Mike Waltz defends his use of Signal app during Senate hearing
During a Senate hearing, Waltz was questioned about adding The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal group chat discussing a military operation in Yemen.
Waltz defended his actions by asserting that the use of Signal was authorized under Biden -era Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) guidance.
Conversely, Department of Defense policy explicitly prohibited the use of commercial encrypted messaging applications, including Signal, for transmitting non-public DoD information.
Signal group chat.
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Telegraph
10 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Israeli settlers burn West Bank's last Christian town
The Israeli settlers crept up to the ancient church perched above the West Bank's last Christian-majority town. As they reached the outer walls, they crouched down to light a ring of fire. Then they revved the engines of their secret weapons brought to fan the flames: garden leaf blowers. Residents watched in horror as the blaze spread closer to the Church of St George, which dates back to the fifth century. The flames were doused, but not for long. That evening, settlers returned to the town of Taybeh with assault rifles. The same happened the next day and three days after that. Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest, told The Telegraph: 'Each time we called the Israeli police, but they did not come. 'If they attack our sacred site, they can attack anything of ours.' Settler attacks on Palestinians are on the rise across the occupied West Bank, where roughly half a million Israelis live in Jewish settlements among three million Palestinians. Five Palestinians have been killed in the last two weeks in villages and towns not far from Taybeh, including Sinjil where two men, including a dual US citizen, were beaten to death by settlers on July 12, prompting fury from the Trump administration. While most of the violence is directed against Muslims, settlers have started to attack Palestinian Christian villages like Taybeh. The once-flouring Christian community in the West Bank has dramatically shrunk to less than 2 per cent of the population as many emigrated abroad to escape the violence and religious discrimination. The same has happened in Gaza, where its roughly 1,000 Christians are mostly sheltering in the war-battered Strip's last three churches, one of which was attacked by Israeli forces last week, killing three civilians. Walking around the scorched earth that now encircles the Church of St George, Father Bashar warned: 'This is just the beginning. They want to put fear in our hearts to live here. 'These attacks will bleed the town of people as they leave scared. We have lost 10 families already in the past two years.' Emboldened settlers have set up illegal outposts closer to the town. A makeshift sign written in Hebrew erected outside the ancient town in June read: 'There is no future for you here.' David Khoury, the leader of Taybeh's Greek Orthodox Church, also fears an exodus. 'The settlers are making problems for us every day. Assaulting, vandalising, terrorising, terrifying our families, destroying our fields of olive trees, damaging our properties,' he said. There were more than 750 incidents of settler violence recorded in the first half of this year, up from 216 for the whole of 2023, according to the United Nations. The settler community is seizing the moment to annex land Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six Day War, encouraged by hard-Right ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, including Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who come from settler backgrounds. The Israeli settlers first attacked Taybeh, north east of Ramallah – the de-facto capital of the Palestinian territory – just before the Oct 7 massacre in southern Israel. During the devastating war that followed in Gaza, the situation has grown dire. Visiting Taybeh, the Patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem condemned the most recent violence as 'clearly part of the systematic attacks against Christians that we see unfolding throughout the region'. Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel who is an evangelical Christian and staunch advocate of Israeli settlement construction, also toured the blackened church site on Saturday. He called the attacks an 'act of terror' and demanded 'harsh consequences' for the perpetrators. But he did not attribute the attack to settlers. The town is waiting to see if the condemnation will have an effect. The reality, however, is that settlers rarely face any legal consequences. Last week, the settlers grazed their cattle at the church, in what residents said was a desecration of the holy site. Throwing his hands in the air, Suleiman Khouryeh, Taybeh's mayor, said: 'We cannot protect the town, they are armed, we are not.' He believes the settlers are taunting the residents, trying to get them to answer with violence. 'And we will not,' he said. The mayor is on high alert after the recent killings in Sinjil. 'What happened there could at any moment happen to us – the settlers don't care whether we are Christian or Muslim. We are under attack because we are Palestinian.' Affirming what other witnesses had told The Telegraph, he said that Israeli police provided no help. 'We call the Israeli guards for help and no one comes. Who will protect us?' The future of the community is in peril, he warned. 'The youth has lost hope, there is no work, no safety, no life, no future and they want to leave.' Standing on an arid hill above Taybeh, Ramiz Akhoury pointed towards a huge swath of land to the east of the town, which hosts thousands of olive trees, sheep and chicken farms and fields of crops – the lifeblood of the local economy. 'They have taken it all,' the 37-year-old olive oil producer said forlornly. Over the past two years, he estimates that the settlers have seized 3,000 acres, which includes 70 per cent of his own land. 'They steal our farming equipment, cut our trees, burn them…We are all scared,' he said. In an attack last year, his uncle and aunt were badly beaten while working on the land. He showed The Telegraph dozens of videos showing the settlers grazing their cattle through Palestinian land, destroying vegetation and olive trees, as well as gun-wielding settlers burning land. 'Why do they come to us carrying guns. Do they want peace? I do not think so,' he said. In the face of the persistent violence and intimidation, farmers like Mr Akhoury have been forced to surrender most of their best land, ridding many of their livelihoods. Eid Kabnaeh, a 63-year-old Muslim-Palestinian, lives with 100 members of his extended family, creating their own small village on the outskirts of Taybeh. A tightly-wired fence has been erected around their open front room to stop settlers throwing stones at them when they drive-by, sometimes in a Jeep that was stolen from the family in April. They said they have been the target of settler attacks for four years, despite their home being 50 yards away from an Israeli military barracks. The family lives in constant fear of the next attack, not knowing when or how it will come. 'We are scared to move, we do not take our sheep to the valley to graze, they steal our cars, detain our children, behave like the military,' Mr Kabnaeh said. On June 25, dozens of men attacked the family while they prayed. 'We smelt the fires before we felt them,' Mr Kabnaeh said. Footage shows masked attackers setting fire to their cars and then trying to burn their homes. Many of the women and children suffered badly from smoke inhalation. 'It is hard to talk about what happened. The children were the most afraid, now they have nightmares,' Mr Kabnaeh added. Before leaving, the settlers painted a large Star of David on their outside wall. Mr Kabnaeh claimed that Israeli police just stood and watched from their base. The grandfather looked drained; his role as the leader of his household has taken its toll. 'I cannot manage this situation,' he said. If it is not the settlers, he said the Israeli Police harassing the family sometimes daily, often weekly. 'They come at night for checks all the time,' he said, describing how they pulled the house apart and separated the men from the women and children. 'We don't know what they are looking for, they never find anything.' Despite the relentless threats and violence, when asked if he would move, he shook his head and said: 'I will continue to live here, this is my land, this is my home, my future.' Illegal actions given legitimacy A report in December by Peace Now and Kerem Navot, Israel-based rights groups, said that settlers, with the backing of the Israeli military and government, have seized 14 per cent of the West Bank through establishing outposts and driving Palestinian farming communities out. Yonatan Mizrachi, the co-director of Settlement Watch at Peace Now, said the levels of settler violence that has been seen since Oct 7 'cannot happen without government support, indirectly or directly', and the [coalition's decision not to enforce the law'. 'The settlers right now feel strong and that their illegal actions have been given legitimacy by the government,' he added. Israel Police confirmed it had received reports from residents of an arson attack near the church and said a 'thorough investigation' would be carried out. 'If arson is confirmed, justice will be pursued regardless of race or background,' a statement said. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement: 'Contrary to claims regarding the arson of a church in the village area, such incidents are not known to the IDF. Fires near the church are known and were extinguished by Israeli civilians.' It confirmed it had received reports of fires being set in an open area near Taybeh on July 8 and several suspects setting fire to land on July 11. In the latter incident, the IDF said it dispatched forces but 'found no suspects in the act of arson'. It added: 'Regarding the question of military presence around the village, the IDF operates continuously in Judea and Samaria against terrorist activity and to improve the security of all area residents.'
Daily Mail
12 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Ghislaine Maxwell to release bombshell new evidence as Epstein deposition footage reemerges
Ghislaine Maxwell is expected to unveil 'new evidence' during her jailhouse meeting with the Justice Department. The revelation came as resurfaced footage showed Jeffrey Epstein responding to questions about Donald Trump and underage girls. Maxwell will personally meet with a top Justice Department official at a federal prison in Florida where she is serving a 20-year sentence for helping Epstein traffic young women. Her brother Ian told The New York Post on Wednesday that she will be providing 'new evidence' regarding Epstein. 'She will be putting before that court material new evidence that was not available to the defense at her 2021 trial, which would have had a significant impact on its outcome,' Ian Maxwell said. Ghislaine Maxwell, 63, did not testify in her defense at her 2021 trial which saw her convicted in over her role in a scheme to sexual exploit and abuse multiple minor girls with Epstein over the course of a decade. Her discussions with the White House came as a torrent of information on the Epstein saga continued to get blasted across traditional outlets and social media. Liberal podcasters MeidasTouch posted video Wednesday of a 2010 deposition in which Epstein was asked about Trump but is largely evasive. 'Have you ever had a personal relationship with Donald Trump?' Epstein is asked by a lawyer representing an underaged victim. 'What do you mean by 'personal relationship,' sir?' he replies. 'Have you socialized with him?' the questioner continues. 'Yes, sir,' he admits. 'Have you ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18?' the lawyer persists. 'Though I'd like to answer that question, at least today I'm going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth, and 14th Amendment rights, sir,' he replies. The Fifth Amendment protects individuals from being forced to testify against themselves in a criminal case, while the Sixth and 14th involve other individual protections under the law. Epstein invoked the fifth on all questions he was asked during the deposition. However his response to the Trump questions appeared unique. 🚨🚨🚨 Watch Jeffrey Epstein plead his Fifth, Sixth, and 14th Amendment rights when asked if he and Donald Trump socialized with females under the age of 18 during a 2010 deposition: Q: Have you ever had a personal relationship with Donald Trump? A. What do you mean by "personal… — MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) July 24, 2025 has reached out to the White House for comment. The story of the deceased billionaire pedophile has plagued the Trump administration after the botched release of the so-called 'Epstein files' - which the president now claims is a Democrat-led hoax. Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing Democratic calls to testify before Congress following The Wall Street Journal's revelation that she told Trump that his name appeared in the files of the sex-trafficking investigation. Earlier this week, Ghislaine's brother Ian Maxwell revealed her sister's frame of mine in the wake of the botched release of the files. Ian Maxwell communicates regularly with her sister in jail on the phone and told The Times she fears for her safety. 'Prisons are very dangerous places and we know from Ghislaine that there are serious staff shortages and more dangerous higher-risk-category prisoners now being admitted to … Tallahassee,' said Maxwell. 'For sure she remains at great, if not greater, risk and has expressed her real concerns about this to me.' He also said his older sister believes that Epstein may have been murdered, contradicting the DOJ and FBI's belief in the official theory that he committed suicide. 'There were certainly a number of convicted murderers on the wing in [Metropolitan Correctional Center] New York where Epstein died,' Maxwell said. 'The contemporaneous investigation of Epstein's death was cut short, cursory and frankly shoddy, certainly as regards the duty guards' story the night he died. At least one distinguished, independent forensic pathologist concurred with the Epstein family-appointed pathologist that homicide was more likely than suicide,' he added. He added that the pathologist from the New York Medical Examiner's office never examined the body. 'I think despite the DOJ memo concluding that Epstein died by suicide, there must remain serious doubts and the jury remains out about that.' Ian Maxwell's take was that President Trump and others would be 'pleased' by the suicide verdict. 'The principal casualties here are truth and justice and my sister's freedom,' he said. 'That's the reality and it should make all right-thinking people seethe with anger. We remain ever hopeful that the truth of the 'hoax', as President Trump now refers to it, comes out.' Ian Maxwell also 'welcomes total discourse' and the complete public release of the FBI files. Ghislaine Maxwell, 63, is the only person behind bars - serving 20 years on child sex trafficking charges - despite the fact that pedophile Jeffrey Epstein allegedly controlled a web of underage girls. Additionally, Epstein's victims alleged they were passed around as sex toys to his wealthy friends and billionaire business associates who regularly visited his homes including his private island, Little Saint James. A source said: 'Despite the rumors, Ghislaine was never offered any kind of plea deal. She would be more than happy to sit before Congress and tell her story. 'No-one from the government has ever asked her to share what she knows. She remains the only person to be jailed in connection to Epstein and she would welcome the chance to tell the American public the truth.' What that 'truth' is remains to be seen. Maxwell was convicted in 2022 over her role in a scheme to sexual exploit and abuse multiple minor girls with Epstein over the course of a decade. Maxwell argues she should have been protected from prosecution as part of a Non Prosecution Agreement made by Epstein - her former lover and boss - in 2007 when he agreed to plead guilty to two minor charges of prostitution in a 'sweetheart deal' which saw him spend little time behind bars. And now, controversy continues to rage over the Department of Justice's statement that there is no Epstein 'client list' and the release of videos from inside New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center which the DOJ says proves he committed suicide in 2019 while being held in jail on sex trafficking charges. Critics have pointed to the fact that there is a crucial minute missing from the jail house video that also does not show the door or, indeed, the inside of Epstein's jail cell. The scandal - and alleged 'cover up' - has prompted a rebellion amongst President Trump's loyal MAGA base. Some even believe Bondi should be fired after promising to release all files relating to Epstein and his high-profile male friends only to apparently renege on that promise. On Wednesday, it was revealed that Bondi told Trump his name was among many high-profile figures mentioned in the files, which the Justice Department this month said it would not be releasing despite a clamor from online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and members of Trump's base. Trump´s personal ties to Epstein are well-established and his name is already known to have been included in records related to the wealthy financier, who killed himself in jail in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The Justice Department declined to comment on the report but issued a joint statement from Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche saying that investigators had reviewed the records and 'nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution.' 'As par of our routine briefing, we made the president aware of the findings,' the statement said. The mere inclusion of a person's name in Epstein's files does not imply wrongdoing and he was known to have been associated with multiple prominent figures, including Trump. Over the years, thousands of pages of records have been released through lawsuits, Epstein´s criminal dockets, public disclosures and Freedom of Information Act requests. They include a 2016 deposition in which an accuser recounted she spent several hours with Epstein at Trump´s Atlantic City casino but didn´t say if she met Trump and did not accuse him of any wrongdoing. Trump has also said he once thought Epstein was a 'terrific guy' but they later had a falling-out.
The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Joe Rogan anoints a new progressive star – can James Talarico triumph in Texas?
In late May, four of Texas's top Democrats convened on Zoom to strategize about the 2026 election. The upcoming Republican primary battle for Senate pits incumbent senator John Cornyn against the state's more right-leaning attorney general, Ken Paxton, and is expected to be bruising – greasing the skids for a potential Democratic pickup. With governor, attorney general and lieutenant governor also in play, the question the liberal quartet aimed to answer was whether they might divvy up these contests, thereby avoiding a contentious primary of their own. On the call were three fixtures of Lone Star Democratic politics: Beto O'Rourke, Colin Allred and Representative Joaquin Castro. Less well-known was the fourth man, a 36-year-old member of the state's house of representatives from Austin's district 50 named James Talarico. A former middle-school language arts teacher and aspiring Presbyterian minister with the earnest demeanor and yearbook-ready countenance of a young Ron Howard, Talarico had begun his political career in 2018, flipping a swing district to become the youngest member of the house. A good bit greener than his colleagues, Talarico seemed an unlikely aspirant for the Senate run. Then along came Joe Rogan. The world's most influential podcast host had learned of Talarico from comedian Brian Simpson, who had been awestruck by a viral clip of the state senator taking a Republican colleague to task for her 'idolatrous' bill forcing public schools to display the Ten Commandments. A producer reached out, and within a few weeks the virtually unknown official was stepping into Rogan's Austin studio to offer his gloss on the radical teachings of Jesus. If the conversation was friendly – about two hours in, Rogan was practically begging Talarico to run for president – the reviews from Rogan's right-leaning, MMA-loving fanboys were less so. Many took particular issue with Talarico's reading of the Bible as arguably pro-choice or at least ambivalent about abortion. Even so, Daniel had entered the lion's den and held his own. Within hours of the show's airing, Politico was enthusing that 'Joe Rogan's Latest Guest Might Turn Texas Blue' and Talarico's beaming choirboy mug was front and center on the Drudge Report. 'I learned this when I flipped the Trump district at the beginning of my career,' Talarico said. 'It's almost like asking someone on a date, or any relationship in your life – you have to put effort into it. If we're not going to make the effort to show up in these places where people are, then we can't be surprised when they don't make the effort to get off the couch and vote for us.' The week marked a notable turnaround for a politician who just a few years ago hit what he calls his political 'rock bottom'. It was the fall of 2021, a year that had begun with the January 6 insurrection and a catastrophic winter storm that killed hundreds of Texans. Meanwhile, 'Maga' was ascendant in the Lone Star state. Officials rammed through the nation's most unforgiving abortion ban, legalized permitless carry and implemented a new civics curriculum Talarico describes as a 'historical whitewash'. Then came an aggressive attempt to curtail voting rights that led him and dozens of Democratic lawmakers to flee the state in an attempt to deny the legislature a quorum. After 38 days, Talarico was among a handful who saw the writing on the wall and returned to Austin. As he explained in a lengthy op-ed, Texas Democrats held a dwindling stack of cards, and Congress would need to address the problem at the federal level. (The House delivered, but the bill failed in the Senate due to opposition from senators Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema.) Despite Talarico's hopes that ending the standoff might preserve a modicum of bipartisanship, it was not to be. In October, the legislature voted to redraw the state's congressional districts – an attempt to dilute the political power of Black and Latino voters and 'kill me off politically', he said. 'Walking on to that floor and realizing that my [Republican] colleagues weren't looking me in the eye, I felt like I had lost hope, not just in my colleagues and the institution, but in whether democracy was even possible in such polarized and divided times. It was my lowest point in public service so far.' Overcoming an urge to pack it in, he opted to fight. As it happened, a seat in solid-blue Austin, where he'd grown up, was open. Talarico moved home and won handily. (Now, Texan Republicans are contemplating another redistricting as a way to further dilute the Democratic vote. 'Clearly their gerrymandering didn't hold from five years ago, and so now they're having to get back in there and do some touch-ups and fortifying,' Talarico said.) Following his crisis of political faith, he made another critical life decision, enrolling in the seminary with the goal of becoming a minister. 'Jesus gave us these two commandments, to love God and love your neighbor,' he explained, noting that he considers his political career a vehicle for doing the latter. Now he understood: the two injunctions went hand in hand. Getting in touch with God, 'or whatever you consider to be the ground of your being', is what Talarico says makes love of neighbor sustainable. 'Whether that's in public service, as a teacher or a nurse or a firefighter or a police officer, or whether it's with activism or volunteering or just being a good person in your community, it is difficult and sometimes exhausting work, and that's why we have to be connected to something deeper.' An outspoken progressive Christian is something of a unicorn in today's political environment – a sign not only of the secularism that has characterized the Democratic party since the Reagan years but of the ever-increasing ties between the far right and the evangelical movement. Perhaps nowhere is this alliance more pronounced than in Texas, where the last legislative session saw a flurry of bills that would, among other things, allow prayer in public schools, fund parochial schools with taxpayer money and outlaw the provision of litter boxes for students – an actual bill based on a debunked rightwing hoax. The latter proposal stalled after Talarico's polite if methodical humiliation of the bill's author became one of his many viral TikToks; the others, including the Ten Commandments bill, became law. Talarico has done more than simply oppose what he considers to be bad legislation. He regularly calls out fossil fuel barons Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, who backed the legislative crusade. 'They basically own every Republican member of the state senate,' he said, noting that they are by far the state's biggest political donors. 'They own a majority of Republicans in the state house. They own every statewide elected official. And they run a massive network of thinktanks and advocacy organizations and media outlets. So their empire has really taken over state government. And they have a pretty extreme theocratic vision for for the state and the country.' Asked whether a Handmaid's Tale-style dystopia seemed possible, he said, 'We're a lot closer than people think.' Talarico defines the effort to wed government with biblical ideology as Christian nationalism, 'the worship of power – social power, economic power, political power, in the name of Christ', as he put it in a 2023 guest sermon. Accusing adherents of turning Jesus 'into a gun-toting, gay-bashing, science-denying, money-loving, fear-mongering fascist,' he declared it 'incumbent on all Christians to confront it and denounce it'. Posted to YouTube, the sermon has since garnered 1m views. The question now is not merely whether Talarico can translate that kind of social media buzz into votes but whether he wants to. He expects to obtain his master's in divinity next year, and he often speaks of his desire to one day take over the ministry at his home church, St Andrew's Presbyterian. But a slight detour to the US Senate seems increasingly possible – an indication of his growing popularity and ambition as well as a notable vibe shift on the left. A recent poll found that 62% of Democrats wanted their party's leadership replaced. And a strong contingent has shown a hunger for candidates, such as Talarico, who are willing to lean into progressive values without apology (he has, for example, mounted a forceful defense of gender-affirming care for trans kids). While Talarico makes a strong case for the undercurrent of wealth redistribution inherent in Jesus' teachings, he doesn't call himself a socialist – certainly not in Texas. Still it's not hard to see parallels between his meteoric rise and that of New York City's socialist mayoral hopeful, Zohran Mamdani, another young state legislator whose online savvy, bold progressivism and evident sincerity have endeared him to liberal voters. (In 2019, Talarico walked across his 25-mile district – nearly double the distance of Mamdani's recent Manhattan hike.) For Talarico, the key to winning over the electorate is authenticity. 'Voters can sniff out that consultant-driven messaging,' he said. 'The poll-tested stuff is just not going to cut it.' Moreover, voters are spoiling for a fight. One quality they appreciated in Trump, he said, was the aggression he'd shown on behalf of his vision, however malevolent. Democrats, he said, need to bring that kind of energy to the fight for a better world. And while Jesus Christ was famous for his humility and pacifism, Talarico noted, he was also an uncompromising radical who could tap into a combative side when needed. 'If we are doing our best to mimic Jesus, being kind and humble and meek are all part of it,' he said. 'But when the powerful are abusing people, we have to stand in the way, and that requires courage and bravery, and speaking truth to power.' In late June, Talarico appeared at a town hall in San Antonio alongside Castro and O'Rourke, a show of unity before what may well turn into a heated primary race. Befitting his status as the youngest and least seasoned politician on the stage, he spoke first. But as Talarico recalled the story of Jesus's cleansing of the temple, when he ejected the money-changers and merchants from the Lord's house, he didn't sound like a man inclined meekly to wait his turn to run for higher office. 'To those who love democracy, to those who love our neighbors,' he proclaimed, 'it's time to start flipping tables.' As for the Senate race, Talarico is praying on it. He'll make a decision this summer, he said.
