From attempts to prosecute presidentâs foes to claims of a cover-up, attorney general endured tumultuous tenureAnalysis: Bondi firing a reminder that even ultra-loyalists get dumped by TrumpDonald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday, removing the nationâs chief law enforcement officer after months of mounting frustration over her handling of the Epstein files and her faltering attempts to prosecute the presidentâs political enemies.âWe love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future,â Trump wrote in a social media post on Thursday. He said she would be replaced by her deputy, Todd Blanche, on an interim basis. Continue reading...
Hakeem Jeffries predicts Pete Hegseth could be next as party alarmed by damage done by âterribleâ attorney generalTrump fires Pam Bondi, a loyalist and ally, as attorney generalUS politics live â latest updatesWith quips, memes and jabs, Democrats cheered Donald Trumpâs firing of attorney general Pam Bondi on Thursday, while the presidentâs Republican allies praised her relatively brief tenure overseeing the justice department.Trump announced Bondiâs departure on Truth Social, saying: âWe love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future.â Her deputy Todd Blanche will take over as acting attorney general. Continue reading...
Crown Prosecution Service confirms support on inquiries after arrests on suspicion of misconduct in public officePolice are receiving advice from prosecutors as part of their inquiries into Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsorâs links to Jeffrey Epstein.The former duke of York and the former UK ambassador to the US were both arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office over their connections with the late financier. They have since been released under investigation. Continue reading...
Dern will play Miami Herald reporter Julie K Brown in first scripted take on the Epstein story, based on Brownâs bookLaura Dern is taking on the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, in a new limited series executive produced by Adam McKay based on journalist Julie K Brownâs work busting open the story.Dern will play Brown, the Miami Herald investigative reporter on the late, disgraced financierâs tail when no one else was, for the first scripted take on the Epstein case. The screenplay will be based on Brownâs 2021 book Perversion of Injustice: The Jeffrey Epstein story. Sharon Hoffman, a writer on the 2020 limited series Mrs America, will write the project and serve as co-showrunner with Eileen Myers (The Night Agent, Masters of Sex). McKay, the writer-director of Donât Look Up and executive producer on the HBO juggernaut Succession, among other credits, will serve as executive producer alongside Dern and Brown. Continue reading...
Sara Ziff, founder of Model Alliance, said business leaders need to be hauled before House oversight committeeA top modeling industry activist has called for business leaders to be hauled before lawmakers in Washington to investigate what role modeling agencies may have played in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal.Sara Ziff is founder of the Model Alliance, a non-profit advocacy group calling for fair treatment, labor rights and safe working conditions for fashion industry workers. Continue reading...
Former talent agency boss had closer relationship with sex offender than thought, and supported him after 2009 arrestA female executive at the top of the modelling industry had a close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and introduced him to women on the agencyâs books, a Guardian investigation has found.Until last November, Faith Kates ran Next Management modelling and talent agency, which has represented the likes of Alexa Chung, Milla Jovovich and Billie Eilish, a position she held for decades as the founder of the business. She stepped down quietly just weeks before the first major Epstein files were released, saying she intended to focus on charity work.18 July 2009 10.18amI am and will always be your friend...Unconditionally...will always be there for you.5 September 2009 7.47pmThinking of you a lot and hoping you are finally enjoying some please [sic] and quiet..know you are always in my thoughts and prayers. You are a good friend my dear friend..5 September 2009 7.54pmthanks,, lets get back to work. Continue reading...
Jena Lisa Jones says she backed Trump in 2024 election because of his campaign promises to release Epstein filesAfter casting her vote for Donald Trump in 2024 in hopes that he would bring transparency around the Jeffrey Epstein case, Epstein survivor Jena Lisa Jones said in an interview this week that she now fears âweâre not going to get justice in all of thisâ.âI wanted my day in court,â said Jones, who has said she was abused by Epstein when she was 14, in an interview on the Shadow Sessions podcast that aired on Thursday morning. âI didnât get that, and we were so close to it, it really got ripped from us, and then after [Epstein] passed, everything just went into a circus show.â Continue reading...
In House depositions, disgraced financierâs associates say they were not contacted after his 2008 plea dealSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailJeffrey Epsteinâs accountant and his attorney have both said that federal government investigators never interviewed them about the late financierâs crimes and their work with him, according to deposition videos released by the House of Representativesâ oversight committee.Richard Kahn, Epsteinâs accountant, and Darren Indyke, Epsteinâs lawyer, said in hours of closed-door interviews with the committee that they did not witness, nor were involved in, any wrongdoing relating to Epstein, who died in 2019 after being charged with child sex trafficking. Continue reading...
Leon Botsteinâs communications and relationship with Epstein under review by WilmerHale law firm, while Bard president says he never witnessed anything inappropriateA victim of Jeffrey Epstein who had previous interactions with Leon Botstein said she believed the Bard College president, whose relationship with the late sex offender is currently under review, was part of a group of influential and accomplished men whose proximity to Epstein helped to rehabilitate his reputation.Svetlana Pozhidaeva, a former Russian model who worked as a âstafferâ for Epstein, told the Guardian in an interview that she saw Botstein with Epstein together âquite frequentlyâ â including having flown with him on a trip to Epsteinâs island in December 2012 â and that she believed his reputation as a âsophisticated intellectualâ helped âlegitimizeâ Epstein. Continue reading...
Mette-Marit says she âdid not know he was a sex offenderâ, despite Googling him three years after his prison sentenceNorwayâs crown princess, Mette-Marit, has said she was âmanipulated and deceivedâ by Jeffrey Epstein as she spoke publicly for the first time about her years-long relationship with the late sex offender.She also claimed that she âdid not know he was a sex offender or an abuserâ â despite telling him in an email in 2011, three years after he had been sentenced to 18 months in prison and pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from girls as young as 14, that she had recently Googled him. Continue reading...
Anger grows after a closed-door briefing from attorney general where she refused to commit to testify under oath despite subpoenaDemocrats walk out in protest at Epstein briefing from BondiSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxHello and welcome to the US politics live blog.Furious Democratic lawmakers have moved to impeach attorney general Pam Bondi after walking out of a closed-door briefing about the Jeffrey Epstein files on Wednesday.We asked her multiple times, are you going to come and speak with us under oath? She would not say yes. Filibuster, filibuster, filibuster, would not say yes.Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee pressed Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, to explain why her deputy, Joe Kent, said in his resignation letter on Tuesday that âIran posed no imminent threat to our nationâ, which contradicts weeks of statements to the contrary by Donald Trump.Senator Markwayne Mullin fielded questions from his colleagues in a confirmation hearing to take over as Donald Trumpâs new homeland security secretary.The Federal Bureau of Investigation has started buying location data on Americans, the FBI director, Kash Patel, said under oath at the Senate intelligence committee worldwide threats hearing on Wednesday.Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, argued that the changes to election law Republicans call the Save America Act will make it more difficult for US citizens to voteBy a vote of 53-47, Senate Republicans blocked a war-powers resolution that would have limited Donald Trumpâs ability to prosecute the war on Iran he started last month. Continue reading...
Lawmakers leave closed-door meeting after AG refuses to commit to honoring subpoena to testify under oathDemocrats on the House oversight committee walked out of a closed-door briefing from attorney general Pam Bondi about the Jeffrey Epstein files on Wednesday, leaving what California congressman Robert Garcia called âan outrageous fake hearingâ after Bondi refused to commit to honoring a subpoena to testify under oath.The committee voted to subpoena Bondi earlier this month, with five Republicans joining Democrats to demand that the attorney general answer questions about the justice departmentâs failure to properly release files from the federal investigations into Epstein. Continue reading...
Lawmakers on both sides of aisle have criticized justice departmentâs improper redaction of informationSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxPam Bondi, the attorney general, has been formally subpoenaed to appear before a House panel to answer questions about the justice departmentâs handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and itâs release of the Epstein files.The move came amid growing criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle over the justice departmentâs compliance with a law passed last year requiring the full release of Epstein-related files. Continue reading...
Prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre says connections have been proved between those in âtrusted and central positionsâ and late sex offenderThe Norwegian parliament has voted unanimously to appoint an independent investigative commission to look into connections between its foreign office and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Speaking before the vote on Tuesday, the prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, paid tribute to Epsteinâs victims and said that the files released by the US Department of Justice had clearly shown âit is possible to buy and abuse influence if you are rich enoughâ. Continue reading...
Advocates say 24/7 coverage of US attacks will not last for ever â and spotlight will return to Epstein and his crimesAs the US woke to news that Donald Trump had bombed Iran, domestic discord was fast simmering.There was unrelenting outrage over ICE raids. There was frustration with the rising cost of living. There was fear over rocketing healthcare prices, mounting household debt, not to mention many Americansâ nagging sense of desperation in a country, some warned, where democracy itself was under threat. Continue reading...