Trump's Justice Department targets doctors, clinics who provide sex change procedures to minors
The agency is investigating healthcare fraud, false statements and more, it said.
"Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
The DOJ did not disclose which doctors or clinics have been served with subpoenas.
In April, Bondi issued a memo stating that the DOJ would be investigating and prosecuting those who offer sex change treatments for minors.
Bondi said she was instructing all U.S. attorneys to investigate all suspected cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) under the "banner of so-called 'gender-affirming care'" and to "prosecute all FGM offenses to the fullest extent possible."
Bondi also ordered the DOJ's Civil Division's Consumer Protection Branch to investigate manufacturers and distributors engaged in misbranding by making false claims about the on- or off-label use of puberty blockers, sex hormones or any other drug used to facilitate a child's sex change.
In the first days of his second administration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order barring the federal government from funding, sponsoring, promoting, assisting or supporting sex changes for children.
The order also pledged to rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit the procedures on minors.
"Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child's sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions," the order states. "This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation's history, and it must end."
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that a Tennessee law banning specific transgender medical treatments for adolescents in the state is not discriminatory.
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Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
The Epstein case is uniting Americans and causing problems for Trump. Here's why
Politics makes strange bedfellows, and the Jeffrey Epstein case has created the most unlikely bipartisan coalition in recent memory. What began as a campaign promise to release Epstein's client list has metastasized into a full-scale political crisis that is now stress-testing President Donald Trump's relationship with his supporters and uniting both parties in a rare call for transparency. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a memo stating there wasn't a client list and Epstein killed himself. Rather than quieting concerns, these findings have ignited a fire storm of demands for transparency from people on both sides of the aisle. The Wall Street Journal has begun to report new details, including that Trump's name appeared in the files — a revelation the president has denied. Trump has sued the paper for libel for publishing an article detailing his ties to Epstein, including a racy birthday card Trump says he didn't write. Nevertheless, public pressure continues to mount. To be clear: Being named in the files does not mean Trump engaged in criminal activity. In these politically polarizing times, Republicans and Democrats rarely agree on anything. But some of them are now — and they're demanding answers. The Epstein case has temporarily erased partisan lines, forging political alliances to confront the same question: Is there a cover up? What some assumed would blow over after the July 11 memo has instead gained momentum. Headlines haven't stopped and the pressure campaign on Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump to release the Epstein files is mounting. But no matter how hard Trump tries to deflect or distract, he can't shake the public's demand that he release the files. And Congress has translated this battle cry into action. The House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, issued a subpoena for Epstein's former girlfriend and convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to give a deposition at Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee on Aug. 11. Meanwhile, Reps. Thomas Massie, R, Kentucky, and Ro Khanna, D-California, have introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a measure that would require Bondi to release all the documents relating to Epstein. As of Wednesday, 11 Republicans and 13 Democrats have signed onto the measure. Instead of allowing a vote, Speaker Mike Johnson abruptly decided to adjourn the House a day early to avoid further problems for the president. But Massie isn't backing down. He plans to file a discharge petition to force a vote on the resolution in September when the House returns. This would require support from 218 members — 11 Republicans and the entire Democratic delegation (212 members). Discharge petitions are a rare procedural motion used to go around leadership. It is seldom successful, nor is it a go-to tool used by members of the majority. But this isn't politics as usual. It reflects a broader public sentiment. In a recent CBS/YouGov poll, 89% of Americans — including Democrats, Republicans and independents — think the DOJ should release the Epstein files. This is a remarkable level of agreement in today's divided political climate. The fact that pollsters are asking about Epstein confirms this isn't just relegated to the fringes of the internet. It's a mainstream demand for transparency. Even Trump's base is showing some cracks. Some supporters are expressing outrage over the perceived lack of transparency and think that Trump may be protecting a sex offender. Instead of trying to quell supporters' concerns, Trump has lashed out, calling critics 'weaklings' and saying he doesn't want their support anymore. The fracture highlights how Epstein's case has become a litmus test for institutional credibility that transcends political loyalty. The central question driving public outrage remains: Is the administration protecting a sex offender? The bipartisan demand for transparency in the Epstein case isn't just about one man's crimes. It's about whether America's justice system still applies equally to the powerful and the powerless. In an era of deep division, the demand for justice and protection of the innocent is proving to still have the power to unite Americans across party lines. Click here to send the letter.
Time Magazine
an hour ago
- Time Magazine
What the Epstein Scandal Tells us About the #MeToo Movement
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USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
'Terrific guy': The Trump-Epstein party boy friendship lasted a decade, ended badly
Long before the little black book, before the conspiracy theories, before one died by suicide in jail and one ascended to the White House, Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump were poster boys for '90s New York City excess. Parties. Models. Mansions. They danced with cheerleaders at Mar-a-Lago and dined with celebrities in Manhattan. Trump flew on Epstein's private jet between New York – where they lived blocks apart − and Florida, where they owned mansions 2 miles from each other. Their lives intersected over decades, with Epstein once claiming he introduced Trump to his third wife, Melania. 'Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were both horny rich guys with an eye for young models,' Michael Gross, author of the 1995 book 'Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women,' told USA TODAY. Now, their friendship plagues Trump's second term in the White House. More: Who is Ghislaine Maxwell? DOJ turns to Jeffrey Epstein's ex-partner. 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It's Donald Trump talking about Epstein," says Mike Rothschild, author of "The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything. Trump's MAGA movement has rebelled after being promised lurid Epstein revelations by the very officials who now say there are none. On July 22, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, sent the House of Representatives on an early summer recess to prevent passage of a bipartisan measure forcing the DOJ to release its Epstein documents. "The GOP is so intent on not talking about Epstein and not releasing any details, it makes you wonder if there is something they don't want released," Rothschild said. "It starts driving you toward conspiracy theory." More: Trump's Epstein problem grows: Even his voters want more files released On July 22, Trump said the Epstein furor was 'sort of a witch hunt,' and railed against the media, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama. One day later, the Wall Street Journal and CNN reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump in May that he was named multiple times in the government's files on Epstein. But long before Epstein's conviction and questions about who might want his secrets buried, he and Trump were charter members of a decadent New York party scene. When Donald met Jeffrey Epstein and Trump met, it's believed, in 1990 when Epstein bought a mansion 2 miles from Trump's Mar-a-Lago club and estate. Born seven years and a borough apart in New York, Epstein was from Brooklyn and Trump from Queens. They partied hard, but neither drank alcohol. Trump was living loud in 1990. He had divorced his first wife, Ivana, with whom he had three children, and was dating model Marla Maples. Epstein was rich and single, a former high school teacher running his own financial advisory firm. Trump was known for hosting parties at the Plaza Hotel, which he owned at the time, that attracted rich men and younger women. 'If they were checking IDs, it was to make sure the girls were young enough,' Gross, who's known Trump for more than 40 years, said jokingly. It wasn't enough to simply invite models to events: Trump started his own agency and Epstein invested in one. Trump launched Trump Models in 1999. It represented Melania Knauss, who would later become his wife, and signed on teen models such as Alexia Palmer. More: Speaker Mike Johnson to shut down House early amid Jeffrey Epstein drama Epstein would later invest in Jean-Luc Brunel's MC2 modeling agency. Brunel had been banned from his former agency in Europe after accusations of abuse. Trump and Epstein were 'representative of a type that has nibbled at the edges of the modeling business. If you're in the market for women as sex toys, a higher echelon of that is models. They are, by definition, beautiful women. They also are beautiful young women,' Gross says. 'You can go from there.' Brunel was suspected of transporting girls or young women for Epstein. In 2022, less than three years after Epstein's death, he died by suicide in a French jail. 'Rhythm is a Dancer' In July 2019, after Epstein's arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, Trump said in the Oval Office that he was 'not a fan' of the financier. But it wasn't always that way. In 1992, Epstein joined Trump for a party at Mar-a-Lago, where a video shows Trump chatting and laughing next to Epstein. Trump sways to the Eurodance hit 'Rhythm is a Dancer,' as the pair hang with cheerleaders for the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins. Later that year, Trump and Epstein would again meet at Mar-a-Lago, at an invite-only event for a 'calendar girl' competition organized by George Houraney, according to the New York Times. The Florida businessman had created the event at Trump's request. "At the very first party,' Houraney told the Times, 'I said, 'Who's coming tonight? I have 28 girls coming.' It was him and Epstein.' Epstein moved into one of the largest private homes in Manhattan in 1995, a townhouse previously owned by billionaire Victoria's Secret owner Les Wexner. Trump was 1 mile away in a penthouse at Trump Tower. 'Terrific guy,' he famously told New York magazine in 2002 for a story that called Epstein an "international money man of mystery." 'He's a lot of fun to be with," Trump said. "It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." 'I sort of get away with things' When his modeling agency never quite took off, Trump turned to beauty pageants. In October 1996, he bought Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA. In a 2005 interview with Howard Stern, Trump bragged about his access to contestants, some of whom were as young as 14. 'I'll go backstage before a show and everyone's getting dressed and ready and everything else and no men are anywhere …. I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it,' Trump told Stern. 'The girls are standing there with no clothes on, and so I sort of get away with things like that,' he said. Tasha Dixon was competing in the Miss USA pageant in 2001 in Gary, Indiana, when she, a former Miss Arizona, met Trump. He walked in, she told CNN, as contestants changed into their bikinis. The theme that year was empowering women. "Who do you complain to? He owns the pageant,' she said. As Trump approached his third marriage − and alleged affairs, which he denies, with an adult film star and a former Playboy playmate − court testimony shows his friend Epstein was abusing teenagers. Sometime in the summer of 2020, a 16-year-old Mar-a-Lago locker room assistant was recruited into Epstein's circle by Epstein's procuror and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. She would later accuse Epstein of years of sexual abuse. Virginia Giuffre died by suicide last April at the age of 41. A lenient plea deal Epstein received from Florida state and federal prosecutors in 2008 included restitution to 36 victims. A 2019 federal indictment cited "dozens" of victims. The breakup In 2003, the Wall Street Journal reported, Epstein received a leather-bound volume of tributes from friends for his 50th birthday. A lewd message in the book was attributed to Trump, the paper reported. It ended: 'Happy Birthday − and may every day be another wonderful secret.' (Trump denied writing the letter and has sued the Wall Street Journal over the report.) A year after Epstein turned 50, Trump, in his book "Trump ‒ How to Get Rich," described a call from a person he called "the mysterious Jeffrey." "As mysterious as Jeffrey is, he's one of the few people I know who can get by on just a first name," Trump wrote. "My staff never asks for a last name in his case, which in a way puts him up there with Elvis." But that year, Epstein and Trump fell out over an oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach called Maison de l'Amitie − the House of Friendship. Trump outbid Epstein for the estate, paying $41 million, and in 2008 flipped it for $95 million to a Russian billionaire. Other reports say they broke after Ghislaine Maxwell solicited the daughter of a Mar-a-Lago member and her father complained to Trump. 'The fact is that the president kicked him out of his club for being a creep," said White House Communications Director Steven Cheung. Maxwell is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for trafficking a minor to Epstein for sexual abuse. After her 2020 arrest, when asked if Maxwell might cut a deal with prosecutors, Trump said: "I just wish her well." On July 24, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as a criminal defense lawyer for Trump, flew to Florida to meet Maxwell at a women's prison. 'Boring stuff' Trump and Epstein appear to have not spoken for 15 years before his death. As Epstein continues to dog his presidency, Trump says he's bewildered by the attention. 'I don't understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody," he told reporters. "It's pretty boring stuff.'
