Illinois National Guard authorized for Chicago mission, official says
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(CHICAGO) — The Illinois National Guard has received an official notification from the Pentagon authorizing a mission in Chicago, according to an Illinois official.
The official confirmed the mission will involve 300 Guardsmen tasked with protecting federal property under Title 10 authorities.
The Guard has not received mobilization orders, which means it will take a number of days to process and muster soldiers — and train them for the mission, according to the official.
At the very earliest, Guardsmen would be deployed in Chicago at the end of this week, the official said.
“The Governor did not receive any calls from any federal officials. The Illinois National Guard communicated to the Department of War that the situation in Illinois does not require the use of the military and, as a result, the Governor opposes the deployment of the National Guard under any status,” a spokesperson for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement.
The authorization comes amid escalating tensions in Chicago over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents on Saturday shot and wounded a woman they alleged was part of a convoy of protesters that rammed their vehicles during an “ambush.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Border Patrol agents opened fire on the woman in self-defense, alleging she was armed with a semiautomatic weapon and was driving one of three vehicles that “cornered” and rammed the CBP agents’ vehicles.
Describing the incident as “really strange,” Noem alleged that before the shooting, a caravan of 10 vehicles was following the CBP agents and officers through the streets of Chicago.
“They had followed them and gotten them cornered, pinned them down and then our agents, when getting out of their cars, they tried to run them over and had semiautomatic handguns on them to where our agents had to protect themselves and shots were fired and an individual ended up in the hospital that was attacking these officers,” Noem said in a statement on Sunday.
(NEW YORK) — On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance promised their supporters that they would release the Justice Department files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein if elected.
Since then, however, the administration has been reluctant to divulge more details about the investigation or release all of the files, angering some Republicans and Democrats and raising questions about Trump’s past connections to Epstein.
Here is a timeline of the major events surrounding the Epstein files saga since Trump returned to office.
Feb. 21, 2025 In an interview with Fox News, Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked about the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients and if the Justice Department was planning to release them.
Bondi responded, “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
The attorney general clarified in July that she was referring to the Epstein case files, and not an alleged client list.
Feb. 27, 2025 The Justice Department invites conservative bloggers and influencers and shares with them binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1.” Most of the evidence had already been released to the public.
Bondi and her team did not inform White House officials in advance that she planned to distribute the binders, sources with information about the event told ABC News.
May 8, 2025 The House’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets demanded the release of the Epstein files in a letter to Bondi.
Bondi did not respond to the request before the May 16 deadline.
July 7, 2025 The DOJ and FBI released a joint statement that stated a review of its holdings uncovered no evidence of any client list kept by Epstein or other evidence that would predicate a criminal investigation of any uncharged parties.
The department also released hours of purported footage as part of its review, which officials say further confirmed Epstein died by suicide while in custody in his jail cell in Manhattan in 2019.
The video from the Bureau of Prisons showing the moments before Epstein’s death was later determined to have been missing footage. Several conservative influencers slam Bondi and the Justice Department over the memo.
July 12, 2025 Trump defended Bondi in a social media post amid the pushback from some in his MAGA base over the handling of the Epstein probe.
Trump praised Bondi for doing a “fantastic job” and urged his “boys” and “gals” to stop criticizing her.
July 15, 2025 Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna seek a House vote for a discharge petition to release the Epstein files.
The same day, House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Bondi to “come forward and explain” her handling of the probe.
Signatures for the petition continue to grow, however, do not reach the 218 needed to move forward.
Asked what Bondi told him about the review of the Epstein files and if his name appeared at all, Trump responded, “No, no, she’s given us just a very quick briefing,” before making baseless claims that the files were created by some of his political foes.
“Whatever she thinks is credible, she should release,” Trump said.
July 24-25, 2025 Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, interviewed Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for her 2021 conviction on sex trafficking and other charges related to Epstein’s illicit activities.
Maxwell initiated the meeting, multiple sources told ABC News.
A month later, the Justice Department released a transcript of the interview, which was not under oath, where she claimed there was no client list.
Aug. 1, 2025 Maxwell was transferred from a federal prison in Florida, which is labeled “low security” to a federal prison camp in Texas, which is labeled “minimum security,” the Justice Department announced.
Sept. 8, 2025 Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a 238-page PDF document of the 50th birthday book to Epstein that includes a prologue by Maxwell and a page allegedly written by Trump.
Trump’s page features a typed letter written inside a doodle of a woman’s body, with his signature located in a provocative spot on the body.
The president denied that he wrote and signed the letter.
Nov. 12, 2025 Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released emails that were part of more than 20,000 from the Epstein estate.
Some of the messages show Epstein talking about Trump, including one where he claimed Trump “spent hours at my house” with one of the sex-trafficked victims.
The White House accused Democrats on the House Oversight Committee of releasing “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative” about Trump.
Later that evening, Arizona Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva was sworn into office, a month after she won a special election, and became the final signature on the discharge petition to get it over the 218 threshold.
Johnson announced that he would bring a bill to release the Jeffrey Epstein files to a vote on the floor next week.
(PITTSBURGH) — Sen. John Fetterman’s office said the Pennsylvania Democrat is under “routine observation” in a Pittsburgh hospital after he fell during an early morning walk Thursday near his home in Braddock, Pennsylvania.
“It was established he had a ventricular fibrillation flare-up that led to Senator Fetterman feeling light-headed, falling to the ground and hitting his face with minor injuries,” a statement from his office said.
“If you thought my face looked bad before, wait until you see it now!” Fetterman said, according to the statement.
Fetterman opted to stay in the hospital so doctors can “fine-tune his medication regimen,” the statement said.
Fetterman suffered a stroke in May 2022 during the Democratic primary for the state’s open Senate seat. Despite his condition limiting his campaigning, he won the Democratic nomination and later defeated Dr. Mehmet Oz, now President Donald Trump’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, in the general election.
The following February, Fetterman was hospitalized for several days of observation after feeling lightheaded, though his aides said testing ruled out seizures or another stroke.
Weeks later, Fetterman checked himself into a Washington hospital for treatment of depression.
“While John has experienced depression off and on throughout his life, it only became severe in recent weeks,” Adam Jentleson, his chief of staff, said at the time.
In a speech to Israel’s parliament on a day when the country’s living 20 hostages were released as part of a ceasefire agreement he helped broker, President Donald Trump told the Knesset, “This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East.”
“This will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change, and change very much for the better,” Trump said.
In a sign of the warm welcome he was receiving, many in the audience were wearing MAGA-style hats that read “Trump The Peace President.”
“We gather on a day of profound joy, of soaring hope, of renewed faith — and above all, a day to give our deepest thanks to the Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” he said.
“After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today, the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace,” Trump said. “A land and a region that will live. God willing, in peace for all eternity.”
There was a disruption during Trump’s speech when it appeared at least one person in the audience shouted out and was quickly removed from the room. “That was very efficient,” Trump said after the interruption.
Trump received several standing ovations at the Knesset, where he was introduced by the speaker of Israel’s parliament as the “best friend Israel has ever had” in the White House — a sentiment echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“No American president has ever done more for Israel, and as I said in Washington, it ain’t even close. It’s not really a match,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli prime minister said when Trump was elected, “overnight everything changed.”
“Mr. President, today, we welcome you here to thank you for your pivotal leadership and putting forward a proposal that got the backing of almost the entire world, a proposal that brings all our hostages home, a proposal that ends the war by achieving all our objectives, a proposal that opens the door to an historic expansion of peace in our region and beyond our region,” Netanyahu said. “Mr. President, you are committed to this peace. I am committed to this peace. And together, Mr. President, we will achieve this peace.”
With Trump looking on smiling, Netanyahu announced he submitted Trump’s nomination to be the first non-Israeli recipient of the Israel Prize, Israel’s highest award. Earlier, the speaker of Israel’s parliament said he will be nominating Trump for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
“As to that other prize, just a question time, you’ll get it,” Netanyahu said.
At the Knesset for Trump’s speech was his daughter Ivanka Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, the latter having been involved in negotiations, as well as White House special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
The White House posted a short video of Trump and Netanyahu meeting with the families of hostages before his address.
After the speech, Trump was headed to an international “peace summit” in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt where he was to sign an agreement with more than 20 others leaders from around the world.
Netanyahu will not attend the summit, despite being invited by Trump.
“The Prime Minister thanked President Trump for his invitation, but said that he would not be able to participate due to the proximity of the holiday,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement. “The Prime Minister thanked President Trump for his efforts to expand the circle of peace — peace through strength.”
Trump arrived earlier Monday at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, where he was met by Netanyahu and Israel’s President Isaac Herzog.
The final 20 living hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, were returned to Israel on Monday, Israeli officials said, the first phase of an agreement that also called for Israel to release Palestinian prisoners.
