
Judge Denies DOJ Request To Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Docs - The Lead with Jake Tapper - Podcast on CNN Podcasts
A slew of new details emerge in the Jeffrey Epstein case just as a judge declines to release some grand jury documents from the criminal investigation. CNN has confirmed that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump back in May that his name was one of many in the Epstein files.

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Miami Herald
26 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
The RNC chairman is stepping down. Trump wants a Florida Republican to step in
Amid news that the chairman of the Republican National Committee is stepping down, President Donald Trump on Thursday encouraged Republicans around the country to rally behind a Florida lawmaker as his replacement. Posting on his social media site, Truth Social, Trump said Florida Sen. Joe Gruters, from Sarasota, 'will do a wonderful job' as the chairman of the Republican Party. Gruters, 48, confirmed in a text message that he wants the job. 'I'm looking forward to advancing President Trump's America First agenda as the next Chair of the RNC,' Gruters wrote in a text message to the Miami Herald. 'He is the greatest President in our nation's history, and I'm ready to serve, fight, and win for our party and our country.' Trump endorsed Gruters at the end of a post about current RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, who is expected to step down from his position to seek a soon-to-be-open seat in the U.S. Senate representing North Carolina. Trump said Whatley has his endorsement for the Senate seat should he run. Gruters, a former Florida GOP chairman, has been a longtime supporter and friend of Trump's. He was co-chair of the president's 2016 campaign in Florida, and got a look from the president last year when then-RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel was on her way out. Gruters has been campaigning for the post of Florida chief financial officer, and only recently announced that two of Trump's top political advisors would work for his campaign. He faces a competitive primary, with Gov. Ron DeSantis this month appointing former state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia to the post. Gruters did not say whether his interest in the RNC job would affect his campaign.


San Francisco Chronicle
26 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Planned Parenthood closes 5 Northern California clinics, citing Trump budget bill
President Donald Trump's budget cuts to Medicaid have forced Planned Parenthood Mar Monte to shutter five clinics across Northern California and the Central Coast, including one in South San Francisco, the group said Thursday. The GOP-led federal spending bill that Trump signed into law earlier this month eliminated federal Medicaid funding for any type of medical care to organizations that perform abortions. Mar Monte is the largest Planned Parenthood affiliate in the country, with health care centers from Bakersfield, the Bay Area, Stockton and Sacramento. The now-shuttered facilities also include San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Gilroy and Madera. The closures represent the first wave of how the recent federal budget cuts will have real-life consequences for health clinics across the country — particularly for low-income Americans. They are also a crushing blow to a state that set it up to be an abortion haven after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. In the year after the decision, political leaders in California — led by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democratic-controlled Legislature — passed more than a dozen new laws and invested more than $200 million to increase access across the state. Thursday's announcement drives home the extent of the federal government's tremendous power to impact abortion access. Roughly 80% of Mar Monte's patients received Medi-Cal, California's version of Medicaid. Ten million people are expected to lose their health insurance because of nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Meanwhile, the wealthiest Americans will receive a disproportionate share of the tax cuts funded by those cuts, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. In just one week since Mar Monte stopped billing Medicaid, the Planned Parenthood affiliate with 35 locations said it saw 5,000 patients — amounting to about $1.7 million in care costs it covered without reimbursement — Mar Monte Chief of Staff Andrew Adams told the Chronicle Thursday. 'It's just not sustainable,' said Adams. 'We can't keep our doors open if we continue doing that.' Mar Monte said the funding law also forced it to end services in family medicine, behavioral health and prenatal care. The Planned Parenthood affiliate estimates it will lose $100 million in annual revenue from care that can no longer be reimbursed under the law because they provide abortion care. Americans tend to support abortion rights, according to public polling. A May 2025 Gallup Poll found that 51% of respondents described themselves as 'pro choice' while 43% described themselves as 'pro life.'Of those respondents who said they were 'dissatisfied' with the nation's abortion polices, 42% said they would like to see them made 'less strict' while 14% wanted them to be 'stricter.'


USA Today
26 minutes ago
- USA Today
The White House is feuding with ‘The View.' Here's why.
From late-night show hosts to the animated sitcom South Park, the feud between President Donald Trump and the entertainment industry shows no signs of slowing down. Now the administration finds itself in a dispute with ABC's 'The View' after a White House spokesperson suggested the long-time talk show could be coming to an end. The comment comes after CBS canceled late-night comedy 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' after 33 years, a decision Trump celebrated on social media. During a July 23 episode, co-host Joy Behar said Trump is jealous of former President Barack Obama because 'Obama is everything that he is not.' She added that, unlike Trump, Obama is 'trim, smart, handsome, happily married, and can sing Al Green's song 'Let's Stay Together' better than Al Green. And Trump cannot stand it. It's driving him crazy.' Following the dig, White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers referred to Behar as 'an irrelevant loser suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.' 'It's no surprise that The View's ratings hit an all-time low last year. She should self-reflect on her own jealousy of President Trump's historic popularity before her show is the next to be pulled off air,' Rogers said in a statement. USA TODAY has reached out to representatives of 'The View' for comment on Rogers' statement. When asked for a comment on behalf of Behar, her manager Bill Stankey told USA TODAY, 'On behalf of me……..Release the Epstein files.' In May, Attorney General Pam Bondi had reportedly told Trump that his name appears several times throughout the criminal case files on the late financier and convicted sex offender Epstein, according to CNN and the Wall Street Journal. How did this start? The latest tension between the White House and 'The View' started after an Oval Office meeting with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos on July 22, when Trump accused Obama of treason. The president called the Democrat a 'ringleader,' adding that his actions were 'seditious.' Later that day, Obama addressed a July 18 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that claimed the former president 'manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup' against Trump's presidential victory against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. Obama also said he supported the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election. He dismissed the allegations against him, calling them the typical 'nonsense and misinformation' emerging from the Trump White House. On the next morning's episode of 'The View,' Behar defended Obama with a sly remark against Trump regarding the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. 'First of all, who tried to overthrow the government on Jan. 6? Who was that again? That was not Obama,' she quipped. Late-night talk show hosts also make jabs at Trump Before the beef with Behar, Trump was at odds with his usual late-night foes, starting with Colbert, who during a July 17 episode announced that 'The Late Show' would be ending in May 2026. 'I absolutely love that Colbert' got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings,' Trump wrote on Truth Social July 18. He later made a jab at ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, insinuating that his show would be the next to end and that he 'has even less talent than Colbert.' Kicking off his July 21 episode monologue, Colbert asked, 'How dare you, sir?' 'Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go (expletive) yourself,' Colbert said. Trump fired back on a July 22 Truth Social post, writing: 'The word is, and it's a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, (Jimmy) Fallon will be gone.' 'These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television. It's really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!' the president wrote. Fallon's show is slated to continue until at least the end of 2028 when his contract with NBCUniversal ends. In 2022, Kimmel extended his contract through his show's current 23rd season. Contributing: KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY