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The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump rages over newly surfaced Epstein wedding photos and Victoria's Secret fashion show footage: Live
Newly uncovered photos and footage cast fresh light on Donald Trump 's past ties with Jeffrey Epstein. At least two black and White photos unearthed by CNN confirm for the first time that Epstein attended the president's December 1993 wedding to Marla Maples at the Plaza Hotel in New York. A third photograph taken two months earlier shows the pair together during the opening of the Harley-Davidson Cafe in New York. The outlet also broadcast footage from a 1999 Victoria's Secret runway event in New York, showing Trump, accompanied by Melania Trump, 'laughing and chatting' to Epstein. Both the photos and video predate any of Epstein's known legal issues. Asked about the photos in a call with CNN Tuesday, Trump said, 'You've got to be kidding me' before lashing out at the 'fake news' organization and hanging up. The report comes as the president attempted to brush off 'nonsense' claims surrounding the convicted sex offender's case and peddled a conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama manufactured the Russia investigation into Trump's 2016 campaign. Trump rages over newly surfaced Epstein wedding photos Donald Trump has lashed out at CNN after they unearthed photos and footage of the president with Jeffrey Epstein in the 1990s. 'You've got to be kidding me,' Trump said in a phone call with the outlet, before branding it a 'fake news' organization and hanging up. At least two black and White photos confirm, for the first time, that Epstein attended the president's December 1993 wedding to Marla Maples at the Plaza Hotel in New York. A third photograph taken two months earlier shows the pair together during the opening of the Harley-Davidson Cafe in New York. The outlet also broadcast footage from a 1999 Victoria's Secret runway event in New York, showing Trump, accompanied by Melania Trump, 'laughing and chatting' to Epstein. Both the photos and video predate any of Epstein's known legal issues. James Liddell23 July 2025 10:04 Obama's office issues rare response to 'bizarre allegations' from Trump After President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of treason, branding him the 'ringleader' of the Russia investigation, Obama's office issued a rare response, calling the 'bizarre allegations' both 'ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.' Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush said: 'Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one.' Rodenbush noted that multiple investigations, including a bipartisan examination by the Senate Intelligence Committee, confirmed Russia had meddled in the 2016 election. That committee was led by then Senator Marco Rubio, now Trump's Secretary of State. Here's the statement in full: Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction. Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio. Oliver O'Connell23 July 2025 01:30 Trump labels Epstein files probe 'witch hunt' as he spirals over 'Barack Hussein Obama' in Oval Office rant John Bowden reports from Washington, D.C.: Donald Trump hastily changed the subject to his years-long bid to seek revenge against Barack Obama as he was questioned about the Jeffrey Epstein files during a meeting Monday with the president of the Philippines at the White House. The U.S. president accused his predecessor of 'sedacious [sic]' behavior and ranted about an imaginary 'coup' after Ed O'Keefe of CBS News asked him about the Justice Department reaching out to attorneys for Ghislaine Maxwell to request a new interview about Epstein and the sex trafficking ring for which her involvement earned the socialite a 20-year prison sentence in 2022. Continue reading... 'Witch Hunt': Trump's label for Epstein files probe as he spirals in Oval Office rant President turns to DNI Tulsi Gabbard's 'Russiagate' distraction in lengthy screed when asked by reporter about stonewalling over full release of files tied to sex-trafficker financier Oliver O'Connell23 July 2025 01:00 In depth: Trump law to COST millions their healthcare and add $3T in debt while rich see tax CUTS President Donald Trump's signature law will simultaneously cause 10 million people to lose their healthcare while at the same time causing the nation's deficit to skyrocket, due to the fact it also includes massive tax cuts for the wealthy, a new analysis has found. Eric Garcia takes a close look at what is to come... Trump's signature bill adds $3.4 trillion to deficit, leaves 10M without healthcare 'It's actually almost unheard of ... that juxtaposition of taking from the poor while giving to the rich,' one analyst said Oliver O'Connell23 July 2025 00:30 ICYMI: Trump claims he never 'wrote a picture'... turns out that's not true When Donald Trump pushed back against a report alleging he drew a 'bawdy' sketch to celebrate convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein 's 50th birthday, the president insisted he doesn't draw pictures. 'I never wrote a picture in my life,' he said in an awkwardly phrased rebuttal to the Wall Street Journal last week, vehemently denying having anything to do with the birthday card. In a later Truth Social tirade he doubled down on the statement and bluntly declared: 'I don't draw pictures.' Despite the president's claims, multiple sketches by Trump have been made public over the years. James Liddell reports. Trump claims he never 'wrote a picture.' His claim has now been exposed At least five sketches attributed to Trump have sold at auction over the past decade, undermining his claim, 'I don't draw pictures' Oliver O'Connell23 July 2025 00:00 Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary insists 'nobody gives a poop' about Epstein Seemingly running cover for the Trump administration, which continues to face demands from MAGA supporters to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary declared on Monday night that 'nobody gives a poop' about the deceased sex offender. When confronted with poll numbers that found a vast majority of Republicans want all the documents related to the Epstein case to be published, the pro-Trump businessman and self-described 'Mr. Wonderful' doubled down while continuing to shrug off the controversy. Justin Baragona has the story. Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary insists 'nobody gives a poop' about Epstein 'Maybe they were raped, maybe they weren't. This is not what American families give a d*mn about,' Kevin O'Leary exclaimed on Monday night. Oliver O'Connell22 July 2025 23:30 Jeff Daniels has pointed message to Trump voters Actor Jeff Daniels has again lashed out at President Donald Trump's supporters, this time with a seven-word message. The 70-year-old Emmy-winning actor, who on numerous occasions has criticized Trump and the GOP, spoke to MSNBC 's Nicolle Wallace on the latest episode of her The Best People podcast about the current political climate under the Trump administration, including tariffs and the state of the Republican party. Inga Parkel has the story. Jeff Daniels issues pointed seven-word message for Trump voters 'Dumb and Dumber' star additionally lamented Kamala Harris's loss, saying he thinks she would have led like Abraham Lincoln Oliver O'Connell22 July 2025 23:00 GOP mocked for posting about Trump's paper straw policies amid Epstein fallout Social media users are mocking the GOP after a tweet from its official X account, stating President Donald Trump is " Making Straws Great Again" as the White House continues to deal with fallout over the Epstein files investigation. Posted Tuesday morning, the tweet includes a photo of Trump looking celebratory with his fist in the air and an inset of paper straws, celebrating the current president's cancellation of paper straw mandates under the Biden administration. Erin Keller reports. People on social media are mocking the GOP's 'Making Straws Great Again' tweet amid Jeffrey Epstein file demands. Oliver O'Connell22 July 2025 22:45 MAGA distractions help Trump deviate from so-called Epstein files President Donald Trump and his administration have been delving into distractions for their Make America Great Again base in deviation from its handling of documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein died in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges related to the trafficking and sexual abuse of dozens of minor girls. His life and death have been the center of conspiracy theories, notably among Trump's base, as the feds have been tight-lipped about the evidence collected. Rachel Dobkin reports. The Trump administration has recently focused on a slew of issues not related to Epstein, from civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, to the names of sports teams in Washington and Cleveland Oliver O'Connell22 July 2025 22:30
NBC News
7 minutes ago
- NBC News
Calls to strip Zohran Mamdani's citizenship spark alarm about Trump weaponizing denaturalization
WASHINGTON — Immediately after Zohran Mamdani became the presumptive Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City last month, one Republican congressman had a provocative suggestion for the Trump administration: 'He needs to be DEPORTED.' The Uganda-born Mamdani obtained U.S. citizenship in 2018 after moving to the United States with his parents as a child. But Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., argued in his post on X that the Justice Department should consider revoking it over rap lyrics that, he said, suggested support for Hamas. The Justice Department declined to comment on whether it has replied to Ogles' letter, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said of his claims about Mamdani, 'Surely if they are true, it's something that should be investigated.' Trump himself has claimed without evidence that Mamdani is an illegal immigrant, and when erstwhile ally Elon Musk was asked about deporting another naturalized citizen, he suggested he would consider it. The congressman's proposal dovetails with a priority of the Trump administration to ramp up efforts to strip citizenship from other naturalized Americans. The process, known as denaturalization, has been used by previous administrations to remove terrorists and, decades ago, Nazis and communists. But the Trump DOJ's announcement last month that it would 'prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings' has sparked alarm among immigration lawyers and advocates, who fear the Trump administration could use denaturalization to target political opponents. Although past administrations have periodically pursued denaturalization cases, it is an area ripe for abuse, according to Elizabeth Taufa, a lawyer at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. 'It can be very easily weaponized at any point,' she said. Noor Zafar, an immigration lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union, said there is a 'real risk and a real threat' that the administration will target people based on their political views. Asked for comment on the weaponization concerns, a Justice Department spokesperson pointed to the federal law that authorizes denaturalizations, 8 U.S.C. 1451. 'We are upholding our duty as expressed in the statute,' the spokesperson said. Immigrant groups and political opponents of Trump are already outraged at the way the Trump administration has used its enforcement powers to stifle dissent in cases involving legal immigrants who do not have U.S. citizenship. ICE detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist engaged in campus protests critical of Israel, for more than 100 days before he was released. Turkish student Rümeysa Öztürk was also detained for two months over her pro-Palestinian advocacy. More broadly, the administration has been accused of violating the due process rights of immigrants it has sought to rapidly deport over the objection of judges and, in cases involving alleged Venezuelan gang members and Salvadoran man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Supreme Court. Denaturalization cases have traditionally been rare and in past decades focused on ferreting out former Nazis who fled to the United States after World War II under false pretenses. But the approach gradually changed after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Aided by technological advances that made it easier to identify people and track them down, the number of denaturalization cases has gradually increased. It was the Obama administration that initially seized on the issue, launching what was called Operation Janus, which identified more than 300,000 cases where there were discrepancies involving fingerprint data that could indicate potential fraud. But the process is slow and requires considerable resources, with the first denaturalization as a result of Operation Janus secured during Trump's first term in January 2018. That case involved Baljinder Singh, originally from India, who had been subject to deportation but later became a U.S. citizen after assuming a different identity. In total, the first Trump administration filed 102 denaturalization cases, with the Biden administration filing 24, according to the Justice Department spokesperson, who said figures for the Obama administration were not available. The new Trump administration has already filed five. So far, the Trump administration has prevailed in one case involving a man originally from the United Kingdom who had previously been convicted of receiving and distributing child pornography. The Justice Department declined to provide information about the other new cases. Overall, denaturalization cases are brought against just a tiny proportion of the roughly 800,00 people who become naturalized citizens each year, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 'Willful misrepresentation' The government has two ways to revoke citizenship, either through a rare criminal prosecution for fraud or via a civil claim in federal court. The administration outlined its priorities for civil enforcement in a June memo issued by Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, which listed 10 potential grounds for targeting naturalized citizens. Examples range from 'individuals who pose a risk to national security' or who have engaged in war crimes or torture, to people who have committed Medicaid or Medicare fraud or have otherwise defrauded the government. There is also a broad catch-all provision that refers to 'any other cases ... that the division determines to be sufficiently important to pursue.' The denaturalization law focuses on 'concealment of a material fact' or 'willful misrepresentation' during the naturalization proceeding. The ACLU's Zafar said the memo leaves open the option for the Trump administration to at least try to target people based on their speech or associations. 'Even if they don't think they really have a plausible chance of succeeding, they can use it as a means to just harass people,' she added. The Justice Department can bring denaturalization cases over a wide range of conduct related to the questions applicants for U.S. citizenship are asked, including the requirement that they have been of 'good moral character' in the preceding five years. Immigration law includes several examples of what might disqualify someone on moral character grounds, including if they are a 'habitual drunkard' or have been convicted of illegal gambling. The naturalization application form itself asks a series of questions probing good moral character, such as whether the applicant has been involved in violent acts, including terrorism. The form also queries whether people have advocated in support of groups that support communism, 'the establishment in the United States of a totalitarian dictatorship' or the 'unlawful assaulting or killing' of any U.S. official. Failure to accurately answer any of the questions or the omission of any relevant information can be grounds for citizenship to be revoked. In 2015, for example, Sammy Chang, a native of South Korea who had recently become a U.S. citizen, had his citizenship revoked in the wake of his conviction in a criminal case of trafficking women to work at a club he owned. The government said that because Chang had been engaged in the scheme during the time he was applying for naturalization, he had failed to show good moral character. But in both civil and criminal cases, the government has to reach a high bar to revoke citizenship. Among other things, it has to show that any misstatement or omission in a naturalization application was material to whether citizenship would have been granted. In civil cases, the government has to show 'clear, convincing, and unequivocal evidence which does not leave the issue in doubt' in order to prevail. 'A simple game of gotcha with naturalization applicants isn't going to work,' said Jeremy McKinney, a North Carolina-based immigration lawyer. 'It's going to require significant materiality for a judge to strip someone of their United States citizenship.' Targeting rap lyrics In his June 26 tweet, Ogles attached a letter he sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi asking her to consider pursuing Mamdani's denaturalization, in part, because he 'expressed open solidarity with individuals convicted of terrorism-related offenses prior to becoming a U.S. citizen.' Ogles cited rap lyrics that Mamdani wrote years ago in which he expressed support for the 'Holy Land Five.' That appears to be a reference to five men involved in a U.S.-based Muslim charitable group called the Holy Land Foundation who were convicted in 2008 of providing material support to the Palestinian group Hamas. Some activists say the prosecution was a miscarriage of justice fueled by anti-Muslim sentiment following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Ogles' office and Mamdani's campaign did not respond to requests seeking comment. Speaking on Newsmax in June, Ogles expanded on his reasons for revoking Mamdani's citizenship, suggesting the mayoral candidate had 'failed to disclose' relevant information when he became a citizen, including his political associations. Ogles has alleged Mamdani is a communist because of his identification as a democratic socialist, although the latter is not a communist group. The Trump administration, Ogles added, could use a case against Mamdani to 'create a template for other individuals who come to this country' who, he claimed, 'want to undermine our way of life.' (Even if Mamdani were denaturalized, he would not, contrary to Ogles' claim, automatically face deportation, as he would most likely revert his previous status as a permanent resident.) In an appearance on NBC's ' Meet the Press' on June 29, Mamdani said calls for him to be stripped of his citizenship and deported are 'a glimpse into what life is like for many Muslim New Yorkers and many New Yorkers of different faiths who are constantly being told they don't belong in this city and this country that they love.' Targeting Mamdani for his rap lyrics would constitute a very unusual denaturalization case, said Taufa, the immigration lawyer. But, she added, 'they can trump up a reason to denaturalize someone if they want to.' McKinney, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the relatively low number of denaturalization cases that are filed, including those taken up during Trump's first term, shows how difficult it is for the government to actually strip people of their citizenship. 'But what they can be very successful at is continuing to create a climate of panic and anxiety and fear,' he added. 'They're doing that very well. So, mission accomplished in that regard.'
South Wales Guardian
8 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Deadly Israeli strikes continue in Gaza
More than half of those killed were women and children. Desperation is mounting in the Palestinian territory of more than two million, which experts say is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. People in #Gaza, including UNRWA staff, are fainting due to starvation and severe hunger. People including children are dying from severe malnutrition. People are being starved. UNRWA alone has thousands of trucks in neighbouring countries waiting to enter Gaza – banned by… — UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 23, 2025 A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to chaos and violence around aid deliveries. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip, mostly near aid sites run by an American contractor, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday. More than 100 human rights groups and charities signed a letter published on Wednesday demanding more aid for Gaza and warning of grim conditions causing starvation. More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israel-Hamas war, according to Gaza's health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. Its count does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. The Israeli military said in a statement on Wednesday that forces were operating in Gaza City, as well as in northern Gaza. It said that in Jabaliya, an area hard-hit in multiple rounds of fighting, an air strike killed 'a number of' Hamas militants. "Silencing voices. As if banning international media is not enough. Humanitarian workers are also banned when they report on atrocities committed in #Gaza and elsewhere in the occupied Palestinian territory. The denial of a visa to our colleague from @OCHAopt is the latest in… — UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 22, 2025 Troops struck roughly 120 targets throughout Gaza over the past day, including militant cells, tunnels and booby-trapped structures, among others, the military said. One Israeli strike hit a house on Tuesday in the north-western side of Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to the Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The dead included six children and two women, according to the health ministry's casualty list. Another strike hit an apartment in the Tal al-Hawa area in northern Gaza, killing at least six people. Among the dead were three children and two women, including one who was pregnant. Eight others were wounded, the ministry said. A third strike hit a tent in the Naser area in Gaza City late on Tuesday and killed three children, Shifa Hospital said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes. It blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants operate from populated areas.
