Category: Politics

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday suggested there is no “smoking gun” in the Jeffrey Epstein files as he seeks to downplay a case that’s long animated his MAGA supporters.

“If there was a ‘smoking gun’ on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the ‘files’ for four years, and had Garland and Comey in charge, use it? BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!” Trump wrote on his conservative social media platform.

The post comes after Trump announced Thursday night that he was ordering Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of additional Epstein material.

Trump said he asked Bondi to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval.”

Bondi, in response, said action could come in court as soon as Friday. But the release of any grand jury materials could take longer, subject to a legal process to consider impact on victims and ultimately approval of a federal judge.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Trump allegedly sent Epstein a letter in 2003 for his 50th birthday. The president is now threatening to sue the paper, and in an interview with the Journal, denied writing the letter. ABC News has not been able to confirm the existence of the letter.

“I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his ‘pile of garbage’ newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!” the president wrote on his social media platform Friday.

The move from Trump to order the attorney general to seek the release of additional grand jury material comes after a week of intense pressure from his MAGA supporters to do more on Epstein following a brief memo from the Justice Department and FBI stating no further disclosure “would be appropriate or warranted.”

The memo stated a review from the DOJ and FBI found no evidence that Epstein kept a so-called “client list” of associates or that he blackmailed any prominent individuals, and also confirmed the disgraced financier died by suicide in prison while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Bondi days ago had said the “memo speaks for itself.”

Between then and now, Trump has tried to tamp down intrigue into Epstein that’s been fueled by right-wing figures for years, including conspiracy theories of a “deep state” protecting the country’s elites.

He has called the Epstein files a “Democratic hoax” against him and those Republican supporters who are questioning his administration’s handling of them as “stupid” and “foolish.”

But his administration has shut down the idea of appointing a special prosecutor in the Epstein case.

“The idea was floated from someone in the media to the president. The president would not recommend a special prosecutor in the Epstein case. That’s how he feels,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at Thursday’s briefing.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, penned three separate letters to Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino to raise questions about discrepancies concerning the Epstein files and about the July 7 memo from the administration concerning Epstein.

Durbin wrote that his office received information that Bondi “pressured the FBI” to enlist 1,000 personnel, along with New York field office personnel, to review approximately 100,000 Epstein related records and to “flag” any records in which Trump was mentioned. He asked Bondi to respond to a number of questions concerning her personal review of the Epstein documents.

ABC News’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has unfrozen more than a billion dollars for critical after-school and summer education programming, a senior administration official told ABC News.

A pause on the funding happened on July 1 — so for the last 18 days, school districts and programs have been concerned that programs and staff could be eliminated if funding wasn’t restored.

“The programmatic review is over for 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC),” the senior administration official said. “Funds will be released to the states. Guardrails have been put in place to ensure these funds are not used in violation of Executive Orders,” the official said in a statement to ABC News.

The official did not provide further details on the “guardrails” for the program. 21st Century Community Learning Centers — the chief federal funding stream for after-school and summer-learning programs — supports more than 10,000 local programs serving more than 1 million children nationwide. Congress appropriated $1.329 billion for the programs this fiscal year.

Despite being relieved by this decision, Afterschool Alliance Executive Director Jodi Grant said the 18-day delay and uncertainty for the funding unfreeze caused real harm to impacted students and programs.

“While we are thrilled the funds will be made available and thank the bipartisan lawmakers and the state attorneys general who fought for their release, the administration’s inexplicable delay in disbursing them caused massive chaos and harm, with summer learning programs abruptly shutting down and a large number of afterschool programs cancelling plans to open in the fall,” Grant wrote in a statement. “Those programs have now fallen behind on hiring, outreach, contracting, and other work needed to fulfill their essential mission to keep students safe, inspire them to learn, and give working parents peace of mind that their kids will be safe and supervised when schools are out.”

The Office of Management and Budget did not indicate whether it would be unfreezing the rest of the roughly $6 billion in federal funds for programs such as English language acquisition, educator development and adult education, among others. A spokesman for OMB told ABC News that many of the programs “grossly misused” government funds to promote a “radical leftwing agenda.” The funds are still under a programmatic review.

The news comes just days after 10 Republican senators urged OMB Director Russ Vought to reverse the decision to withhold this funding for education programs already appropriated by Congress.

Led by Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the senators’ letter said the decision to pause this funding was “contrary to President Trump’s goal of returning K-12 education to the states.”

In a new statement, the West Virginia Republican said lifting the pause will help students in her state and across the country thrive.

“21st Century Community Learning Centers offer important services that many West Virginians rely on,” Moore Capito wrote in a statement. “This program supports states in providing quality after-school and summer learning programs for students while enabling their parents to work and contribute to local economies. We should be supporting education opportunities like these.”

Taking a victory lap, Moore Capito said the senators’ rare rebuke of Trump’s education policies prompted the actions by OMB, calling it “big news!”

“@RussVought45 just informed me that the @usedgov is releasing crucial funds to states that support after school and summer education programs,” Capito wrote in a post on X.

“This is in direct response to a letter I led my @SenateGOP colleagues on earlier this week!”

Meanwhile, 24 Democratic states and D.C. sued Trump this week over the administration’s education funding freeze, contending it was against the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 — says Congress must consider and review executive branch withholdings of budget authority.

Several state education leaders who spoke to ABC News say that they’re scrambling to prevent immediate harm to students as the school year approaches. OMB has not given a timeline on when the programmatic review for the other education programs will be completed.

Rhode Island Department of Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green said she fears for the future of education in her state and the entire country.

“These are dollars that were appropriated by Congress, and this hurts kids,” Infante-Green told ABC News, adding “There’s going to be a direct impact in every single school in our nation. And I think people forget that.”

Reacting to the news, Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield told ABC News that restoring the after-school and summer learning funding will be a “point of celebration” in Idaho. The state receives about $6 million from the 21st Century Community Learning Center grants, according to Critchfield. Still, she said there’s anxiety among educators across Idaho as the remaining funding is paused.

“I think for our school leaders right now, the focus on a timeline is really what we have been talking about,” Critchfield told ABC News.

“Are we talking about a delay? Are we talking about an elimination? When will that information be available?”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed the first major federal law governing cryptocurrency, a business that Trump’s family has begun forging strong ties to and has promoted in recent years.

The House of Representatives passed the GENIUS Act Thursday with bipartisan support, a month after it cleared the Senate. The bill, a key priority for the president, outlines specific regulations aimed at making a specific kind of digital currency called stablecoins more accessible and mainstream.

Over the last few years, Trump, once a crypto skeptic, has begun to tout himself as the most crypto-friendly commander in chief in U.S. history, and pushed for Congress to take up the issue on the campaign trail. The president, who launched his own crypto meme coin earlier this year, recently said he is a “fan of crypto” and called it a “very powerful industry” that the U.S. has “dominated.”

“I pledged that we would bring back American liberty and leadership and make the United States the crypto capital of the world. And that’s what we’ve done under the Trump administration,” he said at the signing.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrency that have their value tied to a stable asset like the U.S. dollar. The GENIUS Act makes it easier for banks and other entities to issue these coins, and is expected to increase public trust in the assets and growing the industry overall.

Traditionally, buyers use their personal bank accounts to buy a stablecoin, and then use the stablecoin to trade for some other kind of more volatile crypto, such as Bitcoin or something else.

“Our years of diligent work in Congress to bring clarity to payment stablecoins have reached a historic turning point. President Trump called on Congress to send him landmark legislation to his desk by August, and we have delivered,” Republican Rep. French Hill, the chairman of the House’s Financial Services Committee, said in a statement.

The bill passed following a stalemate among House Republicans after it stalled for nine hours before it made it to a debate.

Although many Democrats, including House leaders, backed the bill, some expressed concerns that the bill doesn’t stop public officials from pushing their personal coins and profiting from anonymous transactions.

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, slammed the bill, pointing to a firm with ties to the Trump family that recently launched its own stablecoin and could benefit from the currency being more widely used.

A company associated with the Trump family owns a 60% stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture, which launched USD1, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, this spring.

Trump’s image is all over the firm’s website, which once dubbed him “chief crypto advocate” and has since changed his title to “co-founder emeritus.”

“The Unstable Act creates the appearance of a federal framework for stablecoins, but it does not provide the federal government with the full authority it needs,” Waters said Thursday before the vote.

World Liberty Financial said in a previous statement to ABC News that it is “a private company with no ties to the U.S. government.”

Trump and his family have fully immersed themselves in the cryptocurrency marketplace, developing not only the $TRUMP meme coin, but also a bitcoin mining firm and a crypto reserve.

The White House has insisted that there are no conflicts of interest in the crypto ventures, stating that Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children.

It will take some time before the public sees changes outlined in the bill. After Trump signs the law, federal regulators will have six months to come up with specific regulations.

The House also passed the CLARITY Act, a market structure package that sets the rules for assets that are overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission or commodities that are regulated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. That measure now heads to the Senate.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent decision to consider redrawing his state’s congressional districts mid-decade, which could eke out more seats for the Republican Party, has prompted Democrats to issue new threats to draw Republicans out of seats in blue states.

Redistricting plans are expected during an upcoming special session, which will begin on July 21, interspersed into an agenda focused on flood preparation and relief after major flooding in central Texas. The special session can only last a maximum of 30 days.

The Republican-controlled state legislature drew the current map in 2021, which was set to remain in effect until 2031.

President Donald Trump’s political operation floated the prospect last month, in efforts to shore up the GOP’s fragile House majority, to tepid responses from the state’s Congressional delegation. Yet, just this week, Trump rubber-stamped the effort, and wants his party to pick up five seats if Texas redraws its Congressional maps. He suggested that there “could be” other states that follow suit. He did not specify which states.

State Republicans have some prior precedent of shifting things around— in 2003, Texas Republicans attempted to tweak their districts mid-cycle. In trying to thwart the effort, around 50 Democrats at the time fled to neighboring Oklahoma, denying the session a quorum, and paralyzing the legislative session. Even still, the Democrats were only able to delay talks and Republicans eventually successfully redistricted that session.

Democrats are pushing back.

On Monday, state lawmakers held a call with U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, and former Attorney General Eric Holder regarding the special session. They did not directly encourage members to stage a walkout, a source who was on that call told ABC News. Still, the source added the state House members are continuing to keep all their options open.

California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom is being more explicit – telling the Pod Save America podcast that he has spoken to state lawmakers about calling a special session to begin making changes to state law in order to redraw their districts in response to Abbott.

“If we’re gonna play fair in a world that is wholly unfair, we may have the higher moral ground, but the ground is shifting from underneath us. And I think we have to wake up to that reality,” Newsom said.

California has an independent redistricting commission intended to prevent gerrymandering, but Paul Mitchell, an elections and redistricting expert, said Newsom could go around the commission either by getting voters’ approval on a ballot measure in a special election or by arguing in court.

A potential ballot measure could halt the commission’s authority to draw congressional districts until other states began using similar commissions, and “could all be done in time for the next election” without legal issues. The biggest uncertainty in this scenario would be whether or not voters would support it.

Alternatively, Newsom could argue the commission only has authority over decade-end redistricting, but the legislature can still redistrict mid-decade. Mitchell said it was a coin toss whether the California Supreme Court would uphold this argument.

Jeffries huddled with California’s congressional delegation to discuss the prospect Wednesday, a source familiar said. Experts suggested to ABC that other Democratic-held states could follow California’s lead, such as New York, Maryland or Illinois, but it’s unclear if there would be a significant strategic advantage.

Marina Jenkins, the executive director Holder’s National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in a statement that Republicans are trying to “suppress votes” and believes an “an immediate avalanche of lawsuits” will come if the maps are redrawn.

“This moment requires all hands on deck to stop them,” said Jenkins.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation, and Rep. Pete Aguilar, Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, stated in a joint announcement that Texas’ “egregious” redistricting attempts “cannot go unanswered.”

A spokesperson for Abbott, asked about such accusations, wrote, “While partisan activists focus solely on political issues, Governor Abbott is dedicated to delivering results on issues important to Texans,” including flood relief.

Chad Wilbanks, a Republican strategist and former Texas GOP executive director, told ABC News, “The Republicans I talk to are very supportive of a mid-decade redistricting.” He thinks that the GOP could gain at least three seats thanks to population changes in the state.

Wilbanks dismissed Democrats’ claim that the redistricting gambit is politically motivated as “standard politics.”

Democrats are going on offense regardless. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of House Democrats, made a verbal commitment to Texas Congressional Democrats to invest six figures to support digital ads and other actions to pressure Republicans over redistricting attempts, a source close to the committee told ABC News. Martin traveled to Texas on Friday at the invitation of state Democrats to strategize on next steps.

“If Texas Republicans want a showdown, we will give them a showdown,” Martin said in a statement.

ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Facing uproar from his MAGA base over the Jeffrey Epstein files, President Donald Trump has called for Attorney General Pam Bondi “to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval” related to the case.

Bondi responded on social media Thursday evening, saying, “We are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”

It’s not immediately clear from the social media postings how extensive the administration’s request to unseal the transcripts would be.

The release of any grand jury materials, which are secret, would be subject to a legal process and the approval of a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, where Epstein was charged before he died by suicide in 2019.

A judge would likely consider the impact of the release on victims, which courts have gone to great lengths to protect, as well as any parties who may be implicated in the case and want the information to remain secret.

Crucially, the 2019 case pertains to allegations against Epstein and his alleged sex crimes, not the broader questions posed by many of Trump’s supporters about who else, if anyone, might have been involved.

The DOJ and FBI have numerous other unclassified records in the case that they said they will not disclose, despite vowing in February to “release the remaining documents upon review and redaction to protect the identities of Epstein’s victims.”

An “evidence list” released in February offers a roadmap to some of these unreleased records, including visitor records to Epstein’s private island as well as wiretap records for his convicted associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

Earlier this month, the DOJ and FBI released a memo stating no further records in the case would be released, saying “much of the material is subject to court-ordered sealing” and that the agencies “will not permit the release of child pornography” or sensitive details pertaining to the victims.

The agencies found no evidence that Epstein kept a “client list” of associates or that he blackmailed any prominent individuals and concluded no investigation into uncharged third party was warranted.

The brief memo put out by the DOJ and FBI stoked furor among Trump’s diehard supporters after years of prominent right-wing figures pushing accusations about Epstein and the “deep state” that’s protecting elites.

Trump’s since sought various ways to put out the political firestorm, coming to Bondi’s defense while also saying she should release what she deems “credible.”

Shifting explanation from Trump

In Trump’s call for Bondi to produce the grand jury testimony, he said it was a “SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats,” and that it “should end, right now!”

This is a shift from his previous statement of calling the Epstein files a “hoax” and those Republican supporters who are questioning his administration’s handling of it as “stupid” and “foolish.”

Trump, in a phone interview with “Just the News” on Real America’s Voice on Wednesday night, alleged without providing evidence that Democrats and former officials doctored files relating to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.

The comments came when Trump was asked if he wanted one prosecutor to look into the broad subject of political prosecution.

“Well, I think it’s in the case of Epstein, they’ve already looked at it, and they are looking at it, and I think all they have to do is put out anything credible,” Trump said.

“But you know, that was run by the Biden administration for four years. I can imagine what they put into files, just like they did with the others,” Trump continued. “I mean, the Steele dossier was a total fake, right? It took two years to figure that out for the people, and all of the things that you mentioned were fake.”

“So I would imagine if they were run by Chris Wray and they were run by Comey, and because it was actually even before that administration, they’ve been running these files, and so much of the things that we found were fake with me,” Trump said.

Despite Trump’s claims that Democrats “put” things in the files, many documents relating to Epstein, including those that mention Trump and several prominent Democrats, have been public for years.

No special prosecutor

And the White House on Thursday shut down the idea of appointing a special prosecutor in the Epstein case.

“The idea was floated from someone in the media to the president. The president would not recommend a special prosecutor in the Epstein case. That’s how he feels,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the briefing.

Asked to clarify what part of the Epstein saga is a “hoax” as Trump claimed, Leavitt only continued to criticize Democrats.

“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, which is an asinine suggestion for any Democrat to make,” she said. “The Democrats had control of this building, the White House, for four years, and they didn’t do a dang thing when it came to transparency in regards to Jeffrey Epstein and his heinous crimes.”

Epstein was arrested in 2019 and died in prison by suicide while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges while Trump was president.

“Some of the naive Republicans fall right into line, like they always do,” the president said on “Just the News.”

Calls for transparency

Calls for transparency on Epstein came from several Republicans on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. And Trump’s own former vice president, Mike Pence, called for the administration to “release all of the files” regarding the Epstein investigation.

Leavitt on Thursday defended the administration’s handling of the Epstein files and attempted to distance Trump from further decision-making on the case.

Leavitt said it would be up to the Justice Department and Bondi to release any other “credible” evidence.

“In terms of redactions or grand jury seals, those are questions for the Department of Justice. Those are also questions for the judges who have that information under a seal. And that would have to be requested and judge would have to approve it. That’s out of the president’s control,” she said when asked why they wouldn’t release the files, with sensitive information redacted, in order to provide more transparency.

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(WASHINGTON) — Annie Tomasini on Friday became the third Biden administration official to plead the Fifth Amendment in a House panel’s investigation into former President Joe Biden’s mental fitness and use of a presidential autopen while in office.

Tomasini was called on to appear before the Republican-led House Oversight Committee for a closed-door interview.

Tomasini, who served as the deputy chief of staff to Biden, invoked the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and declined to answer questions, according to Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer.

Comer, who did not attend the hearing on Friday, subsequently criticized what he called a “pattern of key Biden confidants seeking to shield themselves from criminal liability.”

“It’s unbelievable that Ms. Tomasini and others refuse to answer basic questions about President Biden’s fitness to serve. It’s apparent they would rather hide key information to protect themselves and Joe Biden than be truthful with the American people about this historic scandal,” Comer said in a statement.

Tomasini didn’t take questions from reporters as she left the Rayburn House Office Building Friday.

Tomasini’s lawyer provided a statement to the committee, which was obtained by ABC News, on her reasons for invoking the Fifth Amendment.

“The Committee has asked Ms. Tomasini to testify in connection with an investigation into use of the autopen,” the statement, signed by Tomasini’s counsel Jonathan Su, read. “There is no actual evidence of wrongdoing by Ms. Tomasini, and President Biden has already confirmed that he made all decisions concerning the grants of clemency at the end of his term.”

“It is well known that there is an ongoing federal criminal investigation into this matter by the Department of Justice, ordered by the current White House,” the statement continued. “This past week, the Chairman suggested that it is ‘very possible’ the investigation could generate criminal referrals to the Department of Justice. Under these circumstances, any reasonable person would seriously consider an invocation of their Fifth Amendment rights.”

The House panel has requested several interviews with former Biden officials as part of their probe.

Earlier this week, Anthony Bernal, who served as assistant to the president and chief of staff to the first lady in the Biden administration, also invoked the Fifth Amendment in his deposition.

“The record is also clear that persons of the full range of the political spectrum, in recent and historical Congressional investigations, have invoked their Fifth Amendment rights to decline to answer questions from Congress. Any suggestion that such an invocation is itself evidence of wrongdoing would be highly irresponsible and flatly wrong, particularly from those elected to represent the people and uphold the Constitution,” Bernal’s lawyer wrote in a letter to the committee obtained by ABC News.

After Bernal’s deposition, Comer told reporters that former Vice President Kamala Harris and former first lady Jill Biden “should” be subpoenaed in the committee’s probe.

The House panel had also subpoenaed Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s White House physician, for testimony.

O’Connor, too, declined to answer questions when he briefly appeared before the committee for a transcribed interview. He cited both the Fifth Amendment and physician-patient privilege. After, the House Oversight Committee took the unprecedented step of releasing a video of the deposition that occurred behind closed doors.

The committee also released a video of Bernal’s deposition and is likely to do so for Tomasini as well.

Neera Tanden, who served as the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Biden, sat for several hours of testimony in late June. When asked after by reporters if there was an effort to disguise Biden’s condition, Tanden replied: “Absolutely not.”

Biden himself rejected reports of cognitive decline during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” in early May.

“They are wrong. There’s nothing to sustain that,” Biden said at the time.

ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is slated Friday to sign the first major federal law governing cryptocurrency, a business that Trump’s family have begun forging strong ties to and have promoted in recent years.

The House of Representatives passed the GENIUS Act Thursday with bipartisan support, a month after it cleared the Senate. The bill, a key priority for the president, outlines specific regulations aimed at making a specific kind of digital currency called stablecoins more accessible and mainstream.

Over the last few years, Trump, once a crypto skeptic, has begun to tout himself as the most crypto-friendly commander in chief in U.S. history, and pushed for Congress to take up the issue on the campaign trail. The president, who launched his own crypto meme coin earlier this year, recently said he is a “fan of crypto” and called it a “very powerful industry” that the U.S. has “dominated.”

“I’m president. And what I did do there is build an industry that’s very important,” Trump said last month. “If we didn’t have it, China would.”

Stablecoins are cryptocurrency that have their value tied to a stable asset like the U.S. dollar. The GENIUS Act makes it easier for banks and other entities to issue these coins, and is expected to increase public trust in the assets and growing the industry overall.

Traditionally, buyers use their personal bank accounts to buy a stablecoin, and then use the stablecoin to trade for some other kind of more volatile crypto, such as Bitcoin or something else.

“Our years of diligent work in Congress to bring clarity to payment stablecoins have reached a historic turning point. President Trump called on Congress to send him landmark legislation to his desk by August, and we have delivered,” Republican Rep. French Hill, the chairman of the House’s Financial Services Committee, said in a statement.

The bill passed following a stalemate among House Republicans after it stalled for nine hours before it made it to a debate.

Although many Democrats, including House leaders, backed the bill, some expressed concerns that the bill doesn’t stop public officials from pushing their personal coins and profiting from anonymous transactions.

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, slammed the bill, pointing to a firm with ties to the Trump family that recently launched its own stablecoin and could benefit from the currency being more widely used.

A company associated with the Trump family owns a 60% stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture, which launched USD1, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, this spring.

Trump’s image is all over the firm’s website, which once dubbed him “chief crypto advocate” and has since changed his title to “co-founder emeritus.”

“The Unstable Act creates the appearance of a federal framework for stablecoins, but it does not provide the federal government with the full authority it needs,” Waters said Thursday before the vote.

World Liberty Financial said in a previous statement to ABC News that it is “a private company with no ties to the U.S. government.”

Trump and his family have fully immersed themselves in the cryptocurrency marketplace, developing not only the $TRUMP meme coin, but also a bitcoin mining firm and a crypto reserve.

The White House has insisted that there are no conflicts of interest in the crypto ventures, stating that Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children.

It will take some time before the public sees changes outlined in the bill. After Trump signs the law, federal regulators will have six months to come up with specific regulations.

The House also passed the CLARITY Act, a market structure package that sets the rules for assets that are overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission or commodities that are regulated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. That measure now heads to the Senate.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Recent court filings suggest the Trump administration “misled federal judges, Congress, and the American people” about a deal between the U.S. and El Salvador to detain over 200 Venezuelan migrants at the notorious mega-prison known as CECOT, four Democratic ranking members of House committees said in a letter.

The letter, reviewed by ABC News, was sent Thursday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and calls on officials to turn over any and all agreements between the U.S. and El Salvador, which have not been made public.

The letter cites court filings that appear to contradict the administration’s contention that migrants sent to the prison are solely under the jurisdiction of the government of El Salvador.

According to those filings, submitted July 7 in a case challenging the removal of Venezuelan migrants from the U.S., the government of El Salvador told a United Nations working group that the men in CECOT deported from the U.S. remain the “legal responsibility” of the United States.

“In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities, by virtue of international agreements signed and in accordance with the principles of sovereignty and international cooperation in criminal matters,” El Salvador officials said in a report to the U.N.

In their letter, the ranking members said the filing “indicates that the Department of Justice has misled federal courts in assertions regarding the agreement with El Salvador.”

ABC News has reached out to DHS and the State Department for comment on the letter.

The Trump administration has insisted for months that it is unable to return any of the migrants sent to CECOT because they’re under El Salvador’s authority.

In March, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime authority, to deport two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador as part of a $6 million deal the administration struck with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele to house migrant detainees as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The Trump administration argued that the men who were deported are members of Tren de Aragua which the government has deemed a foreign terrorist organization and a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the country.

However, one ICE official said in a sworn declaration submitted in federal court that many of the noncitizens who were deported did not have criminal records in the United States because “they have only been in the United States for a short period of time.”

The Democrats’ letter also highlighted reporting by The New York Times that said the deal between the U.S. and Bukele, also included an agreement to return some top leaders of the MS-13 gang who allegedly had knowledge of a “corrupt bargain” between Bukele and the gang “that has played a significant role in the decrease in gang violence in El Salvador.” ABC News has not independently confirmed that reporting.

In addition to the U.S.-El Salvador agreement, the lawmakers are asking the Trump administration to provide information about how it screens migrants with valid asylum claims or withholding of removal orders, and Convention Against Torture protection claims before they’re removed from the country.

“Congress has the right and the obligation to conduct oversight over the executive branch and determine what deals our government has struck with a foreign dictator to imprison individuals seized in the United States in an effort to place them beyond the reaches of our courts,” they wrote.

The signers of the letter were Reps. Jamie Raskin, of Maryland; Bennie Thompson, of Mississippi; Robert Garcia, of California; and Gregory Meeks, of New York.

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(WASHINGTON) — Facing uproar in his MAGA base over the Jeffrey Epstein files, President Donald Trump has called for Attorney General Pam Bondi “to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval” related to the case.

Bondi responded on social media Thursday evening, saying, “We are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”

It’s not immediately clear the extent of the administration’s request to unseal the transcripts, which would be subject to the approval of a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, where Epstein was charged before he died by suicide in 2019.

This change of course comes after the Justice Department and the FBI released a memo earlier this month stating no evidence was found that Epstein kept a “client list” of associates or that he blackmailed any prominent individuals. The memo concluded no investigation into uncharged third party was warranted.

The brief memo put out by the DOJ and FBI last week stoked furor among Trump’s diehard supporters after years of prominent right-wing figures pushing accusations about Epstein and the “deep state” that’s protecting elites.

Trump’s since sought various ways to put out the political firestorm, coming to Bondi’s defense while also saying she should release what she deems “credible.”

In Trump’s call for Bondi to produce the grand jury testimony, he said it was a “SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats,” and that it “should end, right now!”

Shifting from his previous statement of calling the Epstein files a “hoax” and those Republican supporters who are questioning his administration’s handling of it as “stupid” and “foolish.”

Trump, in a phone interview with “Just the News” on Real America’s Voice on Wednesday night, alleged without providing evidence that Democrats and former officials doctored files relating to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.

The comments came when Trump was asked if he wanted one prosecutor to look into the broad subject of political prosecution.

“Well, I think it’s in the case of Epstein, they’ve already looked at it, and they are looking at it, and I think all they have to do is put out anything credible,” Trump said.

“But you know, that was run by the Biden administration for four years. I can imagine what they put into files, just like they did with the others,” Trump continued. “I mean, the Steele dossier was a total fake, right? It took two years to figure that out for the people, and all of the things that you mentioned were fake.”

“So I would imagine if they were run by Chris Wray and they were run by Comey, and because it was actually even before that administration, they’ve been running these files, and so much of the things that we found were fake with me,” Trump said.
Despite Trump’s claims that Democrats “put” things in the files, many documents relating to Epstein, including those that mention Trump and several prominent Democrats, have been public for years.

And the White House on Thursday shut down the idea of appointing a special prosecutor in the Epstein case.

“The idea was floated from someone in the media to the president. The president would not recommend a special prosecutor in the Epstein case. That’s how he feels,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the briefing.

Asked to clarify what part of the Epstein saga is a “hoax” as Trump claimed, Leavitt only continued to criticize Democrats.

“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, which is an asinine suggestion for any Democrat to make,” she said. “The Democrats had control of this building, the White House, for four years, and they didn’t do a dang thing when it came to transparency in regards to Jeffrey Epstein and his heinous crimes.”

Epstein was arrested in 2019 and died in prison by suicide while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges while Trump was president.

“Some of the naive Republicans fall right into line, like they always do,” the president said on “Just the News.”
Calls for transparency on Epstein came from several Republicans on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. And Trump’s own former vice president, Mike Pence, called for the administration to “release all of the files” regarding the Epstein investigation.

Leavitt on Thursday defended the administration’s handling of the Epstein files and attempted to distance Trump from further decision-making on the case.

Leavitt said it would be up to the Justice Department and Bondi to release any other “credible” evidence.

“In terms of redactions or grand jury seals, those are questions for the Department of Justice. Those are also questions for the judges who have that information under a seal. And that would have to be requested and judge would have to approve it. That’s out of the president’s control,” she said when asked why they wouldn’t release the files, with sensitive information redacted, in order to provide more transparency.

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(WASHINGTON) — In a major win for President Donald Trump, the Republican-led House narrowly passed a White House request to claw back $9 billion from the federal budget, including funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting.

The final vote was 216-213.

Trump requested the cuts, which include significant reductions to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), formalizing some of the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency by striking $9.4 billion from the previously approved federal budget.

Two Republicans in the House voted against the measure: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mike Turner of Ohio.

The measure now heads to Trump’s desk for signature.

House Speaker Mike Johnson celebrated the passage of the $9 billion rescissions package and said there would be additional rescissions bills coming.

“This isn’t the end, it’s the beginning,” he said.

House passage came a day after the Senate narrowly approved the measure.

The vote in the Senate was 51-48 with Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voting with Democrats against the rescissions bill.

A number of Republicans that represent states with rural communities — such as Murkowski of Alaska and Mike Rounds of South Dakota — have expressed concerns about cuts to public broadcasting that could affect the ability of certain communities to access emergency alerts.

The final vote in Senate happened after an hourslong and slow-moving vote-a-rama — or marathon voting session — during which Democrats offered numerous amendments to the bill. The bulk of Democratic amendments focused on trying to fight back against cuts to both public broadcast and global health that are in the bill.

The Senate’s process to advance the package began on Tuesday night when Republicans narrowly advanced the rescissions package with the assist of the tie-breaking vote of Vice President J.D. Vance.

Three Republicans crossed the aisle on Tuesday night to cast votes against the bill after raising concerns about the lack of detail in the White House’s rescission plan: Sens. Collins, Murkowski and Mitch McConnell.
 

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