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The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence pushes for release of the Epstein files: ‘The time has come'
Former Vice President Mike Pence has joined the sea of Republicans calling on the Trump administration to release the Epstein files. President Donald Trump's MAGA followers erupted after the Department of Justice released a memo stating there was no evidence to support a 'client list' of associates whom some claim Epstein blackmailed over their alleged involvement in his trafficking scheme. Prominent Congressional Republicans — and now Trump's former vice president — have joined the calls for increased transparency related to the disgraced financier. "I think the time has come for the administration to release all of the files regarding Jeffrey Epstein's investigation and prosecution," Pence told CBS News on Wednesday. "It's important that we protect the names of the victims. They should be excluded from any disclosure." 'I think that anyone who participated or was associated with this despicable man ought to be held up to public scrutiny,' he continued. "I just think we ought to get the facts to the American people, and I've always believed in transparency.' The president has repeatedly claimed that the Epstein files were a 'hoax' that was 'made up' by Democrats, including former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The disgraced financier died by suicide in prison in 2019, the FBI determined, while awaiting his sex trafficking trial. Two years later, his associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of crimes related to her role in a scheme to abuse minor girls with Epstein. 'It's a big hoax," Trump said Wednesday at the Oval Office. "It's started by Democrats. It's been run by the Democrats for four years." Pence countered claims that the files were politically charged. "Jeffrey Epstein's prosecution began during the Bush administration, continued through the Obama years," the former vice president said. "I know of no reason why this administration, once the victims' names are protected, should not release all the files on Jeffrey Epstein." Just hours earlier, Trump took to social media to attack his 'past supporters' for buying into ' this 'bullshit,' hook, line, and sinker. ' He added: 'Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!' The former vice president's remarks come after fellow Republicans have spoken out about the Epstein files. 'I'm for transparency,' House Speaker Mike Johnson told conservative commentator Benny Johnson. 'It's a very delicate subject, but we should put everything out there and let the people decide it.' Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie vowed to force a House vote on 'releasing the COMPLETE files.' Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a fixture in Trump's circle, slammed: 'I think the Department of Justice and the FBI has more explaining to do — this is Jeffrey Epstein.' She told Real America's Voice network: 'This is the most famous pedophile in modern-day history, and people are absolutely not going to accept just a memo that was written that says there is no client list.' Trump has labeled Republicans pursuing the files 'stupid' and 'foolish.'
NBC News
25 minutes ago
- NBC News
Trump administration pulls $4B in federal funding for California's bullet train project
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Trump administration revoked federal funding for California's high-speed rail project on Wednesday, intensifying uncertainty about how the state will make good on its long-delayed promise of building a bullet train to shuttle riders between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The U.S. Transportation Department announced it was pulling back $4 billion in funding for the project, weeks after signaling it would do so. Overall, a little less than a quarter of the project's funding has come from the federal government. The rest has come from the state, mainly through a voter-approved bond and money from its cap-and-trade program. President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy both have slammed the project as a 'train to nowhere.' 'The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED.' The loss marks the latest blow to California by the Trump administration, which has blocked a first-in-the-nation rule to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars, launched investigations into university admission policies and threatened to pull funding over transgender girls being allowed to compete in girls sports. It also comes as rail project leaders are seeking private investment to help pay for its estimated price tag of more than $100 billion. Voters first approved the project in 2008 and it was supposed to be operating this decade. But cost estimates have consistently grown and its timeline pushed back. State officials are now focused on building a 119-mile (192-kilometer) stretch connecting the Central Valley cities of Bakersfield and Merced that is set to be operating by 2033. The California High Speed Rail Authority is slated to release a report this summer to state lawmakers with an updated funding plan and timeline for the project. Authority officials wrote in a letter earlier this month that the Trump administration made up its mind about revoking funding before thoroughly reviewing the project. They noted that more than 50 structures have already been built, including underpasses, viaducts and bridges to separate the rail line from roadways for safety. 'Canceling these grants without cause isn't just wrong — it's illegal,' authority CEO Ian Choudri said in a statement Wednesday. 'These are legally binding agreements, and the Authority has met every obligation, as confirmed by repeated federal reviews, as recently as February 2025.' The authority has asked potential private investors to express their interest by the end of the month. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will keep 'all options on the table' to fight the revocation of federal funds. 'Trump wants to hand China the future and abandon the Central Valley. We won't let him,' he said in a statement. The state has 'no viable plan' to complete even the Central Valley segment, said Drew Feeley, acting administrator of the transportation department's Federal Railroad Administration, in a report released last month. He called the project a 'story of broken promises' and a waste of taxpayer dollars. California Democrats also have criticized project spending. Democratic Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan said at a budget hearing earlier this year that her constituents 'overwhelmingly believe' high-speed rail spending 'has been irresponsible.' Newsom plans to extend the state's cap-and-trade program, a key funding source for the project which is set to expire at the end of 2030, through 2045. The program sets a declining limit on the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions large emitters can release. Those polluters can buy allowances from the state needed to pollute, and about 45% of that money goes into what's known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, according to the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee, a group of experts that reviews the program. The fund helps pay for climate and transportation projects, including high-speed rail. The bullet train project receives 25% of the money from the fund, which ends up being a little less or a little more than $1 billion annually, depending on the year. Newsom in May proposed guaranteeing $1 billion a year for the project from the fund, but lawmakers have not agreed to that.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Top economist at anti-Trump newspaper admits he is winning the trade war - and slams cruel nickname media gave him
The Wall Street Journal's chief economics correspondent has delivered a surprise assessment of President Donald Trump 's trade policies while criticizing the cruel nickname assigned to him after he 'chickened out' of imposing extreme tariffs. Greg Ip published his latest take on Trump's tariff wars in the publication on Tuesday, sensationally noting Trump is ' winning' on trade policy. 'Trump has, by his own definition of success, already won his trade war,' Ip wrote, 'even without [the] deals' he vowed to reach with foreign allies. Trump faced harsh criticism for backing down on his 'Liberation Day' tariffs, earning him the moniker 'TACO' for 'Trump Always Chickens Out.' After threatening extraordinary reciprocal tariffs on most countries, markets crashed and doomsday economists feared a recession was inevitable. In the midst of the backlash, Trump walked back on the tariffs, instead offering countries 90 days to reach new agreements with his administration. Some within his inner circle were boasting of the possibility of achieving 90 deals in 90 days. That deadline has since passed, and Trump has inked one deal with the UK, and two more are on track with Vietnam and Indonesia. But Ip notes this is not necessarily a negative for Trump. To the contrary, Ip said Trump's behavior leading to this point suggests he was never particularly keen on making such deals to begin with. 'This narrative misconstrues Trump's goals, overstates the importance of deals and breeds complacency about his willingness to raise tariffs,' Ip wrote. When Trump backed down on his steep tariffs, markets rallied and economists breathed a sigh of relief. But he never removed the 10 percent baseline tariff which he had initially imposed on all goods coming into the United States. On the campaign trail, Ip notes, a 10 percent tariff seemed like worst-case scenario for markets. Now, in the face of Trump's brash actions and threats of tariffs as high as 145 percent (on China), the 10 percent tariff appears to have flown under the radar, now considered the best-case outcome for nations coming to the negotiating table. In June alone, Treasury pocketed $27billion in customs revenue - $20billion more than it did in the same month last year. With higher tariffs on steel and aluminum, the average tariff for all goods coming into the United States as of July 2 was 13.4 percent. Last year, it was 2.3 percent. Ip argues in his piece that Trump has no major need to forge new trade deals, because doing so would imply backing down or compromising on something he wants - which isn't often the Trump way. But while he said Trump is winning the trade war he created, Ip noted local manufacturing has not skyrocketed as Trump had hoped it would. Consumers in America are also increasingly feeling the pinch as businesses up their prices to accommodate the tariffs they're now paying on imported goods. Ip concluded: 'Trump might emerge a winner from his trade wars; it remains to be seen if the U.S. will as well.' Ip's assessment of Trump's trade policy may ruffle feathers at the publication, which has drawn Trump's ire a number of times during this administration. In May, he gave a reporter from the publication a verbal lashing after asking a question on board Air Force 1. 'Boy, you people treat us so badly,' he said of the paper Murdoch acquired in 2007. 'Wall Street Journal has truly gone to hell... Rotten newspaper. You hear me? What I said? It's a rotten newspaper.' Months earlier, he panned it as a 'globalist' rag and 'polluted' after it criticized his tariffs. In March, the paper sensationally suggested 'someone should sue' over the tariffs and said: 'He's treating the North American economy as a personal plaything, as markets gyrate with each presidential whim.'
