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Pam Bondi testifies before House panel over Epstein files release
Anna Betts
The former attorney general Pam Bondi is testifying before the US House oversight and reform committee this morning to answer questions about the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and its release of the Epstein files under her leadership.
In Bondi’s prepared opening statement, obtained by the Guardian, she defended the department’s record under her leadership, saying: “We demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to transparency in the department’s search for, collection and review of the Epstein files.
“This was an enormously complicated and labor-intensive process,” Bondi said in her remarks. “To the best of my knowledge, the department produced everything required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“As the head of a large department with broad responsibilities, I did not lead every aspect of this effort or conduct that document review myself,” she added, saying that she “delegated oversight over this process to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche”.
“The team of professionals who reviewed all of the materials that we collected assured me the only materials that were withheld were either nonresponsive, privileged or duplicative,” she said.
During her opening statement, Bondi admitted that “there were redaction errors” but said that “since day one of this process, this department has been committed to accountability and transparency”.
You can read more about her opening statement here:
Key events
Meanwhile, sources have told the Iranian state news agency Fars that Trump’s latest comments are a “mixture of truth and lies” and an attempt to portray a “fake victory”.
The sources added that it has “become clear to almost everyone” that his claims are invalid.
“Trump claimed that Iran was obligated to open the strait of Hormuz without tolls, even though no such clause appears in the text of the agreement,” the agency reported.
And on Trump’s assertion that Washington and Tehran would coordinate on destroying Iran’s enriched uranium, it added: “Well-informed sources emphasised that not only does this not appear in the memorandum of understanding, but this claim is fundamentally baseless.”
According to the Fars report, Trump also didn’t mention key clauses relating to the release of frozen Iranian assets and the inclusion of Lebanon – where Israel continues to intensify its attacks and expand its partial occupation – in any deal to end fighting.
Pam Bondi testifies before House panel over Epstein files release
Anna Betts
The former attorney general Pam Bondi is testifying before the US House oversight and reform committee this morning to answer questions about the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and its release of the Epstein files under her leadership.
In Bondi’s prepared opening statement, obtained by the Guardian, she defended the department’s record under her leadership, saying: “We demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to transparency in the department’s search for, collection and review of the Epstein files.
“This was an enormously complicated and labor-intensive process,” Bondi said in her remarks. “To the best of my knowledge, the department produced everything required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“As the head of a large department with broad responsibilities, I did not lead every aspect of this effort or conduct that document review myself,” she added, saying that she “delegated oversight over this process to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche”.
“The team of professionals who reviewed all of the materials that we collected assured me the only materials that were withheld were either nonresponsive, privileged or duplicative,” she said.
During her opening statement, Bondi admitted that “there were redaction errors” but said that “since day one of this process, this department has been committed to accountability and transparency”.
You can read more about her opening statement here:
Trump says he’s meeting in the Situation Room to ‘make a final determination’ on potential Iran deal
President Trump gave hints about the terms of the proposed US peace deal with Iran, in a post on Truth Social on Friday morning, before saying that he was heading into a meeting with White House staff to decide how to move forward.
He said that Iran should agree to never having a nuclear weapon or bomb, the strait of Hormuz should be opened immediately without tolls, all remaining water mines should be detonated by Iran, the US should take over the “nuclear dust” or the enriched uranium buried under Iran’s collapsed nuclear complexes and no money will be exchanged until further notice, outlined Trump.
He went on:
Other items, of far less importance, have been agreed to. I will be meeting now, in the Situation Room, to make a final determination.
Hannah Harris Green
Growing Republican mistrust in the healthcare system has widened health disparities between liberals and conservatives, who are more likely to avoid vaccines and the medical system in general, according to a new study.
Neil O’Brian, a political science professor at the University of Carolina, Chapel Hill and one of the authors of the study published in Nature Human Behaviour, said that his team saw two phases to the phenomenon.
Rory Doyle for The Guardian Photograph: Rory Doyle/The Guardian
“Part one is this gap starts to emerge in the 2010s, and it seems like it’s a byproduct of education polarization,” O’Brian explained, “Folks without a college degree move to the right. Folks with a college degree move to the left. That happens for a variety of reasons. Education is a pretty strong predictor of health.”
The second phase began during the Covid-19 pandemic, when social determinants of health, including education, could no longer explain the expanding gap in health outcomes.
Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s mayor, said he won’t be marching in this year’s Israel Day Parade, during a news conference Thursday.
“I said on the campaign trail that I wouldn’t be attending, and I’ve made my views on the Israeli government clear,” Mamdani said, adding that ample security measures will be in place. He said:
As the mayor of our city, I take seriously the responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of every New Yorker at every event, regardless of my attendance.
The parade, scheduled Sunday 31 May at noon, can be viewed from various access points on Madison Avenue. Organizers have said the “safety of our community is paramount” and thanked the NYPD for keeping their celebration safe, on their website.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch who stood by Mamdani at the news conference said she would be at the march to oversee the security but also to participate.
“We are not messing around with security at this year’s parade,” she said. “This Sunday, New Yorkers will see the most extensive security plan that the NYPD has ever put together.”
US judge temporarily halts Trump’s $1.8bn ‘anti-weaponization fund’
A US judge has blocked president Donald Trump’s administration from moving forward with his proposed $1.8bn “anti-weaponization fund”, Reuters reported on Friday.
US district judge Leonie Brinkema of the eastern district of Virginia put a halt on the fund, preventing the administration from “taking any further action” to organize the fund while Brinkema hears legal arguments.
The fund is meant to compensate victims of government “weaponization”, Trump has said. It was created as part of an agreement to settle Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, after his tax records were leaked.
Musical acts back out of performing at Trump-affiliated concert series
Robert Mackey
At least seven of the nine featured musical acts set to play in a concert series organized by the Trump administration to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary have dropped out, within 48 hours of the lineup being announced.
Bret Michaels on Friday had become the latest name to withdraw, citing a deteriorating atmosphere around the event and threats being made.
“Unfortunately, what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of,” the frontman of the band Poison said in a statement on social media. He added that his decision was “not about politics”.
“Concerns have also been raised regarding the safety of my fans, band, crew, family and myself, including threats that are completely unfounded and unforgivable. Because of that, I have made the difficult decision to step away from this performance,” he added.
During this week Morris Day, Young MC, the Commodores, C+C Music Factory, Martina McBride and Milli Vanilli all either dropped out or expressed surprise that they had ever been booked.
On Friday morning, Trump took to Truth Social to post about Jill Biden, the former first lady. He said she was finally admitting that she didn’t know what was wrong with former president Joe Biden when he performed poorly during a June 2024 presidential debate.
She said that she thought he was having a “stroke,” and various other really bad things, and yet never rushed onto the stage to help her troubled husband, as any good wife would do. The only thing she failed to mention was how well I was doing prior to his near total collapse. In other words, as many have asked, did my strong performance in that debate cause him to plain and simple “choke,” leading to his ignominious defeat.
Trump’s post comes after a 30-second clip of the former first lady’s interview of CBS was released Wednesday. In it, she said:
I was frightened, because I had never, ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never … As I watched it, I thought: ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke … And it scared me to death.
The interview will be aired two days before Jill Biden’s View from the East Wing, a memoir about her time in the White House, including an account of Joe Biden’s re-election campaign and his decision to withdraw, is released.
Vice-president JD Vance said Washington and Tehran are close to agreeing a deal to extend their ceasefire in the Middle East war, but the potential breakthrough still hangs on president Donald Trump’s approval.
Trump remained notably silent into Friday morning, despite US sources telling AFP a deal just needed his sign-off, underscoring the volatility of talks three months after the war rattled the Middle East and the global economy.
“It’s hard to say exactly when or if the president is going to sign the MOU,” Vance told reporters on Thursday. “We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points. We’ve made a lot of progress here.”
Anna Betts
The justice department’s inquiry into E Jean Carroll is part of an investigation into an entity backed by the LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, according to people familiar with the matter.
A source familiar with the investigation told the Guardian that Carroll is not the subject of the investigation, but said that it was related to Carroll and her deposition, and is more focused on Hoffman’s non-profit. The non-profit, American Future Republic, helped fund a lawsuit in which Carroll won $5m in damages in 2023 against Donald Trump based on allegations Trump sexually assaulted and defamed her. Carroll won a second, $83.3m defamation award against the president in 2024. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.
The justice department investigation is being led by Andrew Boutros, the US attorney for the northern district of Illinois, where the non-profit is based.
A second person familiar with the matter said the Hoffman-entity investigation involves potential money-laundering conspiracy and obstruction.
The Department of Justice declined to comment. On Thursday evening, Boutros posted on X: “In light of wide-spread reporting and intense media and public interest into the E Jean Carroll matter in New York, the Chicago US Attorney’s Office can confirm that it has not opened – and has never opened – a criminal investigation into E Jean Carroll. Any claim to the contrary is categorically false.”
Gaya Gupta
The White House is pushing Congress to approve a $250 bill bearing Donald Trump’s portrait, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said, which would require changing longstanding federal law that prohibits any living person from appearing on US currency.
Speaking from the White House at a news conference, Bessent said the bill would be in celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary of independence, and that the treasury has already started preparing for the possibility of the new currency.
“As treasury secretary, I have two mandates for US currency at present: that no living person can be on US currency, and the currency must say ‘In God we trust’,” Bessent said. “So, right now, there is proposed legislation in front of the House, in front of the Senate, to change the first requirement, so that a living person – Donald J Trump – could be on the $250 bill.”
The Washington Post reported that two of Trump’s political appointees at the treasury had pushed staff to start preparing prototypes of a $250 bill with Trump’s image, raising concerns that doing so would breach federal law.
But Bessent said the treasury would “stick to the law” and that “it’s all up to Capitol Hill”.
The artist responsible for the prototypes is a Briton named Iain Alexander, who described himself online as a royal portrait artist, sculptor and a former Olympic squad swimmer, according to the Post.
Meanwhile, the South Carolina state Senate vote on redistricting has failed, with some senators saying it was simply too late to change district lines.
Longtime representative Jim Clyburn condemned a White House-led effort he said had been aimed at “zeroing Democratic voters, zeroing African American voters out of the process.”
“I know the state, and I am embarrassed that so many people in our legislature will allow strangers in Washington to tell them what to do, when to do it and how to do it,” Clyburn said as he cast his vote in Orangeburg on Tuesday.
It is part of the Republican strategy to redraw voting districts to the GOP’s advantage in an attempt to hold on to a slim House majority in the midterms.
Republicans have moved quickly to try to leverage a recent Supreme Court ruling that weakened minority protections under the federal Voting Rights Act.
Louisiana House approves congressional redistricting to benefit Republicans
Republicans in Louisiana are poised to eliminate a majority-Black congressional district that elected a Democrat in response to a recent US Supreme Court ruling that its map constituted an illegal racial gerrymander.
A redistricting plan passed on Thursday by the state House would give Republicans a chance at picking up an additional seat in this year’s midterm elections, AP reports.
It also would protect House speaker Mike Johnson from facing a more difficult reelection. The plan needs only a final Senate vote, which could come on Friday, to go to Republican governor Jeff Landry.
“We drew this map in an effort to safely maximize Republican strength,” said state representative Beau Beaullieu, a Republican who chairs the chamber’s redistricting committee.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision in late April, several other Southern states already have seized upon a weakened federal Voting Rights Act to try to redraw their own congressional districts.
Bondi to face closed-door questioning from House committee over Epstein files
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Former attorney-general Pam Bondi is testifying before the US House oversight and reform committee, a long-awaited appearance that brings fresh scrutiny of the administration’s release of the Epstein files.
The committee announced in late April that Bondi would be appearing before the panel as part of its investigation, shortly after Democrats on the committee filed a civil contempt resolution against her.
Bondi’s appearance comes as the justice department has faced criticism in recent months over its compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, after the department failed to meet the act’s 19 December deadline to release the relevant files, instead releasing what it claimed were the full files on 31 January.
Bondi was bullish in previous public testimony when confronted by lawmakers and it is unclear whether she will bring the same approach today. The session will be held behind closed doors.
The transcribed interview will give lawmakers a chance to dig for information on the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files and other related matters, including the prison sentence of his former girlfriend and confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell.
“I think she absolutely could clear up many missing pieces if she wanted to,” said Rep. Yassamin Ansari, an Arizona Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. “Now it’s a question of whether or not she is willing to be transparent.”
Survivors of Epstein’s abuse have also raised concerns that sensitive personal information was improperly disclosed in the files, while several lawmakers have also criticized some of the redactions in the documents. The department has maintained that it acted in accordance with the law.
In other developments:
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A jury in Spokane, Washington found an Afghanistan War veteran and two others guilty of federal conspiracy charges on Thursday for their part in a protest last June outside the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.
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New Jersey’s governor, Mikie Sherrill, said that state health inspectors were denied full access to the privately run Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, where detainees are staging a hunger and labor strike over health and sanitary conditions, and protesters rallying outside have been tased, pepper-sprayed and detained.
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At least six of the nine featured musical acts recruited to play on the National Mall in Washington DC this summer, in a concert series planned by the Trump administration to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, have dropped out of the concert series, just one day after the lineup was announced.
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US vice-president JD Vance on Thursday told reporters that Washington was “not there yet” with Iran but he said the parties were close, adding that the US was in a position where it could substantially set back Tehran’s nuclear program. Earlier, Iran’s Tasnim news agency, citing a source close to the negotiating team, said the text of a potential memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two countries had not yet been finalised or confirmed.
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