Trump news live: DOJ notified Trump that his name appears in Epstein files, new report reveals

The Department of Justice told President Donald Trump that his name appears multiple times in the Jeffrey Epstein files, multiple administration sources told The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, told the president during a May meeting at the White House that his name appeared in the Epstein files, after they had sifted through a “truckload” of documents.

Following the Journal’s report, sources familiar with the exchange confirmed the account to both The New York Times and CNN.

Appearing in the files does not necessarily indicate that an individual has committed any wrongdoing, nor has Trump ever been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein case.

The Justice Department is expected to hold a meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, according to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

Maxwell was found guilty in December 2021 of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, among other charges, related to her role in a scheme to abuse minor girls with Epstein for a decade.

More and more wealthy people may turn to President Donald Trump’s proposed $5 million Gold Card visa program as birthright citizenship is under threat, a new report claims.

Trump issued an executive order earlier this year seeking to end birthright citizenship, which is safeguarded by the U.S. Constitution, for parents who are in the U.S. illegally. A U.S. District Judge has since blocked the order, but the Supreme Court could still hear another case on the issue.

Ali Jahangiri, head of the EB5 Lending Alliance, told Newsweek the interest in Gold Cards and EB-5 visas — which can grant permanent residence to certain foreign investors — could skyrocket if birthright citizenship is restricted or removed.

“Removing or restricting birthright citizenship would close a loophole used by many foreign nationals and shift demand toward investment-based and merit-based immigration pathways like EB-5 and Gold Cards, which provide more secure, legal, and long-term immigration solutions for wealthy families looking to secure a future for their children in the U.S,” Jahangiri said.

Later Wednesday, Mike Bedigan reported an appeals court ruled Trump’s birthright citizenship order is unconstitutional.

But the case can still be brought to the Supreme Court for review.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, responded to whether the Trump administration should release all the files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, telling CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, “Just be done with it.”

Bradley Edwards, who has represented over 200 victims of Jeffrey Epstein, has rebuked people “salivating over scandal” and called for files related to the late convicted sex offender to be released.

Edwards told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell Wednesday night, “ The victims generally — and as you said, I’ve represented over 200 of them, not every one of them is the same — but for the most part, all of them want to heal. And they deserve to heal.

And the only way they’re going to heal now is if full transparency happens. Release the files, release everything in them, except the victims’ names. Protect the victims, protect their privacy, release everything else.”

The lawyer continued:  “There’s a solution to every single problem that has come up and a quick solution. It doesn’t seem like people want it; it seems like it’s being driven by salivating over scandal as opposed to dissemination of the truth.”

The Trump administration tried to release grand jury transcripts related to investigations into Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, after pushback, including from its own base, but the courts denied their request.

Edwards called the grand jury materials “basically worthless.”

The grand jury transcripts are believed to be only part of the files related to Epstein.

Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat, called on Republicans to “stop playing defense and let the truth come out” after a House subcommittee voted to subpoena the Justice Department for files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The motion passed in an 8-2 vote Wednesday, with five Democrats and three Republicans supporting it.

“My colleague, @RepSummerLee, filed a motion in an Oversight subcommittee to subpoena the Epstein files, and it passed,” Crockett wrote on X. “Now let’s see if the rest of the Republicans will stop playing defense and let the truth come out.”

The Trump administration tried to release certain Epstein files after pushback, including from its own base, but the courts denied their request.

House Speaker Mike Johnson shut down the House early on Tuesday ahead of its August recess in order to block Democrats from bringing up amendments calling for the release of the Epstein files.

Columbia University has reached a deal with the Trump administration to pay more than $220 million to restore a federal funding cut over claims it failed to combat antisemitism on campus, the university announced Wednesday.

The Ivy League school will pay a $200 million settlement to the federal government over three years, the university said. It will also pay $21 million to settle investigations brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,” acting University President Claire Shipman said.

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Representative Summer Lee, a Pennsylvania Democrat, successfully moved to subpoena the Justice Department for files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and later called Republicans “hypocrites.”

Lee, along with four other Democrats and three Republicans on a House subcommittee, voted to subpoena the files.

Republicans also added that former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and others be subpoenaed as well.

This follows allegations from the Trump administration that Obama and his top officials orchestrated a “years-long coup” to keep Trump from the White House, with assessments that Russia interfered with the 2016 election.

Through a spokesperson, Obama said, “These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”

Speaking to MSNBC’s Jen Psaki Wednesday night, Lee said of Republicans, “They are desperate for this narrative that Democrats are trying to protect their own, and we’re trying to protect our own…They were just trying to make this a both-sides thing to make up for the fact that they were being hypocrites, that they said that this is what they want…We saw that they ran on this in the last election.”

“So they’re just trying to distract from the fact that they’re being hypocrites, that they know that they’re choosing to protect Donald Trump over the very victims that they keep giving lip service to, that they’re choosing to protect Donald Trump over transparency for the American people,” Lee added.

The Trump administration has faced backlash, including from its own base, after the president promised for years to release the so-called Epstein files.

On Trump’s orders, the Justice Department requested the release of grand jury transcripts related to investigations into Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, but the courts denied them.

Trump has also faced scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein from decades ago and the possibility that he is mentioned in the Epstein files. Appearing in the files does not necessarily indicate that an individual has committed any wrongdoing.

Appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Tuesday to discuss the revived furore over Epstein after Trump’s Justice Department said that no “client list” belonging to the late billionaire pedophile existed, Ian Maxwell once more defended Ghislaine, who was jailed in 2022 for her role in the disgraced financier’s sex trafficking operation.

Maxwell told Morgan: “President Trump was asked the only time, I believe, in public – at the tail end of his presidency, so, you know, November, December 2021 [sic] – about Ghislaine and he said, ‘You know, I don’t know much about it, but I wish her well.’

“And I don’t think that anyone else showed the slightest piece of humanity, not anybody at that time, and yet he did. He didn’t need to. He’s the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world. He could’ve just sloughed it off. He didn’t. He made a positive statement. I am very grateful to that and I know Ghislaine was too.”

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The controversial Army parade through Washington, D.C., in June that coincided with Donald Trump’s birthday cost the service branch $30 million, it announced on Wednesday.

“I can confirm the total for the Army festival and parade cost approximately $30 million,” an Army spokesperson told The Hill.

The event, marking the 250th anniversary of the Army, was projected to cost between $25 million and $45 million, not accounting for the cost of police and street repairs tied to the event

In addition to cost overruns, some worried the event would damage Washington’s infrastructure, though an Army spokesperson said in late June the procession of military hardware had only been shown to damage a single curb, which the Army planned to repair.

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