‘Mega deal': The US agrees to weapon trade with Ukraine
Being described as a 'mega deal', last week the Trump administration resumed military aid shipments to Ukraine.
The deal sees for US buying battle-tested combat drones from Ukraine, and Ukraine will use those funds to buy American weapons.
The Pentagon has been pushing for the deal because domestic drone production has lagged behind.
The White House says the deal fits perfectly with US President Donald Trump's push for peace through strength.
It is not clear when the final deal will be signed.
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9 News
32 minutes ago
- 9 News
Request to unseal Epstein grand jury files 'likely to disappoint'
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here A US Justice Department request to unseal grand jury transcripts in the prosecution of chronic sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend is unlikely to produce much, if anything, to satisfy the public's appetite for new revelations about the financier's crimes, former federal prosecutors say. Attorney Sarah Krissoff, an assistant US attorney in Manhattan from 2008 to 2021, called the request in the prosecutions of Epstein and imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell 'a distraction'. "The president is trying to present himself as if he's doing something here and it really is nothing," Krissoff told The Associated Press in a weekend interview. Jeffrey Epstein died while in custody in August 2019. (AP) Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made the request on Friday, asking judges to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and Maxwell, saying 'transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration'. The request came as the administration sought to contain the firestorm that followed its announcement that it would not be releasing additional files from the Epstein probe despite previously promising that it would. Epstein killed himself at age 66 in his federal jail cell in August 2019, a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges, while Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence imposed after her December 2021 sex trafficking conviction for luring girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. Krissoff and Joshua Naftalis, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said grand jury presentations are purposely brief. Naftalis said Southern District prosecutors present just enough to a grand jury to get an indictment but 'it's not going to be everything the FBI and investigators have figured out about Maxwell and Epstein'. 'People want the entire file from however long. That's just not what this is,' he said, estimating that the transcripts, at most, probably amount to a few hundred pages. 'It's not going to be much,' Krissoff said, estimating the length at as little as 60 pages 'because the Southern District of New York's practice is to put as little information as possible into the grand jury'. 'They basically spoon feed the indictment to the grand jury. That's what we're going to see,' she said. 'I just think it's not going to be that interesting. ... I don't think it's going to be anything new.' Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. (Nine) Both ex-prosecutors said that grand jury witnesses in Manhattan are usually federal agents summarising their witness interviews. That practice might conflict with the public perception of some state and federal grand jury proceedings, where witnesses likely to testify at a trial are brought before grand juries during lengthy proceedings prior to indictments or when grand juries are used as an investigatory tool. In Manhattan, federal prosecutors 'are trying to get a particular result so they present the case very narrowly and inform the grand jury what they want them to do,' Krissoff said. Krissoff predicted that judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases will reject the government's request. With Maxwell, a petition is before the US Supreme Court so appeals have not been exhausted. With Epstein, the charges are related to the Maxwell case and the anonymity of scores of victims who have not gone public is at stake, although Blanche requested that victim identities be protected. 'This is not a 50-, 60-, 80-year-old case,' Krissoff noted. 'There's still someone in custody.' She said citing 'public intrigue, interest and excitement' about a case was likely not enough to convince a judge to release the transcripts despite a 1997 ruling by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals that said judges have wide discretion and that public interest alone can justify releasing grand jury information. Krissoff called it 'mind-blowingly strange' that Washington Justice Department officials are increasingly directly filing requests and arguments in the Southern District of New York, where the prosecutor's office has long been labelled the "Sovereign District of New York" for its independence from outside influence. 'To have the attorney general and deputy attorney general meddling in an SDNY case is unheard of,' she said. Cheryl Bader, a former federal prosecutor and Fordham Law School criminal law professor, said judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases may take weeks or months to rule. 'Especially here where the case involved witnesses or victims of sexual abuse, many of which are underage, the judge is going to be very cautious about what the judge releases,' she said. Donald Trump is under pressure over his long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. (AP) Bader said she didn't see the government's quest aimed at satisfying the public's desire to explore conspiracy theories 'trumping – pardon the pun – the well-established notions of protecting the secrecy of the grand jury process'. 'I'm sure that all the line prosecutors who really sort of appreciate the secrecy and special relationship they have with the grand jury are not happy that DOJ is asking the court to release these transcripts,' she added. Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, called Trump's comments and influence in the Epstein matter 'unprecedented' and 'extraordinarily unusual' because he is a sitting president. He said it was not surprising that some former prosecutors are alarmed that the request to unseal the grand jury materials came two days after the firing of Manhattan Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey, who worked on the Epstein and Maxwell cases. 'If federal prosecutors have to worry about the professional consequences of refusing to go along with the political or personal agenda of powerful people, then we are in a very different place than I've understood the federal Department of Justice to be in over the last 30 years of my career,' he said. Krissoff said the uncertain environment that has current prosecutors feeling unsettled is shared by government employees she speaks with at other agencies as part of her work in private practice. 'The thing I hear most often is this is a strange time. Things aren't working the way we're used to them working,' she said. Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636. 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Sky News AU
43 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Ellen DeGeneres reveals she and Aussie wife Portia de Rossi 'moved to the UK because of Trump' and plan to stay 'for good'
Ellen DeGeneres has confirmed she and her wife, Australian actress Portia de Rossi, permanently relocated to the UK after Donald Trump's return to the White House. The 67-year-old comedian made the candid admission during a live conversation with BBC broadcaster Richard Bacon at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham on Sunday. DeGeneres explained the pair initially planned to spend just a few months each year in the UK and purchased what they believed would be a "part-time house" in the Cotswolds in 2024. But the couple decided to stay put after Trump defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the latest US election. "We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, 'He got in'," she recalled. "And we're like, 'We're staying here'." The Finding Nemo star also hinted that she and de Rossi, 52, may remarry in the UK, after tying the knot in Los Angeles back in August 2008. "The Baptist Church in America is trying to reverse gay marriage," she said. "They're trying to literally stop it from happening in the future and possibly reverse it. Portia and I are already looking into it, and if they do that, we're going to get married here." She continued: "I wish we were at a place where it was not scary for people to be who they are. I wish that we lived in a society where everybody could accept other people and their differences." DeGeneres' revelation follows a wave of celebrity moves out of the US, including fellow comedian and Trump hater Rosie O'Donnell, who recently relocated to Ireland with her 12-year-old child. "Good for you @Rosie," DeGeneres wrote on Instagram last week, alongside a screenshot of Trump's Truth Social post claiming he was "giving serious consideration" to revoking his long-time nemesis's US citizenship. More recently, DeGeneres publicly condemned the Trump administration's move to shut down The Trevor Project, a national suicide prevention service for LGBTQ+ youth. "I helped launch the Trevor Project over 30 years ago. What kind of person would do this?" she posted on Instagram on Saturday. When she's not hitting out at Trump or sharing throwbacks from her now-cancelled daytime show, DeGeneres has been delighting her 135 million Instagram followers with snaps of her new life in the British countryside. "Everything here is just better- the way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here," she told Bacon. "We moved here in November, which was not the ideal time, but I saw snow for the first time in my life. We love it here. Portia flew her horses here, and I have chickens, and we had sheep for about two weeks." The couple initially moved into a £15 million (about AUD$30 million) estate in the Cotswolds, but their 43-acre property was hit by severe flooding shortly after their arrival. They have since relocated just around the corner, into a modern mansion boasting sweeping views of the countryside. The 10,000-square-foot home includes a cinema, gym, steam room, outdoor infinity pool and a striking open-plan kitchen with a hanging fireplace. The master suite features a vast walk-in wardrobe and dual en-suites, while four additional bedrooms also have private bathrooms. While DeGeneres and de Rossi appear thrilled with their new home, the bold design hasn't won everyone over. "Does not belong in the Cotswolds," one user commented under a Luxury Listings post showcasing the property, earning more than 200 likes (at time of writing). Another wrote: "I'd rather have a gorgeous traditional Cotswolds manor that pays tribute to the history of the area," with over 700 likes. "That house doesn't reflect the Cotswolds whatsoever. Shame it got planning permission," added another critic. A fourth remarked: "I'm sorry you move to the Cotswolds and THAT is what you live in? No way." But others were quick to defend the contemporary build, with one fan writing: "Completely utterly exquisite!!!!" and another saying: "This is stunning and I get it on all levels."
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
‘Not that deep': Left's ‘comical' freak out over Stephen Colbert's show being axed
Podcast host Brad Polumbo claims the freak out over Stephen Colbert's show being cancelled is an 'absurd spectacle'. 'The idea that there's going to be some shortage of anti-Trump voices in our mainstream media or on CBS or on Paramount or on any of these platforms is ridiculous,' he told Sky News Australia. 'It is funny; it's been comical to me to see their meltdown and scream censorship and apocalypse over this when it's really not that deep.'
