Crypto bills hit procedural snag in Congress
House Republicans had billed this week as "Crypto week," and were keen to advance numerous pieces of legislation aimed at providing clarity to the digital asset industry and long-sought legitimacy to the sector.
But those efforts hit an early snag Tuesday, when several conservative Republicans joined with Democrats in blocking a procedural vote to allow consideration of three crypto bills as part of a dispute over how the measures should be packaged and considered.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters shortly after the vote that he planned to continue discussing the matter with members and hoped to vote on it again shortly.
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Straits Times
5 hours ago
- Straits Times
A 15-year bond between Trump and Epstein: Parties, jets and women
A message calling on President Donald Trump to release all files related to Jeffrey Epstein is projected onto the US Chamber of Commerce building across in Washington, DC, on July 18. NEW YORK - In the swirl of money and suntanned women that was their Palm Beach-and-Manhattan set, Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein spent nearly 15 years mingling side by side as public friends. There were lavish dinners with boldface names at Epstein's mansion on New York City's Upper East Side and raucous parties with cheerleaders and models at Mr Trump's private club and residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. In between, there were trips back and forth from Florida to New York on one of Epstein's private jets. But behind the tabloid glamour, questions have lingered about what Mr Trump's long association with Epstein says about his judgment and character, especially as his allies have stoked sinister claims about Epstein's connections to Democrats. After their relationship ruptured, the disgraced financier ended up behind bars not just once, but two times, after being accused of engaging in sex with teenage girls. One of the young women who later said Epstein groomed and abused her was recruited into his world while working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago. Another accuser recalled being eyed by Mr Trump during a brief encounter in Epstein's office, and claimed that Epstein had told Mr Trump at the time, 'She's not for you.' Another woman has said that Mr Trump groped her when Epstein brought her to Trump Tower in Manhattan to meet him. This past week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr Trump gave Epstein a note for his 50th birthday in 2003 that included a sketch of a naked woman and a cryptic reference to a 'secret' the two men shared. Mr Trump has denied writing the message and filed a libel lawsuit on July 18 challenging the story. The New York Times has not verified the Journal report. Mr Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein case, and has said he had 'no idea' that Epstein was abusing young women. In response to a request for comment about the president's history with Epstein, Ms Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Mr Trump had barred Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club 'for being a creep'. 'These stories are tired and pathetic attempts to distract from all the success of President Trump's administration,' she said in a statement. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 1 in 3 vapes here laced with etomidate; MOH working with MHA to list it as illegal drug: Ong Ye Kung Singapore HSA extends hotline hours, launches new platform to report vaping offences Singapore Tampines regional centre set to get more homes, offices and public amenities Multimedia How to make the most out of small homes in Singapore World Diplomats dismissed: Inside the overhaul reshaping Trump's foreign policy Life US tech CEO Andy Byron resigns after viral Coldplay 'kiss cam' video Opinion I thought I was a 'chill' parent. Then came P1 registration Singapore 'God and government are the only things beyond our control,' says Group CEO Mr Trump and Epstein largely went separate ways after a falling-out around 2004, taking drastically different paths – one toward jail and suicide, the other toward further celebrity and the White House. As criticism of the handling of Epstein's case mounted over the years, some of Mr Trump's staunchest allies promoted theories that the government had covered up the extent of his network to protect what they have described as a cabal of powerful men and celebrities, largely Democrats. Now, that story has entangled Mr Trump himself in what amounts to one of the biggest controversies in his second White House stint. The conflict has come primarily from his own appointees, who, after months of promoting interest in the files, abruptly changed course and said there was no secret Epstein client list and backed the official finding that Epstein had killed himself. Still, under mounting pressure from his own supporters to release the government's files on Epstein, the president this past week ordered the Justice Department to seek the unsealing of grand jury testimony in the criminal case brought against Epstein in 2019 and one year later against his longtime partner Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence on a sex-trafficking conviction. She has asked the Supreme Court to consider her appeal. Even if they are released, the transcripts are unlikely to shed much light on the relationship between the two men, which did not figure prominently in either criminal case. What seemed to draw them together, according to those who knew them at the time, was a common interest in hitting on – and competing for – attractive young women at parties, nightclubs and other private events. Palm beach neighbours Mr Trump and Epstein appear to have met around 1990, when Epstein bought a property 2 miles north of Mar-a-Lago and set about staking a claim in Palm Beach's moneyed, salt-air social scene. Mr Trump, who had purchased Mar-a-Lago five years earlier, had already established his own brash presence in the seaside enclave as a playboy with a taste for gold-leaf finery. The two had much in common. Both were outer-borough New Yorkers who had succeeded in Manhattan. Both were energetic self-promoters. And both had reputations as showy men about town. In 1992, an NBC News camera captured the pair at a Mar-a-Lago party that featured cheerleaders from the Buffalo Bills, who were in town that weekend for a game against the Miami Dolphins. At one point in the footage, Mr Trump can be seen dancing amid a crowd of young women. Later, he appears to be pointing at other women while whispering something in Epstein's ear, causing him to double over with laughter. Months later, when Mr Trump hosted a party at Mar-a-Lago for young women in a so-called calendar girl competition, Epstein was the only other guest, according to Mr George Houraney, a Florida-based businessman who arranged the event. Mr Houraney recalled being surprised that Epstein was the only other person on the guest list. 'I said, 'Donald, this is supposed to be a party with VIPs,' ' he told the Times in 2019. 'You're telling me it's you and Epstein?'' Mr Houraney's then-girlfriend and business partner Jill Harth later accused Mr Trump of sexual misconduct on the night of the party. In a lawsuit, she said Mr Trump took her into a bedroom and forcibly kissed and groped her, and restrained her from leaving. She also said that a 22-year-old contestant told her that Mr Trump later that night crawled into her bed uninvited. Ms Harth dropped her suit in 1997 after a related case filed by Mr Houraney was settled by Mr Trump, who has denied her allegations. Mr Trump and Epstein were spotted again at a 1997 Victoria's Secret 'Angels' party in Manhattan. The lingerie company was run by Mr Leslie H. Wexner, a billionaire businessman who handed Epstein sweeping power over his finances, philanthropy and private life within years of meeting him. Court records show that Mr Trump was among those who got rides on Epstein's private jet. Over four years in the 1990s, he flew on Epstein's Boeing 727 at least seven times, largely making jaunts between Palm Beach and a private airport in Teterboro, New Jersey, just outside New York. 'I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,' Mr Trump told New York magazine in 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. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.' An encounter at Mar-a-Lago In 2000, court records show Maxwell, a British socialite who had long been tied to Epstein, struck up a conversation with a 17-year-old girl outside a locker room at Mar-a-Lago. Her name was Virginia Giuffre, and she was a spa attendant at the club, having gotten the job through her father, who worked there as a maintenance man. According to Ms Giuffre, Maxwell offered her a job on the spot as a masseuse for Epstein after seeing that she was reading a book about massage, telling her that she did not need to have any experience. She said that when she was brought to Epstein's Palm Beach home, she found him lying naked on a table. Maxwell, she claimed, instructed her on how to massage him. 'They seemed like nice people,' she later testified, 'so I trusted them.' But over the next two years or so, Ms Giuffre claimed that she was forced by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with a series of famous men, including Prince Andrew, a member of the British royal family. The prince has denied the accusations and declined to help federal prosecutors in their investigation of Epstein. Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, always maintained that she was trafficked to the prince and other men, once telling the BBC that she had been 'passed around like a platter of fruit' to Epstein's powerful associates. Some women who were in Epstein's orbit have said they encountered Mr Trump during this period. One woman Maria Farmer, who has said she was victimised by Epstein and Maxwell, described an encounter with Mr Trump in 1995 at an office that Epstein once kept in New York City. An art student who had moved to New York City to pursue a career as a painter, Ms Farmer recalled in a 2019 interview that when she was introduced to Mr Trump, he eyed her, prompting Epstein to warn him, 'She's not for you.' Ms Farmer's mother Janice Swain said her daughter had described the interaction with Mr Trump around the time it occurred. Ms Stacey Williams, a former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, has said she was groped by Mr Trump when she was introduced to him by Epstein, whom she was dating at the time. It was 1993, she said, and she was on a walk with Epstein on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan when he suggested that they pop into Trump Tower to say hello to Trump. Williams thought nothing of it at the time because, as she later put it, 'Jeffrey talked about Trump all the time.' After Mr Trump greeted them in a waiting area outside his office, Ms Williams said, he pulled her toward him, touching her breasts, waist and buttocks as if he was 'an octopus'. She said she later wondered whether she had been part of a challenge or wager between the two men. 'I definitely felt like I was a piece of meat delivered to that office as some sort of game,' she recalled to the Times in 2024. At the time, Mr Trump's presidential campaign denied that the episode had occurred, calling the allegations 'unequivocally false' and politically motivated. In an interview on July 18, Ms Williams said she was upset to hear Mr Trump referring to some of the Epstein story as a 'hoax' and 'boring' news. 'I mean, it's absurd,' she said of his speaking dismissively of the case. Parting ways Eventually, in late 2004, Mr Trump and Epstein ended up squaring off – this time, over a piece of real estate. It was the Maison de l'Amitié, a French Regency-style manse that sat along the ocean in Palm Beach. The two hypercompetitive men each had their lawyers bid on the property. Ultimately, Mr Trump came out ahead, purchasing it for US$41.35 million (S$53 million). There is little public record of the two men interacting after that. Mr Trump later told associates he had another reason for breaking from Epstein around that time: His longtime friend, he has said, acted inappropriately to the daughter of a member of Mar-a-Lago, and Mr Trump felt compelled to bar him from the club. Mr Brad Edwards, a lawyer who has represented many of Epstein's victims, said Mr Trump told him a similar story in 2009. Not long after the standoff over the beachfront mansion, the Palm Beach police received a tip that young women had been seen going in and out of Epstein's home. Four months later, there was a more substantial complaint from a woman who claimed that her 14-year-old stepdaughter had been paid US$300 by Epstein to give him a massage while she was undressed. That led to a sprawling undercover investigation that identified at least a dozen potential victims. Epstein hired a team of top lawyers to defend him – including Mr Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor who would later represent Mr Trump, and Mr Ken Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. The two men helped negotiate a lenient plea deal with R. Alexander Acosta, who was then the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Under the deal, Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor. In exchange, he was granted immunity from federal charges, as were all of his potential co-conspirators. He also had to register as a sex offender. In the end, Epstein wound up serving almost 13 months in jail before he was released. For his part, Mr Trump largely steered clear of the controversy. But in February 2015, as he was gearing up for what would end up being a hard-fought campaign against Mrs Hillary Clinton, he sought to connect Epstein to her husband, the former president. Bill Clinton has 'got a lot of problems coming up, in my opinion, with the famous island with Jeffrey Epstein', Mr Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity during an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, referring to Epstein's private island where he resided and was suspected of trafficking underage girls. 'A lot of problems.' Mr Clinton has denied visiting the island or having any knowledge of Epstein's criminal behavior, and has said he wishes he had never met him. 'I Wasn't a Fan' In July 2019, Epstein was arrested again. Prosecutors from the public corruption unit of the US attorney's office in Manhattan charged him with sex trafficking and a conspiracy to traffic minors for sex. Mr Trump, then in his third year in the White House, immediately sought to distance himself from his old friend. 'I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him,' he told reporters after the charges were revealed. 'I mean, people in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach. I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don't think I've spoken to him in 15 years. I wasn't a fan.' The new charges brought renewed scrutiny to the original plea deal. Days after Epstein's arrest, Mr Acosta, who had become Mr Trump's labour secretary, announced he would resign amid criticism of his handling of the case. Speaking to reporters about Mr Acosta's decision, Mr Trump reiterated that he had broken off his ties with Epstein 'many, many years ago.' He added: 'It shows you one thing: that I have good taste.' Asked if he had any suspicions that Epstein was molesting young women, Mr Trump replied, 'No, I had no idea.' The next month, after Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in Manhattan in what was later ruled a suicide, Mr Trump weighed in again, reviving what was by then a years-old effort from his first campaign. He shared a social media post that tried to link the death to Mr Clinton. Days later, when pressed about his unfounded claims of Mr Clinton's involvement, Mr Trump did not let up, calling for a full investigation, even though he offered no facts to support his allegations. 'Epstein had an island that was not a good place, as I understand it,' he said. 'And I was never there. So you have to ask: Did Bill Clinton go to the island?' When Mr Trump was asked about the arrest of Maxwell in the summer of 2020 on charges that included the enticement and trafficking of children, his answer left some of his own allies confused. 'I wish her well, whatever it is,' Mr Trump said. In recent weeks, right-wing influencers and Mr Trump's rank-and-file supporters expressed outrage over his administration's conclusion that there were no revelations to share about the case – not least because some of the president's top law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, had promised to reveal more information about Epstein's crimes. Mr Trump sought to quiet the demands, calling the Epstein scandal a 'hoax' made up by his Democratic adversaries. He also described it as a subject unworthy of further scrutiny. 'Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?' Mr Trump asked reporters with exasperation at a Cabinet meeting July 8. 'This guy's been talked about for years.' NYTIMES
CNA
8 hours ago
- CNA
Clark calls for more pay as WNBA labor talks intensify
INDIANAPOLIS :Indiana Fever sensation Caitlin Clark called for better pay in the WNBA on Saturday as labor negotiations between the league and players intensify, while Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said she was optimistic about their latest talks. Thousands of fans wearing "Clark" jerseys packed the Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the sold-out All-Star Game on Saturday, while the wildly popular Rookie of the Year was forced to sit out after sustaining a groin injury earlier in the week. Clark was an omnipresent figure in Indianapolis in the lead-up, despite not being able to play, as her face graced ads for Nike, Wilson and Gatorade that were plastered across the city center. Asked how those brand deals stacked against her league salary, Clark responded: "That's a good question." "That's where we're really fortunate is that we have those other deals. I think that's one of the things that we're in the room fighting for," Clark told reporters. "We should be paid more. Hopefully that's the case moving forward as the league continues to grow. I think it's something that's probably the most important thing that we are in the room advocating about." The Women's National Basketball Players Association and the league met on Thursday in Indianapolis to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement after the players voted to opt out of their current deal at the end of the season. The union said after the meeting that the two sides were far apart on several issues and players were seen warming up for Saturday's game wearing shirts that read "Pay Us What You Owe Us." Commissioner Cathy Engelbert struck a different tone with reporters, saying she felt the meeting with players had been productive. "(I'm) really optimistic that we'll get something done, that it'll be transformational, and that next year at All-Star, we'll be talking about how great everything is. But obviously, there's a lot of hard work to be done on both sides," she said. Engelbert, who also oversaw the league when the last deal was struck in January 2020, has been at the helm during a period of rapid growth for the WNBA, with TV ratings and attendance climbing rapidly. "We want the same things as the players," she told reporters. "We want to significantly increase their salary and benefits while balancing with our owners their ability to have a path of profitability."
CNA
11 hours ago
- CNA
Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigns after controversy over Coldplay concert video
The IT company CEO captured in a widely circulated video showing him embracing an employee at a Coldplay concert has resigned. Andy Byron resigned from his job as CEO of Cincinnati-based Astronomer Inc, according to a statement posted on LinkedIn by the company on Saturday (Jul 19). 'Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met,' the company said in its post on LinkedIn. The move comes a day after the company said that Byron had been placed on leave and the board of directors had launched a formal investigation into the jumbotron incident, which went viral. A company spokesman later confirmed in a statement to AP that it was Byron and Astronomer chief people officer Kristin Cabot in the video. The short video clip shows Byron and Cabot as captured on the jumbotron at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, during a Coldplay concert on Wednesday. Lead singer Chris Martin had asked the cameras to scan the crowd for his Jumbotron Song when he sings a few lines about the people the camera lands on. 'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy,' he joked. Internet sleuths identified the man as the chief executive officer of a US-based company and the woman as its chief people officer. Pete DeJoy, Astronomer's cofounder and chief product officer, has been tapped as interim CEO while the company searches for Byron's successor. CONCERT VENUES It's easy to miss but most concert venues have signs informing the audience that they could be filmed during the event. It is common practice, especially when bands like to use performances for music videos or concert films. The venue in this case, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, also has a privacy policy online which states: 'When you visit our location or attend or participate in an event at our location, we may capture your image, voice and/or likeness, including through the use of CCTV cameras and/or when we film or photograph you in a public location.' 'They probably would have got away with it if they hadn't reacted,' said Alison Taylor, a clinical associate professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. Still, Taylor and others stressed how quickly such a video leads to an internet search to find the people involved and noted that it was important to remember that such 'doxing' isn't just reserved for famous people. Beyond someone simply spotting a familiar face and spreading the word, technological advances, such as the rising adoption of artificial intelligence, have made it easier and faster overall to find just about anyone in a viral video today. 'It's a little bit unsettling how easily we can be identified with biometrics, how our faces are online, how social media can track us – and how the internet has gone from being a place of interaction to a gigantic surveillance system,' said Mary Angela Bock, an associate professor in the University of Texas at Austin's School of Journalism and Media. 'When you think about it, we are being surveilled by our social media. They're tracking us in exchange for entertaining us.'
