Trump says he broke with Epstein for hiring away young women from Mar-a-Lago and ‘stole’ Virginia Giuffre

Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he broke with Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender he socialized with for more than a decade, after he hired young, female spa attendants away from Mar-a-Lago, including Virginia Giuffre, who became one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers.

Trump was asked to elaborate on his claim, on Monday in Scotland, that he kicked Epstein out of his club “because he did something that was inappropriate”, specifically “he stole people that worked for me”. On the flight back to Washington from Scotland on Tuesday, one reporter asked Trump if “the workers that were taken from you, were some of them young women?” Trump replied: “The answer is yes; they were. People that worked in the spa”.

Another reporter then asked if Trump one of the people he was referring to was Giuffre, who said in a legal complaint that she was hired away from the Mar-a-Lago spa by Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000, when she was 16. Giuffre, who died this year, alleged in her complaint that she was first abused by Epstein and Maxwell together, and then “lent out to other powerful men”, including Prince Andrew.

Trump replied: “I think so, I think that was one of the people, yeah. He stole her”.

pic.twitter.com/6atia3S9L8

— Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) July 30, 2025

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Senior White House aides have repeatedly suggested in recent weeks that Trump broke with Epstein around 2004, and expelled him from the Mar-a-Lago club for inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature. The president’s account of the break being motivated by pique at having his employees poached by his friend cast the break in a different light.

His claim that one of those employees was the 16-year-old Virginia Giuffre also complicates the timeline. Giuffre was hired away from Mar-a-Lago in 2000, but two years later, Trump spoke highly of Epstein to a reporter, and made a point of his friend’s taste for young women. “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy”, Trump told New York magazine in late 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

Sarah Blaskey, a Miami Herald investigative reporter, also pointed out in her 2020 book on Mar-a-Lago that Epstein remained on the membership rolls of Mar-a-Lago until October 2007, more than a year after he was first arrested and charged with soliciting prostitution from a minor.

This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. We will be back at it on Wednesday. In the meantime, here are the latest developments:

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Donald Trump ended a visit to his golf resorts in Scotland, where he once again repeated his bizarre boast that he “predicted” the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum during a visit to the courses that summer which, in fact, began the day after the vote

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Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he broke with Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender he socialized with for more than a decade, after he “stole” young, female spa attendants away from Mar-a-Lago, including Virginia Giuffre, who became one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers.

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A Republican-led congressional committee rejected the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s demand that she be granted immunity before agreeing to testify about Epstein to Congress.

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Trump expressed sympathy for ‘kids that are starving’ in Gaza, but repeated the debunked Israeli talking point that Hamas is to stealing aid, and endorsed the chaotic system of aid distribution run by Israel with US support that has cost 1,000 Palestinians their lives.

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The Senate voted 50-49 to confirm Emil Bove, a former defense attorney for Trump to a lifetime seat on a federal appeals court, despite claims by whistleblowers that he advocated for ignoring court orders.

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The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Emil Bove, a top justice department official and former defense attorney for Donald Trump, to a lifetime seat on a federal appeals court, despite claims by whistleblowers that he advocated for ignoring court orders.

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The vote broke nearly along party lines, with 50 Republican senators voting for his confirmation to a seat on the third circuit court of appeals overseeing New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the US Virgin Islands.

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All Democrats opposed his nomination along with Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Tennessee senator Bill Hagerty missed the vote.

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Bove’s nomination for the lifetime position has faced strident opposition from Democrats, after Erez Reuveni, a former justice department official who was fired from his post, alleged that during his time at the justice department, Bove told lawyers that they “would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore any such court order” blocking efforts to remove immigrants to El Salvador. In testimony before the committee last month, Bove denied the accusation, and Reuveni later provided text messages that supported his claim.

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US defense secretary Pete Hegseth has privately discussed the idea of resigning so he can run for governor next year in Tennessee, NBC News reports, citing “two people who have spoken directly with him about it.”

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The people who have spoken with Hegseth said he has specifically mentioned a possible campaign for governor in Tennessee, where he lives. The state has an open race for governor next year, though there are eligibility requirements for candidates that Hegseth might not meet.

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Ultimately, both sources said, it was unclear after their conversations with Hegseth whether he would take the leap. But they both said he has contemplated it.

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The network also reported a denial from Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman who said in a statement: “Fake news NBC is so desperate for attention, they are shopping around a made up story… again. Only two options exist: either the ‘sources’ are imaginary or these reporters are getting punked. Secretary Hegseth’s focus remains solely on serving under President Trump and advancing the America First mission at the Department of Defense.”

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Donald Trump has arrived back in Washington after a long weekend at his golf resorts in Scotland and the White House has started to post selected clips from his remarks to reporters on Air Force One this afternoon.

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In one clip posted on social media by an official White House account, Trump was asked about the images from Gaza of starving children.

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“I think everybody — unless they’re pretty coldhearted or, worse than that, nuts — there’s nothing you can say other than ‘it’s terrible’ when you see… kids that are starving. And you see the mothers, they love them so much and there’s just nothing they seem to be able to do”, Trump said. “They got to get them food, and we’re going to get them food.”

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Earlier in the informal news conference, however, Trump had suggested that the blame lies not with Israel, the occupying power that has cut off humanitarian aid deliveries to the besieged Palestinian territory for months, but Hamas.

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“I think Israel wants to do it, actually”, Trump said to a reporter who asked if Israel could be relied on to provide aid to the starving population. “I can tell you that they want to do it. They don’t want Hamas stealing the money or stealing the food, and that’s what they’ve been doing.”

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International aid groups have said for months that there is no evidence that Hamas is stealing aid intended for the civilian population of Gaza, and on Saturday, the New York Times reported that Israel’s military “never found proof that the Palestinian militant group had systematically stolen aid from the United Nations”.

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Trump also told reporters that he was confident that Israel “can do a good job” of overseeing the distribution of food in the Gaza Strip. “They want to preside over the food centers to make sure the distribution is proper”, an apparent endorsement of the chaotic and deadly system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a collaboration between Israel’s military and US private contractors, which has led to the killing of more than 1,000 Palestinians since May.

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Trump also told reporters that he has not yet given up on his scheme to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population, the majority of whom were previously displaced from what is now Israel. “It’s a concept that some people fell in love with and some people don’t. We really have to see how it all works out before we do that”, Trump said. “You could do something spectacular, but that’s a different concept. You could also probably do it if you let some, some are leaving automatically, some would like to leave, I think many would like to leave if they were given an alternative”.

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“But certainly that was a concept that was really embraced by a lot of people”, the president claimed, “but also some people didn’t like it.”

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A Republican-led congressional committee rejected the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s demand that she be granted immunity before agreeing to testify about the crimes of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to Congress.

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Maxwell, who was convicted in federal court in New York in 2021 of helping Epstein sexually abuse multiple minor girls over the course of a decade, is serving a 20-year sentence in Florida.

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Amid the uproar over the Trump administration’s decision not to release documents from the federal investigation into Epstein, who socialized with Donald Trump for more than a decade, Maxwell was subpoenaed to testify privately to the House oversight committee.

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The committee wants to depose Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, on 11 August 11 at the federal prison where she is being held in Tallahassee.

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But Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, wrote to the committee’s chair, Republican congressman James Comer, that “Ms Maxwell cannot risk further criminal exposure in a politically charged environment without formal immunity”.

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Comer’s spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement: “The oversight committee will respond to Ms Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony.”

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Markus, who has suggested that Maxwell might ask Trump for a pardon, is also asking the supreme court to overturn Maxwell’s conviction, on the grounds that a non-prosecution agreement a federal prosecutor in Florida offered Epstein in 2008 should have barred the later prosecution of Maxwell in New York in 2020.

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Her lawyer also told Comer that his client would only agree to testify if the deposition was conducted somewhere other than the prison and if she is provided with the committee’s questions in advance.

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Trump replied: “I think so, I think that was one of the people, yeah. He stole her”.

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— Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) July 30, 2025

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As Israel’s war in Gaza nears its two-year mark, and as horrifying images of starving people and utter devastation flood social media, cracks seem to be emerging in the American right’s typically iron-clad support for Israel. Marjorie Taylor Greene became the first Republican member of Congress to call Israel’s assault on Gaza a genocide, while Steve Bannon, Trump’s influential former adviser, told Politico: “It seems that for the under-30-year-old Maga base, Israel has almost no support, and Netanyahu’s attempt to save himself politically by dragging America in deeper to another Middle East war has turned off a large swath of older Maga diehards. Now President Trump’s public repudiation of one of the central tenants of Bibi’s Gaza strategy – ‘starving’ Palestinians – will only hasten a collapse of support.”

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Indeed support for Israel’s military action in Gaza has declined substantially among US adults, with only about a third approving, according to a new Gallup poll, which also found that about half of US adults now have an unfavorable view of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the most negative rating he has received.

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On Palestine, Trump said he and UK prime minister Keir Starmer did not discuss Britain’s plan to formally recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel holds to a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution. “We never did discuss it,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One.

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Ghislaine Maxwell has offered to testify before Congress but has asked lawmakers to give her immunity, along with other major conditions, according to a list of demands sent to the House oversight committee by her attorneys, seen by CNN. If the demands cannot be met, her attorneys said: “Maxwell will have no choice but to invoke her fifth amendment rights” (the right to remain silent). An oversight committee spokesperson rejected the idea of giving Maxwell immunity, telling CNN: “The oversight committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony.”

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Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor earlier to call on the FBI to undertake a counterintelligence threat assessment of Donald Trump’s Epstein connections. He highlighted the need to examine whether foreign countries might have tried to access the Epstein files and possibly exploit the information as leverage over the president.

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New York governor Kathy Hochul called for Congress to pass a national assault weapons ban following yesterday’s shooting in Manhattan which killed four people (and the shooter, who killed himself). “New York has some of the strongest gun laws in the nation … But our laws only go so far when an AR-15 can be obtained in a state with weak gun laws and brought into New York to commit mass murder,” Hochul said.

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Police are investigating whether the gunman was targeting the National Football League. In a note, the suspect, who appeared to have driven from Las Vegas to New York City over three days, appeared to blame the NFL for a brain injury. He claimed he suffered from CTE – the degenerative brain disease that has been linked to concussions and other repeated head trauma common in contact sports like football – and said his brain should be studied after he died. A preliminary investigation found that he took the wrong elevator, ending up on the wrong floor when he opened fire in the 345 Park Avenue building, which houses the NFL headquarters.

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Trump said he would start imposing tariffs and other measures on Russia “ten days from today” if Moscow did not make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine. The US president, who first announced yesterday that he was cutting his initial 50-day deadline for action from Moscow, said he had not heard a response from Russia.

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Trump said the Wall Street Journal and its billionaire owner Rupert Murdoch want to settle the president’s defamation lawsuit against the newspaper. On 18 July, Trump promptly sued the WSJ and its owners, including Murdoch, over a story alleging that Trump’s name was on a “lewd” birthday message for the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to shared secrets. “They want to settle it,” Trump said, adding, “when I get treated unfairly, I do things about it.” Trump’s lawsuit called the alleged letter “fake” and said the Journal published its article to harm his reputation. In a court filing yesterday, Trump asked a US court to order a swift deposition for Murdoch.

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The Department of Justice asked several large California counties to provide detailed personal information of non-citizens who got on to the state voter rolls, the Guardian has learned, in an unusual request that comes as the Trump administration has asked about a dozen states to provide wide swaths of information about voters and election practices.

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Support for Israel’s military action in Gaza has declined substantially among US adults, with only about a third approving, according to a new Gallup poll — a drop from the beginning of the war with Hamas, when about half of Americans approved of Israel’s operation.

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The new polling also found that about half of US adults now have an unfavorable view of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the most negative rating he has received since he was first included in Gallup polling in 1997. The poll was conducted from 7-21 July, while reports of starvation in Gaza led to international criticism of Israel’s decision to restrict food aid but before Donald Trump expressed concern over the worsening humanitarian situation.

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The findings underscore the Israeli government’s dramatic loss of support within America. But not everyone is shifting — instead, the war has become more politically polarizing. The rising disapproval is driven by Democrats and independents, who are much less likely to approve of Israel’s actions than they were in November 2023, weeks after Hamas’ 7 October attacks.

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Republicans, on the other hand, remain largely supportive of both Israel’s military actions and Netanyahu (though cracks are indeed emerging in the American right’s typically iron-clad support for the state of Israel).

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The new poll finds that about 6 in 10 US adults disapprove of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza, up from 45% in November 2023.

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Support for the war has been dwindling in Gallup’s polling for some time. In March 2024, about half of US adults disapproved of Israel’s military action in Gaza, which fell slightly as the year wore on.

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In a new low, only 8% of Democrats and one-quarter of independents say they now approve of Israel’s military campaign.

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Young adults are also much more likely to disapprove of Israel’s actions. Only about 1 in 10 adults under age 35 say they approve of Israel’s military choices in Gaza, compared with about half of those who are 55 or older.

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Views of Netanyahu have also grown less favorable over the past few years, with more viewing him negatively than positively in measurements taken since the war in Gaza began.

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About half of US adults, 52%, now have an unfavorable view of Netanyahu in the new poll, which overlapped with his recent visit to the US. Just 29% view him positively.

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Republicans have a much more positive view of Netanyahu than Democrats and independents do. About two-thirds of Republicans view him favorably, which is in line with last year. About 1 in 10 Democrats and 2 in 10 independents feel the same way.

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“This is the first time we’ve seen a majority of Americans, with an unfavorable view of him,” said Gallup senior editor Megan Brenan. “All of these questions in this poll show us basically the same story, and it’s not a good one for the Israeli government right now.”

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The Department of Justice has asked several large California counties to provide detailed personal information of non-citizens who got on to the state voter rolls, the Guardian has learned, in an unusual request that comes as the Trump administration has asked about a dozen states to provide wide swaths of information about voters and election practices.

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The justice department’s voting section sent identical letters to local election officials in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego on 9 July. The request asks the officials to provide the total number of non-citizens who had their voter registrations cancelled since 2020 as well as a copy of their voter registration records, voting history, date of birth, driver’s license numbers, and the last four digits of a social security number. The department sent a similar request to Orange county last month and then sued the county after officials redacted some information.

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“It’s deeply troubling,” said David Becker, the executive director for the Center for Election Innovation & Research. “It reflects a pretty shocking misunderstanding of federal law regarding list maintenance.”

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The request for information on non-citizens comes as the Trump administration has arrested and moved to deport thousands of immigrants. Submitting a voter registration form while ineligible to vote is a crime so non-citizens that do so could be prosecuted and potentially deported. This kind of voter fraud, however, is extremely rare.

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All three counties said they were reviewing the justice department’s request. The justice department did not return a request for comment.

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Donald Trump said that the Wall Street Journal and its billionaire owner Rupert Murdoch want to settle the president’s defamation lawsuit against the newspaper.

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On 18 July, Trump promptly sued the WSJ and its owners, including Murdoch, over a story alleging that Trump’s name was on a “lewd” birthday message for the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to shared secrets.

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“I’ve been treated badly by the Wall Street Journal. I would have assumed that Rupert Murdoch controls it, but, you know, maybe does, maybe doesn’t,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

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“They are talking to us about doing something but we’ll see what happens. Maybe they would like us to drop that, so we’ll see … yeah, they’re having, they want to settle it,” he said, adding, “when I get treated unfairly, I do things about it.”

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Trump’s lawsuit called the alleged letter “fake” and said the Journal published its article to harm his reputation.

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In a court filing yesterday, Trump asked a US court to order a swift deposition for Murdoch.

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The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

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Donald Trump said he would start imposing tariffs and other measures on Russia “ten days from today” if Moscow did not make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.

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Trump, who first announced yesterday that he was cutting his initial 50-day deadline for action from Moscow, said he had not heard a response from Russia.

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He told reporters aboard Air Force One that he was not worried about the potential impact of Russian sanctions on the oil market or prices, saying the US would boost domestic oil production to offset any impact.

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Earlier today, my colleague Jakub Krupa reported that Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists that Russia “has taken note” of president Trump’s comments.

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He then said that a “special military operation” – their term for their illegal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine – continues, but Russia “remains committed to the peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and secure our interests” – despite deadly attacks overnight.

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Peskov also confirmed that there was a “slowdown” in Russian efforts to revive diplomatic relations with the US. Trump yesterday voiced his frustration with Vladimir Putin, saying:

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n

I thought we’d be able to negotiate something. Maybe that’ll still happen, but it’s very late down the process. I’m disappointed … I’m not so interested in talking any more.

n

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Ghislaine Maxwell has offered to testify before Congress but has asked lawmakers to give her immunity, along with other major conditions, according to a list of demands sent to the House oversight committee by her attorneys, seen by CNN.

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James Comer, who chairs the House oversight committee, subpoenaed Maxwell to testify next month. In a new letter sent to Comer today, Maxwell’s attorneys said they initially decided to invoke her fifth amendment rights, but then offered to cooperate with Congress “if a fair and safe path forward can be established”.

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The letter comes after Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and other crimes, asked the US supreme court overturn her conviction.

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And her attorneys claim “any testimony she provides now could compromise her constitutional rights, prejudice her legal claims, and potentially taint a future jury pool”.

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The letter goes on: “Compounding these concerns are public comments from members of Congress that appear to have prejudged Ms. Maxwell’s credibility without even listening to what she has to say or evaluating the extensive documentation that corroborates it.”

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An oversight committee spokesperson rejected the idea of giving Maxwell immunity, telling CNN:

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n

The oversight committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony.

n

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Per CNN’s report, Maxwell’s conditions as laid out by her attorneys include:

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n
A grant of formal immunity.

n
The interview can’t happen at the correctional facility where she’s serving her sentence.

n
“To prepare adequately for any congressional deposition – and to ensure accuracy and fairness – we would require the Committee’s questions in advance … Surprise questioning would be both inappropriate and unproductive.”

n
The interview would be scheduled “only after the resolution of her supreme court petition and her forthcoming habeas petition”.

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If the demands cannot be met, her attorneys said: “Maxwell will have no choice but to invoke her fifth amendment rights” (the right to remain silent).

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The letter ends with an appeal for clemency from Donald Trump for which, her attorneys say, Maxwell would be “willing and eager” to testify.

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n

Of course, in the alternative, if Ms. Maxwell were to receive clemency, she would be willing – and eager – to testify openly and honestly, in public, before Congress in Washington, D.C. She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning.

n

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Donald Trump has said he and UK prime minister Keir Starmer did not discuss Britain’s plan to formally recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel holds to a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution.

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“We never did discuss it,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One. He and Starmer held talks in Scotland yesterday where the US president was asked about the UK’s commitment to recognizing a Palestinian state. He responded:

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n

I’m not going to take a position, I don’t mind him [the prime minister] taking a position. I’m looking for getting people fed right now.

n

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Reuters reports Trump also said: “You’re rewarding Hamas if you do that. I don’t think they should be rewarded.”

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On this subject, longstanding ties between US conservatives and Israel are facing strain, with growing calls for the war to end and internal rifts reshaping the right. My colleague J Oliver Conroy asks today, is the US right turning on Israel?

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As the Israel-Gaza war nears its two-year mark, and as images of starving people and utter devastation flood social media, cracks seem to be emerging in the American right’s typically iron-clad support for Israel.

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The US continues to support Israel diplomatically and militarily, and last Thursday pulled out of peace negotiations that it accused Hamas of sabotaging. And in the US Congress, only two Republicans voted for a recent amendment that would have pulled funding for missile defense systems for Israel.

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Yet the war’s duration and human cost, as well as recent Israeli strikes on Christian targets, have spurred modest signs of discontent on the US right. Some conservative commentators have walked back their support for Israel’s war; the US’s famously Zionist ambassador to Israel rebuked the actions of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, and an unresolved rift over foreign intervention continues to plague the Maga world.

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You can read the complete analysis here:

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Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is the first Republican member of Congress to call Israel’s assault on Gaza a genocide.

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In a lengthy post on X yesterday, she wrote:

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n

It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza.

n

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It marks a significant break for Greene, a Trump loyalist and prominent Maga figure, with the rest of her party, who have been consistently vocal in their unconditional support for Israel.

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Greene has been increasingly critical of Israel. Earlier this month, she said in another statement: “Israel bombed the Catholic Church in Gaza, and that entire population is being wiped out as they continue their aggressive war in Gaza.”

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In yesterday’s post, the Georgia Republican rebuked her colleague Randy Fine, of Florida, who is under fire for calling the suffering of Palestinian people as part of a campaign of “Muslim terror propaganda”. “Release the hostages,” he wrote in a social media post last week. “Until then, starve away.”

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Greene said of Fine on X:

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n

I can only imagine how Florida’s 6th district feels now that their Representative, that they were told to vote for, openly calls for starving innocent people and children … a Jewish U.S. Representative calling for the continued starvation of innocent people and children is disgraceful. His awful statement will actually cause more antisemitism.

n

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Fine’s comments came before Donald Trump acknowledged for the first time yesterday that there is “real starvation” in Gaza. In a rare break with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who has denied that Israel is causing starvation in the region), Trump told Israel to allow “every ounce of food” into Gaza.

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Today my colleagues report that Gaza has passed two grim landmarks on a single day, as UN-backed hunger experts warned a “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in the strip and called for “immediate action” shortly before health officials announced the death toll from Israeli attacks had passed 60,000.

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With more than 145,000 others injured, nearly one in 10 Palestinians who lived in Gaza two years ago has become a casualty of the war.

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“The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in an alert that called for an urgent ceasefire to alleviate “widespread starvation”.

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Survivors face a famine caused by Israel blocking food aid and “relentless conflict”, the report said.

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“Immediate action must be taken to end the hostilities and allow for unimpeded, large-scale, life-saving humanitarian response. This is the only path to stopping further deaths and catastrophic human suffering.”

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You can follow our coverage of the crisis here:

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The third of four victims in last night’s shooting has been identified as Julia Hyman, according to the New York Post.

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Hyman was killed on the 33rd floor of the office tower, where she worked for Rudin Management as an associate, reports the Post. She graduated from Cornell in 2020.

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The three other victims were all shot in the lobby of the building. They have been identified as NYPD officer Didarul Islam, Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner, and the third is believed to be a security guard for the building who has not yet been named.

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The shooter’s intended target was the NFL offices in the building, according to NYC mayor Eric Adams. He took the wrong elevator and ended up on the 33rd floor offices of Rudin Management, where he opened fire again before shooting himself.

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New York governor Kathy Hochul is calling for Congress to pass a national assault weapons ban following yesterday’s shooting in Manhattan which killed four people.

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In a statement this morning, Hochul noted the suspect used an AR-15-style assault rifle, a commonly used weapon in mass shootings in the US.

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New York has some of the strongest gun laws in the nation. We banned assault weapons. We strengthened our Red Flag Law. We closed dangerous loopholes. But our laws only go so far when an AR-15 can be obtained in a state with weak gun laws and brought into New York to commit mass murder.

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The time to act is now. The American people are tired of thoughts and prayers. They deserve action.

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Congress must summon the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and finally pass a national assault weapons ban before more innocent lives are stolen.

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The shooter was a Las Vegas resident. He had appeared to have driven over three days to reach New York City.

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Hochul also condemned the shooting as a “horrific act of violence” and paid tribute to NYPD officer Didarul Islam.

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“My heart is with his loved ones, his NYPD family and every victim of this tragedy,” Hochul said.

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Donald Trump has condemned the “senseless act of violence” in which four people were killed in the Manhattan office shooting.

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“I have been briefed on the tragic shooting that took place in Manhattan, a place that I know and love,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “I trust our Law Enforcement Agencies to get to the bottom of why this crazed lunatic committed such a senseless act of violence.”

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“My heart is with the families of the four people who were killed, including the NYPD Officer, who made the ultimate sacrifice,” he added.

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The president will return to the US from Scotland tonight.

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The gunman who opened fire in a Manhattan office building left a note that appeared to blame the National Football League for his brain injury, New York mayor Eric Adams said.

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Two officials familiar with the matter previously told NBC News that in the note found at the shooting scene, the suspect wondered about CTE – a brain condition caused by head trauma – as a possible cause of his mental illness.

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“He did have a note on him. The note alluded to that he felt he had CTE, a known brain injury for those who participate in contact sports. He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his injury,” Adams said in an interview with CBS’s “This Morning”.

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The skyscraper where the shooting occurred Monday evening houses the NFL headquarters.

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In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, Adams was asked about a possible link, noting that while the suspect, Shane Tamura, didn’t play college football, he did play at his California high school.

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“He talked about CTE. He was not an NFL player. We have reason to believe that he was focused on the NFL agency that was located in the building, and we’re going to continue to investigate with our federal partners to ensure that we can find a reason and identify any other weapons,” Adams responded.

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Donald Trump’s administration has initiated a probe into Duke University and the Duke Law Journal over allegations of race-related discrimination, making it the latest American university to face the threat of cuts to federal funding.

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The government said on Monday it will probe whether the Duke Law Journal’s selection of its editors gives preferences to candidates from minority communities.

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“This investigation is based on recent reporting alleging that Duke University discriminates on the bases of race, color, and/or national origin by using these factors to select law journal members,” the Education Department said in a statement.

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US education secretary Linda McMahon and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr sent a letter to the university’s leadership alleging what the government called “the use of race preferences in Duke’s hiring, admissions, and scholarship decisions.”

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The letter urged the university to review its policies and create a panel “with delegated authority from Duke’s Board of Trustees to enable Duke and the federal government to move quickly toward a mutual resolution of Duke’s alleged civil rights violations.” Duke had no immediate comment, Reuters reported.

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Rights advocates have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the Trump administration’s attempted crackdown against universities.

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Top US and Chinese economic officials arrived on Tuesday at the venue where they are conducting their latest bilateral round of trade negotiations, this time held in Stockholm, after previous rounds in London and Geneva.

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President Donald Trump is opening a new golf course bearing his name in Scotland on Tuesday, capping a five-day foreign trip designed around promoting his family’s luxury properties and playing golf.

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Trump and his sons, Eric and Donald Jr, are cutting the ceremonial ribbon and playing the first-ever round at the new Trump course in the village of Balmedie, on the northern coast of Scotland, AP reported.

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The overseas jaunt let Trump escape Washington’s sweaty summer humidity and the still-raging scandal over the case of Jeffrey Epstein.

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It was mostly built around golf – and walking the new course before it officially begins offering rounds to the public on 13 August, adding to a lengthy list of ways Trump has used the White House to promote his brand.

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Billing itself the “Greatest 36 Holes in Golf,” the Trump International Golf Links, Scotland, was designed by Eric Trump. The course is hosting a PGA Seniors Championship event later this week, after Trump leaves.

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Signs promoting the event had already been erected all over the course before he arrived on Tuesday, and, on the highway leading in, temporary metal signs guided drivers on to the correct road.

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Golfers hitting the course at dawn as part of that event had to put their clubs through metal detectors erected as part of the security sweeps ahead of Trump’s arrival.

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Several dozen people, some dressed for golf, including wearing golf shoes, had filled the sand trap near the tee box to watch the ribbon-cutting ceremony shortly before it was scheduled to start.

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Another group of people were watching from the other side in tall grass growing on sand dunes flanking the first hole.

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Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news over the next few hours.

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We start with the news that a gunman killed four people at a Manhattan skyscraper that houses the headquarters of the NFL and the offices of several major financial firms before turning the gun on himself, New York officials have said.

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An NYPD officer identified as Didarul Islam, an immigrant from Bangladesh and a father of two whose wife is pregnant, was among those killed. He was working off-hours as a security guard at the time, New York mayor Eric Adams told reporters, describing him as a “true blue hero”.

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Authorities offered few details about the three other victims killed by the suspect – two men and a woman. A third male was gravely wounded by the gunfire and was “fighting for his life” in a nearby hospital, the mayor said.

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Jessica Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, confirmed that “the lone shooter has been neutralized”. New York police also said the shooter acted alone and was dead.

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Tisch said the gunman, identified as Shane Tamura, a 27-year-old Las Vegas resident with a history of mental illness, had driven cross-country to New York in recent days.

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The shooting spree in the evening rush hour began in the lobby of the Park Avenue tower in Midtown Manhattan. Tisch said that surveillance videos showed the gunman exiting a double-parked Black BMW between 51st and 52nd street on Park Avenue.

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Read our full report here:

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In other developments this morning:

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n
Ghislaine Maxwell asked the supreme court to overturn her conviction for taking part in and facilitating Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes, arguing that a non-prosecution agreement with the late sex offender struck by federal prosecutors in Florida in 2008 should have barred any of his co-conspirators from prosecution as well.

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Donald Trump said that he did indeed bar Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club for “inappropriate” behavior. But the president explained that what was inappropriate was not, as his aides have suggested, doing something lewd or illegal, but hiring away staff from the club.

n
An Israeli settler who was sanctioned by Joe Biden as a violent extremist, but removed from the sanctions list by Trump, was arrested in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday after the fatal shooting of a Palestinian activist. The Palestinian man who was killed was denied entry to the United States last month when he arrived in San Francisco for a series of planned talks sponsored by faith groups, including a progressive Jewish synagogue.

n
The US justice department filed a misconduct complaint against a federal judge who has clashed with the administration over deportations to a notorious prison in El Salvador over private comments first reported by a far-right publication.

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Closing summary

This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. We will be back at it on Wednesday. In the meantime, here are the latest developments:

Donald Trump ended a visit to his golf resorts in Scotland, where he once again repeated his bizarre boast that he “predicted” the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum during a visit to the courses that summer which, in fact, began the day after the vote
Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he broke with Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender he socialized with for more than a decade, after he “stole” young, female spa attendants away from Mar-a-Lago, including Virginia Giuffre, who became one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers.
A Republican-led congressional committee rejected the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s demand that she be granted immunity before agreeing to testify about Epstein to Congress.
Trump expressed sympathy for ‘kids that are starving’ in Gaza, but repeated the debunked Israeli talking point that Hamas is to stealing aid, and endorsed the chaotic system of aid distribution run by Israel with US support that has cost 1,000 Palestinians their lives.
The Senate voted 50-49 to confirm Emil Bove, a former defense attorney for Trump to a lifetime seat on a federal appeals court, despite claims by whistleblowers that he advocated for ignoring court orders.

Senate confirms Emil Bove as federal appeals court judge, one step closer to supreme court

Chris Stein

All Democrats opposed his nomination along with Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Tennessee senator Bill Hagerty missed the vote.

Hegseth could resign to run for governor of Tennessee next year – report

The people who have spoken with Hegseth said he has specifically mentioned a possible campaign for governor in Tennessee, where he lives. The state has an open race for governor next year, though there are eligibility requirements for candidates that Hegseth might not meet.

Ultimately, both sources said, it was unclear after their conversations with Hegseth whether he would take the leap. But they both said he has contemplated it.

Trump expresses sympathy for ‘kids that are starving’ in Gaza, but blames Hamas not Israel

In one clip posted on social media by an official White House account, Trump was asked about the images from Gaza of starving children.

“But certainly that was a concept that was really embraced by a lot of people”, the president claimed, “but also some people didn’t like it.”

House oversight committee rejects Ghislaine Maxwell’s demand for immunity to testify

Maxwell, who was convicted in federal court in New York in 2021 of helping Epstein sexually abuse multiple minor girls over the course of a decade, is serving a 20-year sentence in Florida.

The committee wants to depose Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, on 11 August 11 at the federal prison where she is being held in Tallahassee.

Congresswoman Summer Lee, a Pennsylvania Democrat who has been outspoken in her criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza, condemned the mistreatment of the American labor activist Chris Smalls by Israeli soldiers after they raided the Handala, an aid ship that attempted to reach Gaza as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

“Chris Smalls—a Black American labor leader—was trying to feed Palestinians being starved in Gaza. The IDF detained and beat him for it”, the progressive lawmaker commented on Instagram. “This assault must not go unnoticed and he must be freed immediately. Israel must be held to account. Let aid through. End the genocide.”

As our colleague Adria Walker reports, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a grassroots international collective that has worked to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza since 2010, said Smalls “was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals” who “choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back”.

Read Adria’s report here:

Lauren Gambino

Experts on Tuesday urged California governor Gavin Newsom to drop his “tit-for-tat redistricting” threat in response to a Republican plan to pick up congressional seats in Texas.

“You can’t fight gerrymandering with more gerrymandering,” Patricia Sinay, a commissioner for the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, said on a call organized by the watchdog group Common Cause. “It is a short sighted plan.”

California Democrats say they are prepared to redraw the state’s 52 congressional districts in a longshot and controversial effort to pick up Democratic seats.

Newsom, seen as a likely presidential candidate in 2028, has threatened to redraw the state’s 52 congressional districts – a longshot bid to offset Republican gains in Texas with Democratic gains in California.

Texas is considering mid-year redistricting at the urging of Donald Trump, who is angling to stave off losses in the Congressional midterm elections next year. Voter backlash at the polls could cost Republicans their House majority, and seriously blunt his agenda.

While some partisans are cheering the efforts – especially Democrats hungry to see their elected officials take a tough stand in political fights with Republicans – experts warn that it’s not the “port in the storm” they are seeking.

“Rolling back independent redistricting is bad policy. It’s also a waste of time,” said Emily Eby French, Texas policy director of Common Cause. “Come on down to Texas governor Newsom. We’ll show you how to fight the bad stuff without sacrificing the good stuff.”

Dan Vicuña, a senior policy director for voting and fair representation at Common Cause, said the group was ready to challenge any attempt by California – or any state – to override its independent redistricting commission.

“Although this is a very troubling and dangerous moment, one thing that’s useful is that it clarifies what this issue is about,” Vicuña said. “When we see politicians of both major parties willing to manipulate the process, manipulate voting districts, gerrymander at will, it’s a helpful reminder that this is, in fact, not a Democrat versus Republican issue. This is the politicians versus the people issue.”

Trump says he broke with Epstein for hiring away young women from Mar-a-Lago and ‘stole’ Virginia Giuffre

Trump replied: “I think so, I think that was one of the people, yeah. He stole her”.

pic.twitter.com/6atia3S9L8

— Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) July 30, 2025

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The day so far

As Israel’s war in Gaza nears its two-year mark, and as horrifying images of starving people and utter devastation flood social media, cracks seem to be emerging in the American right’s typically iron-clad support for Israel. Marjorie Taylor Greene became the first Republican member of Congress to call Israel’s assault on Gaza a genocide, while Steve Bannon, Trump’s influential former adviser, told Politico: “It seems that for the under-30-year-old Maga base, Israel has almost no support, and Netanyahu’s attempt to save himself politically by dragging America in deeper to another Middle East war has turned off a large swath of older Maga diehards. Now President Trump’s public repudiation of one of the central tenants of Bibi’s Gaza strategy – ‘starving’ Palestinians – will only hasten a collapse of support.”
Indeed support for Israel’s military action in Gaza has declined substantially among US adults, with only about a third approving, according to a new Gallup poll, which also found that about half of US adults now have an unfavorable view of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the most negative rating he has received.
On Palestine, Trump said he and UK prime minister Keir Starmer did not discuss Britain’s plan to formally recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel holds to a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution. “We never did discuss it,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One.
Ghislaine Maxwell has offered to testify before Congress but has asked lawmakers to give her immunity, along with other major conditions, according to a list of demands sent to the House oversight committee by her attorneys, seen by CNN. If the demands cannot be met, her attorneys said: “Maxwell will have no choice but to invoke her fifth amendment rights” (the right to remain silent). An oversight committee spokesperson rejected the idea of giving Maxwell immunity, telling CNN: “The oversight committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony.”
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor earlier to call on the FBI to undertake a counterintelligence threat assessment of Donald Trump’s Epstein connections. He highlighted the need to examine whether foreign countries might have tried to access the Epstein files and possibly exploit the information as leverage over the president.
New York governor Kathy Hochul called for Congress to pass a national assault weapons ban following yesterday’s shooting in Manhattan which killed four people (and the shooter, who killed himself). “New York has some of the strongest gun laws in the nation … But our laws only go so far when an AR-15 can be obtained in a state with weak gun laws and brought into New York to commit mass murder,” Hochul said.
Police are investigating whether the gunman was targeting the National Football League. In a note, the suspect, who appeared to have driven from Las Vegas to New York City over three days, appeared to blame the NFL for a brain injury. He claimed he suffered from CTE – the degenerative brain disease that has been linked to concussions and other repeated head trauma common in contact sports like football – and said his brain should be studied after he died. A preliminary investigation found that he took the wrong elevator, ending up on the wrong floor when he opened fire in the 345 Park Avenue building, which houses the NFL headquarters.
Trump said he would start imposing tariffs and other measures on Russia “ten days from today” if Moscow did not make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine. The US president, who first announced yesterday that he was cutting his initial 50-day deadline for action from Moscow, said he had not heard a response from Russia.
Trump said the Wall Street Journal and its billionaire owner Rupert Murdoch want to settle the president’s defamation lawsuit against the newspaper. On 18 July, Trump promptly sued the WSJ and its owners, including Murdoch, over a story alleging that Trump’s name was on a “lewd” birthday message for the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to shared secrets. “They want to settle it,” Trump said, adding, “when I get treated unfairly, I do things about it.” Trump’s lawsuit called the alleged letter “fake” and said the Journal published its article to harm his reputation. In a court filing yesterday, Trump asked a US court to order a swift deposition for Murdoch.
The Department of Justice asked several large California counties to provide detailed personal information of non-citizens who got on to the state voter rolls, the Guardian has learned, in an unusual request that comes as the Trump administration has asked about a dozen states to provide wide swaths of information about voters and election practices.

Majority of Americans disapprove of Israel’s actions in Gaza, while Netanyahu approval drops to record low, poll finds

The new poll finds that about 6 in 10 US adults disapprove of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza, up from 45% in November 2023.

In a new low, only 8% of Democrats and one-quarter of independents say they now approve of Israel’s military campaign.

Views of Netanyahu have also grown less favorable over the past few years, with more viewing him negatively than positively in measurements taken since the war in Gaza began.

About half of US adults, 52%, now have an unfavorable view of Netanyahu in the new poll, which overlapped with his recent visit to the US. Just 29% view him positively.

As Senate Democrats plan to continue to keep up the pressure on the Trump administration over Jeffrey Epstein this week, minority leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor earlier to call on the FBI to undertake a counterintelligence threat assessment of Donald Trump’s Epstein connections.

Calling for a risk assessment to examine whether foreign countries might have tried to access the Epstein files and possibly exploit the information as leverage over Trump, Schumer said:

Americans are right to be angry over the lack of transparency. But this isn’t just about getting to the truth. This is also every bit about our national security.

Whatever may be in the Epstein files is clearly troubling enough that Donald Trump doesn’t want to touch this issue with a ten-foot pole.

So it’s natural to ask: what happens if America’s adversaries use cyber-attacks or other means to access investigative materials into Jeffrey Epstein that are embarrassing – or worse – for President Trump and the people around him?

What happens if Epstein materials end up in the hands of the Chinese government, or Russia, or North Korea?

Unless the Epstein files are released, and made fully transparent to the public, could our adversaries use that information to blackmail someone like the president? Or other senior leaders in government? What kind of risk could that pose to our national security?

He went on:

National security is not – and should never be – a partisan issue. We need to do everything we can to make sure we’re protecting the US and American families every single day. This report is imperative to do just that.

And there is one more thing Donald Trump could do to quell people’s anger, confusion, frustration and fears over the national security ramifications: stop running away from this issue. Tell the truth. And if there is clearly no national security risk, release the Epstein files, President Trump.

Justice department asked California to give details of non-citizens on voter rolls

Sam Levine

All three counties said they were reviewing the justice department’s request. The justice department did not return a request for comment.

Trump claims Wall Street Journal and Murdoch want to settle defamation lawsuit

Donald Trump said that the Wall Street Journal and its billionaire owner Rupert Murdoch want to settle the president’s defamation lawsuit against the newspaper.

“I’ve been treated badly by the Wall Street Journal. I would have assumed that Rupert Murdoch controls it, but, you know, maybe does, maybe doesn’t,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Trump’s lawsuit called the alleged letter “fake” and said the Journal published its article to harm his reputation.

In a court filing yesterday, Trump asked a US court to order a swift deposition for Murdoch.

The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Donald Trump also told reporters on Air Force One that he thinks he will have a meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping before the end of the year, but did not elaborate.

Trump says Russia will face sanctions in 10 days if it does not move to end Ukraine war

Donald Trump said he would start imposing tariffs and other measures on Russia “ten days from today” if Moscow did not make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump, who first announced yesterday that he was cutting his initial 50-day deadline for action from Moscow, said he had not heard a response from Russia.

Earlier today, my colleague Jakub Krupa reported that Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists that Russia “has taken note” of president Trump’s comments.

Peskov also confirmed that there was a “slowdown” in Russian efforts to revive diplomatic relations with the US. Trump yesterday voiced his frustration with Vladimir Putin, saying:

I thought we’d be able to negotiate something. Maybe that’ll still happen, but it’s very late down the process. I’m disappointed … I’m not so interested in talking any more.

Ghislaine Maxwell offers to testify about Epstein case before Congress

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