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      Trump news at a glance: president tells Europe to ‘stop the windmills’ ahead of EU and UK trade talks

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      Donald Trump spent the night at his family-owned golf resort in Scotland but took time to criticise European leaders over wind turbines and immigration, claiming there won’t be a Europe unless they “get their act together”.“I say two things to Europe. Stop the windmills. You’re ruining your countries. I really mean it, it’s so sad. You fly over and you see these windmills all over the place, ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds,” he said.“On immigration, you better get your act together or you’re not going to have Europe any more.”Intensive negotiations continued on Saturday between the EU and the US before a crunch meeting in Scotland between Trump and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, seeking to avert a costly trade war.Here’s more on this and the day’s other key Trump administration stories.Trump skips press meeting to play golf before US-EU talksDonald Trump abandoned a scheduled meeting with the press on Saturday morning for a round of golf at his seaside course in Turnberry, with music blaring from the buggy he drove.During what is billed as a four-day family visit to Scotland, Trump is meeting European leaders and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, raising hopes of new and refined trade deals with the EU and the UK.On the prospects of an EU trade deal, the US president has said there are “20 sticking points”. When asked what they were, he said: “Well, I don’t want to tell you what the sticking points are.”He described Ursula von der Leyen as a “highly respected woman” and said the meeting on Sunday with the EU chief would be “good”, rating the chances of a deal as “a good 50-50”.Read the full storyDemocrats request copy of Epstein ‘birthday book’ House Democrats on Friday sent a letter to the attorneys representing the estate of Jeffrey Epstein requesting a copy of the so-called “birthday book” that reportedly contains a crude poem and doodle from Donald Trump in celebration of the late sex offender’s 50th birthday.In the letter, California congressmen Ro Khanna and Robert Garcia say the contents of the book may be “essential” to congressional oversight of the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein controversy. In the letter, they ask for a “complete and unredacted” copy of the book by 10 August.Read the full storyDoge reportedly using AI tool to create ‘delete list’ of federal regulationsThe “department of government efficiency” (Doge) is using artificial intelligence to create a “delete list” of federal regulations, according to a report, proposing to use the tool to cut 50% of regulations by the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s second inauguration.The “Doge AI Deregulation Decision Tool” will analyze 200,000 government regulations, according to internal documents obtained by the Washington Post, and select those it deems to be no longer required by law.Read the full storyTrump says Cambodia and Thailand agree to ‘immediate’ ceasefire talksThailand and Cambodia have agreed to “immediately meet” to work out a ceasefire, according to Donald Trump, who spoke to the leaders of both countries as he sought an end to clashes that continued for a third consecutive day.In social media posts, Trump said: “Both parties are looking for an immediate ceasefire and peace”, adding he would not negotiate a trade deal with either side until the fighting stopped.Read the full storyUnease as crowded Cotswolds braces for JD Vance’s summer holidayThe narrow lanes and honeyed stone walls of Stow-on-the-Wold are not the setting where one would expect to see an angry altercation. But could this charming UK town soon find itself at the heart of the angry US culture wars?According to reports, the US vice-president, JD Vance, will be holidaying in the Cotswolds with his family next month, and protesters are determined to let him know just how warm the welcome will not be in England’s chocolate box countryside.Read the full storyWoman who fled Cuba for asylum arrested at US immigration courtroomJenny, 25, entered the US legally, but Ice agents arrested her after a hearing, part of a growing trend of court detentions.Read the full storyMen freed from El Salvador mega-prison endured ‘state-sanctioned torture’, lawyers sayVenezuelans whom the Trump administration expelled to El Salvador’s most notorious megaprison endured “state-sanctioned torture”, lawyers for some of the men have said, as more stories emerge about the horrors they faced during capacity.Read the full storyCan a rural hospital on the brink survive Trump’s bill?Republican lawmakers voted for the “big beautiful bill” but cuts to Medicaid will hit hard in rural areas like Missouri’s poorest county, Pemiscot.The Pemiscot Memorial hospital has long been the destination for those who encounter catastrophe in this rural stretch of farms and towns. Yet its days of serving its community may be numbered.Read the full storyHundreds removed from ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention camp, DeSantis saysFlorida has begun deporting people from the notorious “Alligator Alcatraz” detention camp, the state’s governor said, and deportations are expected to increase in the coming weeks.At a press conference at the controversial facility, Ron DeSantis said “hundreds of illegals have been removed” from the facility. He later clarified that most of those were flown from Alligator Alcatraz to other detention facilities in the US.Read the full storyWhat else happened today:

      A debating opponent of the leftwing media figure Mehdi Hasan in a controversial viral YouTube video was previously the organizer of two violent far-right protests in Berkeley, California, in 2017, the Guardian can reveal.

      Authorities in Michigan are investigating after multiple people were stabbed at a Walmart in Traverse City, police said on Saturday.
      Catching up? Here’s what happened on 25 July 2025. More

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      At least 11 people stabbed at Walmart store in Michigan and man in custody, police say

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      At least 11 people were stabbed at a Walmart in Traverse City, with six people in a critical condition, Michigan authorities said.About 4.45pm on Saturday, a 42-year-old man allegedly entered the store and used a folding knife to stab 11 people, the Grand Traverse county sheriff’s office said, adding that it appeared to have been a random act of violence.A sheriff’s deputy arrived within minutes and took the man into custody. People in the store helped apprehend the suspect and treat victims, the sheriff’s office said.Emergency vehicles and uniformed first responders gathered in the parking lot of the shopping centre, which houses several other retail stores.Authorities also were seen interviewing employees, still wearing blue uniform vests and name tags, as the response gave way to an investigation.Tiffany DeFell, 36, who lives in Honor, about 25 miles (40km) from Traverse City, said she was in the store’s parking lot when she saw chaos erupt around her.“It was really scary. Me and my sister were just freaking out,” she said. Munson Healthcare said via social media that 11 people were being treated at the region’s largest hospital in northern Michigan. A spokesperson said six people were critical and five were in serious condition late on Saturday.The hospital requested patience and understanding from the public as “our emergency department is currently experiencing a higher than usual volume of patients”.Shea said the weapon involved appeared to be a folding knife. The suspect in custody was believed to be a Michigan resident.The Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, posted on social media that she was aware of the incident and in touch with law enforcement.“Our thoughts are with the victims and the community reeling from this brutal act of violence,” she said. “I am grateful to the first responders for their swift response to apprehend the suspect.”Walmart said it would continue to work closely with law enforcement in the investigation. “Violence like this is unacceptable. Our thoughts are with those who were injured and we’re thankful for the swift action of first responders,” a statement said.Traverse City is about 255 miles (410km) north-west of Detroit and is a popular holiday spot on the coast of Lake Michigan. More

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      Landlord who stabbed Palestinian American boy to death dies in prison

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      A landlord jailed for decades after he attacked a Palestinian American boy and his mother has died.Three months ago, Joseph Czuba was sentenced to 53 years behind bars for the attack. He was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of the boy’s mother, Hanan Shaheen.The 73-year-old Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, which started days earlier.Czuba died Thursday in the custody of the Illinois corrections department, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, citing the Will county sheriff’s office. The law enforcement agency did not return a call seeking comment on the death.Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Chicago office, said in a statement on Saturday that “this depraved killer has died, but the hate is still alive and well”.Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and police video. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict.The family had been renting rooms in Czuba’s home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64km) from Chicago when the attack happened.Shaheen told jurors Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim. Prosecutors also played the 911 call and showed police footage. Czuba’s wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war, which had erupted days earlier.After the start of the war, Czuba told Shaheen that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. Later, he attacked her and her son.“He told me: ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,’” said Shaheen.Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds.Czuba attacked her with a knife before going after her son in a different room. Police said Czuba stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child’s body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee’s relatives.The case, which generated headlines around the world, comes amid rising hostility against Muslims and Palestinians in the US since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing roughly 1,200 Israelis, and Israel’s attack on Gaza, which has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians.The attack hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee’s funeral drew large crowds, and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honor.Marina Dunbar contributed reporting More

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      Can Democratic socialists get Zohran Mamdani across the finish line?

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      Was it his charisma, communication skills or his captivating short-form videos? His high-profile endorsements or his clothing style? These elements were said to have contributed to Zohran Mamdani’s record-setting success in New York’s June mayoral primary.But another major factor in his win may have been his ties to the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).Known for its endorsement of the Vermont independent senator and socialist Bernie Sanders’s run for president, as well its role in electing the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the group has re-energized US left political movements in recent years, even while eliciting critique and fear from conservatives and some Democrats.In Mamdani’s campaign, a stunning 60,000 volunteers knocked on 1.6m doors across New York City, home to 3.6m housing units. The effort reportedly led to conversations with a quarter of all New Yorkers who voted in the primary.Though the campaign has not yet released data showing how many of those volunteers were mobilized by NYC-DSA itself, Gustavo Gordillo, a co-chair of the chapter, says his organization turned out thousands. Though other organizations, such as the grassroots political group Drum Beats, also brought out volunteers, he said the chapter had an “unparalleled field operation in New York City”.“New York City DSA formed the heart of the field team,” he said.But the road ahead for Mamdani, who is a state assemblymember, may still be bumpy. Mainstream Democrats have been slow to embrace the democratic socialist, who ran on universalist material policies like a rent freeze and fast and free buses.In the past, centrists and conservatives have defeated DSA primary winners in elections that looked eminently winnable, such as India Walton in the 2021 Buffalo mayoral race. And rightwingers have already launched heavy smear campaigns against Mamdani, with polls showing the race could be tight. Fellow Democrat and former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, whom Mamdani defeated, switched to an independent party run just to stay in the game, and incumbent Eric Adams is vying to keep his seat.The Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf, a centrist, said: “Mamdani’s primary victory in the nation’s cultural financial and media capital is the greatest challenge faced by traditional Democrats in more than 50 years.“The future for the Democrats is unclear,” he said.Asked if mainstream Democrats should embrace the young socialist, he said much of the base the party needs to energize to win elections in New York and elsewhere is moving to the right, and “will not accept” a socialist.View image in fullscreenEven so, NYC-DSA says it is ready for the battle, and if Mamdani wins, it could catapult the group from the sidelines to the center of the party.“The opposition is in total disarray right now [and] their fragmentation is only going to be a source of weakness,” said Gordillo. “We’re ready to mount an offensive campaign that replays a lot of what succeeded in the primary with the army that we’ve amassed.”Electing socialistsWhen formed in 1982, DSA had 6,000 members nationwide; that number grew modestly over the next 25 years. Then, in the mid-2010s, in the wake of democratic socialist Sanders’s run for president – and Donald Trump’s subsequent 2016 presidential victory – membership began to soar.Today, DSA boasts 80,000 members who oppose capitalism and advocate for the public ownership and democratic control of key sectors and resources such as healthcare, and the shift of power to workers from corporations.Though socialism was once a dirty word in the US, especially after crackdowns on socialists and communists in the 1950s, more than half of young Americans hold a positive view of it today, according to the rightwing Cato Institute thinktank.Though DSA factions have often sparred over the role elections and endorsements should play in the movement, the group has increasingly entered the sphere in recent years. The national group is supporting candidates in municipal elections from Ithaca, New York, to Atlanta, Georgia, with local chapters backing additional candidates in Boston’s mayoral race, council runs in Richmond, California, Detroit, Michigan, and others. In Minneapolis, a DSA-backed mayoral candidate, state senator Omar Fateh won his primary this month, ; unlike Mamdani, Fateh has also won endorsement from local party officials.View image in fullscreenThe New York City chapter, now home to 10,000 members, began prioritizing elections in 2017, creating an electoral working group. Since then, it has secured two New York City council seats and six New York state assembly seats, including Mamdani’s, which he has held since 2020. Another 250-plus DSA-backed officials hold office nationwide, including progressive “Squad” democrats in Congress: Rashida Tlaib and Greg Casar, and Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson.NYC-DSA employs a methodical volunteer model for each of its endorsed candidates. It has also been highly selective about who it chooses to support.“You have to go speak to multiple branches of the chapter, talk to the electoral working group, go through multiple rounds of votes within DSA,” said the DSA-backed New York state senator Jabari Brisport, who represents a Brooklyn district.The robust endorsement pays off, Brisport said. “When you’re running with a DSA endorsement, you really have a whole operation of dedicated volunteers who want to advance socialism,” he said. “They help with everything from field organizing to comms to fundraising.”For NYC-DSA, electoral campaigns are not only focused on single candidates but also on building support for their movement, said Phara Souffrant Forrest, another DSA state assemblymember from Brooklyn.“When DSA campaigns for a candidate … we’re organizing their district around shared values like housing justice, healthcare for all and workers’ rights,” she said.The chapter does not use paid canvassers, though Mamdani’s campaign hired roughly 50 for specialized outreach.“Our main asset, which money can never buy, are volunteers who are passionate, who feel ownership over a campaign because the win would be personal for them,” said Sarahana Shrestha, a DSA assemblymember representing a south-eastern New York district.Her campaign brought in many voters who had otherwise “given up on electoral politics”, she said. DSA members appeared to do the same in the mayoral primary, mobilizing thousands of new voters.‘Cadre candidates’Some DSA endorsees – such as Ocasio-Cortez, who the group supported in her 2018 campaign – receive DSA backing upon request once they have launched their campaigns. Others, like Mamdani, are “cadre candidates” who have strong pre-existing ties to the organization and are recruited by and from the chapter.Since joining NYC-DSA in 2017, Mamdani has been deeply involved with the organization, helping lead other electoral campaigns and working closely with the chapter on his successful 2020 assembly run.View image in fullscreenOnce in office, Mamdani became an integral part of NYC-DSA’s socialists in office committee, designed to facilitate chapter communications with elected socialists. Today, many of his staffers are chapter leaders. And when launching his mayoral campaign, “he said that he would not run at all if he did not receive our endorsement,” the NYC-DSA organizer Michael Thomas Carter wrote in Drop Site News.“While the coalition that coalesced around his campaign was much broader than NYC-DSA, in this very direct sense our organization is responsible for his mayoral run,” he wrote.This commitment to the chapter has been a throughline in Mamdani’s career, said Gordillo.“He’s been really tested to learn how to exercise leadership while also being accountable to a base, because he’s done that in DSA pretty often,” he said.Mamdani has championed some NYC-DSA campaigning efforts he did not pioneer, such as the successful fight for a bill to expand publicly owned renewable energy, which Gordillo helmed. But he has been a leader on other initiatives, such as the “Not on Our Dime!” bill, which aims to pressure Israel to follow international law and on which he was the lead sponsor. (Ending US support for Israel’s military is a key issue for DSA, whose national organization ended its support for Ocasio-Cortez and former New York congressman Jamaal Bowman over insufficient support for the issue.)View image in fullscreenThat back-and-forth has continued through the mayoral campaign, with the chapter’s political operatives also helping him make connections and shape his platform.“He met with our Labor Working Group a lot to learn more about what were the top demands for different unions where we have a lot of member density,” said Gordillo, who is a union electrician by day.Transformative changeMamdani won more votes than any other mayoral candidate in New York City primary election history. Brisport said that’s a testament not only to the power of NYC-DSA’s organizational skills, but also to the popularity of their political values.“Clearly there is something in the air that is shifting, because open socialists are running for office and winning, showing that our ideas are good, workable things that people actually need,” he said.Mamdani’s embrace of the democratic socialist label has been a boon for NYC-DSA, with about 4,000 members joining since he launched his mayoral campaign. It will also be a test for the chapter and for American socialism.“Zohran ran as an open democratic socialist and the billionaire class, the most powerful forces in the world and in the city, are aligning against him,” Gordillo said. “They will be finding every moment to amplify anything that they can say is a mistake or a failure, and because he ran in a way that was so tied to the movement, I think that any of his shortcomings will also be attributed to us.”The chapter is now preparing to mobilize volunteers around the general election, but also organizing to support Mamdani’s key policies like a proposal to increase taxes on the rich. The organization is prepared to hold Mamdani accountable to socialist values, but also to communicate his successes to the public, said Gordillo.“We will make sure that the billionaire class and corporate interests can’t just fearmonger about him, or hide it when he fulfills his campaign promises,” he said.“The fate of the left in New York rests on the success of the Mamdani administration, so ensuring that there is a successful mayoralty is going to have to become our top priority.” More

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      Doge reportedly using AI tool to create ‘delete list’ of federal regulations

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      The “department of government efficiency” (Doge) is using artificial intelligence to create a “delete list” of federal regulations, according to a report, proposing to use the tool to cut 50% of regulations by the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s second inauguration.The “Doge AI Deregulation Decision Tool” will analyze 200,000 government regulations, according to internal documents obtained by the Washington Post, and select those which it deems to be no longer required by law.Doge, which was run by Elon Musk until May, claims that 100,000 of those regulations can then be eliminated, following some staff feedback.A PowerPoint presentation made public by the Post claims that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) used the AI tool to make “decisions on 1,083 regulatory sections”, while the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau used it to write “100% of deregulations”.The Post spoke to three HUD employees who told the newspaper AI had been “recently used to review hundreds, if not more than 1,000, lines of regulations”.During his 2024 campaign, Donald Trump claimed that government regulations were “driving up the cost of goods” and promised the “most aggressive regulatory reduction” in history. He repeatedly criticized rules which aimed to tackle the climate crisis, and as president he ordered the heads of all government agencies to undertake a review of all regulations in coordination with Doge.Asked about the use of AI in deregulation by the Post, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said “all options are being explored” to achieve the president’s deregulation promises. Fields said that “no single plan has been approved or green-lit”, and the work is “in its early stages and is being conducted in a creative way in consultation with the White House”.Fields added: “The Doge experts creating these plans are the best and brightest in the business and are embarking on a never-before-attempted transformation of government systems and operations to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.”Musk appointed a slew of inexperienced staffers to Doge, including Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old who was previously known by the online handle “Big Balls”. Earlier this year, Reuters reported that Coristine was one of two Doge associates promoting the use of AI across the federal bureaucracy. More

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      Trump bids to release Epstein grand jury files – what secrets might they hold?

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      As Donald Trump reels from political fallout related to his justice department’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein investigation files, the US president has directed his loyal attorney general, Pam Bondi, to “release all Grand Jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to court approval”.It is an effort at damage control for a White House now engulfed in endless speculation – especially among Trump’s previously devoted Maga base – about the extent of Trump’s relationship with the late, disgraced sex trafficker and wealthy financier who killed himself in jail in 2019.Justice department attorneys quickly filed paperwork in Manhattan and south Florida federal courts requesting unsealing of grand jury testimony for Epstein. Justice department officials have also asked a New York judge to release grand jury transcripts for Ghislaine Maxwell – Epstein’s sometimes girlfriend and longtime confidante who in 2021 was convicted of sex trafficking for luring teenage girls into his orbit.A grand jury is a panel that decides whether evidence presented by prosecutors shows “probable cause” that someone committed a crime, and whether they should be tried. Should the grand jury, which is not the trial jury, find that there is sufficient evidence, an indictment will be issued.But veteran US attorneys, including those who have represented Epstein victims, told the Guardian that any release of grand jury transcripts around Epstein and Maxwell might not provide much insight into Epstein’s crimes and whether others were involved in abusing minors – or in covering up his years of predation of young girls and women.The lawyers, however, insist that meaningful information does exist in yet-to-be released Epstein files held by federal law enforcement authorities from multiple investigations into Epstein. Whether the political will – and legal ability – exists to release any or all of those files remains to be seen.“Grand juries serve two functions: to indict and to investigate. The transcripts may contain testimony of victims or cooperating witnesses if the grand jury was investigating Epstein,” Neama Rahmani, founder of West Coast Trial Lawyers, and a former federal prosecutor, said of grand jury processes.The grand jury transcripts could include graphic and explicit evidence, but they could also include more pro forma information about the actions of Epstein and Maxwell, who is serving jail time in Florida.“If they were indicting Epstein, we can expect to see law enforcement witnesses summarizing the evidence of probable cause to support the charges. That would probably be less interesting, and similar to the factual allegations in the Epstein indictment,” Rahmani said.He added: “There is likely much more salacious evidence out there than the grand jury transcripts.“The FBI interview summaries and internal Department of Justice memoranda probably contain the juiciest details. The grand jury transcripts are just a small part of the picture. If Bondi was serious about transparency, she would make public the complete Epstein files, subject to redactions to protect the privacy rights of the victims.”Top lawyer Gloria Allred, who has represented multiple Epstein victims, said government files should be made public with several exceptions, such as redaction of victims’ names and identifying information, attorney-client communications and material depicting abuse.“I think there is information that the government could release, such as texts, emails and other electronic communications of Jeffrey Epstein and anyone with whom he communicated. In addition, any communications on behalf of Mr Epstein made by his employees who may have played a part in recruiting or dealing with victims at the request of Mr Epstein and/or Ms Maxwell could be released,” Allred said.“All evidence in the file of the United States attorney for the southern district of New York which was gathered for the prosecution of Mr Epstein, with the exceptions which I have listed previously, could be released.”Allred believes “all files, both federal and state that reflect the investigation and potential prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein in Florida should also be made public”.Thorough investigations of Epstein were conducted in New York and Florida, Allred pointed out, and those investigations would be in those files.Spencer T Kuvin, chief legal officer of GoldLaw and an attorney for Epstein victims, voiced similar sentiments.“The real documents that the public needs to see are the documents maintained by the FBI and Department of Justice. They have thousands of hours of videotapes and investigative memos and documents regarding the data that was seized at his homes,” he said.Kuvin said that unsealing grand jury testimony was a “good first step” but limits information to four victims over whom Epstein was charged in New York. “I am aware that the FBI had interviewed over 40 girls during their investigations. Where are those interviews, where are those reports?“The abusers should be disclosed to the public so that we may all know who they are,” Kuvin also said, insisting that victims’ privacy must be protected in such a process. He called on Trump to act.“This administration could end the dispute tomorrow by the president signing an executive order demanding the release of all the material in the custody of the FBI and DoJ,” Kuvin said. “Either Trump has the power to do this, or he must admit that he is not as powerful as he has professed to be to the public and his Maga followers.”Trump’s current political woes stem from his backtracking on previous vows to release the Epstein files. On the campaign trail, he vowed to declassify the files, but then attracted scathing criticism when his justice department released a memo claiming that there was no “incriminating” client list within the tranche of documents related to Epstein.The justice department’s claim that they did not find evidence implicating third parties has further fanned the flames of suspicion, especially as last week the Wall Street Journal reported that Bondi had warned Trump that his name appears in the files.A smattering of reports highlighting Trump’s friendship with Epstein several decades ago – which reportedly ended following a real estate dispute, several years before the late financier admitted to a state-level charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor in Florida – has proved yet another political minefield.Even if federal authorities and Trump drag their feet in releasing these documents, it is possible that new civil litigation could eventually force them to do so raising the prospect of yet more political scandals heading Trump’s way.Maria Farmer, an Epstein survivor who in 1996 told authorities he and Maxwell were abusing minors including her sister, is suing the federal government over their handling of these claims. Farmer’s suit alleges that the FBI “chose to do absolutely nothing”.Farmer also claims that the FBI agent taking her call “hung up on her, and no one at the FBI attempted to follow up with her or pursue her valid and serious allegations, most of which continued for many years, if not decades, with wide-ranging tragic consequences.”If this litigation progresses, both sides would exchange evidence related to the claims in a process called discovery. While discovery is typically subject to a confidentiality agreement, and solidified by a court order, information from this exchange could come up in subsequent court papers that are public.“What this lawsuit could reveal is what the FBI and the department did and did not do, what they failed to do – they failed to do their job,” Farmer’s attorney, Jennifer Freeman, special counsel at Marsh Law Firm, told the Guardian.Freeman noted, for example, that she has a redacted set of pages from what appears to be a 2006 field interview with Farmer, during which an FBI agent went to her home and spoke with her. Freeman said she had some 20 pages of handwritten notes, “many of which are redacted”.She said: “That’s the kind of information we need. It’s redacted. I’ve been trying to get this information for years now, through Foia [Freedom of Information Act] requests, but we’ve been stymied every time.”Neither the White House nor Department of Justice commented. More

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      ‘Hundreds’ of people have been removed from ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention camp, says Florida governor

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      Florida has begun deporting people from the notorious “Alligator Alcatraz” detention camp, the state’s governor said, and deportations are expected to increase in the coming weeks.At a press conference at the controversial facility, Ron DeSantis said “hundreds of illegals have been removed” from the facility. He later clarified that most of those were flown from Alligator Alcatraz to other detention facilities in the US. DeSantis, who has built a political career on his anti-immigration views, said 100 people had been deported from the US.“I’m pleased to report that those flights out of Alligator Alcatraz by [the Department of Homeland Security] have begun. The cadence is increasing,” DeSantis said. “We’ve already had a number of flights. … Hundreds of illegals have been removed from here,” De Santis said.He added: “We look forward to this cadence increasing.”Officials said two or three flights have so far departed, but didn’t say where those flights were headed.Last week, a number of non-profit organizations demanded the closure of the facility, which is based in the rural Everglades region, about 40 miles (64km) from Miami.The facility’s conditions are reportedly appalling, advocates said, with detained immigrants sleeping in overcrowded pods, along with sewage backups “resulting in cages flooded with feces”, and, in addition, “denial of medical care”. Advocates said the 39-acre camp, which was built in a matter of days, now holds more than 1,000 men in “flood-prone” tents.Donald Trump said the jail would be reserved for immigrants who were “deranged psychopaths” and “some of the most vicious people on the planet” who were awaiting deportation, but in mid-July it emerged that the jail contains hundreds of detainees with no criminal records or charges. Democrats have sued DeSantis, demanding access to the facility.Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida division of emergency management, said the facility had grown, in less than a month, to have a current capacity of 2,000 people. That will increase to 4,000, he said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionGuthrie defended conditions inside the facility, claiming that “whether it’s Florida standard or national standard [of conditions and services in detention facilities], we meet or exceed the higher standard”.Since the jail opened in early July, the Trump administration and local officials have specifically touted the brutality of the facility, including its remote location in a wetland surrounded by alligators, crocodiles, pythons and swarms of mosquitoes. Officials have also seemed to revel in the crude name the facility has been given, echoing the long-shut and notoriously harsh Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay. More

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      ‘We need some hope’: can a rural hospital on the brink survive Trump’s bill?

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      When her severely allergic toddler, Josie, began gasping for breath in the middle of the night, Krissy Cunningham knew there was only one place she could get to in time to save her daughter’s life.For 74 years, Pemiscot Memorial hospital has been the destination for those who encounter catastrophe in Missouri’s poorest county, a rural stretch of farms and towns in its south-eastern Bootheel region. Three stories of brown brick just off Interstate 55 in the town of Hayti, the 115-bed hospital has kept its doors open even after the county’s only Walmart closed, the ranks of boarded-up gas stations along the freeway exit grew, and the population of the surrounding towns dwindled, thanks in no small part to the destruction done by tornadoes.For many in Pemiscot county, its emergency room is the closest available without taking a 30-minute drive across the Mississippi river to Tennessee or the state line to Arkansas, a range that can make the difference between life and death for victims of shootings, overdoses or accidents on the road. In the wee hours of one spring morning, it was there that Josie received the breathing treatments and a racemic epinephrine shot that made her wheezing subside.“There is no way I would have made it to one of the farther hospitals, if it wouldn’t have been here. Her airway just would have closed off, and I probably would have been doing CPR on my daughter on the side of the road,” recalled Cunningham, a nurse who sits on the hospital’s board.View image in fullscreenYet its days of serving its community may be numbered. In May, the hospital’s administration went public with the news that after years of struggling with high rates of uninsured patients and low reimbursement rates from insurers, they may have to close. And even if they do manage to navigate out of their current crisis, Pemiscot Memorial’s leaders see a new danger on the horizon: the “big, beautiful bill” Republicans pushed through Congress earlier this month, at Donald Trump’s request.Centered around an array of tax cuts as well as funds for the president’s mass deportation plans, the bill will mandate the largest funding reduction in history to Medicaid, the federal healthcare program supporting low-income and disabled Americans. That is expected to have ripple effects nationwide, but will hit particularly hard in Pemiscot county and other rural areas, where hospitals tend to have frail margins and disproportionately rely on Medicaid to stay afloat.“If Medicaid drops, are we going to be even collecting what we’re collecting now?” asked Jonna Green, the chairwoman of Pemiscot Memorial’s board, who estimated 80% of their revenue comes from Medicaid as well as Medicare, another federal health program primarily for people 65 and older. “We need some hope.”The changes to Medicaid will phase in beginning in late 2026, and require enrollees to work, volunteer or attend school 80 hours a month, with some exceptions. States are also to face new caps on provider taxes, which they use to fund their Medicaid programs. All told, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office forecasts that 10 million people nationwide will lose their healthcare due to the bill, which is nonetheless expected to add $3.4tn to the federal budget deficit through 2034.Trump carried Missouri, a midwestern state that has veered sharply away from the Democratic party over the past three decades, with more than 58% of the vote last November. In Pemiscot county, where census data shows more than a quarter of residents are below the poverty line and the median income is just over $40,000 a year, he was the choice of 74% of voters, and Republican lawmakers representing the county played a notable role in steering his tax and spending bill through Congress.Senator Josh Hawley publicly advocated against slashing the healthcare program, writing in the New York Times: “If Republicans want to be a working-class party – if we want to be a majority party – we must ignore calls to cut Medicaid and start delivering on America’s promise for America’s working people.” He ultimately supported the bill after a $50bn fund to help rural hospitals was included, but weeks later introduced legislation that would repeal some of the very same cuts he had just voted for.“I want to see Medicaid reductions stopped and rural hospitals fully funded permanently,” the senator said.View image in fullscreenJason Smith, whose district encompasses Pemiscot county and the rest of south-eastern Missouri, oversaw the crafting of the measure’s tax provision as chairman of the House ways and means committee, and has argued they will bring prosperity rural areas across the state. Like others in the GOP, he has said the Medicaid cuts will ferret out “waste, fraud and abuse”, and make the program more efficient.It’s a gamble for a state that has seen nine rural hospitals close since 2015, including one in a county adjacent to Pemiscot, with a further 10 at immediate risk of going under, according to data from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform policy group.The Missouri Budget Project thinktank estimates that the bill will cost 170,000 of the state’s residents their health coverage, largely due to work requirements that will act as difficult-to-satisfy red tape for Medicaid enrollees, while the cap on provider taxes will sap $1.9bn from the state’s Medicaid program.“There’s going to be some really hard conversations over the course of the next five years, and I think that healthcare in our region will look a lot different than what it does right now,” said Karen White, CEO of Missouri Highlands Health Care, which operates federally qualified health centers providing primary and dental care across rural south-eastern Missouri. She forecasts 20% of her patients will lose Medicaid coverage through 2030.As the bill was making its way through Congress, she contacted the offices of Smith, Hawley and Missouri’s junior senator, Eric Schmitt, all politicians she had voted for, asking them to reconsider cutting Medicaid. She did not hear back.“I love democracy. I love the fact that we as citizens can make our voices heard. And they voted the way that they felt they needed to vote. Maybe … the larger constituency reached out to them with a viewpoint that was different than mine, but I made my viewpoint heard,” White said.Spokespeople for Schmitt and Smith did not respond to requests for comment. In response to emailed questions, a spokeswoman for Hawley referred to his introduction of the legislation to partially stop the Medicaid cuts.Down the road from the hospital lies Hayti Heights, where there are no businesses and deep puddles form in the potholes and ditches that line roadways after every thunderstorm. Mayor Catrina Robinson has a plan to turn things around for her 500 or so residents, which involves bringing back into service the water treatment plant that is the town’s main source of revenue. But that is unlikely to change much without Pemiscot Memorial.“Half of those people that work at the hospital, they’re my residents. So how they gonna pay their bills? How they gonna pay their water bill, how they gonna pay their light bill, how they gonna pay rent? This is their source of income. Then what will they do?” Robinson said.View image in fullscreenTrump’s bill does include an array of relief aimed at the working-class voters who broke for him in the last election, including tax cuts on tips and overtime pay and deductions aimed at senior citizens. It remains to be seen if whatever financial benefits those provisions bring to the workers of Pemiscot county will outweigh the impact of the stress the Medicaid cuts place on its healthcare system.“The tax relief of server’s tips and all that, that’s not going to change the poverty level of our area,” said Loren Clifton, the hospital’s administrative director. “People losing their healthcare insurance absolutely will make it worse.”Work can be found in the county’s corn, wheat, soybean and rice fields, at a casino in the county seat Caruthersville and at a shipyard along the banks of the Mississippi . But Green questions if those industries would stick around if the hospital goes under, and takes with it the emergency room that often serves to stabilize critical patients before transferring them elsewhere.View image in fullscreen“Our community cannot go without a hospital. Healthcare, employment, industry – it would devastate everything,” Green said.The board is exploring partnerships with other companies to help keep the hospital afloat, and has applied for a federal rural emergency hospital designation which they believe will improve their reimbursements and chances of winning grants, though that will require them to give up other services that bring in revenue. For many of its leaders, the stakes of keeping the hospital open are personal.“This is our home, born and raised, and you would never want to leave it. But I have a nine-year-old with cardiac problems. I would not feel safe living here without a hospital that I could take her to know if something happened,” said Brittany Osborne, Pemiscot Memorial’s interim CEO.One muggy Wednesday morning in July, Pemiscot’s three county commissioners, all Republicans, gathered in a small conference room in Caruthersville’s courthouse and spoke of their resolve to keep the hospital open.“It’s 50-50 right now,” commissioner Mark Cartee said of the hospital’s chances of survival. “But, as long as we have some money in the bank of the county, we’re going to keep it open. We need healthcare. We got to have a hospital.”They were comparatively sanguine about the possibility that the Medicaid work requirements would harm the facility’s finances down the line.“We got a guy around here, I guess he’s still around. He’s legally blind but he goes deer hunting every year,” commissioner Baughn Merideth said. “There’s just so much fraud … it sounds like we’re right in the middle of it.”A few blocks away, Jim Brands, owner of Hayden Pharmacy, the oldest in the county, had little doubt that there were those in the county who took advantage of Medicaid. He also believed that fewer enrollees in the program would mean less business for his pharmacy, and more hardship overall.View image in fullscreen“Just seeing this community, the situation it’s in, the poverty, we’ve got to get people to work. There are a ton of able-bodied people that could work that choose not to,” he said.“To me, there’s got to be a better way to weed out the fraud and not step on the toes of the people who need it.” More