‘Went off like a bomb': Children recovering from sudden boat explosion on Georgia lake
Seven people, including children, sustained serious burns after a sudden boat explosion on a Georgia lake on the Fourth of July.
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CTV News
39 minutes ago
- CTV News
Trump comes to attorney general's defence amid uproar from his base over Jeffrey Epstein files flop
This March 28, 2017, photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein. (New York State Sex Offender Registry/AP/File via CNN Newsource) WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump leapt to the defence of Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday in the face of mounting criticism from far-right influencers and conservative internet personalities over the U.S. Justice Department's abrupt refusal to release additional documents from the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation. When a reporter attempted to ask Bondi about Epstein at a White House Cabinet meeting, Trump headed off the questions and scolded the journalist: 'Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years.' 'At a time like this,' he added, 'where we're having some of the greatest success and also tragedy with what happened in Texas, it just seems like a desecration.' The comments appeared to signal continued job security for Bondi and amounted to a striking rebuke of members of Trump's base who have called for her resignation and mocked her for what they believe to be her failed commitment to release incriminating files from the Epstein investigation. A supposed Epstein 'client list' that Bondi once intimated was sitting on her desk for review does not exist, the Justice Department acknowledged in a two-page memo Monday that further riled conservative critics who'd been hoping for proof of a government cover-up. The pressure is on Bondi Bondi has faced pressure after a first document dump she hyped failed to deliver revelations. Far-right influencers were invited to the White House in February and provided with binders marked 'The Epstein Files: Phase 1' and 'Declassified' that contained documents that had largely already been in the public domain. After the first release fell flat, Bondi said officials were poring over a 'truckload' of previously withheld evidence she said had been handed over by the FBI and raised expectations of forthcoming releases. But after a months-long review of evidence in the government's possession, the Justice Department said in Monday's memo that no 'further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.' The department noted that much of the material was placed under seal by a court to protect victims and 'only a fraction' of it 'would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial.' The only evidence disclosed as part of the memo was a video meant to definitively prove that the wealthy financier had taken his own life in jail in 2019, but even that disclosure did little to quiet conspiracy theorists who believe he was killed. It's not a happy development for online detectives The department's client list revelation was especially dismaying for conservative influencers and online sleuths given that Bondi in a Fox News interview in February had intimated that such a document was 'sitting on my desk' for review. Bondi insisted Tuesday that she had been referring to the Epstein case file as being on her desk, as opposed to a specific client list. 'That's what I meant by that,' she said. She also defended her earlier public statements suggesting that the FBI was reviewing 'tens of thousands' of videos of Epstein with 'children or child porn.' The Associated Press published a story last week about the unanswered questions surrounding those videos and the Justice Department's refusal to provide clarity. The memo Monday did not suggest that the videos in the government's possession depicted Epstein with children, instead referring to images of Epstein as well as more than 10,000 'downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography.' 'They turned out to be child porn downloaded by that disgusting Jeffrey Epstein,' she said. But she did not explain why the department could not release other files from the 'truckload' of evidence she said was delivered to the agency months ago. Eric Tucker, The Associated Press
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Sentencing for Sean (Diddy) Combs set for October
Sean (Diddy) Combs will be sentenced in his federal criminal case on Oct. 3, a judge said Tuesday, after probation officials rejected the defence and prosecution's plan to move the date up by about two weeks. Combs, who remains jailed after a split verdict last week, spoke briefly to his lawyer Marc Agnifilo during a virtual hearing on the scheduling issue that lasted all of two minutes. At one point he asked the lawyer to turn on his camera so they could see each other's faces. The hip-hop mogul's lawyers had been urging Judge Arun Subramanian to sentence him as soon as possible after jurors acquitted him last week on racketeering and sex trafficking but convicted him on two prostitution-related charges. Combs, 55, faces up to a decade in prison for each of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution for flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, for sexual encounters. A conviction on racketeering conspiracy or sex trafficking could have put him in prison for life. Prior to Tuesday's hearing, Combs' lawyers and prosecutors filed a joint letter proposing a Sept. 22 sentencing date, subject to the consent of the U.S. Probation Office. A short time later, they filed a second letter stating that all parties — including the probation office — were on board with the Oct. 3 date Subramanian originally proposed. WATCH | Combs denied bail after being convicted of two charges: Diddy denied bail, avoids life in prison 6 days ago Duration 2:30 Combs got a standing ovation from fellow inmates when he returned to jail after the verdict last week, Agnifilo said. The Bad Boy Records founder will remain at the federal lockup in Brooklyn where he's been held since his arrest last September after Subramanian last week rejected his request for bail. The judge, citing a now-infamous video of Combs beating a former girlfriend and photographs showing injuries to another ex-girlfriend, made clear that he plans to hold Combs accountable for the years of violence and bullying behaviour that were exposed at his eight-week trial. Combs's lawyers want less than the 21 to 27 months in prison that they believe the sentencing guidelines recommend. Prosecutors contend that the guidelines, when properly calculated to include his crimes and violent history, call for at least four to five years in prison. Combs's punishment is Subramanian's decision alone, and the judge will have wide latitude in determining a sentence. While judges often adhere to the federal judiciary's formulaic guidelines meant to prevent disparity in sentences for the same crimes, they are not mandatory.
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Trump faces MAGA meltdown over Epstein reversal
FILE - Supporters display MAGA flags near the Mar-a-Lago estate of President-elect Donald Trump, in Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File) Donald Trump's MAGA base is up in arms after his administration effectively shut down conspiracy theories related to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that have become an obsession for the US president's diehard supporters. Trump's Department of Justice and the FBI said in a memo made public Sunday there is no evidence that the disgraced financier kept a 'client list' or was blackmailing powerful figures. They also dismissed the claim that Epstein was murdered in jail, confirming his death by suicide, and said they would not be releasing any more information on the probe. It marked the first time Trump's officials had publicly scotched the stories -- pushed by numerous right-wing figures, notably including the FBI's top two officials, before Trump hired them. The backlash was swift and brutal from his 'Make America Great Again' movement -- who have long held as an article of faith that 'Deep State' elites were protecting Epstein's most powerful associates in the Democratic Party and Hollywood. 'Next the DOJ will say 'Actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed,'' furious pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Alex Jones tweeted. 'This is over the top sickening.' Trump has managed to avoid much of the direct blame over the fiasco, with ire instead being directed at FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino. But the lion's share of the fury has been reserved for Attorney General Pam Bondi, who assured Fox News she had the Epstein client list on her desk and would get to the truth -- in remarks endorsed by the White House. Bondi was already on thin ice with MAGA after distributing binders labeled 'The Epstein Files' to influencers at the White House that turned out to contain largely already public information and no new revelations. 'President Trump should fire (Bondi) for lying to his base and creating a liability for his administration,' far right influencer Laura Loomer posted on X. 'She is an embarrassment and she doesn't do anything to help Trump.' Trump riled White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was pressed about the controversy and said that Bondi was actually talking about Epstein-related paperwork as a whole -- sparking even more MAGA fury. 'This is what happens when the dog catches the car. Or, to put a finer point on it, when you and the people around you become the very 'Deep State' you have spent years attacking,' CNN analyst Chris Cillizza wrote on his Substack newsletter. Epstein died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking. Trump -- who has denied visiting the US Virgin Islands home where prosecutors say Epstein sex trafficked underage girls -- said ahead of his election he would have 'no problem' releasing files related to the case. The president appeared exasperated when he was asked by a reporter about Epstein at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. 'Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?... Are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable,' Trump said. It is one of a number of schisms that have opened in the MAGA movement in recent days, with supporters angry over Trump's announcement that weapons supply to Ukraine would resume. Trump's fiercely isolationist base was already upset at the president's bombing of Iran nuclear sites and his statements calling for an easing of immigration raids on farms. Beyond its insights into the power dynamics that animate Trump's supporters, the affair has raised concerns that MAGA disillusionment will damage Republican prospects in the next election cycle. The row comes with Trump under pressure from the launch of a new political party by his estranged former close aide Elon Musk, who had a bitter public split with the president over federal spending. When the Trump-Musk feud blew up last month, Musk alleged that Trump was named in the Epstein files. 'How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won't release the Epstein files?' Musk asked on his social media platform X, after Trump's cabinet meeting.
