Trump-Zelensky talks confirmed for Wednesday: Ukrainian presidency source
The source said that both sides are expected to make brief statements ahead of the talks that are scheduled to start at around 12:30 GMT.
AFP
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MTV Lebanon
25 minutes ago
- MTV Lebanon
Justice department official expected to meet Epstein accomplice Maxwell
Jeffrey Epstein's long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell is meeting justice department officials as pressure grows on the Trump administration to release files linked to the financier's sex trafficking network, US media report. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said he planned to speak to Maxwell about any information she had on other people whom Epstein may have helped sexually abuse girls. The meeting is expected to take place on Thursday in Tallahassee, Florida, where she is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, ABC News reported. Her lawyer told the BBC that Maxwell was looking "forward to her meeting", which could help determine whether she will testify before Congress. The latest developments come as interest has switched back to Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex-trafficker in prison for helping Epstein abuse young girls. Calls have grown from the public - including President Donald Trump's loyal supporters - and lawmakers for the justice department to release files related to the Epstein case. "If Ghislaine Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say," Blanche wrote in a post on X earlier this week. On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump during a May briefing that his name appeared in DOJ documents related to the Epstein case. The White House has pushed back dismissing the story as "fake news". Being named in the documents is not evidence of any criminal activity, nor has Trump ever been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein case. While campaigning for the presidency last year, Trump had promised to release such files about the well-connected sex offender. But his supporters have since grown frustrated with the administration's handling of the issue, including its failure to deliver a rumoured "client list" of Epstein. In a memo earlier this month, the justice department and FBI said there was no such list. Epstein died in a New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, following an earlier conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor. His death was ruled a suicide. In the years since, conspiracy theories about the nature of his crimes and his death itself have proliferated. On Wednesday, a sub-committee of the US House of Representatives voted to subpoena the justice department for the files, which must be signed off by the committee chairman. Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have also subpoenaed Maxwell to testify before the panel remotely from prison on 11 August. House Speaker Mike Johnson has warned that Maxwell - who for years helped Epstein groom and sexually abuse girls - cannot be trusted to provide accurate testimony. Her attorney, David Oscar Markus, told the BBC the concerns were "unfounded" and that if she chooses to testify, rather than invoke her constitutional right to remain silent, "she would testify truthfully, as she always has said she would". Last week, the justice department asked a federal judge to release years-old grand jury testimony related to a 2006 Florida investigation into Epstein, but a federal judge in the state on Wednesday declined to make the documents public.
Nahar Net
2 hours ago
- Nahar Net
White House pushes Obama 'coup' story to distract from Epstein
by Naharnet Newsdesk 24 July 2025, 17:28 The White House pulled out all the stops Wednesday to promote claims that Barack Obama headed a "treasonous conspiracy" against Donald Trump, seeking to redirect public attention from uproar over its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein affair. Trump's intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard told a White House press briefing there had been a "years-long coup" by Obama. The extraordinary narrative essentially rehashed Trump's longstanding argument that investigations into Russia's multi-layered attempts to disrupt the 2016 election, where he beat Hillary Clinton, were a "hoax" against him. Gabbard touted newly declassified intelligence that she said provided "irrefutable evidence" that Obama had ordered intelligence assessments to be manipulated to accuse Russia of election interference to help Trump. The Justice Department announced the formation of a "Strike Force" to examine the allegations with "utmost seriousness." But Gabbard's findings run up against four separate criminal, counterintelligence and watchdog probes between 2019 and 2023 -- each of them concluding that Russia did interfere and did, in various ways, help Trump. As a way to distract from the intensifying speculation over Trump's handling of the case against the late sex offender and reputed pedophile pimp to the powerful Epstein, the Obama accusations had some effect. White House journalists at the briefing barely asked about Epstein, focusing instead on Gabbard's claims, and Fox News heavily promoted the Obama story to its right-wing audience. However, the Epstein scandal quickly roared back, showing just how hard it is for 79-year-old Trump to maintain his usual mastery of driving news agendas -- even within his fervently loyal "MAGA" base. - Trump's name in files - Epstein was a financier and friend to numerous high-profile people -- for years, including Trump -- who was convicted of sex crimes and then imprisoned pending trial for allegedly trafficking underage girls. His 2019 prison cell death -- ruled a suicide -- supercharged a conspiracy theory long promoted by many of Trump's supporters that Epstein had run an international pedophile ring and that elites wanted to make sure he never revealed their secrets. After Trump came to power for a second term this January, his administration promised to release Epstein case files. But when US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on July 7 that she had nothing to release, Republicans were furious -- and Trump has been attempting to control the scandal ever since. Things got even more complicated for him after The Wall Street Journal last week reported that Trump had written a lewd birthday letter to Epstein in 2003. Trump denies this and has sued the Journal. On Wednesday, the Journal dropped a new story, saying Bondi had informed Trump in May that his name appeared several times in the Epstein files, even if there was no indication of wrongdoing. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung called this "fake news" and said Trump had long ago broken with Epstein and "kicked him out of his club for being a creep." However, the drip-drip of reminders of Trump's close former relationship with Epstein is proving hard to stop. Several of Trump's most effective promoters over the years -- including new FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino -- made careers of fanning the rumors about Epstein. Democrats are piling on the pressure. Republican leaders in the House of Representatives sent lawmakers home early for a six-week summer break Wednesday to avoid being forced into holding politically awkward votes on the affair. But some lawmakers on the "MAGA" right have indicated they are in no mood to let Epstein drop, and several bids for transparency are in the works. Just before the declared recess, Democrats on a House subcommittee panel forced a vote on subpoenaing the Justice Department for documents regarding Epstein. The measure passed with bipartisan support. In another bid to satisfy his base, Trump had told Bondi to release "credible" Epstein information and to seek release of grand jury transcripts from the 2005 and 2007 investigations of Epstein. But on Wednesday a judge rejected this, citing legal secrecy protocols.
LBCI
a day ago
- LBCI
Vanuatu minister: ICJ decision 'landmark milestone for climate'
Vanuatu's environment minister hailed Wednesday's ICJ decision as a "landmark milestone" after the world's highest court declared that states have a legal obligation to tackle climate change and opened the door for reparations. "It's a landmark milestone for climate action," said Ralph Regenvanu on the steps outside the court in The Hague. "It's a very important course correction in this critically important time". AFP
