MLK Jr's daughter tells Trump ‘now do the Epstein files' after 230,000 pages released on civil rights leader
Bernice King, 62, issued a blunt request to the president after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced the release of more than 230,000 pages tied to MLK's 1968 murder, promising 'complete transparency' over the case.
'Now, do the Epstein files,' King tweeted on Monday evening, along with a photograph of her father.
King, who was five when her father was assassinated, and her brother Martin Luther King III, said in a joint statement: 'While we support transparency and historical accountability, we object to any attacks on our father's legacy or attempts to weaponize it to spread falsehoods.'
Some civil rights activists rejected claims that the Trump administration was pursuing true transparency.
The King Center, which is now led by Bernice King, framed the release of documents as a distraction.
'It is unfortunate and ill-timed, given the myriad of pressing issues and injustices affecting the United States and the global society,' it said.
Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement that Trump's unsealing of the MLK assassination files was 'not about transparency or justice.'
'It's a desperate attempt to distract people from the firestorm engulfing Trump over the Epstein files and the public unraveling of his credibility among the Maga base,' he added.
The documents on the murder of the civil rights leader were posted as Trump faces mounting pressure to release all documents related to Epstein's sex trafficking investigation.
The president continues to face MAGA backlash after his administration concluded earlier this month that there was no evidence the convicted sex offender maintained a 'client list.'
Trump has repeatedly framed the issue as a 'hoax' perpetrated by Democrats.
The Democrats, in return, said that Trump is attempting to distract from the scandal, including by peddling a conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama orchestrated the Russia investigation into Trump's 2016 campaign.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Monday that Trump is 'running scared.'
'Why do we think President Joe Biden or President Barack Obama's names are being invoked?,' he said. 'Because Donald Trump is running scared.'
A day after the Wall Street Journal 's bombshell report that Trump allegedly sent a bawdy 50th birthday card to Epstein, the president asked the court to unseal grand jury transcripts in the prosecution of Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
A former prosecutor said that the document release is unlikely to produce much, if anything, and is a move to 'present himself as if he's doing something here and it really is nothing.'
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The Independent
16 minutes ago
- The Independent
Russian nationalists have long demanded the return of Alaska. Now Trump has invited ICC-indicted Putin to the state
President Donald Trump is set to meet with Vladimir Putin in Alaska next week, the state that Russia once laid claim to and nationalists want to take back. Trump announced Friday that a meeting has been set with the Russian leader on August 15 in the Last Frontier state to discuss the war in Ukraine, which the president claimed he would end 'on Day One.' Despite facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, the meeting would mark the first time in a decade that Putin has set foot on U.S. soil. 'The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska,' Trump declared on Truth Social. Critics pointed out that Russia once laid claim to the state of Alaska at the beginning of the 1770s—where they mercilessly exploited Alaskan natives to hunt fur for the Russians—and nationalists have long wanted to take it back. Alaska was purchased from the Russians by the U.S. for a sum of $7.2 million in 1867—the equivalent of between $129 million and $153.5 million today. 'Trump has chosen to host Putin in a part of the former Russian Empire. Wonder if he knows that Russian nationalists claim that losing Alaska, like Ukraine, was a raw deal for Moscow that needs to be corrected,' said Michael McFaul, a professor of political science at Stanford University and former. U.S. ambassador to Russia. 'Let's all hope that Putin doesn't ask to take Alaska home with him as a souvenir, or Trump might give that away too,' political commentator David Frum said in a post on X. 'Trump inviting war criminal Putin to America is nauseating enough, but hosting him in Alaska — while Putin's pet propagandists routinely demand it back from the US on state TV — is beyond the pale,' author and commentator Julia Davis wrote on X. 'Unless Putin is arrested upon arrival, there's no excuse.' 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The most famous meeting between the two presidents took place in Helsinki, Finland, in July 2018, during Trump's first term as president. Following the meeting, Trump publicly contradicted U.S. intelligence agencies and appeared to take Putin's word over their findings regarding Russian election interference. The remarks caused bipartisan outrage in Washington, with many accusing Trump of having 'sided with the enemy.'
Daily Mail
16 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Teen girl mauled by pack of ten or more dogs while jogging in California
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Sky News
16 minutes ago
- Sky News
It's been four years since a US president met Putin - and Trump will have a lot of ice to break
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will meet where their countries brush shoulders. But why Alaska and why now? A US-Russia summit in Alaska is geography as metaphor and message. Alaska physically bridges both countries across the polar expanse. Choosing this location signals strategic parity - the US and Russian leaders face to face in a place where their interests literally meet. Alaska has surged in geopolitical importance due to its untapped fossil fuels. Trump has aggressively pushed for more control in the Arctic, plans for Greenland and oil access. Holding talks there centres the conversation where global energy and territorial stakes are high, and the US president thrives on spectacle. A dramatic summit in the rugged frontier of Alaska plays into his flair for the theatrical. It is brand Trump - a stage that frames him as bold, unorthodox and in command. It was 2021 when a US president last came face-to-face with a Russian president. The leaders of the two countries haven't met since Russia invaded Ukraine. But Trump is in touch with all sides - Russia, Ukraine and European leaders - and says they all, including Putin, want "to see peace". He's even talking up the potential shape of any deal and how it might involve the "swapping of territory". Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly insisted he will not concede territory annexed by Russia. Moscow has sent the White House a list of demands in return for a ceasefire. 0:23 Trump is attempting to secure buy-in from Zelenskyy and other European leaders. He styles himself as "peacemaker-in-chief" and claims credit for ending six wars since he returned to office 200 days ago. There's much ice to break if he's to secure a coveted seventh one in Alaska.
