Trump news at a glance: White House claims ‘fake news' as president faces fresh Epstein claims
The White House sought to downplay the relationship between the US president and the disgraced financier while Trump's spokesperson denied an account in the Wall Street Journal that the president was told in May by attorney general Pam Bondi that he is named in the Epstein files. The report says the president was told that many other high profile figures were also named and states that being mentioned in the records isn't a sign of wrongdoing.
'The fact is that the president kicked him out of his club for being a creep,' spokesperson Steven Cheung said. 'This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media.'
A federal judge, meanwhile, denied a justice department request to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Epstein.
Here's more on these and the day's other key Trump administration stories:
Attorney general Pam Bondi has pushed back against a report claiming that Donald Trump's name appears 'multiple times' in US justice department files about Jeffrey Epstein, saying that 'nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution'.
'As part of our routine briefing, we made the president aware of the findings,' Bondi and her deputy said in a statement.
White House spokesperson Steven Cheung said in an emailed statement: 'The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep. This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media.'
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A US federal judge has denied a justice department request to unseal grand jury transcripts related to a criminal investigation of Epstein, the late sex offender and financier, in south Florida from the mid-2000s.
The move on Wednesday is the first ruling in the Trump administration's series of attempts to release more information after the justice department announced it would not be releasing any additional files related to the Epstein case, despite earlier promises from Trump and Bondi.
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The European Union and the US are close to a trade deal that would place 15% tariffs on most imports from the bloc, it has emerged.
The tariff rate would apply to most goods, with some exceptions for products including aircraft and medical devices, according to diplomats with knowledge of the talks.
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Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a trio of executive orders that he vowed would turn the United States into an 'AI export powerhouse', including a directive targeting what the White House described as 'woke' artificial intelligence models.
A second order Trump signed on Wednesday calls for deregulating AI development, increasing the building of datacentres and removing environmental protections that could hamper their construction.
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Columbia University announced a much-anticipated deal with the Trump administration to pay a fine worth more than $220m, in an agreement meant to bring a resolution to the threat of massive funding cuts to the school, but certain to rankle critics given the extraordinary concessions made by the Ivy League university.
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The state department is opening an investigation into Harvard University's eligibility as a sponsor for the exchange visitor program, the latest salvo in the Trump administration's pressure campaign on the university over alleged failures to combat campus antisemitism and inadequate support of Israel.
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Donald Trump's advisers have abandoned an effort to find a new chief of staff to the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, allowing senior adviser Ricky Buria to continue performing the duties in an acting role despite once viewing him as a liability, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Robert F Kennedy Jr will formally require vaccine makers to remove thimerosal, an ingredient that has been the target of anti-vaccine campaigns, from vaccines.
French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, are suing the rightwing commentator Candace Owens for defamation.
The acting director of Fema defended his agency's handling of recent deadly floods in Texas, claiming the response was a 'model' for 'how disasters should be handled'.
Catching up? Here's what happened on 22 July 2025.
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The Independent
a minute ago
- The Independent
He told Jan 6 rioters to ‘kill' cops. After Trump's pardon, he got hired at the Justice Department
Jared Lane Wise was scheduled to go to trial 10 days before Donald Trump returned to the White House. Wise admitted to urging rioters to 'kill' law enforcement at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and faced six counts in connection with the riots. The former FBI agent berated police as 'Nazis' and 'Gestapo' and testified that he would be 'morally justified' if he had assaulted them in defense of what he viewed as excessive force, according to court documents. Wise was pardoned by the president on his first day in office, along with nearly every rioter charged in connection with the assault. Now, he is working as a senior adviser in the Department of Justice, NPR has learned. 'Jared Wise is a valued member of the Department of Justice and we appreciate his contributions to our team,' according to a DOJ statement shared with The Independent by the White House. Trump's Justice Department moved to dismiss Wise's case on January 20, and the judge overseeing the case granted the request. Wise worked for the FBI from 2004 through 2017. By the time he joined the Jan 6, 2021 assault on Congress, as lawmakers convened to certify the results of the 2020 election, Wise was working as a consultant in Oregon. He had traveled to Washington, D.C., to support Trump, according to court filings. According to surveillance footage shared in court documents, Wise joined a mob that broke into the Capitol, and 'clapped his hands and raised his arms in triumph' as he walked into the Senate wing. Two hours later, he clashed with police officers outside the building. 'You guys are disgusting,' he said, according to footage from police-worn body cameras. 'I'm former law enforcement. You're disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo. … Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!' As a group of rioters pushed against police and knocked at least one officer to the ground, Wise turned towards the violence and shouted 'f*** them' and 'kill 'em,' according to court filings. 'Kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em!' he shouted. In 2023, federal prosecutors obtained an indictment against Wise for civil disorder, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and aiding and abetting an assault on law enforcement officers. He pleaded not guilty, and trial was scheduled for January 17, 2025. According to his testimony in court transcripts, Wise admitted what he said was 'terrible' and that he 'shouldn't say those things.' 'I think I was careless and used, like, terrible words when I was angry,' he said. He described his call to 'kill 'em' as an 'angry reaction." 'I don't want people to die,' he said. Wise did not assault police himself, though he said that he would have been 'morally justified' to do so if he saw what he believed was excessive force against rioters. His decision to enter the Capitol was 'irrational' and 'it was probably obvious' that he was not supposed to be there, he said. It's unclear what role Wise is performing at the DOJ, though messages obtained by NPR indicate that his title is senior adviser in the office of the deputy attorney general, and that he has been working on internal reviews of alleged 'weaponization' of law enforcement. The Independent has requested additional comment from the Justice Department. Trump has appointed right-wing activist Ed Martin — who served on a board providing financial support to Jan 6 defendants — as a pardon attorney and director of the administration's 'Weaponization Working Group.' Martin was serving as the acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., before Trump pulled his nomination and brought in Fox News personality Jeannine Piro to serve as the capital's top prosecutor. Martin and Pirro succeeded Matthew Graves, who led the largest federal investigation in Justice Department history with the prosecution of more than 1,600 people in connection with the Jan 6 attack. The assault on the Capitol was fueled by Trump's ongoing false claim that the 2020 election was rigged against him. Trump issued 'full pardons' for virtually all Jan 6 rioters on the night of his inauguration. Trump's Attorney General Pam Bondi has also fired dozens of career prosecutors who worked on Jan 6 cases while the administration scrubs evidence and public statements about the attack from government websites. found guilty of seditious conspiracy. The Trump administration has also agreed to pay $5 million to settle a wrongful death suit brought by the family of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a Capitol police officer while trying to break into the House chambers.
The Independent
a minute ago
- The Independent
Exclusive details: Feds accuse Virginia youth pastor of trading explicit pics with teen between calls with his wife
A 34-year-old youth pastor in Virginia is facing federal charges over allegations he posed as a teenage boy to exchange nude photos and videos with young girls, telling one of them last month that it was 'time for her to see her first d**k,' according to an FBI probable cause affidavit obtained first by The Independent. 'I don't know if im readyyyy im only 15 and I barely know anything abt that whole topiccc,' the girl responded. Throughout the conversation, Jacob Ryan Barnett – who is known as Pastor Jake to parishioners – 'repeatedly asked' the youngster for pictures of her crotch, the affidavit states. On at least two occasions, it says Barnett messaged with the teen while speaking to his wife on the phone, at one point receiving a clip of the girl's exposed genitalia she had filmed at the age of 14. Barnett, the father of a two-year-old boy, was arrested in North Carolina on Wednesday, several hours after The Independent requested comment from the Richmond, Virginia, U.S. Attorney's Office. Charging documents had been accidentally left unsealed before FBI agents took Barnett into custody. Reached by phone before he was apprehended, Barnett claimed to be 'totally confused' about the situation and declined to elaborate. Barnett is the Associate Pastor of Students & Mobilization at the Catawba Valley Baptist Church. He previously served for five years as the head of the children's ministry at the Bethel Baptist Church in Yorktown, Virginia. 'Jake felt the call to ministry when he was in middle school,' Barnett's church bio reads. 'He has volunteered in children's and youth ministry at each church he has attended. Jake loves teaching the next generation about the truths of the Bible and serving God's people.' He graduated from the College at Southeastern in 2018 and is currently working on his M.A. at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to the bio. His wife Cayla graduated from Jerry Falwell's Liberty University – which has endured sex scandals of its own – in 2020. 'Together, they enjoy visiting historical places such as the Battlefields of Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg,' the bio says. 'Jake and Cayla love playing board games, card games, and spending time with family.' Eleven days ago, Barnett delivered a sermon, 'The Story of Salvation,' in which he touched on the apparent importance of 'settling with your accuser.' The emails and phone numbers Barnett used to communicate with his alleged victims matched certain ones he used to communicate with churchgoers; a source close to the investigation confirmed the details of Barnett's professional background. A call to Catawba Valley Baptist Church on Thursday went straight to voicemail. Barnett does not yet have an attorney listed in court records. On May 20, the FBI National Threat Operations Center received an online tip from a mother in Michigan that a then-unknown subject had been attempting to groom her 15-year-old daughter, according to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case. Two days earlier, the teen had received a message on TikTok that 'appeared to belong to a 17-year-old boy from Virginia who called himself 'Jodie Johnson,'' the affidavit states. It says investigating agents interviewed the teen's mother, who said she had gone through her daughter's phone and found a text chain between her and 'Johnson,' in which the girl had sent him an assortment of nude pictures. In early June, the FBI subpoenaed Verizon for an ID of the account holder behind Johnson's number, which showed it belonged to Barnett. Google records the bureau obtained showed the number linked to his various emails, one of which was his official Bethel Baptist Church account, the affidavit shows. Barnett's TikTok account appeared to be following 'thousands of minor girls,' according to the affidavit. The 15-year-old girl, who is identified in court filings as 'M.V.,' for 'Minor Victim,' told investigators that she knew people from Virginia and thought 'Johnson' looked like one of her friends. The messages showed Barnett, as Johnson, pestering M.V. for nude photos and videos, and specifically requested 'something that he could masturbate to,' which she duly provided, the affidavit continues. In an interview with an FBI adolescent specialist, M.V. said she at first 'didn't want to' send Barnett the explicit materials, but eventually gave in. However, she specified that everything she shared was already on her camera roll from when she was 14 or 15 years-old, according to the affidavit. From there, things became 'very graphic,' with Barnett describing to M.V. how he would have sex with her, the affidavit goes on. Barnett then sent M.V. a picture of himself in boxers, with the outline of his genitalia visible through the underwear, the affidavit says. '[Barnett] asked M.V. when she last shaved her vagina,' the affidavit contends. 'She lied and said the day before… M.V. sent an older video of herself masturbating when she was 14, which depicted her exposed vagina.' While M.V. was asleep, her mom took her daughter's phone to message someone and spotted the photos and video she had sent to Barnett, according to the affidavit. It says that when she googled the recipient's number, she saw that it belonged to 'a grown man named Jacob Barnett.' Phone records showed Barnett had chatted with M.V. while talking to his wife on at least two occasions. On May 19, at 4:30 p.m., Barnett messaged M.V.'s phone, answered a call from his wife at 4:32 p.m., and M.V. messaged Barnett a batch of photos at 4:33 p.m. He then wrote back to M.V. at 4:34 p.m., according to the affidavit. 'In other words, within less than five minutes, Barnett messaged M.V., talked to his wife for a minute, and messaged M.V. again,' the affidavit states. On May 20, at 10:34 a.m., Barnett messaged M.V., answered a call from his wife at 10:35 a.m., and messaged Barnett while that call was still in progress, the affidavit maintains. Prior to taking his wife's call, Barnett had responded to M.V.'s previous four messages 'within approximately 30 seconds,' according to the affidavit. In late July, records from Snap, Inc. revealed Barnett had also been communicating with a second 15-year-old girl whose username The Independent is withholding for her privacy. Under the usernames 'duh_jodie' and 'jodie_j1234,' Barnett allegedly told the girl it 'was time to see her first d**k,' which she resisted, but sent pictures of his private parts anyway, the affidavit states. While haranguing the girl for nude shots of herself, Barnett 'described how he would have sex with [her] and encouraged her to masturbate,' according to the affidavit. 'She said she had never masturbated, prompting Barnett to explain how to do it,' the affidavit says. She ended up sending Barnett a slew of photos, but agents were unable to view them because they were either encrypted or deleted, the affidavit explains. However, the context of the conversation made it clear they were sexually explicit in nature. Barnett is now charged with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life. He is set to make his initial court appearance in Roanoke early next week.
The Guardian
a minute ago
- The Guardian
Fort Bliss army base on US southern border to take 1,000 Ice detainees
Fort Bliss is preparing to accept 1,000 immigrant detainees as the Trump administration moves to use military bases for his unprecedented mass deportation operation and immigration crackdown. The facility, named Camp East Montana, is set to begin operations on 17 August at the US army post near El Paso. Ice (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) said in a statement that the facility will initially house up to 1,000 detainees, with plans to expand to a capacity of 5,000 beds. If the center reaches full capacity, the El Paso Times reports that it would become the largest immigration detention facility in the US. An Ice spokesperson said the agency is using the facility to help 'decompress Ice detention facilities in other regions' and will serve as a short-term processing center. The statement adds that deportations carried out via 'Ice air operations' will also take place at the facility. According to Ice, facility will house undocumented immigrants who 'are in removal proceedings or who have final orders of removal'. The site is being constructed under a Department of Defense contract, Ice said, and is funded 'as part of the essential whole-of-government approach to protecting public safety and preserving national security.' In July, administration officials announced that Acquisition Logistics LLC, a Virginia-based contractor, was awarded a $231.8m firm-fixed-price contract to 'establish and operate' the '5,000 capacity, single adult, short-term detention facility'. Bloomberg reported that Acquisition Logistics has no prior experience operating detention facilities. In the statement from Ice, the agency said that Ice personnel 'will be responsible for the management and operational authority' at the facility, and that the establishment of the center is being 'carried out with contracted support and according to Icedetention standards'. The agency described the facility as 'soft-sided' and said that it will offer 'everything a traditional Ice detention facility offers,' which Ice said includes access to legal representation, a law library and space for visitation, recreation and medical treatment, as well as 'necessary accommodations for disabilities, diet, and religious belief'. In a statement to the Guardian, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin also confirmed the use of Fort Bliss to house immigration detainees. 'Ice is indeed pursuing all available options to expand bedspace capacity' McLaughlin said. 'This process does include housing detainees at certain military bases, including Fort Bliss.' In March, the Guardian reported that Fort Bliss has been used under multiple administrations for immigration-related operations. Under this Trump administration, the base has reportedly already been used to fly deportees on military aircraft to Guantánamo Bay and Central and South America. Under Joe Biden, it was used as an emergency shelter to for thousands of unaccompanied migrant children. In 2021, Fort Bliss also reportedly played a key role in resettling Afghan refugees brought to the US after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. And in 2016, under the Obama administration, Fort Bliss housed several hundred unaccompanied migrant children. The new facility being established at Fort Bliss comes as the Trump administration has sought to use several US military bases around the country as immigration detention facilities. The expansion has faced some criticism from Democrats. Texas representative Veronica Escobar, whose district includes Fort Bliss, warned that using military facilities as immigration detention centers could hurt the effectiveness of US military forces. 'It's not good for our readiness, and it degrades our military' she said. Last month, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced that both Camp Atterbury base in Indiana and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey could now house detained immigrants. Democrats from both states condemned the move, with New Jersey's Democratic delegation warning that 'using our country's military to detain and hold undocumented immigrants jeopardizes military preparedness and paves the way for Ice immigration raids in every New Jersey community'. The planned opening of the new immigration detention facility near El Paso also comes as a new report released this week by the office of US Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat representing Georgia, found and documented hundreds of alleged human rights abuses at immigration detention centers in the US since 20 January 2025. The report cites deaths in custody, physical and sexual abuse of detainees, mistreatment of pregnant women and children, overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions, exposure to extreme temperatures, denial of access to attorneys, child separation, and more. In a statement about the report's allegations, a spokesperson for DHS told NBC News 'any claim that there are subprime conditions at Ice detention centers are false'.
