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USA Today
30-07-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Tsunami waves reach Hawaii, West Coast hours after magnitude 8.8 earthquake
On Wednesday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: Tsunami waves reached Hawaii and parts of the West Coast after one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history. USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Aysha Bagchi breaks down Ghislaine Maxwell's conditions for Congressional testimony. The EPA will repeal the finding that climate pollution endangers human health. The U.S. sets a new electricity consumption record amid summer heat. USA TODAY Senior National Political Correspondent Sarah D. Wire breaks down what's next for library funding as E-books are on the line. We remember the victims of this week's New York City shooting. Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Wednesday, July 30th, 2025. This is USA TODAY's The Excerpt. Today, one of the strongest recorded earthquakes ever sent tsunami waves to Hawaii. Plus Ghislaine Maxwell lays out conditions to testify before Congress and eBooks are on the line at local libraries. ♦ Tsunami waves reached Hawaii and the mainland west coast after one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history. A magnitude 8.8 struck off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula overnight and triggered alerts across the Pacific, Alaska and other parts of the Western U.S. The waves began arriving in Hawaii after 7:00 PM local time, but initial observations were encouraging to officials. Governor Josh Green said so far they had not seen a wave of consequence. Shortly after the initial tsunami warning sirens went off at around 3:00 PM local time in Hawaii, the streets of Honolulu, including the tourist hub Waikiki, were congested as people quickly tried to move to higher ground and away from coastal evacuation zones. Some reported long lines at gas stations as sirens continued to go off. Others felt desensitized to the warning following the 2018 false missile alert, when residents woke up to an emergency alert notification that a ballistic missile was headed their way. Residents across the island scrambled to find shelter then before learning it was sent as an error. You can stay with throughout the day for the latest. ♦ Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell says she will talk to Congress, but there's a catch. I spoke with USA TODAY Justice Department correspondent Aysha Bagchi for more. Aysha, thanks for stopping by. Aysha Bagchi: Thanks for having me Taylor. Taylor Wilson: So Ghislaine Maxwell is willing to testify before Congress, but what are her conditions here? Aysha Bagchi: One of her prerequisites is she wants immunity if she's going to testify. This is someone who is serving a twenty-year prison sentence right now for very serious criminal convictions. She doesn't want testimony that she gives before Congress to expose her in some sort of way in criminal proceedings. So she's specified that she wants immunity. We don't know what form that would take if Congress would grant her any in order to let her testify, but we do know that she got some sort of limited immunity, there were reports of that anyway, when it comes to discussions she had with the Justice Department last week. In addition to that, she wants to wait to give testimony before Congress until an appeal that she has pending at the U.S. Supreme Court right now has run its course. The court is set to decide as soon as sometime in September, potentially, whether it wants to take up her case or not. And she said she'll have some other appeal coming in some court in addition to that one. And she wants those things wrapped up first. She also wants to get the questions in advance. That's kind of an interesting prerequisite that she is trying to set for giving any testimony before Congress. She wants to be told what questions she's going to be asked. She said that'll give her a chance to prepare. Surely that'll be preparation alongside her lawyer. Then she said it'll let her come up with documents to corroborate the things that she wants to say. Those are the rules that she's setting in place she says when it comes to this testimony, but she also said she would love clemency from President Donald Trump. He can pardon her fully. He can commute her sentence. She said she'd be willing and eager to testify if she got that. That's no surprise. But she didn't set that as a rule in order to testify before Congress. Taylor Wilson: Okay. And Aysha, what does Congress really hope to get out of such testimony? Aysha Bagchi: The Congressman Chairman James Comer, he's the one who issued this subpoena. He heads one of the committees in Congress, an oversight committee. He said that there are basically two things that the committee is interested in when it comes to her testimony. One of them is looking at the enforcement of sex trafficking laws. Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking in her trial that concluded in 2021. The person that she was basically convicted of being a co-conspirator with was Jeffrey Epstein. And the second thing is he said that he wants to look at plea agreements when it comes to cases like this. That's probably a reference to the really sweetheart plea deal that Jeffrey Epstein got in 2008. He was able to plead guilty to two Florida state prostitution offenses, one involving minors. And under that plea deal, he was told by Florida federal prosecutors and state prosecutors that that would clear this case for him. He had an 18-month sentence. He didn't have to serve that full time and for much of the time he was able to be let out for several hours of the day in a work release program. So the congressman said that the committee wants to look at that kind of plea deal, and that's actually a basis for Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal right now. She's arguing to the Supreme Court that federal prosecutors in New York shouldn't have been able to charge her, prosecute her in her own case because a provision of that plea deal not only protected Jeffrey Epstein, but also purported to protect any potential co-conspirators of his. So far Ghislaine Maxwell has lost in her argument that that meant she couldn't have been prosecuted. Some courts have said that New York Federal prosecutors were still free to go after her, but that's something that the committee in Congress seems to want to look at. Taylor Wilson: Wow, interesting. Well, Maxwell spoke with Justice Department officials last week. What do we know, if anything, about those conversations? Aysha Bagchi: We don't know much. Most of what we've heard has come from Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyer, not from the government itself. He said that Ghislaine Maxwell answered lots of questions. This took place over two days, not just one day. So it seems to have been quite a lot of interviewing her. He said that she went over 100 people. We don't know what the content of that was. What does it mean for her to have referenced 100 people in relation to Jeffrey Epstein? But we have heard reports that she was given some sort of limited immunity in exchange for this sort of interview. And potentially the idea that Justice Department officials have in mind is to see if she can provide any investigative leads that would actually open up a line of investigation and potential criminal charges against anyone else associated with Jeffrey Epstein. When the Justice Department chose not to release its Epstein files, it said in its announcement about that, that it didn't uncover anything in the files that would merit opening an investigation, a criminal investigation into someone else. So maybe this interview is an opportunity for the Justice Department to look at that again and see if it can open up an investigation into someone else and maybe satisfy kind of the public outrage that has boiled over, including from many of President Trump's own supporters, about this case and questions that sort of linger about potential mysteries surrounding this case or whether the government really has tackled everyone it should tackle when it comes to its evidence surrounding sex trafficking and Jeffrey Epstein. Taylor Wilson: All right, Aysha Bagchi covers the Justice Department for USA TODAY. Thank you, Aysha. Aysha Bagchi: Thanks Taylor. ♦ Taylor Wilson: Environmental Protection Agency will rescind the finding that greenhouse gas emissions put human health in danger as well as tailpipe emission standards for vehicles. President Trump's pick to run the EPA, Lee Zeldin, announced the agency's plan to rescind the endangerment finding on the Ruthless podcast yesterday, saying it'll save Americans money and unravel two decades of regulation aimed at reducing carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases from cars, power plants, oil production, and other sources. In 2009, the EPA under former president Barack Obama issued a finding that emissions from new motor vehicles contribute to pollution and endanger public health and welfare. It was upheld in several legal challenges. ♦ Americans cranking up the air conditioners and fans over a single hour this month consumed more electricity than ever before as heat spread from the Midwest to the East Coast. The Federal Energy Information Administration said that from 7:00 to 8:00 PM Eastern Time on Monday, Americans consumed more than 758,000 megawatt hours of electricity, a new national record. And while the numbers are subject to change, the EIA said Americans might consume even more power as the summer continues. You can read more with a link in today's show notes. ♦ E-books and more are on the line as Congress considers the future of library funding. I discussed with USA TODAY senior national political correspondent Sarah D. Wire. Sarah, as always, thanks for joining me. Sarah D. Wire: Thanks for having me. Taylor Wilson: All right, so let's go back to March Sarah, when Trump issued an executive order eliminating huge parts of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Can you just start by reminding us what happened here and what's happened since? Sarah D. Wire: Back on March 14th, the president issued an executive order that eliminated most of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. He ordered that it be reduced to its statutory functions. Basically meant that it should be brought down as far as possible. And so suddenly, pretty much the entirety of the Institute's staff were laid off and then really abruptly, three state libraries were informed that their grants had been canceled. Now, state libraries receive between 30 and 50% of their funding through these state grants. And so to have that big cut was panic-inducing for a lot of these states. And then about half of the states in the country sued over losing this money and the judge placed an injunction that ordered the Institute to reinstate the staff, reinstate any cut grants, and that's kind of where things stand there. Taylor Wilson: Well, what is Congress now considering about the future of library funding? Sarah D. Wire: So when the president put forward his budget proposal, he only suggested $5.5 million for the agency with the agency saying that that money was enough to sunset or end the agency. That's a big drop from the nearly 300 million the agency normally receives. We haven't seen any pushback on this from Congress yet, and this Congress has been very willing to back what the president wants. He tried this during his first term. He tried getting rid of the Institute for Museum and Library Services, then Congress pushed back and said they weren't going to do it. There's a big piece of legislation that has to be renewed in September, and we've seen absolutely no movement on that. But that has to be passed in order for the agency to continue existing. Taylor Wilson: Okay, makes sense. And you focus a lot on e-books in this piece, Sarah. How might this action or whatever happens over the next few months impact e-books and what's at stake when libraries and library patrons lose that kind of access? Sarah D. Wire: Every state gets to choose how they spend this federal money, and a lot of states use it to provide e-book services for the entire state. Libraries are leasing e-books instead of buying them outright and often at three to five times the normal cost. And so that cost is just too much for small libraries to bear on their own. So if they lose the federal money, the states can't provide this to local libraries, which means a lot of people are no longer going to be able to check out e-books from their library. Taylor Wilson: Well, Sarah, you're right about a nonprofit that organizes grassroots campaigns for library funding and also blocking book bans. Tell us a bit about this group and what other recourse is there. Can states really filled the gap here? Sarah D. Wire: This organization called Every Library has had a petition drive going on, trying to convince both federal lawmakers and states to prevent the Trump administration from doing this. Some of the state libraries I spoke to said they're worried that states aren't going to be able to step in and fill the gap. It might not seem like a lot. California is the biggest recipient of this money. They receive about $15 million a year, but to fill that gap is not something that they can just dig through the couch cushions and do. But it's also asking a lot for the state to find that money when the state is bringing in less revenue, but they're also having to take on new responsibilities that the federal government has handed down, including more responsibility for Medicaid and paying for a portion of SNAP for the first time. Taylor Wilson: All right. Well, going back even to March, I mean, I just want to get a sense on the Trump administration perspective here, Republican congressional perspective. What is the argument on that side of the coin? Is this just a continued push for getting rid of government bloat? Sarah D. Wire: Yeah, the White House told us back in March that this was an effort to streamline government and get rid of superfluous agencies, but they haven't talked about waste or fraud specifically when it comes to this agency. Taylor Wilson: All right, and what's next going forward? You mentioned this September timeline in terms of how congressional leaders are going to tackle this. Sarah D. Wire: This isn't one of the appropriations bills that Congress has to pass before the end of the year. Congress will probably start taking a look at it when the House and Senate resume in September. Taylor Wilson: All right. Sarah D. Wire covers national politics for USA TODAY. I appreciate you stopping by Sarah. Sarah D. Wire: Thanks for having me. ♦ Taylor Wilson: New York City Mayor Eric Adams said preliminary investigations show the gunman in yesterday's Midtown Manhattan shooting may have intended to target the NFL, but took the wrong elevator. The suspect left behind a three-page note claiming he had chronic CTE from playing football police said. CTE is a brain condition experienced by people who have repeated blows to the head, often through contact sports like football. An NFL employee was reportedly injured in the shooting. We're also learning more about the victims who were killed in the violence. They include Blackstone investment firm employee Wesley LePatner, security officer Aland Etienne, police officer Didarul Islam, and Julia Hyman an associate at Rudin Management. ♦ ICE agents or law enforcement working in that capacity have been recorded arresting people across the country in full masks without any identifying clothing or even telling people who they work for. Mike German: What many studies, going back to the civil unrest during the 1960s and '70s, showed that when law enforcement engages in arbitrary or poorly targeted violence, that often creates more violence. In other words, if they attack a crowd indiscriminately, the crowd will become more violent. Taylor Wilson: That was former FBI agent Mike German, now a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice. My colleague Dana Taylor sat down with Mike for a conversation about the trend of mass ICE agents and what it means for democracy. You can hear that conversation right here today, today beginning at 4:00 PM Eastern Time. ♦ Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson. I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.
USA Today
30-07-2025
- Health
- USA Today
Starvation stalks Gaza
On Tuesday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: There are major international starvation concerns in Gaza, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there is no starvation there. A gunman killed four people, and then himself at a prominent Midtown Manhattan skyscraper on Monday. USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer breaks down President Trump's comments about being 'allowed' to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell. President Trump sets a new deadline of 10 or 12 days for Russia to end its war in Ukraine. A federal judge has blocked enforcement of a provision in Trump's tax and spending bill that would deprive Planned Parenthood and its members of Medicaid funding. USA TODAY Chief Political Correspondent Phillip M. Bailey takes a look at some upcoming governor races and why they will be major referendums on Trump vs. Democrats. Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Tuesday, July 29th, 2025. This is USA TODAY's The Excerpt. Today, the latest from Gaza amid severe hunger worries, plus breaking down Trump's comments about Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell this week, and what's at stake in a slew of upcoming governor races? ♦ For the second day running yesterday, Israel paused its military operations in Gaza to improve the humanitarian response. That follows a series of alarming warnings from world leaders and global officials from the United Nations World Health Organization and from dozens of humanitarian agencies that malnutrition and even starvation in Gaza are on a dangerous trajectory. The UN's World Food Programme says a third of Gaza's population does not eat for several days at a time. One in four Gazans it says, are enduring famine-like conditions. The Hamas-run health ministry, the chief source of health data in Gaza says more than 100 people have died from malnutrition in recent days. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed those concerns yesterday. Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel is presented as though we are applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza. What a bold-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza. Taylor Wilson: That prompted a response from President Trump while on his trip in Scotland. President Trump: Those children look very hungry, but we're giving a lot of money and a lot of food and other nations are now stepping up. Taylor Wilson: And it's hard to parse the Israeli leaders' comments with some of what we've heard directly at USA TODAY, including from 35-year-old Amal Nassar, an English teacher from Gaza who said simply that she, her children and husband don't have enough to eat. Trump, though also criticized Hamas for holding Israeli hostages. President Trump: They don't want to give hostages. Very unfair. Taylor Wilson: You can read more on the latest from Gaza with a link in today's show notes. ♦ A gunman charged into a prominent Manhattan skyscraper during rush hour yesterday and fatally shot at least four people, including a New York City police officer before killing himself, according to authorities. Police received multiple reports of an active shooter inside 345 Park Avenue, a building that houses the NFL headquarters and offices of major financial firms, according to New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Surveillance footage showed a man exiting a vehicle outside before entering the building with an M4 rifle. The suspect immediately opened fire at an NYPD officer who was working a paid detail at the building. He then shot a woman who took cover behind a pillar and continued through the lobby opening fire, according to authorities. He then went up to the 33rd floor. Police said the motive for the shooting remains under investigation and investigators are working to understand why the suspect targeted the commercial building. ♦ President Donald Trump kicked off the week filled in questions about the ongoing conversation surrounding the late disgraced Jeffrey Epstein and his key associate Ghislaine Maxwell. I spoke with USA TODAY domestic security correspondent Josh Meyer for the latest. Josh, thanks for joining me. Josh Meyer: My pleasure, Taylor. Taylor Wilson: All right, another day, another chapter in the Epstein-Trump-White House drama. What did President Trump say yesterday about pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell? Josh Meyer: He was asked about it for the second time, and he said the same thing that he did last Friday, which was that, "I haven't really considered it, but I'm allowed to do it." So he was doubling down on that. He provided more information about it, and then he deflected and of course said that if there's anything in the documents that's damaging to him politically, then the Democrats must have put it in there and made it up when they were in office. Taylor Wilson: Trump also faced a question yesterday about whether his Attorney General Pam Bondi has told him his name is mentioned in the federal government's Epstein files. Remind us what Bondi has said here, Josh, and how did Trump approach this? Josh Meyer: Pam Bondi has been accused of providing cover for Trump, but she has not commented on this. Trump has said that Pam Bondi never told him that he was in the files, but The Wall Street Journal did do a story last week in which they said that several Justice Department officials have confirmed that Pam Bondi did tell the president in a meeting in May that he is in the Epstein files. It's not clear whether that's in investigative documents or that he shows up in some of the videos, but that his name appears several times in this investigative information that the Justice Department has in its possession and that it's not releasing. Taylor Wilson: We know Trump and Epstein ran in similar social scenes, at the least, over the years. At this point, Josh, what is Trump saying about whether he's visited the notorious Epstein island? Josh Meyer: He said categorically that he has never visited Epstein's island. There has been some investigative documentation that he showed up on the flight logs. It's not clear where or when, but again, Trump said that he has never been to Epstein's island. He said that he was invited to go to Epstein's island. By the way, this is where a lot of the alleged sex trafficking of underage girls happened, but he said he was invited there and that unlike a lot of other people from Palm Beach, he said no and that he didn't do it. Taylor Wilson: Have we heard from Ghislaine Maxwell or her legal team on any of this? What's the latest with her? Josh Meyer: So I've been in touch with her lawyer. Maxwell, of course, is not saying anything. She's in prison serving a 20-year term for sex trafficking in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, and she was his girlfriend and former accomplice. But her lawyer said Friday after Trump said the first time that he hasn't thought about it, but that he could pardon Maxwell, her lawyer David Markus said that he hopes Trump pardons Maxwell and that she's being made a scapegoat here and that she wasn't given a fair trial and that she deserves to be freed. That is ignoring, of course, mountains of evidence that were produced at her trial conviction by a jury, and basically a lot of evidence showing that Maxwell was an active accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein's in the trafficking of young girls. Taylor Wilson: All right, Josh Meyer covers domestic security for USA TODAY. Thanks, Josh. Josh Meyer: My pleasure, Taylor. ♦ Taylor Wilson: President Trump said he's moving up a deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine, warning that in 10 or 12 days, Russia must end the war or face sanctions and tariffs from the U.S. The president's threat came as he continued to express frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin, for refusing to scale back his country's war in Ukraine. When Trump's second term began, he placed equal blame on Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and the war is still going on three and a half years later. But Trump has zeroed in on Putin in recent weeks as the Russian leader repeatedly rebuffs Trump's attempts to broker a ceasefire and pushes forward with drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. ♦ A federal judge has blocked enforcement of a provision in the recently enacted tax and spending bill that would deprive Planned Parenthood and its members of Medicaid funding saying it is likely unconstitutional. U.S. district judge in Boston issued a preliminary injunction yesterday after finding the law likely violated the Constitution by targeting Planned Parenthood's health centers specifically for punishment for providing abortions. That provision and the recent bill passed by the Republican-led Congress denied certain tax-exempt organizations and their affiliates from receiving Medicaid funds if they continue to provide abortions. ♦ Some upcoming governor races are set to be major referendums on Trump versus Democrats. I caught up with USA TODAY Chief Political Correspondent, Philip M. Bailey to discuss. Philip, thanks for hopping on. Phillip M. Bailey: Taylor, how's it going? Taylor Wilson: All right. Let's start with Virginia and New Jersey as you do here in the piece, Philip. Who are the players in these elections and what might be some of the national implications at play? Phillip M. Bailey: Virginia has always historically been looked, it's governor's race at least, has been looked at as a bellwether for the nation because it's the election right before leading up to either the midterms and the presidential election. In this case, things seem to be a bit different. Republican incumbent Glenn Youngkin is term-limited, and there are already reports that underscore his Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee giving her anemic fundraising and some other internal campaign combustion, one talk show radio host on the conservative side described as a "clown car". There are some issues the Republicans are having, but that's still one of the early gubernatorial races that we're going to be looking at. She's going to be running against Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger, who I think in a recent July 16th poll by the Virginia Commonwealth University showed Earle-Sears, the Republican trailing Spanberger by about 12 points. There are other polls that have this a little bit closer, but I think when you look at all of these gubernatorial races, governors are at the forefront of policy decisions. Think of during the COVID-19 crisis, the critical role that governors play. Nationally speaking, Virginia's home to about 152,000 federal workers, Taylor, so right next door to D.C. where the Trump administration laid off untold amounts of federal workers. Right now, it just seems like Republicans are just trying to keep their head above water in this race. It's looked at as more of a democratic pickup, but it's one that Republicans certainly aren't going to stop fighting for. But those internal campaign problems for Earle-Sears is something that cannot be overlooked and that may hamper our candidacy and get Republicans shifting elsewhere. Taylor Wilson: Well, shifting to next year, we have a bunch of swing state governor elections. What role might President Trump play here and what's at stake? Phillip M. Bailey: Well, look, I think the president's role is going to be outsized in most of these elections, either for or against. You're going to see Democrats, I mean some who've already announced their candidacies, like in Wisconsin, for example, already calling him a maniac and calling out his agenda, talking about the immigration crackdown. So a lot of places Republicans are going to be on defense. But look, any MAGA folks will tell you, any Republicans will tell you that having the White House is always better than not. The president's shadow is going to loom in some of these races, particularly these swing state races. When we look at some of these gubernatorial races, and 38 in total, the more premier ones, the more competitive ones are going to be in your swing states like Nevada, like Georgia, like Arizona. So the president who won all of those swing states last year in the 2024 presidential election, he's confident. He was speaking to the Republican Governors Association earlier this year, and he said he looks forward to working with these governors. They've made a lot of progress. So I expect that some of these states that you could see President Trump arrive, but it all depends, I think, on his polling numbers there as we see President Trump's polling numbers begin to dip, as we've seen Trump, some of his more controversial maneuvers, particularly around immigration, particularly around the treatment of college or universities and other areas that could be the first signs of a backlash. We usually measure that in these congressional midterms, but these gubernatorial races with these chief executives, that's going to be critical of some of these issues in the president's role, and his impact and his popularity in those states is really going to come down to the why in a lot of these toss-up elections. Taylor Wilson: Well, I found this interesting, Phillip, that you feature former Vice President Kamala Harris in this piece. Is she considering a run for governor in California? What do we know about that race as of now? Phillip M. Bailey: When we talk about these 2026 gubernatorial elections, when we talk about New Jersey and Virginia are going to be the first test this year, we talk about some of these more competitive ones in swing states, but one feature of these gubernatorial contests is going to be the presidential campaign of 2028, and one of those ideas is that maybe Kamala Harris will make a return to the national stage. She has talked openly about, hey, she's considering running for governor in her home state of California. If she were to do that, polls show that she will be automatically one of the more popular, the lead candidate, really, in that race. So I think being in charge of the fourth-largest economy in the world certainly is nothing to bat your eyes at, but there's a question of does Harris have her mind on running for president for a third time, which I think a lot of donors and Democrats might have some misgivings about, or going back to California and perhaps having a confrontation with Trump there. Remember Gavin Newsom, the current governor of California, who was also term limited, he's not running for reelection, but he's already had some major clashes with Donald Trump over immigration. We saw some serious clashes, some violent clashes in the streets between ICE agents and federal officials and law enforcement and pro-immigration demonstrators who were opposing the Trump administration. So if Harris does make this announcement, it will automatically just put her on a collision course with Donald Trump and return her to the national stage. It doesn't forbid her from running for president in 2028. It's a bit difficult, I guess, to have those back-to-back campaigns, but her return to the national stage will certainly be a feature of the 2026 campaign. Taylor Wilson: All right, Phillip M. Bailey is USA TODAY's Chief Political Correspondent. Thanks, Phillip. Phillip M. Bailey: Thanks Taylor, as always. ♦ Taylor Wilson: Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and as always, you can email us at podcasts@ I'm Taylor Wilson. I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.
USA Today
29-07-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Transgender athletes in college sports are rare, despite outsized political attention
On Sunday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: The issue of transgender college athletes continues to animate Republicans as the Trump administration doubles down on their attacks on trans rights. USA TODAY Education Reporter Zach Schermele joins The Excerpt to discuss these issues from a political and an education perspective. Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Hello and welcome to USA TODAY's the Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson. Today is Sunday, July 27th, 2025. In July, the University of Pennsylvania agreed to prohibit transgender athletes from competing in women's sports and stripped the record of former swimmer Leah Thomas as part of an agreement with the Department of Education. It was the same month that the Supreme Court announced it will review Idaho's and West Virginia State bans on transgender athletes joining female sports teams. The move marks the country's latest grappling with issues surrounding transgender athletes. More than half the states have now passed laws preventing transgender athletes from competing on schools female sports teams, saying they're trying to prevent competitive advantages. Where does the American public stand on these issues, and what are the larger implications and influences playing into this conversation? To help us make sense of this moment, I'm now joined by USA TODAY education reporter, Zach Schermele. Zach, thanks for joining me. Zach Schermele: Hey, Taylor. Thanks for having me. Taylor Wilson: So let's just go back to that news surrounding Leah Thomas. That's the former UPenn swimmer who became the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming competition in Division 1 back in 2022. Zach, what did the university agree to here with the Department of Education? Zach Schermele: So this was a pretty significant agreement on the part of the University of Pennsylvania. That's an Ivy League school in Philadelphia with the Federal Education Department, and in particular with their office for Civil Rights, which handles curbing discrimination for students and teachers in any educational program that receives federal funding. So there were a couple of pretty significant concessions that the university agreed to with the department, first, that they would bar trans athletes from participating at all in women's sports at the University of Pennsylvania, a notable concession because there weren't any transgender athletes that were competing in women's sports at Penn at the time. They also said that they would comply with President Donald Trump's executive order that he issued that tried to ban trans athletes from competing in women's sports as well. And also, they sent personalized letters of apology to any female swimmers who had competed alongside Leah Thomas at the time of that NCAA competition that you were referring to there, Taylor. Taylor Wilson: Well, Zach, these moves were in response to the federal government suspending roughly $175 million in contracts to Penn back in March, alleging that university had violated Title IX. UPenn is also not the only university dealing with these allegations. Zach. Talk us through the government's arguments here. Zach Schermele: So they're far from the only university that has grappled with some of these threats and implementation of those threats with respect to federal funding, in particular for research projects being pulled from universities across the country, largely on the grounds of civil rights laws being violated. So the government was arguing, really that it's fundamentally wrong for trans women to be competing in female sports at the collegiate level. They say that the federal government has a role in protecting cisgender women in athletic environments, and that was an idea and an argument that played a big role in the resolution of this case here. They also argued that trans women have an unfair advantage over cisgender women in athletics. And that is an argument that comes very frequently from conservative critics of trans rights just in general, and we're seeing it more consistently from the education department under the Trump administration. Taylor Wilson: Well, Zach, what does this Leah Thomas news mean for younger trans athletes, say in middle or high school coming up? Zach Schermele: It's really significant. But I think Taylor, what you could chalk it up to is that it is the latest major indication that athletics really are not welcoming anymore in school environments to the extent they ever were for young trans people. And it also shows how a powerful university that ostensibly younger athletes would want to aspire to, competing with or against can act in the face of some pretty considerable pressure from the federal government. Todd Wolfson, who was the president of the American Association of University Professors, when I was talking to him about the Penn case in particular a little while ago, he said, "Universities can't sell out trans people to satisfy ideological demands." And I think that that is a message that if you're a young person, a young trans athlete, potentially looking at what has just gone on Penn's campus, that's your takeaway. Taylor Wilson: Well, what recourse does a trans athlete have beyond the courts? What does a sixteen-year-old or twenty-year-old trans athlete who wants to compete at a high level do right now, Zach? Zach Schermele: There are several avenues that a student could potentially take if they were concerned about being excluded from a program or an athletic team on a school campus that receives federal funding. So they could file a discrimination complaint with the Federal Education Department, in particular with that office for civil rights that was in charge of resolving the case at Penn. The problem of course, though, is that the Trump administration interprets federal civil rights laws pretty distinctly from how the Biden administration in particular was interpreting those same laws. So under President Joe Biden, the education department, I think would've had a lot more alacrity to try and resolve a case like that, to negotiate with schools, K-12 schools and colleges and universities to ensure that those programs were providing adequate services that weren't discriminatory towards trans students. They, in fact, interpreted Title IX, that landmark sex discrimination law as including protections on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. The Biden administration actually interestingly, because of how politicized this whole issue has become, was going to issue some regulations in particular on the trans athlete component of protecting younger trans people in sports and delayed it until potentially after the election. And I think that just gives you an indication of how fraught this issue has become for schools and even for democratic politicians. But one could argue that trying to file a complaint with the education department, with the Civil Rights Office, especially in this new political environment, would be a lot more challenging than even just a couple of years ago. Taylor Wilson: Nearly half of Americans don't want politicians focusing on issues affecting trans people, according to a poll from the non-profit, the 19th News this past April. What are you hearing from the NCAA on the issue of trans athletes, Zach? Zach Schermele: So the NCAA was quick to issue some new guidance after the President's executive order in February. The NCAA, which by the way, we should mention, is an organization that is made up of more than a thousand colleges and universities in all 50 states. They have roughly half a million student athletes, and the organization said that they were going to be compliant with the President's executive order and not allow trans women to compete in women's sports. Charlie Baker, who's the president of the NCAA, actually said at the time that to that end, the order provided a, "Clear national standard." There wasn't a gray area that some of the lack of finalized regulation and civil rights precedent previously had left the NCAA and schools and other organizations, I think in a bit of uncertainty with respect to what their obligations were, in order to comply with federal civil rights laws. But it's important, Taylor, to remember that we're talking about really only a handful of that half a million student athletes that are at NCAA schools. Charlie Baker told a senate panel in December of last year that there were only fewer than 10 trans athletes participating in sports at the collegiate level at that time. Taylor Wilson: Well, Zach, we've touched on aspects of the political level here, but the issue of transgender athletes reverberated clearly throughout the 2024 presidential race, with Republican voters celebrating Trump's stance against transgender athletes competing in women's sports. On the other hand, Democrats embrace of transgender rights did not resonate with voters. A June Reuters Ipsos poll found the Democrats feel the party isn't focusing enough on economic issues, and is overemphasizing issues like transgender rights. Zach, are Democrats politically vulnerable here? Is there the possibility they might drop their support of trans rights altogether? Zach Schermele: I think it's important to level set a little bit here too, Taylor, and just bring us back to the idea that Republicans in particular are pretty concerned about an issue that's not super relevant to a lot of school campuses. So only about 1.4% of trans teenagers, according to federal survey data, participate in sports. And then some other studies show, a 2017 study in particular of about 17,000 young people found that only about one in 10 trans boys said that they played sports. And the statistic is roughly the same for transgender girls. And I think it's important to keep in mind those statistics when we're having these discussions. But regardless, trans rights and the civil rights of transgender people have become a very animating issue for Republicans, and Democrats are taking notice of that. Seth Moulton, who is a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, was lambasted by a lot of his colleagues on the Democratic side right after the presidential election when he essentially came out saying that he was more in line with some Republican thinking on the particular issue of trans athletes in sports, not necessarily civil rights for transgender people, but whether young trans athletes should be able to play sports. And then Gavin Newsom, who's the Democratic governor of California, said some pretty similar things recently as well. And so you're seeing that bifurcation among the Democrats in a really dramatic, I think, way if you're a trans young person and seeing that support start to decline. Taylor Wilson: Well, let's pivot to another transgender issue that could impact trans athletes, and that's medical care. Back in June, the Supreme Court upheld a state challenge brought by Tennessee families that made gender-affirming care of minors illegal. According to human rights campaign, 27 states now have bans on such care. Zach, what are you hearing on this front? Are families relocating to states where there is not a ban in place? Zach Schermele: Yeah, Taylor, I remember having a conversation in 2022 with a family in Florida where there was a gender-affirming care ban for minors there. And the mother at the time was sitting in on a board of health meeting that the state of Florida had just conducted. And I remember talking to her about how her trans child had spent, I think it was the better part of a year, trying to get access to things like puberty blockers and hormone therapy. There are a lot of hoops that families with trans kids have to jump through in order to get access to gender-affirming care. I think, just based on some of the rhetoric that sometimes can fly around the subject, you would think that it would be really easy to get access to these types of treatments. But in many states, even in pretty liberal ones, it can take a long time to actually get that care that folks need. There is this cosmic divide between liberal states and more conservative states, where if you're a transgender person, you're probably getting more protection in a place like California, New York, Massachusetts, especially if you're a trans young person enrolled in a program that receives federal education funding versus some of the more red states, places like Montana, Idaho, the Dakotas. And that is a consideration that I know a lot of families who have roots there are thinking about pretty deeply. Taylor Wilson: Well, we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about recent news that the Supreme Court has given, the green light to the Trump administration to dismantle the Department of Education altogether, taking legions of Civil Rights attorneys out of action. There was a carve out for civil rights attorneys, but many of them are still out of action. These are people who transgender minors and their families might've turned to protect their rights in schools. What concerns you the most here? Zach Schermele: I think that the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights is in a place that it has, quite frankly, never been before. And the argument from some conservatives, because there are two camps of conservatives who are thinking about what's happening at the Federal Education Department right now. There's one camp that wants to see the department entirely dismantled, they want it to completely go away. And then there's another camp that sees it potentially as a tool, not really unlike what it's become over the course of the past couple of months, as the president has started taking more actions, and has let go of this idea of being able to entirely do away with the department. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has acknowledged repeatedly that she knows it would take help from Congress, particularly help from Democrats in Congress in order to make the education department entirely go away. So there are some who want to see the Education Department frankly continue to do what it's been doing, which is to open up more targeted civil rights investigations, investigations that are more concerned, not so much with protecting students from marginalized populations, LGBTQ+ students in particular, but would rather see allegations of reverse discrimination, students who are concerned about having to be involved in LGBTQ sensitivity trainings, things like that. There are lots of folks on the conservative side who want to see the education department continue to investigate schools that are trying to be more inclusive in that way. This is the assault on diversity, equity, and inclusion that the President has been really adamant about making a centerpiece of his posture towards civil rights laws. But it is the truth to say that there are a lot of civil rights attorneys that spent many years at the education department who now are no longer employed there, and we could potentially see an uptick in discrimination complaints at schools across the country because of it. Taylor Wilson: All right, we'll be on the lookout for when the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the two transgender athletes cases. Zach Schermele is an education reporter with USA TODAY. Thank you, Zach. Zach Schermele: Thanks, Taylor. Taylor Wilson: Thanks to our senior producers Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts at Thanks for listening. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.
USA Today
28-07-2025
- Business
- USA Today
US and EU reach trade deal
On Monday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: The U.S. has reached a trade deal with the European Union after President Donald Trump's weekend trip to Scotland. USA TODAY National Correspondent Chris Kenning talks about his reporting on farmers facing a fork amid the immigration crackdown. Israel pauses some military action in Gaza amid ongoing starvation concerns. USA TODAY National Correspondent Deborah Barfield Berry discusses a bipartisan push for a new women's history museum. Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Monday, July 28th, 2025. This is USA TODAY's The Excerpt. Today taking a look at the US Trade deal with the EU plus how immigration raids are impacting farms and their workers. And lawmakers across the aisle want a new Women's History museum. ♦ US has reached a trade deal with the European Union. President Donald Trump announced the deal yesterday, days ahead of a self-imposed August 1st deadline. He met with the European Commission's president, Ursula von der Leyen during his trip to Scotland over the weekend where the pair discussed terms and came to an agreement. The deal includes a 15% tariff on most European exports to the United States, similar to agreements struck recently between Trump and other major trading partners, including Japan. The levy is higher than the 10% rate sought by Europeans, but a reduction from the 30% Trump threatened to impose earlier in July. The agreement also includes $600 billion in EU investments in the US and the purchase of $750 billion worth of US energy. ♦ President Trump's immigration raids are hitting farms particularly hard. I spoke with USA TODAY national correspondent Chris Kenning for more. Chris, thanks for joining me. Chris Kenning: Thank you for having me. Taylor Wilson: So Chris, what are we hearing and seeing at farms around the country in this immigration moment? Chris Kenning: Across the country, we've seen these immigration raids, really broiling farms in farming communities, and there have been cases of worker shortages for at least temporarily and farmers who are worried about getting their crops picked. Early this month, we saw raids in California in the Central Valley areas that saw hundreds of folks detained and ranchers and growers and places like Texas and Vermont have also reported times when people weren't showing up for work. And so some farm groups are saying farmers are holding their breath, trying to keep things afloat, not knowing if their folks will show up or just be too afraid that the raid will happen, either the farm or in the city or town where they work. Right now, in places like the San Joaquin Valley, some folks are saying that labor is kind of holding steady, but everyone's on edge, really not knowing what's going to happen. Taylor Wilson: Well, Chris, how many people on US farms actually lack legal status? And just help us understand really why foreign born workers are so critical to farmers. Chris Kenning: There's about 2.6 million people working on farms in the United States, roughly about 42% of them are thought to lack legal status according to the Department of Agriculture. That's actually down from 55% in 2001. So it's kind of declined some, but it's still a pretty sizable number. And if you talk to farmers, they'll say the reason's pretty simple. Congress has not been able to really address comprehensive immigration reform that could find ways to create legal pathways for workers that are here or provide more visas for guest worker programs. And they say the idea that American-born residents will take these jobs is just not realistic. Few people will apply for them, even fewer will stick with it. It's very physically demanding and tough work and so the bodies aren't out there. All these issues come together and then farmers have long dealt with this stuff and now the presence of these ICE immigration forces everywhere has really exacerbated the problem. Taylor Wilson: Chris, what did you hear from some of these migrant workers themselves about how they're facing this moment and what I'd imagine really is just an incredibly anxious time for them? Chris Kenning: So there's a lot of fear, a lot of consternation. People aren't going out as much. People are staying home, but the United Farm Workers officials that I talked to said people are going back just because they have to feed their families, maybe working fewer days, maybe staying in when they're not working. I talked to one gentleman named Gabriel who's a 42-year-old man. He's from Mexico. He works in California's Central Valley. He's worked eggplant, pumpkins, different crops, getting up before A.M. working a full day for about 16,50 an hour. And he said to the majority of his fellow workers are without papers. But while they're still working now, some are considering going home. And even folks who are here on H-2A visas are said to be considering not applying or just wondering if it's just getting too dangerous. Taylor Wilson: You mentioned the H-2A visa, Chris, can you just talk us through what the visa programs and legal paths actually look like for farm workers and what do advocates want to see change in this space? Chris Kenning: The H-2A program is a program that allows agricultural employers to hire foreign workers to fill temporary or seasonal jobs when there's not enough qualified domestic workers. Right now, folks on those visas represent about 13% of the nation's farm workers. A number that's grown over the years. A lot of farmers have issues with it because it is very bureaucratic. It's expensive because farmers have to provide housing and they have to adhere to pay wage premiums, which is meant to keep those workers from pushing down wages for U.S. residents who do similar jobs. Farm worker advocates say it has problems too because it's linked to a certain employer. So a lot of times workers are stuck there and maybe more vulnerable to wage or housing abuses. That's one that people are calling for changes to perhaps to streamline it or make some changes that would allow for more folks to come in on these types of visas. Taylor Wilson: You touched on the Trump administration earlier, Chris. Where does the administration stand when it comes to farms specifically? And is there any sense that they understand some of the realities on American farms that you've outlined in this piece? Chris Kenning: The Trump administration in June said it was going to suspend farm enforcement and it reversed that. But Trump has cited the importance of farm labor several times, and they've talked about they're looking to make some kinds of changes. It's not clear exactly what those would look like. There's a bill in Congress that would create, among many things, would create a legal pathway for long-time workers, which is what a lot of both farmers and farm workers would like to see, rather than just having it apply to people who are coming for the first time. There's also been discussions by the agriculture secretary to make the H-2A program more efficient. We'll have to see what comes out of that. House Speaker Mike Johnson has told other media that larger immigration overhauls in Congress could face an uphill battle, so we'll have to keep an eye on that. Taylor Wilson: All right. Chris Kenning is a national correspondent for USA TODAY. Folks can find this full story with a link in today's show notes. Thank you, Chris. Chris Kenning: Thank you so much. ♦ Taylor Wilson: Israel will pause military action for hours each day in parts of Gaza and increase aid drops in the enclave as the country continues to face international pressure over reports and images of starving Palestinians. Aid groups have criticized Israeli leaders for months over the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The country cut off supplies to the region at the start of March before reopening aid lines with new restrictions in May. In recent weeks, more than 800 people have been killed while trying to reach food according to the United Nations, mostly in shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centers, which we discussed here on the show last week. Meanwhile, the World Food Program says a third of the population in Gaza is not eating for days. Beginning today, Israel will pause military action in a humanitarian area along the coast of Gaza for 10 hours at a time, from 10 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. local time each day. You can read more with a link in today's show notes. ♦ Lawmakers are renewing a bipartisan effort to build a Women's History Museum in Washington. D.C. I discussed with USA TODAY national correspondent Deborah Barfield Berry. Deborah, thanks for joining me. Deborah Barfield Berry: Thank you for having me. Taylor Wilson: So what are these calls for a new Women's History Museum? What would this entail? Deborah Barfield Berry: Actually, it's been an effort that's been going for years and years, but they've always renewed it. And this time, a bipartisan group of women from the Democratic Women's Caucus and the Republican Women's Caucus are actually urging one of the House committees to put some money behind it to actually fund the project. Taylor Wilson: Specifically who are the lawmakers involved here and just how rare is it Deborah, to see a bipartisan push like this? Deborah Barfield Berry: Well, there's several lawmakers. There are some Republicans, including Kat Cammack, who's one of the co-chairs of Republican Women's Caucus and also Hillary Scholten and others who are part of the Democratic Women's Caucus. They got together and decided they wanted to push for this effort. In terms of rare, these days, as you know, there's a lot of partisanship on one side or this side of a lot of issues, but this was one of the few issues where women from both sides of the aisle said, we want to push for this together. So they've been doing that in the past, and again, they've continued to do that now. Taylor Wilson: Well, as you mentioned, Deborah, this is not the first we've heard of this. What related bills have we seen over the years and just what led up to this point? Deborah Barfield Berry: As has been the case with many museums, many of the Smithsonian museums, including the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, and the Latino Museum as well, it's a process. So it's not just you vote for the museum and it's a go. There are different parts of it, including number one, establishing a museum, establishing perhaps a commission that will study it and see if there should be a museum. Another bill that has to push for having it on a National Mall. And then of course, you need to get funding. So there are always different pieces to it, and that's the same case here for the Women's Museum. There's been different measures along the way. Some of them passed, some of them haven't. It hasn't come through enough where they can say, we got a museum coming. So the women have pushed again to make sure there was some federal funding for the museum. Taylor Wilson: It makes sense. I mean, what hurdles might this effort still face? Deborah Barfield Berry: Well, part of the challenge this Congress is that there has been a big push, particularly by Republican leaders to cut federal spending. So not just this program, but others are coming up against that. There is also some concern about the pushback from the Trump administration and Republican leaders to push back against diversity initiatives or anything that reflects or they think feel like it reflects that. In many of the cases, it's not just about people of color when they push back on diversity. Also, women and women's issues and women programs, women's museum is all about women. So there's concern about whether that too would fall into that category where they're pushing back. Taylor Wilson: Okay, and what's next for this conversation? Deborah Barfield Berry: It was earlier this month that they pushed for or sent this letter to the House Appropriations Committee, but there's also some talk or either some hope from both sides that they could have a meeting with President Trump to push for this, because along the way he's expressed some interest in supporting it, but he's also been part of the pushback against diversity. As for what's next, some of the women lawmakers are not only pushing their colleagues to support funding for the bill, but they're also hoping that they can get President Trump to step in and be a little more vocal about it and maybe use some of his clout to sway Republican leaders to back the funding. Representative Hillary Scholten from Michigan, who also happens to be a Democrat, says she welcomes the audience with President Trump so she can make sure he knows that it's important to support this museum and that if there's any time to do it, now is the right time. Taylor Wilson: We'll see what happens. Deborah Barfield Berry is a National Correspondent with USA TODAY. Thanks, Deborah. Deborah Barfield Berry: Thank you. ♦ Taylor Wilson: Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.
USA Today
25-07-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Israel, US recall teams from Gaza truce talks; violence near aid distribution continues
On Friday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: Israel and the United States recalled their delegations from Gaza ceasefire talks for consultations Thursday. Plus, hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in mass shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centers. USA TODAY Senior National Columnist for Health and Wellness Laura Trujillo takes a closer look at President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein's relationship over the years. Two GOP senators call for a special counsel to probe former President Barack Obama over the 2016 Trump-Russia investigation. USA TODAY White House Correspondent Joey Garrison discusses a new executive order that makes it easier for cities and states to remove homeless people from the streets. Hulk Hogan has died at 71. Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Friday, July 25th, 2025. This is USA TODAY's The Excerpt. Today controversy over US humanitarian aid deliveries and Gaza as hunger concerns grow. Plus we discuss an executive order making it easier to remove homeless people from the streets. And we remember Hulk Hogan. ♦ Israel and the US recalled their delegations from Gaza ceasefire talks for consultations yesterday with US envoy, Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of failing to act in good faith in the talks. It marked the latest setback in efforts to secure a deal that would bring a ceasefire to Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Earlier this week, more than 100 largely aid and rights groups called for governments to take action as hunger spreads in Gaza. More than 800 people have been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in mass shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centers. Women going to pick up aid for their families yesterday said US contractors organizing distribution asked them to come to pick up goods and then fired tear gas and pepper spray at them. Asked for comment, a spokesperson for the aid organization, the GHF said a limited amount of pepper spray was used to prevent civilian injury due to overcrowding. GHF, a US and Israeli-backed organization began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May. The UN has called the GHF's model unsafe and a breach of humanitarian in impartiality standards, which GHF denies. Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University Alex de Waal outlined some of the criticisms speaking to Reuters. Alex de Waal: The ration that they are providing is less than the humanitarian ration provided by the United Nations. None of the specialized services such as supplementary therapeutic feeding for malnourished children are a part of this package. These are all the reasons why the United Nations and most professional humanitarians are very critical of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation scheme. Taylor Wilson: You can read more on ♦ Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche said he met Jeffrey Epstein's longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, yesterday and will meet her again today. She's serving a twenty-year sentence at a federal prison in Tallahassee after a jury convicted her of sex trafficking in 2021. The meetings come as President Donald Trump and his administration face continued pressure to release additional information about the Justice Department's investigation into Epstein. But what do we know about Trump and Epstein's relationship over the years? I spoke with USA TODAY Senior National Columnist for Health and Wellness Laura Trujillo for more. Laura, thank you so much for joining me on this. Laura Trujillo: Thanks for inviting me. Taylor Wilson: Let's just start here. How did the Trump, Epstein relationship originate? Laura Trujillo: From what we understand they really became friends around 1990. This is when Epstein bought a mansion about two miles from Trump's Mar-a-Lago, which he just bought about five years before. And they both, if you think about this, were really rich guys from New York, both really doing well and two miles isn't that far apart when you're two rich guys with mansions, you end up in the same social circles. We really don't know if they were best friends or something like that. We know they ran with the same group. We know they were at dinner parties together and at different events, but we're really not sure how close they were. Taylor Wilson: You touched on this, Laura, but in terms of where they would actually hang out, we know South Florida is involved here, New York City. Was this really about Mar-a-Lago? Was it about the infamous Epstein Island? Where would they run into each other? Laura Trujillo: It seems to be both New York and Florida, mostly at Mar-a-Lago. And that's a lot of photos that we have from events at Mar-a-Lago, mostly with models, with cheerleaders, parties, that type of thing. And in New York, we don't know at this point if there were trips to Epstein Island that has not shown up yet, but we also don't have all of the files. We know that Trump was on Epstein's plane between Florida and New York, but that doesn't tell us where he went. Taylor Wilson: Laura, I know you touched on this in your piece, how are modeling agencies and beauty pageants really a part of this story and their relationship? Laura Trujillo: Mostly Trump has talked about enjoying spending time with women and young women. He really didn't make a secret of this. Epstein lived a little bit quieter than Trump. I think we know that having heard Trump, he likes to talk about it. He bragged about getting access to young women on some interviews we've heard with Howard Stern. They both were involved with modeling agencies, so Epstein invested in one. We also later learned that Epstein used scouting models as a way to procure underage girls. With Trump, he started an agency in 1999. It had a lot of legacy models, and in fact, Melania was a model there before he met her. And it did have some teen models as well. Trump also, as we know, bought beauty pageants. He owned the Miss Universe Pageant, Miss Teen Pageant, and he seemed to really like to talk about that. And we've got stories of him going into the dressing rooms at these pageants and sort of making a joke about it. But I think sometimes when you hear quotes decades later, they may ring true in a different way. Taylor Wilson: All right, so Laura, what finally led to their falling out? Laura Trujillo: We think, which this is definitely a rich guy thing, they both wanted to buy the same mansion in Palm Beach, and it turned out that Trump outbid Epstein for it. And when he outbid him, it was for $41 million. And then Trump turned around and flipped it for 95 million a few years later to a Russian billionaire. And so that's one of the things people talk about. Another is that other reports say that Epstein and Trump broke up after Ghislaine Maxwell solicited the daughter of a Mar-a-Lago member. And the father complained to Trump, and that's when Trump said he kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago for being a creep, so we don't know exactly what happened, but we know that those were two things that have come up. We do know that Epstein was at Trump's wedding in 2005, but that's really the last time they've been linked. Taylor Wilson: All right, so how has Trump addressed Epstein since taking the Oval Office? Is there any difference this term also versus Trump's first term? Laura Trujillo: I have, in 2019, Trump was saying he wasn't a fan of Epstein. And at that point he also was alleging that Bill Clinton was connected to Epstein's death, so there was a real call at that time from Trump to learn more about the Epstein client list and to find out if there was this wider child abuse conspiracy. Moving forward into this term and this week, we've seen so much about Epstein just swirling around the President with the MAGA movement promising all of these revelations and Trump now seeming to say he's fine with these files being released, but we've got Republicans pushing back and so it's going to be interesting to see what happens. Taylor Wilson: Lots of developments still to come. Laura Trujillo is a senior national columnist covering health and wellness for USA TODAY. Thanks, Laura. Laura Trujillo: Thank you. ♦ Taylor Wilson: Two Republican senators are calling for the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether former President Barack Obama and his staff were involved in an effort to undermine Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The push by Senators Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn comes after national intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, in a press briefing earlier this week, alleged she had evidence the Obama administration promoted a contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump, arguing that it was not true. Russia did attempt to interfere in the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump, but according to former special counsel Robert Mueller's 2019 final report and a 2020 bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee assessment. Trump has long said the investigations into his first White House campaign and its connections with Russia are a hoax. ♦ President Trump yesterday took executive action, making it easier for cities and states to remove homeless people from the streets. I spoke with USA TODAY White House correspondent Joey Garrison to learn more. Thanks for joining me, Joey. Joey Garrison: Hey, thanks for having me on. Taylor Wilson: Joey, what will this executive order do about homelessness? Joey Garrison: President Trump took executive action on Thursday signing an order that really makes it easier for cities and states really encourages them to remove homeless people from the streets and from encampments and move them over to rehabilitation and treatment centers. This is done in a couple of ways. First of all, Trump is directing his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to challenge judicial precedents both at the federal and state levels, try to reverse those precedents and consent decrees that currently limit the ability of local and state governments to remove homeless people from the streets. The order also sets forth, though this part is a little unclear, redirecting federal funds to these centers where Trump wants to move homeless people to. And it's not clear exactly how much money will be allocated for this or from where that money is going to be coming from. And also, he's ordered several federal agencies, including HHS and HUD, to start prioritizing federal grants to states and cities that prohibit homeless encampments, so this is a direct incentive for the federal government to crack down on homelessness camps. And so that's the big things that this sweeping homeless EO from Trump seeks to accomplish. Taylor Wilson: And Joey, what did we hear from the White House about why they feel this is necessary in this moment? Joey Garrison: Trump has long talked about the homeless issue in the country. He makes the comments often about Washington DC when he is driving around in the presidential vehicle he looks out the window and sees these homelessness camps. It's always been something that he's talked about. It falls under this law and order umbrella that Trump has long talked about. And there are numbers to back up, the fact that homelessness is at an all-time high in the country right now, HUD does an annual count of the number of people sleeping on the streets on a single night each year. And last January 2024 they counted over 770,000 on a single night. That was a 18% increase over the previous year. And so there is an issue, of course, with the rise of homelessness in many cities. Taylor Wilson: Wow. Trump's action here follows a major Supreme Court move as well earlier this year on homeless camps, Joey, what did they decide? Can we go back to that for a moment? Joey Garrison: Yeah, that's a huge point, what's going on in the background here. In June, just a month ago, the Supreme Court ruled that individuals can be arrested and fined for sleeping and public spaces. They upheld a homelessness ban in a City of Grant Pass, Oregon that prohibits homeless people from sleeping outdoors. In that city they have fines starting at $250 per individual as well as jail time for repeat offenses. You have this opinion, which was a six three conservative majority ruling that essentially upholds cities and states banning homelessness in their communities. And so with that authority upheld by the Supreme Court, you're seeing this real proactive executive order from Trump for cities and states to really go after homelessness in their cities. Taylor Wilson: Well, Joey, as for this week's executive order, are we hearing any pushback? What do critics say about this latest action out of the White House? Joey Garrison: Not surprisingly, a lot of homelessness advocates are condemning this, and I think there's a lot of questions here. First of all, this idea of removing people from where they live on streets to centers. There's a lot of questions whether these rehabilitation centers, whether there's enough beds to house an entire homelessness population. You look at cities on the West Coast like Los Angeles and San Francisco, which have really large numbers of homeless people. I think a lot of homeless advocates say the best way is to address the housing problem right now in this country. The affordability issue with buying a home has never been greater really than it is right now. They argue that this isn't the right way to try to tackle this problem, that it's really rather inhumane to sweep the streets of people who are living there. Taylor Wilson: Joey Garrison covers the White House for USA TODAY. Thank you, Joey. Joey Garrison: Thanks so much. ♦ Taylor Wilson: Hulk Hogan has died. Hogan, whose legal name is Terry Bollea was influential on the rise of wrestling worldwide and WWE's first major star. As WWE became the dominant wrestling company, his stardom grew and he headlined the first nine editions of WrestleMania with his most iconic moment coming at WrestleMania III in 1987. Defending the World Heavyweight Championship against longtime rival, Andre the Giant Hogan picked him up and delivered the body slam heard around the world, and his popularity spread outside the ring with appearances and TV shows and movies. He wasn't without scandal though, he testified admitting he took steroids. And then in 2015 he was caught on tape making racist comments that severely tarnished his popularity and legacy. WWE distanced itself from Hogan in the fallout, but he eventually returned to making appearances with the company in 2018. He made his last appearance for WWE in January. Hulk Hogan was 71. ♦ Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. We're produced by Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan, and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods, and as always, you can email us at podcasts at I'm Taylor Wilson. I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.
