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      Justice department reportedly told Trump in May that his name is in Epstein files – live

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      “When justice department officials reviewed what attorney general Pam Bondi called a ‘truckload’ of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein earlier this year, they discovered that Donald Trump’s name appeared multiple times,” the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing senior administration officials.I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.An independent Pentagon inspector general reportedly has evidence that the detailed attack plans for strikes on Yemen shared in at least two Signal group chats by defense secretary Pete Hegseth in March were, in fact, classified, contradicting repeated claims to the contrary from Trump administration officials.“The Pentagon’s independent watchdog has received evidence that messages from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Signal account previewing a U.S. bombing campaign in Yemen derived from a classified email labeled “SECRET/NOFORN”, the Washington Post reports.According to the Post, the Pentagon watchdog discovered that the 15 March strike plans Hegseth dropped in one Signal group that mistakenly included the editor of the Atlantic, and a second chat that included his wife, had first been shared “in a classified email with more than a dozen defense officials” sent through a secure, government system by General Michael Erik Kurilla, the top commander overseeing US military operations in the Middle East.After the revelation that Hegseth had shared the secret attack plans on Signal with a journalist before the strikes, the defense secretary told reporters “nobody was texting war plans”. His chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, said at the time: “there were no classified materials or war plans shared”.Another participant in the Signal group, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, testified to congress in March that “there was no classified material that was shared” in the chat.A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Kilmar Ábrego García must be released from jail as he awaits trial on human smuggling charges.The decision from judge Waverly Crenshaw means that Donald Trump’s administration can potentially attempt to deport the Maryland father of two to his native El Salvador or a third country for a second time.Crenshaw, sitting in Nashville, agreed with an earlier decision by a magistrate judge, concluding that prosecutors had not provided enough evidence to show Ábrego is either a danger to the public or a flight risk.The judge said in his decision that the government “fails to show by a preponderance of the evidence – let alone clear and convincing evidence – that Ábrego is such a danger to others or the community that such concerns cannot be mitigated by conditions of release”.Despite the bail ruling, Ábrego is not expected to walk free. His legal team has requested a 30-day delay in implementing the decision, opting to keep him in criminal detention while they consider next steps.Meanwhile, in a separate courtroom in Maryland, US district judge Paula Xinis, who is overseeing a civil case Ábrego filed, issued a 72-hour freeze on any further attempts by the Trump administration to deport him. Xinis ruled that Ábrego must be returned to Maryland on an order of supervision.The House oversight committee has officially subpoenaed Ghislaine Maxwell for a deposition to occur at the Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee on 11 August.“The facts and circumstances surrounding both your and Mr Epstein’s cases have received immense public interest and scrutiny,” Republican chairman James Comer, of Kentucky, wrote, addressing Maxwell.“While the justice department undertakes efforts to uncover and publicly disclose additional information related to your and Mr Epstein’s cases, it is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of you and Mr Epstein.”An oversight subcommittee voted yesterday to subpoena Maxwell, the imprisoned sex trafficker who was a close associate of the notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, to testify amid a political firestorm over the Trump administration’s decision not to release its remaining Epstein files.“This is another fake news story, just like the previous story by the Wall Street Journal,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement in response to the WSJ’s report that the justice department informed Donald Trump in May about his name being in the Epstein files.In the WSJ’s report (paywall), according to the officials, attorney general Pam Bondi and her deputy informed the president at a meeting in the White House in May that his name was in the Epstein files, along with many other high-profile figures.“The meeting set the stage for the high-profile review to come to an end,” the WSJ reports.The publication notes that being mentioned in the documents is not a sign of wrongdoing:
      The officials said it was a routine briefing that covered a number of topics and that Trump’s appearance in the documents wasn’t the focus.
      They told the president at the meeting that the files contained what officials felt was unverified hearsay about many people, including Trump, who had socialized with Epstein in the past, some of the officials said. One of the officials familiar with the documents said they contain hundreds of other names.
      They also told Trump that senior justice department officials didn’t plan to release any more documents related to the investigation of the convicted sex offender because the material contained child pornography and victims’ personal information, the officials said. Trump said at the meeting he would defer to the justice department’s decision to not release any further files.
      Trump denied last week in response to a journalist’s question that Bondi had told him that his name was in the files.“When justice department officials reviewed what attorney general Pam Bondi called a ‘truckload’ of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein earlier this year, they discovered that Donald Trump’s name appeared multiple times,” the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing senior administration officials.I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.US district judge Robin Rosenberg wrote that the court’s “hands are tied” and said the government had not requested the grand jury’s findings for use in a judicial proceeding, pointing out that district courts in the US are largely prohibited from unsealing grand jury testimony except in very narrow circumstances.The ruling mentioned in my last post stems from federal investigations of Jeffrey Epstein in Florida in 2005 and 2007, according to court documents.It doesn’t affect two other pending requests by the Department of Justice that seek to obtain transcripts of grand jury proceedings related to later federal investigations of Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, in New York, both of which led to separate criminal indictments.Yesterday, the New York federal court said it would like to “expeditiously” resolve the Trump administration’s request, but it could not do so due to a number of missing submissions.The Trump administration filed the petitions to unseal transcripts of the grand jury proceedings last week. It followed days of mounting pressure and criticism across the political spectrum over the DoJ’s decision not to release any further investigative evidence about Epstein despite many earlier promises that it would be released.A US judge has denied a justice department bid to unseal grand jury transcripts related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in South Florida, the first ruling in a series of attempts by Donald Trump’s administration to release more information on the case.Reuters reports that US district judge Robin Rosenberg found that the justice department’s request in Florida did not fall into any of the exceptions to rules requiring grand jury material be kept secret.The new photos and videos published by CNN have emerged today in a context of ever-rising frustration in Trump’s White House over its inability to make the Epstein story go away. Per Politico:
      Donald Trump is angry. His team is exasperated. The Republican-controlled House is in near rebellion.
      Trump and his closest allies thought they’d spend the summer taking a victory lap, having coaxed Congress into passing the megabill, bullied foreign governments into a slew of new trade arrangements, convinced Nato allies to spend billions more on collective defense and pressed world leaders to bow to various other demands from Doha to The Hague.
      Instead, questions surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, who was found dead in his jail cell by suicide nearly six years ago, are overshadowing almost everything else.”
      “POTUS is clearly furious,” a person close to the White House told Politico. “It’s the first time I’ve seen them sort of paralyzed.”
      A senior White House official said the president is frustrated with his staff’s inability to tamp down conspiracy theories they once spread and by the wall of media coverage that started when attorney general Pam Bondi released information from the Epstein case that was already in the public domain.
      “He feels there are way bigger stories that deserve attention,” the senior White House official said.
      The frustration stems, in part, from an understanding that this is “a vulnerability,” said a White House ally. Trump has famously had his finger on the pulse of the Republican base for more than a decade but has, for now, lost the ability to dominate the narrative. That threatens to undermine the momentum and sense of invincibility the GOP felt at the beginning of the month when they were getting ready to boast about a slew of new tax cuts and border funding as their opening pitch to voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.
      Newly uncovered photos and video footage published by CNN show more links between the notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump, including Epstein’s attendance at Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples at the Plaza hotel in New York in 1993.The media organization said on Wednesday that Epstein’s attendance at the wedding ceremony was not widely known.CNN also published footage from 1999 of Trump and Epstein attending a Victoria’s Secret fashion event in New York, where they are seen talking and laughing alongside Trump’s future wife, Melania Trump.The outlet noted that the newly published material pre-dates any of Epstein’s known legal troubles.CNN also published photos of Trump and Epstein at the 1993 opening of the Harley-Davidson Cafe in New York, where Trump is seen with his arm around two of his children, Eric and Ivanka, while Epstein stands beside them.When asked for comment by CNN on the newly unearthed videos and photos, Trump reportedly responded: “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He then reportedly called CNN “fake news” and hung up the phone.Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said in a statement to CNN that the videos and photos were “nothing more than out-of-context frame grabs of innocuous videos and pictures of widely attended events to disgustingly infer something nefarious”.“The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep,” Cheung added. “This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media.”The Trump administration’s Department of Education announced on Wednesday that it has opened national-origin discrimination investigations into five US universities over what it described as “alleged exclusionary scholarships referencing foreign-born students”.According to the announcement, the department’s office for civil rights has opened investigations into the University of Louisville, the University of Nebraska Omaha, the University of Miami, the University of Michigan and Western Michigan University.The department said that the investigations will determine whether these universities are granting scholarships exclusively to students who are recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, who came to the US as children, or who are undocumented “in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s (Title VI) prohibition against national origin discrimination”.The investigation stems from complaints submitted by the Legal Insurrection Foundation’s Equal Protection Project, a conservative legal group.The group alleges in the complaints that certain scholarships at these schools are limited to students with Daca status or who are undocumented, which they argue is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “and its implementing regulations by illegally discriminating against students based on their national origin”.For the full story, click here: More

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      The nefarious message behind the DHS ‘manifest destiny’ painting: ‘four pillars of propaganda’

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      In Morgan Weistling’s oil painting A Prayer for a New Life, a young, white pioneer couple sit inside a covered wagon, sharing a quiet moment with their swaddled newborn as prairie stretches out behind them. The work could be interpreted as a western take on the birth of Jesus; Mary and Joseph on the Oregon trail. One might imagine it decorating the oak-walled office of an oil executive in a Yellowstone spin-off show – though it is probably too schmaltzy even for that.Last week, Weistling’s painting took on a darker meaning when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s official X account posted, to the artist’s consternation, an image of the painting with the caption: “Remember your Homeland’s Heritage.”To some, the post seemed like authoritarian propaganda, similar to what was put out by Joseph Goebbels about Aryan motherhood in 1930s Nazi Germany. “In case you had any doubts about the white supremacist thing,” one X user responded to the post.Others nakedly applauded its perceived subtext, a celebration of the right’s vision for America, in which families of strong men and maternal women usher in a pronatalist baby boom. “Our people. Our place,” responded Andrew Torba, CEO of Gab, a social network popular among alt-right, neo-Nazi and white nationalist users.Under Trump’s second administration, the DHS has orchestrated sweeping immigration raids across the US, and Ice is reportedly detaining a record number of migrants. A scroll through the department’s X account shows videos of families torn apart by immigration officers, and then this post, which seems to say: we’re fine with migration and movement – so long as the families doing it are white.View image in fullscreenExperts say the benign look on the couple’s faces and the presence of an innocent newborn distract from the real problem: what’s not in the painting’s frame.“The main stories that are told through art of the American west tend to focus on white settlers, which omits the suppression of other populations,” said Emily C Burns, director of the Charles M Russell center for the study of art of the American west and an associate professor of art history at the University of Oklahoma. “It’s challenging when a single image of something that is incredibly complicated is placed in the foreground. What stories are lost in that?”Those stories include the US government’s violent expulsion and genocide of Indigenous people to clear land for settlers, and the Black cowboys, many of them formerly enslaved or one generation removed from slavery, who went west on horseback and helped develop the country’s nascent ranching industry. Also omitted are the Chinese immigrants who built the west’s railroads and worked its goldmines and factories, and who, due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, could not legally gain US citizenship.Adam Klein, associate professor at Pace University, studies how extremist movements infiltrate American media and politics. “The [Weistling] painting isn’t violent at all,” he said. “On the surface, it’s a beautiful image. But when you look at where it’s coming from, with [DHS using] language like ‘homeland’ and ‘heritage’, that’s really evocative of anti-immigrant sentiment.”Klein said the post brought to mind similar themes used by VDare, a far-right, anti-immigration website that launched in 1999 and suspended operations last year. VDare was named after Virginia Dare, the first child born to European settlers in the “new world”. Since the 1800s, white supremacists have glorified her memory, though all we know of her is her birthdate and the fact that she disappeared as part of the “lost colony” of Roanoke. Dare’s image and disappearance are ripe for racist projections, including the conspiracy theory of a “white genocide” perpetrated by non-white immigrants.In 2018, the VDare founder Peter Brimelow told the Washington Post that he chose the name “to focus attention on the very specific cultural origins of America, at a time when mass nontraditional immigration is threatening to swamp it”.Klein also noted that the DHS’s post seemed like “an attempt to stir the pot and be divisive”.Under the leadership of Kristi Noem, the DHS has taken up Donald Trump’s orders for mass deportation with militant aplomb and an all-out publicity blitz. Noem looked glamorous as she livestreamed pre-dawn Ice raids in New York and toured the southern border on horseback. Meanwhile, the department shares mugshots of migrants and reminders from Uncle Sam to “REPORT ALL FOREIGN INVADERS.” Last month, it posted AI-rendered art hyping Alligator Alcatraz, thumbing its nose at critics horrified by the detention center’s reported conditions.View image in fullscreenOn a less aggressive artistic note, it also shared the late artist Thomas Kinkade’s Morning Pledge, a pastoral painting showing two boys walking to their small-town schoolhouse underneath a fluttering American flag. “Protect the Homeland,” the DHS captioned this post.Both Kinkade’s perfectly manicured Americana and Weistling’s “manifest destiny” daydream belie the chaos DHS has sown through its often violent immigration crackdown. But they do align with the retrograde America Trump 2.0 desires, and is ordering US universities, museums and national parks to teach.Weistling, who did not respond to a request for comment, wrote on his website that DHS used his 2020 painting without permission. He described the work as two parents with their baby, “depicted here praying to God for his fragile life on their perilous journey”. His style often canonizes traditional domestic roles: girls and young women cook and clean, while men ride on horseback and build things.When asked about its social media strategy, including the use of Weistling’s work, a DHS spokesperson wrote via email: “If the media needs a history lesson on the brave men and women who blazed the trails, forded the rivers, and forged this Republic from the sweat of their brow, we are happy to send them a history textbook. This administration is unapologetically proud of American history and American heritage. Get used to it.”Renee Hobbs, a professor of communication studies at the University of Rhode Island and founder of the Media Education Lab, says that she teaches her students “the four pillars of propaganda”: activating strong emotions; simplifying information and ideas; appealing to people’s deepest hopes, fears and dreams; and attacking opponents. The DHS’s post hits all of these pillars.“This could be an image from a children’s book,” Hobbs said. “It’s a vision of America that was sold to generations. I’m a boomer, and I read these kinds of stories as a child. Now I have a critical perspective on manifest destiny, but this taps into my memory, which can bypass critical thinking.”Those feelings, good or bad, are the whole point: “DHS is looking for engagement, and the use of emotional imagery gets people to react, whether they love it or hate it,” Hobbs said. “So from a PR strategy, these posts are actually working quite well.” More

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      How Trump has supercharged the immigration crackdown – in data

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Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Titlepiece;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-column-gap:0px;grid-template-columns:100%;grid-template-areas:”media” “title” “headline” “standfirst” “lines” “meta” “body”}@media (min-width: 30em){#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption{padding:0 20px;max-width:620px}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-template-columns:100%;grid-column-gap:10px;grid-template-areas:”title” “headline” “standfirst” “media” “lines” “meta” “body”}#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid #maincontent{padding-right:80px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-template-columns:620px 300px;grid-template-areas:”title right-column” “headline right-column” “standfirst right-column” “media right-column” “lines right-column” “meta right-column” “body right-column” “. right-column”}#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid #maincontent{padding-right:unset}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-template-columns:140px 1px 620px 300px;grid-template-areas:”title border headline right-column” “. border standfirst right-column” “. border media right-column” “. border body right-column” “. border . right-column”}#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,[data-gu-name=body] 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.content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-template-columns:219px 1px 620px 80px 300px}}body.ios .article__header .standfirst__inner p,body.android .article__header .standfirst__inner p{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif;font-weight:500}body.ios .article__header .article-kicker__section,body.android .article__header .article-kicker__section{display:block}body.ios .article__header .article-kicker__section:first-letter,body.android .article__header .article-kicker__section:first-letter{text-transform:uppercase}body.ios .article__header .keyline-4,body.android .article__header .keyline-4{padding-top:12px!important}body.ios .article__header .meta__misc .byline__author,body.android .article__header .meta__misc .byline__author{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif;font-weight:700}body.ios .article__header .meta__misc .byline__author a,body.android .article__header .meta__misc .byline__author a{font-weight:700}body.ios .article figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.android .article figure.element-image .figure__inner{height:auto!important}body.ios .article figure.element-atom+p,body.android .article figure.element-atom+p{margin-top:0}:root{–gv-custom-color-dark: #121212;–gv-custom-color-active: #ff4e36;–gv-custom-color-light: #606060;–gv-custom-color-border: #333333;–gv-custom-text-light: #999999;–article-background: var(–gv-custom-color-dark);–article-meta-lines: var(–gv-custom-color-border);–straight-lines: var(–gv-custom-color-border);–article-text: #fff;–headline-colour: #fff;–subheading-text: #fff;–standfirst-text: #fff;–textblock-text: #fff;–mobile-color: var(–gv-custom-text-light);–sub-meta-label-text: var(–gv-custom-text-light);–dateline: var(–gv-custom-text-light);–series-title-text: var(–gv-custom-color-active);–byline: var(–gv-custom-color-active);–byline-anchor: var(–gv-custom-color-active);–article-link-border: var(–gv-custom-color-border);–article-link-text: var(–gv-custom-color-active);–article-link-border-hover: var(–gv-custom-color-active);–article-link-text-hover: var(–gv-custom-color-active);–sub-meta-text: var(–gv-custom-color-active);–share-button: var(–gv-custom-color-active);–standfirst-link-text: var(–gv-custom-color-active);–standfirst-link-border: var(–gv-custom-color-border);–share-button-border: var(–gv-custom-color-border);–sub-meta-background: var(–gv-custom-color-dark);–share-button-hover: var(–gv-custom-color-dark);–interactive-block-background: var(–gv-custom-color-dark);–caption-text: var(–gv-custom-text-light);–article-section-background: #fff;–section-background: #fff}article,main >section:nth-child(3),main >section:nth-child(4){–article-border: var(–gv-custom-color-border)}#maincontent{margin-top:0}#maincontent h2{padding-bottom:10px;max-width:620px}#maincontent hr{background-color:var(–gv-custom-color-border);max-width:620px;width:100%}#maincontent figcaption{margin-top:10px}#maincontent figcaption span:has(svg){display:none}#maincontent hr+h2+p{font-family:Guardian Text Sans Web,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif;font-size:15px;margin-bottom:20px}[data-gu-name=media] >div{max-width:100%}[data-name=placeholder] >div{background-color:var(–section-background)}[data-gu-name=lines]{margin-top:20px}@media (min-width: 61.25em){[data-gu-name=lines]{margin-top:0}}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){article,main >section:nth-child(3),main >section:nth-child(4){background-color:var(–gv-custom-color-dark)!important}article #maincontent figure{background-color:var(–gv-custom-color-dark)}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst{padding-bottom:14px}}[data-link-name=”Across the Guardian”] div,[data-link-name=”Across the Guardian”] span{–article-text: #121212}[data-link-name=”Across the Guardian”] h4{color:var(–article-text)}[data-link-name=”most popular”] span{–article-text: #121212;color:#121212}
      /**
      * Data font stack
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Serif font stack
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Headline font stack
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Sans serif text font stack
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Sans serif headline font stack
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Default font scale settings
      * See font-scale.html and font-scale.png for visual representations
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Grab all levels of a font the font-scale
      *
      * @param {String} $name – Name of the font-scale matrix (eg: headline)
      * @param {Map} $font-scale ($font-scale)
      *
      * @example
      * font-size: get-scale(header);
      *
      * @requires {variable} $font-scale
      *
      * @return {Map}
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Grab info for a particular level of a font-scale
      *
      * @param {String} $name – Name of the font-scale in the matrix (eg: headline)
      * @param {Number} $level – Level in the matrix
      * @param {Map} $font-scale ($font-scale)
      *
      * @example
      * font-size: get-scale-level(header, 1);
      *
      * @requires {variable} $font-scale
      * @requires {function} get-scale
      *
      * @return {Map}
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Get a font-size for a level in the font-scale matrix
      *
      * @param {String} $name – Name of the font-scale in the matrix (eg: headline)
      * @param {Number} $level – Level in the matrix
      * @param {Map} $font-scale – Configuration
      *
      * @example
      * font-size: get-font-size(header, 3);
      *
      * @requires {variable} $font-scale
      * @requires {function} convert-to-px
      * @requires {function} get-scale-level
      *
      * @return {Number}
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Get a line-height for a level in the font-scale matrix
      *
      * @param {String} $name – Name of the font-scale in the matrix (eg: headline)
      * @param {Number} $level – Level in the matrix
      * @param {Map} $font-scale – Configuration
      *
      * @example
      * font-size: get-line-height(header, 3);
      *
      * @requires {variable} $font-scale
      * @requires {function} convert-to-px
      * @requires {function} get-scale-level
      *
      * @return {Number}
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Turn any value into pixels
      *
      * @param {Number} $value
      *
      * @example
      * font-size: convert-to-px(14); // 14px
      *
      * @return {Number}
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Default typography settings, to be included as soon as possible in the HTML
      * 1. Make type rendering look crisper
      * 2. Set relative line spacing to 1.5 (16px * 1.5 = 24px)
      *
      * @param {String} $font-family ($f-serif-text) – Default global font
      *
      * @requires {variable} $f-serif-text
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Font-size and line-height shorthand
      *
      * @param {Number} $size
      * @param {Number} $line-height ($size)
      *
      * @example
      * @include font-size(18, 24);
      *
      * @requires {function} convert-to-px
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Font styling shorthand
      * Note: prefer the usage of the font-scale mixins to stick to the font scale
      *
      * @param {String} $family
      * @param {String} $weight
      * @param {Number} $size
      * @param {Number} $line-height ($size)
      *
      * @example
      * @include font(arial, bold, 18, 24);
      *
      * @requires {mixin} font-size
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Header family and weight properties.
      *
      * @requires {variable} $f-serif-headline
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Header typography settings.
      *
      * @param {Number} $level
      * @param {Boolean} $size-only
      *
      * @example
      * // Output all properties (font-size, line-height, family, weight)
      * @include fs-header(3);
      *
      * // Output font-size and line-height only
      * @include fs-header(3, $size-only: true);
      *
      * @requires {function} get-font-size
      * @requires {function} get-line-height
      * @requires {mixin} font-size
      * @requires {mixin} f-header
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Healdine family and weight properties.
      *
      * @requires {variable} $f-serif-headline
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Headline typography settings.
      *
      * @param {Number} $level
      * @param {Boolean} $size-only
      *
      * @example
      * // Output all properties (font-size, line-height, family, weight)
      * @include fs-headline(3);
      *
      * // Output font-size and line-height only
      * @include fs-headline(3, $size-only: true);
      *
      * @requires {function} get-font-size
      * @requires {function} get-line-height
      * @requires {mixin} font-size
      * @requires {mixin} f-headline
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Body Heading family and weight properties.
      *
      * @requires {variable} $f-serif-text
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Body Heading typography settings.
      *
      * @param {Number} $level
      * @param {Boolean} $size-only
      *
      * @example
      * // Output all properties (font-size, line-height, family, weight)
      * @include fs-bodyHeading(3);
      *
      * // Output font-size and line-height only
      * @include fs-bodyHeading(3, $size-only: true);
      *
      * @requires {function} get-font-size
      * @requires {function} get-line-height
      * @requires {mixin} font-size
      * @requires {mixin} f-bodyHeading
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Body Copy family property.
      *
      * @requires {variable} $f-serif-text
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Body Copy typography settings.
      *
      * @param {Number} $level
      * @param {Boolean} $size-only
      *
      * @example
      * // Output all properties (font-size, line-height, family)
      * @include fs-bodyCopy(3);
      *
      * // Output font-size and line-height only
      * @include fs-bodyCopy(3, $size-only: true);
      *
      * @requires {function} get-font-size
      * @requires {function} get-line-height
      * @requires {mixin} font-size
      * @requires {mixin} f-bodyCopy
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Data family property.
      *
      * @requires {variable} $f-data
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Data typography settings.
      *
      * @param {Number} $level
      * @param {Boolean} $size-only
      *
      * @example
      * // Output all properties (font-size, line-height, family)
      * @include fs-data(3);
      *
      * // Output font-size and line-height only
      * @include fs-data(3, $size-only: true);
      *
      * @requires {function} get-font-size
      * @requires {function} get-line-height
      * @requires {mixin} font-size
      * @requires {mixin} f-data
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Text Sans family property.
      *
      * @requires {variable} $f-sans-serif-text
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Text Sans typography settings.
      *
      * @param {Number} $level
      * @param {Boolean} $size-only
      *
      * @example
      * // Output all properties (font-size, line-height, family)
      * @include fs-textSans(3);
      *
      * // Output font-size and line-height only
      * @include fs-textSans(3, $size-only: true);
      *
      * @requires {function} get-font-size
      * @requires {function} get-line-height
      * @requires {mixin} font-size
      * @requires {mixin} f-textSans
      *
      * @group typography
      */
      /**
      * Headline Sans family property.
      * Is not currently integrated into our font scale matrix,
      * hence no `fs-` mixin; currently we’re just using it as a
      * replacement font in a few places.
      *
      * @requires {variable} $f-sans-serif-headline
      *
      * @group typography
      */
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      }
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      Eswatini opposition attacks US deal as ‘human trafficking disguised as deportation’

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      Civil society and opposition groups in Eswatini have expressed outrage after the US deported five men to the country, with the largest opposition party calling it “human trafficking disguised as a deportation deal”.The men, from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Cuba, were flown to the small southern African country, an absolute monarchy, last week as the US stepped up deportations to “third countries” after the supreme court cleared them last month.Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, is landlocked by South Africa and Mozambique and has a population of about 1.2 million. It is Africa’s last absolute monarchy and has been ruled by King Mswati III since 1986.The government estimated the five men would be held for about 12 months, a spokesperson, Thabile Mdluli, said, adding: “It could be slightly less or slightly more.”She said Eswatini was ready to receive more deportees, depending on the availability of facilities and negotiations with the US, which has also deported eight people to South Sudan after holding them for weeks in a shipping container in Djibouti, and more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador.Officials have said the men, who were put in solitary confinement, were safely imprisoned in Eswatini. However, they have refused to disclose the terms of the deal, other than to say the US was footing the costs of keeping the men locked up and that they would work with international organisations to deport them to their home countries.View image in fullscreenMany civil society organisations and politicians were not convinced. “This action, carried out without public consultation, adequate preparation, or community engagement, raises urgent questions about legality, transparency, and the safety of both the deported individuals and the people of Eswatini, especially women and girls,” said a coalition of seven women’s groups.The organisations delivered a petition to the US embassy on Monday calling for the US to take back the deportees, for the deportees’ human rights to be respected, and for Eswatini not to become a “dumping ground for unresolved problems from elsewhere”.The groups’ leaders held a protest outside the US embassy on Friday, where they sang, danced and held up signs with messages including: “Whose taxpayers?”, “Eswatini is not a prison for US rejects” and “Take the five criminals back to the US!!”Eswatini’s largest opposition party, the People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), said in a statement: “Pudemo vehemently condemns the treacherous and reckless decision by King Mswati III’s regime to allow the United States of America to dump its most dangerous criminals on Swazi soil.“This is not diplomacy but human trafficking disguised as a deportation deal. It is an insult to all Emaswati who value peace, security, and the sanctity of our homeland.”The coordinating assembly of NGOs, an umbrella group, said the situation was “deeply alarming” and condemned the “stigmatising and dehumanising language used by US officials”. It called for the Eswatini-US agreement to be made public and to be suspended pending “genuine public consultation and transparent national dialogue”.View image in fullscreenTricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary at the US Department of Homeland Security, said in a post on X on 16 July that the men, who she said had been convicted of crimes including child rape, murder and burglary, were “so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back”.She added: “These depraved monsters have been terrorising American communities but … they are off of American soil.”Eswatini’s prime minister, Russell Dlamini, told local media on Friday that the government was confident it would safely manage the prisoners. “Eswatini is currently holding inmates who have committed more dangerous crimes than those attributed to the five deportees,” he said.A prison service spokesperson, Baphelele Kunene, said the country’s citizens should not be afraid. “We can confirm that the five inmates in question have been admitted to one of our high-security centres where they are responding very well to the new environment,” he said. “Even though they come from the US, there is no preferential treatment for them as they are guided by the same prison regulations, eat the same food as others and are also expected to exhibit the same and equal amount of respect for prison protocols.”The US state department’s most recent human rights report on Eswatini, in 2023, said there were “credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; [and] political prisoners or detainees”.Political parties are banned from taking part in elections, which the system’s advocates argue makes MPs more representative of their constituents. In September, Pudemo’s leader, Mlungisi Makhanya, was allegedly poisoned in South Africa. The party said it was an assassination attempt, which Eswatini’s government has denied.The Department of Homeland Security has been contacted for comment. More

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      Videos reveal harsh conditions inside Ice’s New York City confinement center

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      Two videos have surfaced shedding light on what is happening behind closed doors at a New York federal building where people are being confined after being seized by officers on their way out of immigration court on the 12th floor, with the footage offering a rare look inside a controversial and closely guarded space that is part of Donald Trump’s anti-immigration crackdown.The filming, shared by the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), captures one of several rooms at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, on the building’s 10th floor, where accounts have emerged of people being detained in wholly unsuitable conditions with few basic provisions, but there had been no public access to direct evidence.The footage in question shows about two dozen men confined in bare rooms, some lying on the floor wrapped in aluminum emergency blankets while others sit on benches, the City reported on Tuesday.One clip shows two toilets just feet away from where people sleep, separated by a low wall. The video was secretly recorded by a man who had been detained after an immigration court appearance last week, according to the City, which first obtained the footage from the NYIC.The man who filmed the scenes had reportedly managed to have a phone in his possession despite the usual protocol by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) of confiscating personal items at arrest. Reports of people being held for protracted periods in deprived conditions in the Manhattan building have followed weeks of controversy about Ice officers turning up at immigration courts across the country, where they are usually not present, and apprehending people. The footage shows people held in the same building as one of the main immigration courts in New York City. It was sent to state assembly member Catalina Cruz’s office. Until now, photos or videos from the 10th floor have not emerged in public.“The American dream,” the unseen and unnamed detainee says as he films. “Immigration, 26 Federal Plaza.”In a separate audio message also shared with the City , the same man adds: “They haven’t given us food, they haven’t given us medicine. We’re cold. There are people who’ve been here for 10, 15 days inside. We’re just waiting.”Concerns about what goes on inside the federal building had been growing. Advocates, attorneys and immigrants themselves have described the 10th floor as overcrowded, with no beds, showers, or adequate access to food or healthcare.“Ice is kidnapping so many people from New York’s immigration courts that they had to create a new detention facility on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza. But instead of sharing the truth with the public, Ice has skirted accountability by consistently lying about what’s happening on the 10th floor, and breaking the law by not allowing Congress members to view the conditions,” said Murad Awawdeh, president of the NYIC, in a statement.“The 10th floor detention facility must be shut down immediately, and regularly inspected to ensure that Ice adheres to federal guidelines as mandated by law,” Awawdeh added.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in earlier statements about the facility that “any claim that there is overcrowding or sub-prime conditions is categorically false”.Ice also maintains that the 10th floor is not used for detention. Officially, the agency describes the space as a processing center, and therefore not subject to congressional inspection rules that apply to detention facilities, where national lawmakers have to be allowed to visit. “26 Federal Plaza is not a detention center. It is a federal building with an Ice law enforcement office inside of it,” said McLaughlin.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBut data from Ice detention logs analyzed by the City revealed that from September 2023 through late June this year, people were held there in what Ice calls the “NYC Hold Room” for an average of 29 hours. Some stayed for several days.The space remains off-limits to both journalists and lawmakers, even though members of Congress are supposed to be allowed to make unannounced visits to detention sites. Several Democrat representatives have been denied entry.Detainees and advocates continue to speak about grim conditions, including sparse food offerings, no showers or clothing changes, and people crammed into a single room with only the floor or hard benches to rest on, according to Gothamist.Meanwhile, Ice has been granted a huge budget boost. Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” dedicates roughly $170bn for immigration and border-related operations – a sum that would make Ice the most heavily funded law enforcement agency in the federal government. More

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      Atlanta reporter detained by Ice ‘punished for his journalism’, rights groups say

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      Mario Guevara, a Salvadoran journalist imprisoned in a south Georgia immigration detention center after being arrested covering a “No Kings Day” protest in June, is being “punished for his journalism”, first amendment rights groups said.“The charges were dropped, yet he remains detained by Ice,” said José Zamora, the regional director for the Americas at the Committee to Protect Journalists, during a press conference on Tuesday morning at the Georgia capitol with Guevara’s attorneys and family. “Let’s be clear, Mario is being punished for his journalism. He is now the only journalist in prison in the US in direct retaliation for his reporting.”A police officer from the city of Doraville in north DeKalb county arrested Guevara on 14 June on misdemeanor charges of pedestrian in the roadway, failure to disperse and obstruction while Guevara was covering a protest in an immigrant-heavy neighborhood. Guevara is widely followed by a Spanish-speaking audience for his coverage of immigration raids in Georgia, and more than 1 million people were watching his livestream on Facebook when he was arrested.Guevara, a native of El Salvador, has been in the US for more than 20 years. While his petition for asylum was rejected in 2012, his deportation was administratively closed in an appeal, and he has both a work permit and a pending application for a green card, his attorney Giovanni Diaz said.Though charges from the protest were quickly dropped, the sheriff of nearby Gwinnett county laid a second set of unrelated misdemeanor traffic charges shortly after Guevara’s arrest. The Gwinnett county solicitor subsequently dropped those charges as well, but not before Gwinnett’s sheriff’s office seized his cell phone with a search warrant.Guevara’s cell phone has not been returned, and it is unclear where it is, what data has been transferred from it or whether that data has been shared with federal agencies, Diaz said.“Everybody’s saying we don’t see a warrant in the system,” Diaz said, describing his office’s inquiries with the sheriff and other agencies. “So, one of two things happened. Some other agency that hasn’t contacted us took it – US attorney’s [office], Ice, somebody else has it – or the phone was just plain stolen.“I think it’s par for the course, considering the government’s conduct in this case. We’re doing this, at least initially, to see if we get the phone back, but again, if they don’t give the phone back, its another reason to file a lawsuit in federal court.”Guevara’s family was forced to make an extortion payment after another inmate threatened him while he was briefly held in general population in the federal prison in Atlanta. Guevara is now being held in isolation, which may help protect him, but also limits his ability to report on conditions at the Folkston immigration center, set to become the largest Ice detention center in the US.“With every day that passes, we are losing time that we will never get back,” said his daughter Katherine Guevara. “I know so many others in the same situation understand it all too well. I’m deeply disappointed with this country. This is not just about one journalist. This is about what kind of country we want to be. If a government can punish a reporter for doing his job, what message does this send? What protections are left for the rest of us?” More

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      Pentagon withdraws all 700 marines from Los Angeles – live updates

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      The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, confirmed to the Guardian on Monday that the entire deployment of 700 active-duty US marines is being withdrawn from Los Angeles.The redeployment of the marines comes after 2,000 National Guard troops were withdrawn from the city last week. The troops were sent to the city last month by the federal government after violence broke out on the fringes on protests against immigration enforcement sweeps in LA.According to Parnell, the deployment of the marines, which state and city officials called unnecessary and provocative at a time when protests against immigration raids were already under control, had achieved it aim.“With stability returning to Los Angeles, the Secretary has directed the redeployment of the 700 Marines whose presence sent a clear message: lawlessness will not be tolerated”, Parnell said in a written statement. “Their rapid response, unwavering discipline, and unmistakable presence were instrumental in restoring order and upholding the rule of law. We’re deeply grateful for their service, and for the strength and professionalism they brought to this mission.”Citing concerns over possible violations of bribery laws, senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Ron Wyden wrote on Monday to David Ellison, whose company Skydance is about to buy CBS owner Paramount, to ask if he struck a “secret side deal” with Donald Trump in exchange for federal approval of the purchase, or played any part in the decision to cancel Trump critic Stephen Colbert’s late-night CBS show.In their letter, the senators asked Ellison, whose father Larry Ellison is the co-founder of Oracle and a friend of Trump, to reply to 7 detailed questions, probing whether he was involved in any “quid-pro-quo arrangement” that could violate the law.The questions about a possible secret side deal were prompted, in part, by Trump’s own claims, after he accepted $16 million from Paramount to drop his lawsuit over the routine editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris last year, that the deal was worth twice as much.There have been recent reports that Ellison has been considering a possible role for the conservative journalist Bari Weiss in remaking CBS News.Among the questions Ellison is asked to reply to by 4 August are:

      “Is there currently any arrangement under which you or Skydance will provide compensation, advertising, or promotional activities that in any way assist President Trump, his family, his presidential library, or other Administration officials?” the senators ask Ellison in the letter.

      “Have you personally discussed with President Trump, any of his family members, any Trump Administration officials, or presidential library fund personnel any matters related to the Paramount-Skydance transaction?”

      “Has Skydance agreed or have you personally agreed to make changes to Skydance’s content or Paramount’s or CBS’s content at the request of the Trump Administration, to facilitate approval of the transaction?”
      The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, confirmed to the Guardian on Monday that the entire deployment of 700 active-duty US marines is being withdrawn from Los Angeles.The redeployment of the marines comes after 2,000 National Guard troops were withdrawn from the city last week. The troops were sent to the city last month by the federal government after violence broke out on the fringes on protests against immigration enforcement sweeps in LA.According to Parnell, the deployment of the marines, which state and city officials called unnecessary and provocative at a time when protests against immigration raids were already under control, had achieved it aim.“With stability returning to Los Angeles, the Secretary has directed the redeployment of the 700 Marines whose presence sent a clear message: lawlessness will not be tolerated”, Parnell said in a written statement. “Their rapid response, unwavering discipline, and unmistakable presence were instrumental in restoring order and upholding the rule of law. We’re deeply grateful for their service, and for the strength and professionalism they brought to this mission.”Democrats this afternoon are forcing another vote to push for the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents, further placing pressure on Republican lawmakers, according to a report from Politico.The Democratic lawmakers are planning to offer Republican representative Thomas Massie’s bill as an amendment during a Rules Committee meeting Monday afternoon. Massie’s bill, a bipartisan effort, seeks to push for the release of Epstein-related documents.On Monday, Politico also reported that the Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson does not have plans to put forward a Republican-led alternative Epstein bill before August’s recess break.The White House is removing the Wall Street Journal from the group of reporters covering Trump’s trip to Scotland, Politico reports.The Wall Street Journal’s removal from this upcoming weekend’s press pool follows the paper’s report that alleged Trump wrote a sexually suggestive letter to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. Trump has sued the paper and its owners for its report, demanding $10 billion.“Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Politico. “Every news organization in the entire world wishes to cover President Trump, and the White House has taken significant steps to include as many voices as possible.”According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump wrote a “bawdy” note to Epstein for his 2003 birthday.The Trump administration has flouted court orders in just over one-third of the lawsuits filed against its policies, a Washington Post analysis found. The Post’s analysis says it suggests a “widespread noncompliance with America’s legal system” by the White House.A number of plaintiffs that have sued the Trump administration say that agencies and officials are ignoring rulings, providing false information, failing to turn over evidence and quietly acting in defiance of court rulings.Since Trump took office, there has been a battle between the White House and the judiciary, during which officials have defied numerous court orders. Trump administration officials have repeatedly criticized federal judges as “activist judges.”According to the Post, despite judges appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents agreeing that the administration is flouting court orders, “none have taken punitive action to try to force compliance.”The Post analyzed 337 lawsuits filed against the Trump administration since January. Courts have ruled in 165 of the lawsuits. And the Post found that the Trump administration is accused of defying court orders in 57 of those cases.Two suspects are in custody for the alleged shooting and wounding of a customs officer in New York, officials said on Monday, the Guardian’s Robert Tait reports.During a press conference on Monday, homeland security secretary Krsiti Noem and Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s border czar, also said the episode was a direct result of New York’s sanctuary city policies and the approach to border security under Joe Biden’s presidency.On Saturday night, an off-duty customs officer was shot and wounded during an apparent attempted robbery. The officer was not in uniform at the time and police said there was indication he was targeted because of his occupation.A suspect in the incident, Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, was later taken into custody after turning up at a hospital in the Bronx with gunshot wounds to the leg and groin.During Monday’s press conference, Noem also focused on the profile of Nunez, who she said had been arrested four times since entering the US illegally in 2023. She also discussed the profile of his accomplice, Christhian Aybar-Berroa, saying he had “entered the country illegally in 2022 under the Biden Administration and was ordered for final removal in 2023 by an immigration judge.”“There’s absolutely zero reason that someone who has scum of the earth like this should be running loose on the streets of New York City,” Noem said, referring to Nunez. “Arrested four different times in New York City and because of the mayor’s policies and was released back to do harm to people and to individuals living in the city. Make no mistake, this officer is in the hospital today, fighting for his life because of the policies of the mayor of the city and the city council and the people that were in charge of keeping the public safe.”Homan said “sanctuary cities are cities for criminals.” He said the administration would “flood the zone” with immigration, customs and enforcement (Ice) officials to detain undocumented people in sanctuary cities.“What we’re going to do [is deploy] more agents in New York City to look for that bad guy so sanctuary cities get exactly what they don’t want – more agents in the community and more agents in the worksite,” he said.“I’m sick and tired of reading in the media every day how Ice is not doing what the Trump administration has promised, that we’re not arresting criminals, that most of the people we arrested are not criminals. I look at the numbers every day. The numbers I looked at [are] 130,000 arrests and 90,000 criminals. Do the math. That’s 70%.”Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, has blamed the sanctuary city policies applied by Democratic mayors for the wounding of an off-duty Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer in an attempted robbery, allegedly carried out by undocumented immigrants, one of whom was reportedly subject to a deportation order, the Guardian’s Robert Tait reports.The 42-year-old officer sustained gunshot wounds to his face and arm after being attacked in a Manhattan park shortly before midnight on Saturday night.He was shot after drawing his service weapon after being approached by two men on a scooter as he sat on a bench with a female companion. The officer was not in uniform at the time and police said there was indication he was targeted because of his occupation.At a news conference on Monday, Noem, flanked by Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s border czar, and several law enforcement officials, said the episode was a direct result of the sanctuary city policy adopted by New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, as well as the approach to border security adopted during Joe Biden’s presidency. Noem also criticized Adams during the conference.Noem’s criticism of Adams came despite widespread reports of a deal made between the mayor and the Trump administration that involved New York giving greater cooperation than before on immigration. The agreement was reached around the same time that the justice department moved to dismiss federal corruption charges against Adams, although the mayor has insisted there was no quid pro quo.Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles had also suffered crime waves, according to Noem, because their mayors and municipalities were “protecting criminals” by declaring them sanctuary cities, whereby local authorities give only limited cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agencies.President Donald Trump has appointed Mike Rigas, a Bush-era official from the General Services Administration (GSA), as acting administrator of the agency, Politico reports.The move is seen as a further step by the White House to curb Elon Musk’s influence in the GSA, which is one of the federal agencies that Musk’s initiative, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) nearly fully controlled.Rigas previously worked under the Trump administration as Deputy Secretary of State for management and resources. The former acting administrator was selected by a Musk ally to lead DOGE. The Rigas appointment is seen as a strategic move by the White House to rein in DOGE leadership.Border czar Tom Homan said Monday that immigration officials will escalate operations in New York and other so-called sanctuary cities.“Sanctuary cities are now our priority,” Homan said. “We’re gonna flood the zone.”Homan’s comments follow an attempted robbery and shooting of an armed, off-duty customs officer in Manhattan this weekend. The New York City Police Commissioner said the officer was not likely targeted due to his employment.When two men approached the off-duty officer to rob him and a companion in a Manhattan park, the officer withdrew a gun and engaged in a shootout with one of the robbers. The robber was arrested after being taken to a hospital. The customs officer is recovering from gunshots.Trump administration officials have said that so-called sanctuary policies were to blame for the shooting. New York and other cities have policies that limit local government cooperation in federal immigration matters.President Donald Trump threatened to appeal a federal judge’s decision in Massachusetts amid the ongoing and escalating battle between his administration and Harvard University.In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that the federal judge hearing the case is a “TOTAL DISASTER” and that when “she rules against us, we will IMMEDIATELY appeal, and WIN.”Massachusetts district judge Judge Allison Burroughs heard arguments from lawyers with Harvard and the federal government on Monday, in a case that may decide whether the Trump administration’s attempts to cut billions of dollars in university funding is legal. Burroughs has not yet ruled on Monday’s arguments.In his Truth Social post, Trump also said Harvard is “anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-America.”The US Border Patrol chief patrol agent for the El Centro Sector in southern California posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) saying that federal immigration officials “are not leaving” Los Angeles until “the mission is accomplished.”“Better get used to us now because this is going to be normal very soon,” Gregory K. Bovino, the Border Patrol agent said in a video. “I don’t work for [Los Angeles mayor] Karen Bass, the federal government doesn’t work for Karen Bass.”Border Patrol and other immigration officials have been conducting operations in Los Angeles to arrest, detain and deport undocumented immigrants. The operations gained widespread backlash in early June. Protests, opposing immigration arrests, engulfed certain areas of the city.Texas’s Republican-led state legislature is pushing to redistrict the state in a way that would favor Republicans when electing House representatives, the Washington Post reports.During the state’s special legislative session, beginning today, Trump is pushing for lawmakers to redistrict the state to add up to five more House districts.National Democratic Redistricting Committee, an anti-gerrymandering group, threatened to file lawsuits to stop attempts to redistrict the state.The special session was called by Texas’s state governor Greg Abbott after devastating floods in central Texas.Four US senators met with Canadian prime minister Mark Carney amid the looming 1 August deadline to strike a new trade and security deal.The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is being renegotiated and has faced strain from the Trump administration regarding a few key points, including lumber, digital services taxes and metal tariffs.This is the second congressional delegation to visit the Canadian prime minister in the past three months, Politico reports.Democratic senator Maria Cantwell, from Washington, is pushing for the Trump administration to bolster the US government’s weather disaster readiness, after recent tragic floods, hurricanes and wildfires, and as the administration seeks to slash resources.This comes as the Trump administration is pushing to drastically reduce the budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).The Trump administration is looking to cut the NOAA’s budget by 27%, a reduction of $2.2 billion.In a letter, Sen. Cantwell made five recommendations. They include modernizing weather data collection, funding more research and modernizing alert systems.“Communities across the United States are experiencing more frequent, intense, and costly flash floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, atmospheric rivers, landslides, heatwaves, and wildfires,” Cantwell wrote. “We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create the world’s best weather forecasting system that would provide Americans with much more detailed and customized alerts days instead of minutes ahead of a looming extreme weather event.” More