Latest news with #TrumpWhiteHouse
The Independent
17-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Lawmakers are trying to run home for the summer before they are forced to vote on Epstein controversy
GOP lawmakers are itching to leave Washington, D.C. for the summer as fears mount over a potential vote on the full release of the so-called 'Epstein files' – as the saga continues to embroil the Trump White House. House Republican leaders have faced internal pressure to send members home, POLITICO reported, amid suggestions of a bipartisan 'discharge petition' that would force a vote. The petition effort was launched Tuesday by Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, according to the outlet. It could be ready for signatures and a floor vote as soon as next week. Previous efforts by the Democrats to corner the GOP on a vote have been unsuccessful, despite discontent within Republican ranks about the Trump administration's handling of the information's release. The president himself has expressed his frustration on multiple occasions with his MAGA support base's obsession with the files, despite the Justice Department 's release of a memo stating there was no evidence to support a so-called 'client list' belonging to the disgraced financier. The unsatisfying conclusion to the hyped-up saga has incited the wrath of right-wing influencers as well as House Republicans. Foreshadowing his petition, Massie promised to force a House vote on 'releasing the COMPLETE files,: while Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene blasted: '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.' However, according to POLITICO, the hope among GOP ranks is that Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise will cancel next week's scheduled House session and instead send members home for an extended summer recess once voting concludes Thursday or Friday. If this happens, members will avoid a potential vote next week and the issue may be less of interest by the time they return to Washington in September. However, on Thursday, Punchbowl News reported that Johnson's leadership team was discussing an Epstein-related resolution to quell the unrest. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was pummelled with questions about the ongoing saga, saying that she did not know if Trump had knowledge of the files' contents, and blasting the Democrats for their fixation. In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump called the ongoing interest in the Epstein files a 'scam' and a 'hoax' put on by 'Radical Left Democrats.' Asked about Trump's use of the word 'hoax' on Thursday, Leavitt replied: 'The president is referring to the fact that Democrats have now seized on this as if they ever wanted transparency when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein.' 'The week was a big kick in the balls,' a senior administration official told Rolling Stone on Wednesday.
Fox News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
White House investigating Biden use of autopen in sprawling probe of ‘incompetent and senile' former president
EXCLUSIVE: The White House is investigating former President Joe Biden's use of the autopen, with senior administration officials telling Fox News Digital that they already are reviewing tens of thousands of documents turned over by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Officials told Fox News Digital that the White House Counsel's Office is leading the investigation, but said that they are coordinating with the Justice Department. The investigation is focused on communications and other records related to Biden's use of the autopen. A senior administration official told Fox News Digital that they are not yet ready to discuss any discoveries, but said that NARA already has provided more than 27,000 records to the White House. "Joe Biden was the worst, most incompetent, and senile president in our country's history," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital Tuesday. "It has been widely reported that Joe Biden handed the power of the presidency to an autopen controlled by unelected leftist staffers, who were allowed to make terrible decisions that destroyed our country." "The Trump White House is committed to finding the answers to the many outstanding questions the American people still have about how business in the Biden White House was conducted," she said. The official told Fox News Digital that they expect to review upward of one million documents. As for access to records held by NARA, the official said that each sitting president has access to documents held by the archives from the prior administration. Senior administration officials told Fox News Digital that the scope of the review covers relevant documents related to Biden's presidency and use of the autopen over several years, in an effort to bring transparency to the American people regarding the former president's health. Officials also said they are specifically reviewing whether there was any policy in place to safeguard the use of the autopen. "What did the former president direct, versus what he did not," one official explained. "The only time a legitimate use of the autopen should happen is if the president said he wanted something done, or if he was asked for his approval." "This has been a priority for the administration since the beginning," another official said. "The president's signature is one of the most important signatures in the world." "Was the autopen inappropriately used?" an official asked. "The White House and DOJ are reviewing documents through NARA and expect to do a deep dive on hundreds of thousands more documents." Biden used the autopen to sign a slew of documents while in office. Biden also used the autopen to sign final pardons, including preemptive pardons for members of his family, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley and members and staff of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. He only signed one pardon by hand, for his son Hunter, after vowing to the American people for months he would not do so. In his final weeks in office, Biden granted clemency and pardoned more than 1,500 individuals, in what the White House described at the time as the largest single-day act of clemency by a U.S. president. An autopen is a machine that physically holds a pen and features programming to imitate a person's signature. Unlike a stamp or a digitized print of a signature, the autopen has the capability to hold various types of pens like a ballpoint to a permanent marker, according to descriptions of autopen machines available for purchase. "The question is, did Biden surrender his Article II executive authorities to unelected staffers that the American people don't know, and to a machine that holds the same legal authority as his right hand, because he wasn't capable of doing the job?" one official said. "Did unelected staffers, radical staffers, use the power of this machine to radically transform America?" Biden, in a recent interview with the New York Times, defended his use of the autopen, saying that he "made every decision" on his own. "We're talking about (granting clemency to) a whole lot of people," Biden said. However, the Times reported that Biden "did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people," according to the former president and his aides. Congressional committees, like the House Oversight Committee, also are investigating the use of the autopen and Biden's health while in office. A senior administration official recognized their simultaneous effort, but stressed that the White House Counsel's investigation is completely separate from the congressional probe. Officials told Fox News Digital that the investigation is a "massive effort," and one that they hope to finish "as soon as possible." "Lawyers are working diligently to get answers," one official said. "It is important for the American people to know to what extent the media played a cover-up on Biden's well-being, and which signatures were at his direction and which were at the direction of his staff." The official added: "They elected a president — not a staff." As for Trump, officials told Fox News Digital that he does not use the autopen for anything that could be considered official business. The only time Trump may use the autopen is for unofficial business, including correspondence, letters for birthdays, or commissioned records for widely shared documents. "Nothing that would be considered official business," a White House official told Fox News Digital. "Every executive order signing has been public and the president has signed these documents live and in person." Trump, in June, sent a memo to the Department of Justice directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the autopen use, and to determine whether it was related to a decline in Biden's mental state.
The Independent
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Military leaders aghast as Meta founder Zuckerberg crashes classified Oval Office meeting on fighter jets: report
So a Facebook founder walks into an Oval Office meeting ... No, it's not the start of a bad joke, just the latest reminder that In Donald Trump's White House, the easiest way to avoid being surprised is to remember that anything can happen. Air Force leaders learned that lesson earlier this year when they arrived for a top-secret briefing with Trump in the Oval Office, which according to NBC News was scheduled for them to discuss plans for America's sixth-generation fighter aircraft, dubbed the F-47 in a nod to Trump's status as the 47th President of the United States. As the generals were going over the details of the super-stealthy plane, which Trump has called the most advanced, capable and lethal combat aircraft platform ever built, they were startled by the appearance of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg popping into the Oval Office. According to NBC, White House officials became concerned that Zuckerberg, one of the wealthiest men in the world, lacked the security clearance required to be present for talks about such a sensitive national security matter. With that in mind, Zuckerberg was politely asked to step out of the Oval while the conversation continued, though other Trump aides wandered in and out to show the president information on computer screens while his mobile phone rang intermittently. The incident, which one administration official said was an example of the 'bizarro world' atmosphere in the Trump White House, reportedly rattled the generals in attendance, who were 'mystified and a bit unnerved' by the lack of privacy in the Oval Office — so much so that they 'quietly discussed among themselves whether the visitors and calls might have compromised sensitive information' afterwards. But the freewheeling atmosphere they encountered during their effort to brief the president on a top-secret fighter plane project has been part and parcel of how Trump has transformed the West Wing since returning to power this past January. The president reportedly has taken to referring to the Oval Office — the iconic inner sanctum of American executive power — as 'Grand Central Terminal,' comparing it to the bustling train station of his native New York City. For the most part, he's not wrong to do so. Unlike in most other administrations where the president's office is a tightly-controlled environment with only a select few top aides given so-called 'walk-in privileges,' Trump's Oval is the center of his world of friends, confidantes, advisers and employees who often mill about nearby in the West Wing, even when they might not have much to do there. Even Trump's cabinet secretaries, who ostensibly have their own, often ornate offices and large bureaucracies to attend to themselves, have taken to spending time at the White House to pop in and out of meetings with top Trump aides, such as Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. One person who has been on the inside for such meetings told NBC: 'No one wants to miss the decision.' Trump himself also contributes to this dynamic by routinely asking people who've come for one meeting to stay around for another one. One White House aide who spoke to The Independent on condition of anonymity said the freewheeling atmosphere there is a product of Trump's nature as a 'people person.' 'He likes to schmooze and bounce things off of whoever is around,' the aide said.
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Karoline Leavitt's ‘Have To Save Face' Jab Instantly Backfires
Critics mockingly declared the Trump White House an irony-free zone on Thursday following talk of totalitarian regime tactics by press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Leavitt was asked during a briefing to respond to remarks from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who in his first comments since the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities and the announcement of a ceasefire with Israel had defiantly declared that Iran would 'never surrender' to the United States. 'Look, we saw the Ayatollah's video, and when you have a totalitarian regime, you have to save face,' Leavitt replied. 'I think any commonsense, open-minded person knows the truth about the precision strikes on Saturday night. They were wildly successful,' she added, despite ongoing debate over the actual claimed effectiveness in destroying Iran's capabilities to build nuclear weapons. Leavitt without a trace of irony: "When you have a totalitarian regime, you have to save face. I think any common sense, open-minded person knows the truth about the precision strikes on Saturday night. They were wildly successful." — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 26, 2025 The 'totalitarian regime' having to 'save face' line was too ironic for many critics online: This is Sean Spicer on steroids telling reporters it was the biggest inauguration crowd ever. — Victorious 🇪🇺🇲🇩🇷🇴🇺🇦🇳🇿🇨🇦🇬🇧✌️ (@punclizme) June 26, 2025 Comedy gold — Congressman Brendan Boyle (@RepBrendanBoyle) June 26, 2025 UMMMMMMMMM Lack of self awareness 11 out of 10 🚨 — Spiro's Ghost (@AntiToxicPeople) June 26, 2025 She genuinely is an irony free zone. Hilarious — Andy Woodard (@andynwoodard) June 27, 2025 The irony is lost on her — Gamecock Joe- Beamer Train!! GTF ON or STFU (@joeblowgamecock) June 26, 2025 Lol did she just tell on herself and the regime she works in? — Booch (@Booch222) June 26, 2025 'When you have a totalitarian regime' - Levitt — Colin Gubbins (@RitleySammich) June 26, 2025 Wow I mean Orwell would be impressed... — Lib Dunk (@libdunkmedia) June 26, 2025 This is peak irony. — 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢 (@ChidiNwatu) June 26, 2025 MAGA has absolutely no sense of self-awareness. — Ricksteroni (@BoldlyCatholic) June 26, 2025 They have k*led irony and mastered the art of the ALTERNATIVE REALITY and gaslighting so much so they've gaslit themselves. It was the stupidest of times. 😒 — Dj Omega Mvp (@DjOmegaMVP) June 26, 2025 Dem Sen. Patty Murray Trolls Trump With Hilariously Brutal Taste Of His Own Medicine Dr. Oz's 'Completely Incoherent' Credit Card Flub Has Critics Saying, What?!? 'Doesn't Take An Einstein': Jasmine Crockett Hits Trump With Sharp Melania Swipe
Bloomberg
27-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Von Der Leyen Says EU Will Be Ready If US Trade Talks Break Down
The European Union is prepared for all eventualities in its trade negotiations with the US, including for a breakdown in talks, Ursula von der Leyen said, after discussing the latest proposals from the Trump White House with the bloc's leaders. The European Commission president said at a press conference in the early hours of Friday that her team is still assessing the latest US tariff offer.
