn’t reply a query about Dan Bongino and whether or not he ought to keep in his function (although that has since been considerably put to mattress).
Bondi, who has confronted calls to resign from some conservatives due to the memo, together with from Bongino, additionally stated she has no plans to go.
I’m going to be right here so long as the president needs me right here.
Embattled lawyer common Pam Bondi speaks at a information convention on the Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday. {Photograph}: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/APShare
Up to date at 15.50 EDT
The day to date
Mike Waltz had his affirmation listening to to develop into UN ambassador, the place he stated he has plans to “make the United Nations nice once more”. Democrats slammed Waltz over his function in Signalgate, saying he lied about elements of the leaked chat, and excoriating him for “cowardice” and appearing in a fashion that’s “disqualifying” for this place. Republican senators have been far much less important of Trump’s nominee, as an alternative confirming that his ideas and decision-making would align with the president’s Maga agenda.
Donald Trump and Republican senator Dave McCormick are set to announce $90bn in AI and power investments at a summit at Carnegie Mellon College, close to Pittsburgh, as his administration prepares extra measures to energy the US enlargement of synthetic intelligence.
The Trump administration is reportedly in search of to bar tens of millions of immigrants who allegedly arrived within the US with out authorized standing from receiving a bond listening to as they attempt to combat their deportations in courtroom.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, stated that he has requested Israel to “aggressively” examine the homicide of an American citizen who was crushed to demise within the occupied West Financial institution.
Trump has continued to defend Pam Bondi, who has come underneath livid hearth from the president’s Maga base, together with from FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, who returned to work yesterday and was anticipated on the workplace right this moment, days after he had threatened to stop over Bondi’s dealing with of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
Trump stated he’s set to fulfill the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, throughout his upcoming journey to Scotland and refine the commerce framework agreed upon by the 2 leaders.
The Nato secretary common, Mark Rutte, stated secondary sanctions may hit international locations resembling China, Brazil and India if Russia will not be severe about peace talks to finish its battle on Ukraine. He additionally stated Europe would “discover the cash” for Ukraine to proceed defending itself from Russian aggression forward of any peace talks.
Inflation shot up in June because the impacts of Trump’s tariffs slowly began to indicate in US costs.
A bunch of Republican lawmakers complained that smoke from Canadian wildfires is ruining summer time for Individuals, simply days after voting for a significant invoice that may trigger extra of the planet-heating air pollution that’s worsening wildfires.
A Biden-era plan to implement a gas-powered blast furnace at a metal mill in Ohio, which might have eradicated tons of greenhouse gases from the native surroundings 12 months over 12 months and created greater than a thousand jobs, was placed on maintain indefinitely by the Trump administration.
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Trump to announce $90bn in AI and power investments for Pennsylvania
Donald Trump and Republican senator Dave McCormick are set to announce $90bn in AI and power investments at a summit at Carnegie Mellon College, close to Pittsburgh, shortly.
Trump will reveal particulars of the brand new initiatives on the occasion in Pennsylvania the place McCormick is internet hosting the summit.
Dozens of business leaders are anticipated to attend, together with heads of ExxonMobil, BlackRock, Palantir and Google. Additionally anticipated are senior members of Trump’s cupboard and Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro.
We’ll carry you any key strains right here.
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Up to date at 15.30 EDT
Trump administration seeks to finish bond hearings for immigrants with out authorized standing
Eric Berger
The Trump administration is reportedly in search of to bar tens of millions of immigrants who allegedly arrived within the US with out authorized standing from receiving a bond listening to as they attempt to combat their deportations in courtroom.
The brand new coverage would apply throughout elimination proceedings, which may take years, for tens of millions of immigrants who entered the nation from Mexico in current a long time, based on a report from the Washington Submit, which reviewed paperwork from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice).
Such immigrants had beforehand been allowed to request a bond listening to earlier than an immigration choose, however Todd Lyons, Ice’s appearing director, said in a memo reviewed by the Submit that the homeland safety and justice departments had “revisited [their] authorized place on detention and launch authorities”. The departments decided that such immigrants “will not be launched from Ice custody”, Lyons reportedly wrote within the memo.
That new restriction, which is anticipated to face authorized challenges, was issued on 8 July shortly after the Republican-controlled Congress supplied Ice $45bn over the following 4 years to detain immigrants for civil deportation proceedings.
“To be clear, [Ice’s] place right here is laughable and is being rejected by immigration judges everywhere in the US, and can quickly be dismissed by precise federal courtroom judges in habeas proceedings,” Charles Kuck, an immigration lawyer and Emory College legislation professor, wrote on X in a submit that alluded to challenges towards one’s detention.
The coverage change would mark the newest important departure for Ice, which throughout Joe Biden’s presidency supplied a information on how immigrants who’re detained can submit bond.
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US ambassador asks Israel to research homicide of American citizen in occupied West Financial institution
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, stated that he has requested Israel to “aggressively” examine the homicide of an American citizen who was crushed to demise within the occupied West Financial institution.
Family members of Sayfollah “Saif” Musallet have been calling for the Trump administration to arrest and prosecute these chargeable for his killing.
“There should be accountability for this felony and terrorist act. Saif was simply 20 yrs previous,” Huckabee stated in a submit on X.
The 20-year-old from Tampa, Florida, was visiting his household in an space close to Ramallah, and was killed final week attempting to guard their farm from invaders, they stated at an emotional press convention in Florida yesterday.
Musallet was crushed with golf equipment and bats, and died in the identical assault that killed a 23-year-old Palestinian man. Razek Hussein al-Shalabi was shot and left to bleed to demise, the Palestinian well being ministry stated.
Hasem Musallet, Sayfollah’s uncle, stated the settlers prevented ambulances from reaching the injured males, and {that a} brother watched Sayfollah take his final breath.
The assaults come amid a wave of accelerating Israeli settler violence concentrating on Palestinians within the occupied West Financial institution – greater than 1,000 Palestinian folks have been killed there and no less than 9,000 injured because the Hamas raid into southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
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Up to date at 14.14 EDT
Trump says Bondi dealt with Epstein case ‘very nicely’
On that observe, Donald Trump has continued to defend Pam Bondi, who has come underneath livid hearth from the president’s Maga base over the perceived lack of transparency surrounding the justice division’s dealing with of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
“The lawyer common has dealt with that very nicely,” Trump stated of Bondi. “She has actually finished an excellent job.”
Requested whether or not she had instructed him if his identify appeared in a file associated to Epstein, Trump stated “no,” including that Bondi has “given us only a very fast briefing”.
Trump claimed that the information have been “made up” by his predecessors, although beforehand he has mentioned the information, and his allies – from the vice-president, JD Vance, to Bondi herself – have known as for his or her launch.
“She’s dealt with it very nicely, and it’s going to be as much as her,” Trump stated. “No matter she thinks is credible, she ought to launch.”
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Up to date at 14.04 EDT
Bongino again at FBI after threatening to stop over Epstein row
FBI deputy director Dan Bongino returned to work yesterday and was anticipated on the workplace right this moment, a federal legislation enforcement supply instructed NBC Information this morning, days after he had threatened to stop over a justice division memo that successfully ended the federal government’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
The supply instructed NBC that Bongino was anticipated to remain on in his function, however that tensions remained excessive with the FBI, justice division and White Home making an attempt to climate the storm within the hope that the controversy may die down over the approaching days.
A supply instructed NBC final week that the previous podcaster was “out-of-control livid” after the memo was made public and had gotten right into a heated confrontation with lawyer common Pam Bondi over his frustration with how the justice division had dealt with the case.
He didn’t present as much as work final Friday and had threatened to stop except Bondi was fired, NBC Information reported.
However Trump has repeatedly backed Bondi and in addition expressed assist for Bongino over the weekend, saying that they had spoken and he sounded “terrific”.
Associated: How the Jeffrey Epstein row plunged Maga world into turmoil – a timeline
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Up to date at 14.02 EDT
Republicans transfer to dam Democratic effort to drive launch of Epstein information
Edward Helmore
Republican lawmakers have moved to dam a Democratic effort to drive the discharge of the so-called Epstein information, a near-mythological trove of undisclosed details about the convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein on the heart of an inside political battle amongst US conservatives.
Democrats had been urgent for an modification to cryptocurrency laws that will have pressured the discharge of data and displays itemized in a listing of proof held by the justice division from the 2019 baby sex-trafficking case towards disgraced financier Epstein.
Donald Trump’s lawyer common, Pam Bondi, teased a full accounting of the Epstein proof, together with a purported consumer checklist earlier this 12 months. However 10 days in the past, she modified course when she introduced that the Trump administration had reviewed the proof, concluded that Epstein had certainly killed himself in jail, and determined to not launch the contents that the justice division stated included a thousand hours of video depicting baby sexual abuse.
That set off a firestorm inside Trump’s conspiracy-minded Maga motion that the president has since tried to calm.
Democrats had weighed in on the problem, hoping to drive a launch of the paperwork. “The query with Epstein is: Whose facet are you on?” California Democratic US Home member Ro Khanna, the creator of the Epstein measure, instructed Axios. “Are you on the facet of the wealthy and highly effective, or are you on the facet of the folks?”
Khanna promised to introduce the modification “time and again and once more”.
However Republicans on the US Home guidelines committee voted down the modification that will have allowed Congress to vote on whether or not the proof – which incorporates micro cassettes, DVDs, CDs together with one labelled “lady pics nude guide 4”, pc exhausting drives and three therapeutic massage tables in inexperienced, beige and brown – needs to be launched.
But the federal case towards Epstein, which dates again to 2005 and entails a mysterious plea deal that allowed to the financier to plead responsible to Florida state costs of solicitation of a minor, continues to problem what political hardliners on the best and left imagine is proof of a nefarious nexus of worldwide energy.
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Up to date at 13.45 EDT
Trump to fulfill UK’s Starmer in Scotland to refine commerce deal
Donald Trump stated he’s set to fulfill the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, throughout his upcoming journey to Scotland and refine the commerce framework agreed upon by the 2 leaders.
“We’re going to have a gathering with him, in all probability in Aberdeen. And we’re going to do a variety of various things, additionally refine the commerce deal that we’ve made,” Trump stated.
Trump plans to go to each his Turnberry and Aberdeen golf properties, and formally open a brand new 18-hole golf course at his resort on the North Coastline at Menie, north of Aberdeen, on a visit anticipated to final from 25 to 29 July.
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Up to date at 13.39 EDT
Rutte: Secondary US sanctions may hit China, Brazil and India ‘very exhausting’
Jakub Krupa
The Nato secretary common, Mark Rutte, has stated secondary sanctions may hit international locations resembling China, Brazil and India if Russia will not be severe about peace talks to finish its battle on Ukraine.
Talking on the ultimate day of his go to to Washington DC, Rutte additionally stated Europe would “discover the cash” for Ukraine to proceed defending itself from Russian aggression forward of any peace talks.
He stated:
“What occurred yesterday was necessary. To begin with that the US will now provide, massively, Ukraine with weapons out of [the] US; not simply air defence, additionally missiles, additionally ammunition, paid for by the Europeans.
“And, secondly, that President Trump stated mainly if Russia will not be severe about peace talks, [then] in 50 days, he’ll slam secondary sanctions on international locations like India, China and Brazil.
“My encouragement to those three international locations is … you may want to have a look into this as a result of this may hit you very exhausting. Please make a telephone name to [Russian president] Vladimir Putin and inform him he must get severe about peace talks.”
He added:
“We are going to discover the cash in Europe to verify Ukraine is in the absolute best place as quickly as these peace talks begin.”
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Up to date at 13.30 EDT
Abstract: Mike Waltz’s Senate affirmation listening to
In case you’re simply catching up, listed here are among the high strains from Mike Waltz’s Senate affirmation listening to to develop into the US ambassador to the United Nations:
Waltz was important of the UN’s strategy to China and “antisemitism” in his opening remarks. He stated the UN had drifted from its authentic peacemaking targets and may return to its founding rules – “peacemaking, not nation-building”.
Waltz additionally pledged to “make the UN nice once more”, echoing Trump’s message for revamping America.
It took over an hour earlier than the Sign group chat leak was talked about. The leak, which occurred when Waltz was nationwide safety adviser and inadvertently added an Atlantic journalist into a gaggle chat about US strikes on Yemen, led to his elimination from that function in Could and present nomination as ambassador to the UN.
Waltz stated utilizing Sign was “not solely licensed, it was advisable” for presidency and private units. He additionally repeatedly claimed no categorised data was disclosed.
Democratic senators Chris Coons, Tim Kaine and Cory Booker have been those to press Waltz about Signalgate. Booker specifically excoriated Waltz for “cowardice” and appearing in a fashion that he stated is “disqualifying” for this place.
Republican senators have been far much less important of Trump’s nominee, as an alternative confirming that his ideas and decision-making would align with the president’s Maga agenda.
Waltz pressured that the Trump administration’s diplomatic technique could be centered on chopping prices to what he known as “waste, fraud and abuse which can be endemic to the UN system”.
Democratic senator Jacky Rosen then cited that technique when asking whether or not Waltz was nonetheless on White Home payroll, regardless of being faraway from his former function months in the past, and stated that could possibly be perceived as a waste of taxpayer {dollars}.
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Up to date at 12.48 EDT
Waltz denounces UN international experiences that examined US home coverage
Earlier within the listening to, the Related Press reported that Mike Waltz pressured that the Trump administration’s diplomatic technique could be centered on chopping prices to what he known as “waste, fraud and abuse which can be endemic to the UN system”.
“It’s value remembering, regardless of the cuts, the US is by far essentially the most beneficiant nation on the planet,” stated Waltz, responding to considerations that the administration’s cuts to international applications harm US affect.
Waltz added that some UN-funded analysis and initiatives have been anti-American and acquired enter from some UN members whom the administration considers adversaries.
“The UN’s radical politicization, such experiences as ‘Stolen Native American Land’ experiences and investigations, known as the ‘George Floyd mechanism’, labeling American police and America systemically racist with enter from international locations like Cuba and Venezuela, is unacceptable,” stated Waltz.
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Up to date at 12.46 EDT
Mike Waltz’s listening to has formally concluded.
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