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BBC News
a day ago
- Health
- BBC News
Coniston GP surgery patient plans to build new practice
A village at risk of losing its GP surgery may have been thrown a lifeline after a patient put forward plans to build a new current GP serving Coniston in the Lake District is due to retire this week, but issues with the building mean a new premises needs to be businessman Phil Johnston, 72, has offered to build the facility on his land to help secure the service for fellow residents and has applied to the Lake District National Park Authority for said the plans were at the "outline application" stage, meaning a more detailed project had to be drawn up, and he welcomed ideas from the community. Mr Johnston, who has lived in Coniston for 43 years, said he came up with the idea after he saw his late friend, Bill Barr, provide a surgery for his village of Hawkshead some years ago."I suppose it's following that model a little bit, that has given me the idea to want to do this for Coniston village, just like the late Bill did for Hawkshead," he said. When the current practice announced it would hand back its contract as it was unable to recruit a new partner, villagers produced a promotional video to help seek a and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) said the current surgery building did not meet the requirements for "modern healthcare settings" and options included finding a new provider or asking residents to register elsewhere.A notice on Coniston's surgery website said Morecambe Bay Primary Care would act as a caretaker and manage the practice for six months, while a permanent replacement was found. There are about 850 people living in the village, according to the latest count. Mr Johnston, who is managing director of a company providing holiday accommodation, has applied to the national park authority for permission to build the new surgery on his land at Lands Field off Yewdale also plans to build two apartments above the surgery for local occupancy to make the project "financially viable"."The current surgery is in the cellar of the current doctor's house, it's been there for some time - it works very well but it's not very accessible," he said."I thought that it was perhaps time that somebody like myself with some land thought about building something for the village which would last a very long time and be accessible and sustainable." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pam Bondi's botched handling of the Epstein files
The Trump administration's promises to release extensive and significant new information related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein appear to be petering out – depriving conspiracy-minded MAGA supporters of the smoking guns they have long sought as they've publicly tried to tie influential figures to Epstein's crimes. And to the extent those MAGA supporters are disappointed, the Trump administration has itself to blame. That especially applies to Attorney General Pam Bondi. The Justice Department posted a memo Monday that says there is no evidence Epstein was murdered or that he kept anything amounting to a much-anticipated 'client list.' The department does not plan to release any new documents on the matter, an official told CNN. Axios was first to report details of the DOJ and FBI's decision. None of this is new or surprising to anyone who has followed the Epstein case closely. New York City's medical examiner had ruled the death a suicide. The attorney general in Trump's first term, Bill Barr, had come to the same conclusion, despite his initial suspicions of something more sinister. A Justice Department Inspector General report also pushed back on the idea the death was anything but a suicide, while criticizing staff failures that allowed such a thing to happen. And the Miami Herald's Julie K. Brown, one of the best-sourced reporters on the Epstein case, reported earlier this year: 'Those who have worked with the FBI on the case for decades say there is no evidence Epstein kept a ledger or a list of clients who were involved with his sex trafficking operation.' Still, the memo undercuts theories that continued to circulate, including that there was proof that influential figures were involved in Epstein's exploitation of underage girls. At their most pitched, these theories held that Epstein was able to blackmail those influential figures who appeared on a purported 'client list.' They also undercut Bondi's personal rhetoric. The new memo's key findings are very different from how Bondi billed them. Far-right activist Laura Loomer, who has demonstrated influence with the Trump administration and has frequently criticized Bondi over her handling of the Epstein investigation, called for Trump to fire his attorney general. 'If she doesn't get fired over this Epstein memo, people are going to be so black pilled,' Loomer wrote on X, using a term that some on the far-right use to signify a belief that the system is beyond repair. Let's run through what statements from Bondi the memo contradicts: The idea that Epstein kept a 'client list' that potentially implicated influential figures has become an article of faith in some circles. Key Republican lawmakers have treated its existence as an established fact and pushed for its release. And a big reason for that was Bondi herself. During a February 21 interview on Fox News, host John Roberts asked whether DOJ would release a 'list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients.' 'Will that really happen?' Roberts asked. Bondi responded: 'It's sitting on my desk right now to review. That's been a directive by President Trump. I'm reviewing that.' In other words, Bondi didn't commit to releasing such a list, but she affirmatively indicated it existed and that it was in her possession. And the question was specifically about the purported list – not other files related to Epstein. At Monday's White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed under skeptical questioning from Fox News itself that Bondi hadn't actually been referring to a client list. 'She was saying the entirety of all of the paperwork – all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes,' Leavitt said. 'That's what the attorney general was referring to, and I'll let her speak for that.' Bondi had another chance to downplay the existence of such a list during a later March 1 interview on Fox, but declined to do so. Host Mark Levin suggested that Democratic-leaning officials in New York City might be withholding information because they 'don't like the names on the list' and that they were 'trying to protect a lot of names and individuals.' Bondi leaned into the theory, saying she had 'not reviewed the information yet,' but added: 'I think it's very interesting that they withheld that from us.' The Justice Department now says not only is there no evidence of blackmail, but there is no evidence of such a list. 'This systematic review revealed no incriminating 'client list,'' the DOJ memo says. 'There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.' Elon Musk, who formerly served in the Trump administration and has previously alleged on social media that the 'real reason' officials have not made more Epstein files public is because Trump's name is in them, has appeared to take shots at Bondi on social media. 'What's the time? Oh look, it's no-one-has-been-arrested-o'clock again,' Musk posted on X around 4 a.m. eastern time on Monday. In another puzzling claim, Bondi said there were 'tens of thousands of videos' of Epstein 'with children or child porn.' Bondi first made the assertion on a secretly recorded video. Then she repeated the claim publicly, possibly in an effort to get ahead of that video's release. 'There are tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn, and there are hundreds of victims,' Bondi said publicly on May 7. But just a month later, FBI Director Kash Patel appeared to walk back Bondi's claim. He indicated to podcast host Joe Rogan there was no video of people committing crimes on Epstein's island. 'Is there video from the island?' Rogan asked. 'Not of what you want,' Patel said. 'So this narrative might not be accurate, that there's video of these guys doing this?' Rogan asked. 'Exactly,' Patel confirmed. Patel added at another point: 'If there was a video of some guy or gal committing felonies on an island and I'm in charge, don't you think you'd see it?' Bondi's allegation puzzled lawyers and law enforcement officials involved in Epstein's criminal cases who were unfamiliar with any such trove of videos, an AP investigation reported last week. And now the new DOJ memo further undercuts Bondi's claim. The memo cites 'over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography.' But that's both videos and images. And it only makes references to images of Epstein – not videos, let alone 'tens of thousands' of them. While the DOJ memo in the above instances suggests Bondi oversold the evidence, it suggests she publicly undersold findings in another area: the number of victims. Bondi has on multiple occasions indicated there were around 250 victims. 'This will make you sick,' she told Fox in late February. 'Two hundred victims, 200. So we have well over – over 250 actually.' In the Levin interview on March 1, she cited 'the 254 young girls, women who are victims of sex crimes and sex trafficking.' Two days later, she doubled down on that number in a Fox interview with Sean Hannity. But the DOJ memo cites many more victims. It says its review 'confirmed that Epstein harmed over one thousand victims. Each suffered unique trauma.' This story has been updated to reflect additional developments.
CNN
07-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Analysis: Pam Bondi's botched handling of the Epstein files
The Trump administration's promises to release extensive and significant new information related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein appear to be petering out – depriving conspiracy-minded MAGA supporters of the smoking guns they have long sought as they've publicly tried to tie influential figures to Epstein's crimes. And to the extent those MAGA supporters are disappointed, the Trump administration has itself to blame. That especially applies to Attorney General Pam Bondi. The Justice Department posted a memo Monday that says there is no evidence Epstein was murdered or that he kept anything amounting to a much-anticipated 'client list.' The department does not plan to release any new documents on the matter, an official told CNN. Axios was first to report details of the DOJ and FBI's decision. None of this is new or surprising to anyone who has followed the Epstein case closely. New York City's medical examiner had ruled the death a suicide. The attorney general in Trump's first term, Bill Barr, had come to the same conclusion, despite his initial suspicions of something more sinister. A Justice Department Inspector General report also pushed back on the idea the death was anything but a suicide, while criticizing staff failures that allowed such a thing to happen. And the Miami Herald's Julie K. Brown, one of the best-sourced reporters on the Epstein case, reported earlier this year: 'Those who have worked with the FBI on the case for decades say there is no evidence Epstein kept a ledger or a list of clients who were involved with his sex trafficking operation.' Still, the memo undercuts theories that continued to circulate, including that there was proof that influential figures were involved in Epstein's exploitation of underage girls. At their most pitched, these theories held that Epstein was able to blackmail those influential figures who appeared on a purported 'client list.' They also undercut Bondi's personal rhetoric. The new memo's key findings are very different from how Bondi billed them. And they are merely the latest examples of Bondi being contradicted by the same Justice Department she leads. Let's run through the examples. The idea that Epstein kept a 'client list' that potentially implicated influential figures has become an article of faith in some circles. Key Republican lawmakers have treated its existence as an established fact and pushed for its release. And a big reason for that was Bondi herself. During a February 21 interview on Fox News, host John Roberts asked whether DOJ would release a 'list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients.' 'Will that really happen?' Roberts asked. Bondi responded: 'It's sitting on my desk right now to review. That's been a directive by President Trump. I'm reviewing that.' In other words, Bondi didn't commit to releasing such a list, but she affirmatively indicated it existed and that it was in her possession. And the question was specifically about the purported list – not other files related to Epstein. Bondi had another chance to downplay the existence of such a list during a later March 1 interview on Fox, but declined to do so. Host Mark Levin suggested that Democratic-leaning officials in New York City might be withholding information because they 'don't like the names on the list' and that they were 'trying to protect a lot of names and individuals.' Bondi leaned into the theory, saying she had 'not reviewed the information yet,' but added: 'I think it's very interesting that they withheld that from us.' The Justice Department now says not only is there no evidence of blackmail, but there is no evidence of such a list. 'This systematic review revealed no incriminating 'client list,'' the DOJ memo says. 'There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.' Elon Musk, who formerly served in the Trump administration and has previously alleged on social media that the 'real reason' officials have not made more Epstein files public is because Trump's name is in them, has appeared to take shots at Bondi on social media. 'What's the time? Oh look, it's no-one-has-been-arrested-o'clock again,' Musk posted on X around 4 a.m. eastern time on Monday. In another puzzling claim, Bondi said there were 'tens of thousands of videos' of Epstein 'with children or child porn.' Bondi first made the assertion on a secretly recorded video. Then she repeated the claim publicly, possibly in an effort to get ahead of that video's release. 'There are tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn, and there are hundreds of victims,' Bondi said publicly on May 7. But just a month later, FBI Director Kash Patel appeared to walk back Bondi's claim. He indicated to podcast host Joe Rogan there was no video of people committing crimes on Epstein's island. 'Is there video from the island?' Rogan asked. 'Not of what you want,' Patel said. 'So this narrative might not be accurate, that there's video of these guys doing this?' Rogan asked. 'Exactly,' Patel confirmed. Patel added at another point: 'If there was a video of some guy or gal committing felonies on an island and I'm in charge, don't you think you'd see it?' Bondi's allegation puzzled lawyers and law enforcement officials involved in Epstein's criminal cases who were unfamiliar with any such trove of videos, an AP investigation reported last week. And now the new DOJ memo further undercuts Bondi's claim. The memo cites 'over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography.' But that's both videos and images. And it appears to separate them from anything involving Epstein's presence. Separately, it cites 'images and videos of victims who are either minors or appear to be minors' but only images of Epstein. In other words, it never cites videos of Epstein, much less 'tens of thousands of videos.' While the DOJ memo in the above instances suggests Bondi oversold the evidence, it suggests she publicly undersold findings in another area: the number of victims. Bondi has on multiple occasions indicated there were around 250 victims. 'This will make you sick,' she told Fox in late February. 'Two hundred victims, 200. So we have well over – over 250 actually.' In the Levin interview on March 1, she cited 'the 254 young girls, women who are victims of sex crimes and sex trafficking.' Two days later, she doubled down on that number in a Fox interview with Sean Hannity. But the DOJ memo cites many more victims. It says its review 'confirmed that Epstein harmed over one thousand victims. Each suffered unique trauma.'
CNN
07-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Analysis: Pam Bondi's botched handling of the Epstein files
The Trump administration's promises to release extensive and significant new information related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein appear to be petering out – depriving conspiracy-minded MAGA supporters of the smoking guns they have long sought as they've publicly tried to tie influential figures to Epstein's crimes. And to the extent those MAGA supporters are disappointed, the Trump administration has itself to blame. That especially applies to Attorney General Pam Bondi. The Justice Department posted a memo Monday that says there is no evidence Epstein was murdered or that he kept anything amounting to a much-anticipated 'client list.' The department does not plan to release any new documents on the matter, an official told CNN. Axios was first to report details of the DOJ and FBI's decision. None of this is new or surprising to anyone who has followed the Epstein case closely. New York City's medical examiner had ruled the death a suicide. The attorney general in Trump's first term, Bill Barr, had come to the same conclusion, despite his initial suspicions of something more sinister. A Justice Department Inspector General report also pushed back on the idea the death was anything but a suicide, while criticizing staff failures that allowed such a thing to happen. And the Miami Herald's Julie K. Brown, one of the best-sourced reporters on the Epstein case, reported earlier this year: 'Those who have worked with the FBI on the case for decades say there is no evidence Epstein kept a ledger or a list of clients who were involved with his sex trafficking operation.' Still, the memo undercuts theories that continued to circulate, including that there was proof that influential figures were involved in Epstein's exploitation of underage girls. At their most pitched, these theories held that Epstein was able to blackmail those influential figures who appeared on a purported 'client list.' They also undercut Bondi's personal rhetoric. The new memo's key findings are very different from how Bondi billed them. And they are merely the latest examples of Bondi being contradicted by the same Justice Department she leads. Let's run through the examples. The idea that Epstein kept a 'client list' that potentially implicated influential figures has become an article of faith in some circles. Key Republican lawmakers have treated its existence as an established fact and pushed for its release. And a big reason for that was Bondi herself. During a February 21 interview on Fox News, host John Roberts asked whether DOJ would release a 'list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients.' 'Will that really happen?' Roberts asked. Bondi responded: 'It's sitting on my desk right now to review. That's been a directive by President Trump. I'm reviewing that.' In other words, Bondi didn't commit to releasing such a list, but she affirmatively indicated it existed and that it was in her possession. And the question was specifically about the purported list – not other files related to Epstein. Bondi had another chance to downplay the existence of such a list during a later March 1 interview on Fox, but declined to do so. Host Mark Levin suggested that Democratic-leaning officials in New York City might be withholding information because they 'don't like the names on the list' and that they were 'trying to protect a lot of names and individuals.' Bondi leaned into the theory, saying she had 'not reviewed the information yet,' but added: 'I think it's very interesting that they withheld that from us.' The Justice Department now says not only is there no evidence of blackmail, but there is no evidence of such a list. 'This systematic review revealed no incriminating 'client list,'' the DOJ memo says. 'There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.' Elon Musk, who formerly served in the Trump administration and has previously alleged on social media that the 'real reason' officials have not made more Epstein files public is because Trump's name is in them, has appeared to take shots at Bondi on social media. 'What's the time? Oh look, it's no-one-has-been-arrested-o'clock again,' Musk posted on X around 4 a.m. eastern time on Monday. In another puzzling claim, Bondi said there were 'tens of thousands of videos' of Epstein 'with children or child porn.' Bondi first made the assertion on a secretly recorded video. Then she repeated the claim publicly, possibly in an effort to get ahead of that video's release. 'There are tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn, and there are hundreds of victims,' Bondi said publicly on May 7. But just a month later, FBI Director Kash Patel appeared to walk back Bondi's claim. He indicated to podcast host Joe Rogan there was no video of people committing crimes on Epstein's island. 'Is there video from the island?' Rogan asked. 'Not of what you want,' Patel said. 'So this narrative might not be accurate, that there's video of these guys doing this?' Rogan asked. 'Exactly,' Patel confirmed. Patel added at another point: 'If there was a video of some guy or gal committing felonies on an island and I'm in charge, don't you think you'd see it?' Bondi's allegation puzzled lawyers and law enforcement officials involved in Epstein's criminal cases who were unfamiliar with any such trove of videos, an AP investigation reported last week. And now the new DOJ memo further undercuts Bondi's claim. The memo cites 'over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography.' But that's both videos and images. And it appears to separate them from anything involving Epstein's presence. Separately, it cites 'images and videos of victims who are either minors or appear to be minors' but only images of Epstein. In other words, it never cites videos of Epstein, much less 'tens of thousands of videos.' While the DOJ memo in the above instances suggests Bondi oversold the evidence, it suggests she publicly undersold findings in another area: the number of victims. Bondi has on multiple occasions indicated there were around 250 victims. 'This will make you sick,' she told Fox in late February. 'Two hundred victims, 200. So we have well over – over 250 actually.' In the Levin interview on March 1, she cited 'the 254 young girls, women who are victims of sex crimes and sex trafficking.' Two days later, she doubled down on that number in a Fox interview with Sean Hannity. But the DOJ memo cites many more victims. It says its review 'confirmed that Epstein harmed over one thousand victims. Each suffered unique trauma.'
Fox News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Former AG Barr shreds Gavin Newsom's 'nonsense' legal claims as Trump sends in troops to quell LA riots
Former Attorney General Bill Barr criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom's legal challenge to President Donald Trump's decision to deploy National Guard troops in response to recent riots in the state. Appearing on "The Story" Wednesday, Barr dismissed Newsom's lawsuit as unfounded. "[Newsom's] comments, his legal arguments are nonsense, they can't be taken seriously," Barr said. The lawsuit targets Trump's authority to federalize the National Guard without the permission of the state's governor. Newsom argues that the president overstepped his constitutional bounds when he called in troops, while the Trump administration maintains the move is well within federal powers. "The National Guard is an asset that can be used by the states for state purposes, but it also can be federalized and used by federal government for federal purposes," Barr explained. "This has happened throughout our history." According to a recent court filing, administration lawyers argue that the president is under "no obligation" to consult with or notify a state governor before activating the National Guard for federal use. Trump invoked a federal statute that allows the use of military forces in cases of "rebellion or danger of a rebellion" against the U.S. government. Newsom contends the unrest does not rise to that threat level and insists deploying troops only escalated tensions. "Sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy," Newsom said in a statement earlier this week. "Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a President. We ask the court to immediately block these unlawful actions." The legal battle intensified after Newsom sought a temporary restraining order to block the deployment. On Tuesday night, a federal judge denied the immediate request but scheduled a hearing for Thursday to consider the state's motion. Barr defended the administration's legal stance, saying the federal law in question has long allowed the president to deploy the National Guard both domestically and abroad. "The very same provision that's being used here is used when the president has, throughout our history, sent National Guard troops overseas," Barr said. "The statute is clear that when the president makes that decision, the troops shall serve as directed by the president. The governors cannot veto the federal government's use of the National Guard." The Los Angeles riots broke out in response to federal immigration raids, with the White House sending in National Guard troops to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and federal buildings. Despite the unrest, the Department of Homeland Security says it has continued to arrest multiple convicted criminals in the United States illegally.
