House Votes to Advance $70 Billion G.O.P. Immigration Bill
The test vote cleared the way for final passage of Republicans’ megabill to fund immigration enforcement through the remainder of President Trump’s term.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has turned to an unlikely person to help advise him as he prepares to testify about his relationship with late financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a report from The New York Times on Tuesday.Gates was slated to speak to the House Oversight Committee in private on Wednesday, and The Times reported that he has tapped Jake Greenberg, the former top investigative counsel to the Committee, to help him in the wake of the release of the Epstein file. The fallout has affected his Gates Foundation amid questions about the nature of his relationship with Epstein, two sources affiliated with the organization told The Times."In preparing for the deposition, Mr. Gates has turned to Jake Greenberg, who until December was spearheading the oversight panel’s Epstein inquiry in his role as the committee’s top investigative official," according to The Times. "The people who disclosed his involvement insisted on anonymity to discuss Mr. Greenberg’s previously undisclosed function.""The arrangement, while not uncommon, raised eyebrows among government ethics experts who said it could create questionable optics for the deposition in a high-profile investigation," The Times reported.Greenberg had served as general counsel and chief investigations counsel for the House Oversight Committee until December 2025. He had previously led an investigation into the mental acuity of former President Joe Biden and had led depositions of Annie Tomasini, Biden's former senior advisor, and Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden's former White House press secretary. He was also working with the committee when it deposed William P. Barr, former attorney general, in the Epstein investigation.After leaving his job, he joined DLA Piper, a law firm that advertises its experience in congressional oversight and has received praise from House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY), which is displayed on the group's website."In his previous role, Mr. Greenberg was often one of the most direct and aggressive questioners of witnesses whom the Republican majority called in to testify in their investigations — experience that could help him prepare Mr. Gates for the kinds of questions he might face on Wednesday," according to The Times.Democrats have said they plan to push Gates to answer questions during the closed-door hearing."We need accountability for those in power and answers for survivors," Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) told The Times. "No one — regardless of power, political party or wealth — is above justice."
The test vote cleared the way for final passage of Republicans’ megabill to fund immigration enforcement through the remainder of President Trump’s term.
Two senior Republican senators on Tuesday agreed Congress is unlikely to pass a third reconciliation bill, cautioning against relying on the possibility for defense funding. During a hearing Tuesday morning about next year’s budget for the Air Force, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) questioned Air Force Secretary Troy Meink about a low request…
Senate Republicans are unlikely to take up a third budget reconciliation bill to advance more of President Donald Trump’s agenda. The development is sure to be unwelcome news for their counterparts in the House, who have advocated a third bill. The ambitious push from House Republicans for another party-line package in Trump’s second term, and […]
One of Jeffrey Epstein’s assistants testified before the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday and claimed to know nothing about the billionaire sex offender’s crimes. Lesley Groff told members of Congress that she believed the massage appointments she made for Epstein were for massage therapists and not the women and girls he was exploiting, CNN reports. She called Epstein a master manipulator who kept his crimes a secret from her, saying that he didn’t sexually abuse her. Both Epstein and his partner Ghislanie Maxwell allegedly told Groff not to associate with their friends and colleagues, insisting that their business wasn’t her concern. Groff has been saying this since 2021. Back then, her lawyers announced that she had “never witnessed anything improper or illegal” and was “heartbroken” for Epstein’s victims. But Epstein survivors thought Groff’s words Tuesday were a cop-out. Many of them had told the FBI that Groff was the person they’d call to reach Epstein and schedule massages. Epstein would abuse women during those massage sessions, they said. According to emails from the government’s Epstein files, Groff also booked Epstein’s domestic and international travel. She was listed as a potential co-conspirator as part of the non-prosecution deal Epstein cut in 2008 with the federal government. “One of the hardest parts for survivors is hearing the people who were closest to Epstein claim they saw nothing,” Sharlene Rochard, one of Epstein’s victims, told CNN. “That doesn’t match my experience. Survivors deserve answers, not claims of ignorance.”
Groff worked for Epstein for nearly 20 years, and her name appears more than 150,000 times in the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice.
Karmelo Anthony’s lawyer blamed his alleged murder victim Austin Metcalf for the fatal run-in at a track and field meet in Texas last year as Anthony stuck to his long-shot self-defense argument.
Democrats say they won't vote to reauthorize the key spy authority known as FISA Section 702 as long as Bill Pulte is leading the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
President Trump appointed Bill Pulte, with no intelligence or national security experience, as the interim director of national intelligence to prove the 2020 presidential election was stolen.