(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court should hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal of her 2021 sex trafficking conviction because the government has an “obligation to honor” a non-prosecution agreement with Jeffrey Epstein that inoculated Maxwell from any criminal charges, her lawyers argued in a brief to the Supreme Court Monday.
“Plea and non-prosecution agreements resolve nearly every federal case. They routinely include promises that extend to others—co-conspirators, family members, potential witnesses. If those promises mean different things in different parts of the country, then trust in our system collapses,” the brief said.
Federal prosecutors have argued that the non-prosecution agreement applied only in Florida and did not bind New York, where charges against him, and subsequently Maxwell, were brought.
Maxwell’s attorneys argued the terms of the NPA Epstein signed were unqualified.
“It is not geographically limited to the Southern District of Florida, it is not conditioned on the co-conspirators being known by the government at the time, it does not depend on what any particular government attorney may have had in his or her head about who might be a co-conspirator, and it contains no other caveat or exception. This should be the end of the discussion,” the defense brief said.
The Justice Department has urged the Supreme Court to reject Maxwell’s petition even as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche agreed to meet with Maxwell last week.
Prosecutors have argued Maxwell cannot enforce the NPA because she was not a party to it. The defense disagreed.
“Petitioner’s alleged status as Epstein’s co-conspirator was the entire basis of her prosecution,” the defense brief said.
“No one is above the law—not even the Southern District of New York. Our government made a deal, and it must honor it. The United States cannot promise immunity with one hand in Florida and prosecute with the other in New York. President Trump built his legacy in part on the power of a deal—and surely he would agree that when the United States gives its word, it must stand by it. We are appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to the President himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s crimes, especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted,” Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus said in a statement.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending megabill could alter aspects of K-12 and higher education in the coming years, according to education advocates on both sides of the aisle.
After a monthslong process on Capitol Hill, the highly anticipated law will significantly reform the student loan process and broaden school choice options for families and the education community at large.
Here’s how the new law, which also brings massive cuts to government benefits such as Medicaid and increases funding for immigration enforcement, potentially changes education for millions of Americans.
Student loans
The megabill pushed through several House Republican policies aimed at reforming higher education — including with student loans.
The new law terminates all current student loan repayment plans for loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2026. They will be replaced with two separate plans: a standard repayment plan and a new income-based repayment plan called the Repayment Assistance Plan, according to the text of the megabill.
The Department of Education released a statement that said these new plans are currently impacted by legal challenges, urging borrowers on the Biden-era Income Driven Repayment plans to consider enrolling in an income-based repayment plan.
With this new process, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, a Republican, said he believes struggling borrowers will receive the assistance needed to repay loans without saddling taxpayers with that burden.
The new law also establishes loan limits for parent borrowers and terminates graduate and professional plus loans — designed to help graduate and professional students pay for school — for their degrees and certificates.
Earlier this year, Education Secretary Linda McMahon applauded the megabill for simplifying the “overly complex” repayment process and reducing borrowing amounts to “help curb rising tuition costs.”
The Student Borrower Protection Center, which focuses on eliminating the burden of student debt, denounced the provisions in the bill. Aissa Canchola Bañez, the center’s policy director, described it as a crushing blow to millions of Americans already struggling to cover college costs.
“This bill is a dangerous attack on students, working families and communities across the country,” she said, adding that it is “shredding the student loan safety net, weakening protections and pushing millions of students and families into the riskier and more expensive private student loan market.”
National Parents Union President Keri Rodrigues warned the new policies in Trump’s megabill are leading to a “difficult moment for American families.”
Rodrigues fears a $65,000 lifetime limit on Parent PLUS loans — which provide money to parents for their children to attend college — could eliminate a pathway to “economic mobility.”
“It’s going to mean a lot of hardship for kids and for families across the country,” she said.
School choice
Conservatives are celebrating the law as it continues to deliver on a long-standing pledge from the Trump administration to give power to parents and reduce education bureaucracy in Washington through universal school choice — something McMahon has pushed to see expanded nationwide.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy’s Educational Choice for Children Act tax credit, a provision included within the megabill, provides a charitable donation incentive for individuals and businesses to fund scholarship awards for students to cover expenses related to K-12 public and private education starting in 2027.
Republican Rep. Adrian Smith, who co-sponsored the House legislation, told ABC News it removes the “politics” from school-funding formulas that haven’t served students’ best interests.
“Students deserve the opportunity to succeed in the setting which best meets their needs, and this investment will open new doors for millions of American families,” Smith said.
Tommy Schultz, CEO of the conservative American Federation for Children, noted the change is a monumental step toward every state achieving school choice.
“AFC will work to ensure that governors and state leaders listen to their constituents and bring educational freedom to every state in the nation, and to as many families as possible,” Schultz said in a statement to ABC News. “We will continue to fight to ensure that this tax credit scholarship is well-implemented and expanded as soon as possible.”
Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono is a staunch opponent of the president’s education policies and the Republican tax credit, saying it strips public schools of its resources and enriches wealthy families.
“What [the ECCA] does is it is yet another big tax break for rich people who can afford to contribute these kinds of funds — so mainly the people who will take advantage of this will be kids who are already going to private schools,” Hirono explained.
“Not much of a choice,” she quipped.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten also slammed the bill for promoting a “massive and unprecedented transfer of wealth from everyday people to billionaires.”
“It writes a permanent school voucher scheme into the tax code that would redirect billions of dollars each year to private schools — even as our public schools, which educate 90 percent of all students, remain woefully underfunded,” Weingarten said in a statement to ABC News.
Despite the public school debate, Sen. Cassidy and education advocates argue no child should be “trapped” in a failing school.
Dr. Eva Moskowitz is the CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, the highest-performing free public charter school network in New York City, and told ABC News that it’s time to move on from the public education “monopoly.”
“We have a solution right in front of us: high-performing charter schools and a scholarship program for the private school choice,” Moskowitz said. “This is the most concrete, pragmatic, thing we can do today to impact hundreds of thousands of children.”
(WASHINGTON) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired two top deputies at the Department of Health and Human Services, ABC News has learned.
Heather Flick Melanson, Kennedy’s chief of staff, and Hannah Anderson, deputy chief of staff of policy, are departing, according to a department spokesperson and another person familiar with the decisions.
Neither Flick nor Anderson immediately responded to an ABC News request for comment.
No reason was given for the ousters. The person familiar with the situation told ABC that Kennedy “has every right to make personnel decisions.”
“Secretary Kennedy has made a leadership change within the Immediate Office of the Secretary,” according to a statement provided by an HHS spokesperson to ABC News. “Effective immediately, Matt Buckham will serve as Acting Chief of Staff.”
“Mr. Buckham currently serves as the Kennedy’s White House liaison at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he oversees the recruitment and onboarding of political appointees across the agency. He brings valuable experience in personnel strategy and organizational management to this new role,” the statement continued.
“Secretary Kennedy thanks the outgoing leadership for their service and looks forward to working closely with Mr. Buckham as the Department continues advancing its mission to Make America Healthy Again,” the statement concluded.
(NEW YORK) — As a new school year approaches, multiple school systems around the country told ABC News that a Department of Education funding freeze is causing confusion.
Some school districts told ABC News education cuts are illegal and will hurt students, but others said they support the Trump administration’s decision to reevaluate the department’s funding.
“Of course states and programs rely on these federal funds but we also rely on the president’s leadership to ensure they are aligned with our values,” Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder said in a statement to ABC News.
Alaska’s largest school district, a collection of Democratic states ranging from California to Rhode Island, and advocacy groups across the country have sued the Trump administration over the $6 billion funding freeze of valuable education programs.
“There’s going to be a direct impact in every single school in our nation. And I think people forget that,” Rhode Island Department of Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green told ABC News.
“I am here today because of the teachers, the education that I got, and it actually is a game changer,” Infante-Green, who is a first-generation American and learned English through school, said. “It changes the lives of not just the students, but the community as a whole. They can participate in the American dream.”
Although some states support the administration’s decision, Infante-Green has called it “illegal.”
“These are dollars that were appropriated by Congress, and this [pause] hurts kids.” she said.
A pause on the total $6 billion funding happened on July 1, when federal aid for schools is typically allocated each year. However, states were notified on June 30 that an ongoing programmatic review of education funding would occur, according to a Department of Education memo sent to Congress, obtained by ABC News. School districts and programs have been concerned that programs and staff could be eliminated if funding isn’t restored.
These funds are used to aid after-school programs, English learning acquisition, adult basic education, and many more important initiatives. States received a letter from Congress that said there would be a programmatic review to ensure the legitimacy of each program as the Office of Management and Budget suggested these programs have become misused to promote “radical left wing agendas.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaksa, and nine other Republican senators signed onto a letter last week requesting the Trump administration reverse the funding pause, which they said prompted the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to unfreeze more than $1 billion in after-school and summer learning funding.
However, OMB did not indicate whether it would be unfreezing the rest of the roughly $6 billion in federal funds for programs.
Despite the uncertainty caused by the education funding freezing, the Montana Office of Public Instruction Superintendent, Susie Hedalen, is supportive of the funding pause and feels confident that Montana will see its funding soon.
“I appreciate that they’re [the funding] being evaluated and that we’re taking a close look, because we don’t need federal funds with the strings attached. We don’t need the bureaucracy, and we need to make sure that we can use our funding to align to our values, not the agendas from the bureaucrats in DC,” Hedalen told ABC News.
Echoing other conservative education leaders who’ve spoken with ABC News about the pause, Hedalen believes there is a need to reevaluate the funding.
“I appreciate the President’s approach to take a critical look at our funding streams. That’s long overdue,” Hedalen said. “We are optimistic in Montana that those will continue to flow. But we do think it’s important that we take a close look, and we are looking forward to having education returned to the state agencies,” Hedalen added.
While there is ultimately a divide regarding the funding, Infante-Green suggested most states are concerned that the pause potentially hurts kids, “everybody understands that this is not a political issue,” she said, “this is about our students.” ABC News
