Senate Democrat chief says try and pressure launch of Epstein information not a ‘stunt’ however effort to ‘compel transparency’ – US politics stay | US information
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Prime Senate Democrat says he expects justice division to reply to Epstein demand by 15 August
On the Capitol, Senate minority chief Chuck Schumer is outlining his try and pressure lawyer basic Pam Bondi to launch the information associated to the investigation of disgraced financier and accused intercourse trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
“We’re invoking federal regulation and utilizing our authority as a verify on the manager to compel transparency,” Schumer stated.
“At this time’s letter issues. It’s not a stunt, it’s not symbolic, it’s a proper train of congressional energy beneath federal regulation, and we count on a solution from DoJ by August the 15. That’s what accountability seems like. That is what oversight seems like, and that is what preserving your guarantees to the American individuals appear to be.”
He famous that each Bondi and Donald Trump had beforehand stated they need the case file’s launched:
This isn’t difficult. After promising full transparency for years, each single time Trump, his administration, Republican leaders have had an opportunity to be clear in regards to the Epstein information, they’ve chosen to cover. The evasions, the delays, the reasons, they don’t seem to be simply odd, they’re alarming. It begs the query, if there’s nothing to cover, why all of the evasiveness?
Trump ought to cease hiding from the reality, he ought to cease hiding from the American individuals.
Key occasions
First day of DC airplane collision listening to begins
At this time marks the first of three days of hearings investigating the airplane collision in DC that killed 67 individuals in January.
The Nationwide Transportation Security Board (NTSB) is holding the hearings after an American Airways passenger jet collided midair with a Black Hawk helicopter earlier this 12 months. The crash killed all aboard each aircrafts. It’s also the US’s deadliest air catastrophe since November 2001.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy stated the three days will likely be a “reality discovering continuing”, and right now’s listening to opened with a video animation of the place each aircrafts had been main as much as the collision.
On the press convention, when requested about whether or not Democratic senators could be snug with redactions, minority chief Chuck Schumer stated lawmakers “wouldn’t pressure any agreements which were damaged”, however added that he believes “nearly the whole lot can come out”.
Schumer additionally stated that he needs the information to be made accessible to the general public and members of Congress, and that Democratic members are working to get some Republican colleagues on board to assist make the information public. “It ought to be bipartisan,” he stated. “But when not, there’s recourse within the courts. That is the regulation.”
Gary Peters, the highest Democrat on the Senate homeland safety committee, shared extra about how the letter works, and what it calls for.
“We’re utilizing very distinctive statutory authority that’s granted solely to our committee, to homeland safety and authorities affairs. The statute that we’re invoking requires the administration handy over paperwork … requested by any 5 members of the Senate committee,” Peters stated.
“This letter calls for that the justice division produce paperwork that lawyer basic Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have publicly already confirmed they’ve of their possession. Everyone knows in truth that the lawyer basic stated, quote, she stated they’re sitting on her desk. It ought to be fairly straightforward to show over paperwork which might be sitting on the lawyer basic’s desk.”
Prime Senate Democrat says he expects justice division to reply to Epstein demand by 15 August
On the Capitol, Senate minority chief Chuck Schumer is outlining his try and pressure lawyer basic Pam Bondi to launch the information associated to the investigation of disgraced financier and accused intercourse trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
“We’re invoking federal regulation and utilizing our authority as a verify on the manager to compel transparency,” Schumer stated.
“At this time’s letter issues. It’s not a stunt, it’s not symbolic, it’s a proper train of congressional energy beneath federal regulation, and we count on a solution from DoJ by August the 15. That’s what accountability seems like. That is what oversight seems like, and that is what preserving your guarantees to the American individuals appear to be.”
He famous that each Bondi and Donald Trump had beforehand stated they need the case file’s launched:
This isn’t difficult. After promising full transparency for years, each single time Trump, his administration, Republican leaders have had an opportunity to be clear in regards to the Epstein information, they’ve chosen to cover. The evasions, the delays, the reasons, they don’t seem to be simply odd, they’re alarming. It begs the query, if there’s nothing to cover, why all of the evasiveness?
Trump ought to cease hiding from the reality, he ought to cease hiding from the American individuals.
Newsom warns California ‘will not sit again’ if Texas Republicans redo congressional maps
California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom has indicated he could push to redraw his state’s congressional maps if Texas Republicans approve new maps that would internet the GOP 5 extra Home seats.
Writing on X after Texas Republicans launched their proposal for redistricting the state’s Home seats, Newsom stated:
Donald Trump asks for five seats and Greg Abbott mechanically bends the knee. The 2026 election is being rigged. California gained’t sit again and watch this occur.
If California Democrats wish to redraw their congressional maps within the get together’s favor, they are going to first need to ask voters to cancel a constitutional modification that created an impartial redistricting fee – doubtlessly a tall ask.
Senate Democrats to make case for authorized movement that will launch Epstein information
Prime Senate Democrats will maintain a press convention in a couple of minutes about their try to make use of a rarely-invoked regulation to pressure lawyer basic Pam Bondi handy over the Epstein information.
Senate minority chief Chuck Schumer is because of communicate, in addition to Gary Peters, the rating member of the homeland safety committee, and different Democrats on the panel. We are going to let you understand what they need to say.
The day to this point
Right here’s a rundown of the information to this point right now:
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We’re making ready for an interest-rate resolution from the Federal Reserve at 2pm, and a press convention with chair Jerome Powell half-hour after the announcement. It comes as Donald Trump continued to induce Powell to chop the speed on social media.
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Trump additionally introduced a 25% tariff on India, writing on Reality Social that the US has finished “comparatively little enterprise” with the nation. Trump additionally stated that India could be topic to an extra penalty for getting substantial quantities of Russian navy gear and vitality.
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Senate Democrats will at midday maintain a press convention after writing a letter to lawyer basic Pam Bondi to launch the complete and unredacted Epstein information. They’re invoking a uncommon and obscure regulation often called “rule of 5”, which states {that a} authorities company should present info if 5 or extra Senate committee members request it.
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Past Washington, Texas Republicans launched a proposed new congressional map for the state. This comes on the urging of Trump, and far sooner than regular. Sometimes, the state redraws their map each 10 years.
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Home minority chief Hakeem Jeffries is speaking with Democratic legislators in Texas amid the redistricting battle ensuing within the state. He’s anticipated to carry a press convention tomorrow as Democrats attempt to stave off a rewritten map that will value them a Home majority.
Texas GOP concern new proposed congressional map
Texas Republicans have launched their new proposed congressional map right now. It may add as much as 5 Republican seats if handed.
Donald Trump has pressured lawmakers within the state to redraw the map to be able to shield the slim majority that Republicans maintain within the Home because the 2026 midterms loom.
At the moment, Republicans maintain 25 of Texas’s 38 congressional seats, whereas Democrats maintain 12.
Democratic strongholds like California and Maryland have threatened to redraw their maps in response.
Democratic Texas congressman Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has responded to a proposed redistricting map revealed by Punchbowl Information.
He issued the next assertion:
Merging the thirty fifth and the thirty seventh districts is unlawful voter suppression of Black and Latino Central Texans. By merging our Central Texas districts, Trump needs to commit yet one more crime— this time, in opposition to Texas voters and in opposition to Martin Luther King’s Voting Rights Act of 1965.
United, we are going to struggle again with the whole lot we’ve bought.
Democratic management in Texas for redistricting technique talks
Whereas Senate Democrats are on Capitol Hill and urgent for the Epstein information launch, Home Democratic chief Hakeem Jeffries is in Austin, Texas, for closed-door conferences with state Democrats, in line with Politico.
This comes as Donald Trump pushes Republican legislators in Texas to redraw their congressional district map sooner than regular. Usually, Texas would reconfigure its map each 10 years – aligned with the census.
Per Politico, Jeffries will maintain a press convention in Texas tomorrow, together with quite a few media appearances throughout cable TV.
Later right now we’ll discover out the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate resolution, and we are able to additionally count on to listen to from chair Jerome Powell shortly after.
Earlier right now, Donald Trump pushed once more for the Fed to decrease the rate of interest on Reality Social: “No Inflation! Let individuals purchase, and refinance, their properties!”
US hits India with 25% tariff and additional penalties
Saying the tariff on Reality Social right now, Donald Trump stated that “whereas India is our good friend, we have now, over time, finished comparatively little enterprise with them.”
Trump added that India may even pay a “penalty” for his or her position as a considerable purchaser of Russian navy gear and vitality. “At a time when everybody needs Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE,” he wrote.
Our colleagues are offering stay updates right here.
US GDP progress exceeds expectations
The US GDP grew at a quicker charge than anticipated this quarter – 3%. That’s larger than the two.3% Dow Jones estimate for this April to June interval.
For extra up-to-date information, comply with our Enterprise Reside weblog right here.
Ed Pilkington
Transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to the intercourse trafficking indictments of the intercourse abuser Jeffrey Epstein and his confederate, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, embody the testimony of simply two regulation enforcement witnesses, the Division of Justice (DoJ) has stated, because it argues for the paperwork’ launch.
Prime DoJ officers disclosed in a submitting late on Tuesday in Manhattan federal courtroom that separate grand juries convened to think about the felony investigations of Epstein and Maxwell, and had heard from solely two witnesses.
The revelation was made in the middle of courtroom wrangling over whether or not the transcripts of the proceedings ought to be unsealed, amid the persevering with furor over the Epstein scandal which has roiled Donald Trump’s second time period.
The Trump administration is urging the 2 federal judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell grand juries, Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer, to launch the testimony, in an try and calm the uproar.
The Trump administration has come beneath intense strain from the president’s personal base of supporters who had been infuriated by the DoJ’s resolution to not launch any extra Epstein information in regards to the late, disgraced financier’s crimes involving the intercourse trafficking of women.
The choice jarred with the earlier stance of senior administration figures, together with Trump himself and the US lawyer basic, Pam Bondi, who had hyped the anticipated launch of extra particulars of the New York financier’s companies, travels and associations, together with a doable checklist of his monetary shoppers, which all additional stoked conspiracies across the well-connected Epstein.
Tuesday’s submission states that the grand jury tasked with contemplating the felony case in opposition to Epstein heard solely from an FBI agent when it met in June and July, 2019. An analogous grand jury for Maxwell heard from the identical FBI agent and a New York Police Division detective when it met in June and July, 2020 and in March, 2021.
The memorandum was signed by Jay Clayton, US lawyer for the southern district of New York, and included the names of Bondi and deputy lawyer basic Todd Blanche.
Epstein took his personal life in a federal jail in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on federal intercourse trafficking expenses, officers say, however his case has generated limitless consideration and conspiracy theories due to his and Maxwell’s hyperlinks to well-known individuals, akin to royals, presidents and billionaires, together with Trump.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year jail sentence for conspiring with Epstein within the sexual trafficking of minors. She was convicted in December 2021 on expenses that she lured teenage ladies to be sexually abused by Epstein.
Final week, she sat for 2 units of interviews with Justice Division officers, together with Blanche, in Florida, the place she is serving her time in a federal jail, and answered questions “about 100 totally different individuals,” her lawyer stated.
Trump has denied prior data of Epstein’s crimes and claimed he had reduce off their relationship way back. However he faces ongoing questions in regards to the Epstein case.
On Tuesday Trump spoke about connections between Epstein and the president’s Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida. He claimed he evicted the financier from the resort as a result of Epstein “stole” younger feminine staffers from him, together with Virginia Giuffre who went on to be a key witness in opposition to Epstein and Maxwell. Giuffre died in April.
Maxwell has provided to testify earlier than Congress however with circumstances, together with being granted immunity. Her lawyer has written to the Home committee which has subpoenaed her saying {that a} deposition with out immunity could be a “non-starter”.
The DoJ memorandum says unsealing the transcripts is “in line with growing calls for extra disclosures on this matter.”
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