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Billionaire Leon Black testifying before House Epstein panel
An investor who employed and was close to Jeffrey Epstein is appearing before members of Congress investigating the deceased sexual abuser.
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WSJ.com : U.S. News
Leon Black Tells Congress He Didn’t Pay Epstein for Women
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The co-founder of Apollo said he was duped by the man he hired as a financial adviser, according to remarks prepared for Congress.
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New York Post
Ex-’60 Minutes’ boss Bill Owens blasts Paramount, CBS News leaders in tell-all: ‘Worst-run media company in the history of America’
Owens took aim at Paramount, Bari Weiss, ex-controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, according to a report.
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Bloomberg Politics
Oman Tells Allies Ships Going Through Hormuz May Have to Pay
Oman has told European officials there’s no way of going back to the pre-war status quo with the Strait of Hormuz and transiting ships may have to be charged some fees, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Blaze Media
Trump should force Congress to pass the SAVE America Act — now
I have been adamant throughout our months of Iran coverage that President Trump needs to turn his attention back home and start using his domestic political leverage to address our problems here.So watching him threaten not to sign the housing bill Congress just passed unless lawmakers also pass the SAVE America Act is music to my ears.We live in an era of survival. The enemy is an unrelenting demonic construct, and my conscience tells me without ambiguity that it must be defeated before we are.Demanding election integrity is exactly the sort of fight Trump should pick. The housing bill is already divisive within the MAGA base, so the president risks little political capital by holding it up. If anything, he is postponing an internal coalition fight he will eventually need to have while using his leverage to improve his overall bargaining position.This maneuver should not be necessary. Trump’s own party controls Congress for the time being. But we have to live in the world as it is. And in the world as it is, John Thune (R-S.D.) still sucks.If Trump vetoes a housing bill that does not include the SAVE Act, I would wager the odds are roughly 50-50 that Congress overrides him. In a strange way, that might not be the worst outcome. An override could provoke Trump to get Hulk-mad on the domestic front, which is exactly where we need his attention from now through the midterms and beyond.I do not see a real loss here for the president unless he caves.He cannot pick this fight now and fail to follow through. This is a game of chicken. As “The Hunt for Red October” taught us, the hard part about playing chicken is knowing when to flinch.It is also almost America’s 250th birthday. Asking Congress to protect one of the people’s birthrights — free and fair elections — seems modest enough. It is one of the main reasons we are celebrating at all.Good thing, then, that “The Art of the Deal” has always been Trump’s favorite hill to die on. He is a subject-matter expert in leverage-based negotiation. This is his game.Get busy living or get busy dying.The meter is running not only on Trump’s presidency but on the fate of the entire nation. New York, for example, continues to be handed over to Islamic socialists.Three Democratic congressional district primaries just went exactly the way socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) wanted them to go as he turns the Big Apple into his own private Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, too many of the Republicans we regularly vote for have no interest in reading the signs of the times, assuming they are capable of reading them at all.That is why voters turned to Trump in the first place. It is also why he is almost all they have to rely on right now.What kind of political party needs to be leveraged into passing legislation that would make it easier for that party to win elections — and that an overwhelming majority of the people want passed?RELATED: America turns 250 with a broken heart Matthew Hatcher/AFP/Getty ImagesHow politically brain-dead does that sound when you say it out loud?But that is the GOP for you.Decades of such institutional stupidity have made our politics more existentially binary than ever. We are out of options other than making the best use of what we have. It is Team GOP or bust.I desperately dislike being in that position. In fact, I have spent much of my career trying to avoid such a fate. But again, we have to live in the world as it is.You may have deep theological or philosophical disagreements with members of your government that, in another era, would not be reconcilable. But that is not the era we inhabit.We live in an era of survival. The enemy is an unrelenting demonic construct, and my conscience tells me without ambiguity that it must be defeated before we are.Two worldviews enter. One must leave. That is the only playbook before the GOP, whether the party understands it or not. Our team is on the field.One way or another, I plan to win.
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US news | The Guardian
Billionaire Leon Black to appear before House panel over ties to Jeffrey Epstein
Scrutiny of Black’s association with Epstein has intensified after DoJ released millions of files last year and this yearThe billionaire financier Leon Black is scheduled to appear before the House committee on oversight and reform on Friday morning as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.The interview will be conducted behind closed doors, though the committee is expected to release a transcript at a later date, as it has done with previous interviews. Continue reading...
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The Hill News
Live updates: Congress at odds over Army general’s ouster; Bolton pleads guilty in classified docs case
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ouster of Gen. Chris Donahue, the commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, has put congressional Republicans at odds. While some are reluctant to comment as they wait for more details on the departure of the respected leader, others are upbraiding Hegseth for turning military leadership upside down. “Strong leaders are not…
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WSJ.com : U.S. News
Leon Black Tells Congress He Didn’t Pay Epstein for Women
The co-founder of Apollo said he was duped by the man he hired as a financial adviser, according to remarks prepared for Congress.
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Axios
DOJ ordered to release unredacted Epstein files or explain why it can't
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to release additional unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records or explain by July 2 why it can't.Why it matters: The ruling could force the DOJ to release previously withheld Epstein records or publicly explain why they remain sealed.Driving the news: U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in D.C. gave the DOJ until July 2 to comply with a preliminary injunction in media legal analyst Katie Phang's lawsuit alleging the department failed to comply with last year's Epstein Act.The department has already released 3.5 million pages under the law, but Phang argues it still improperly withheld or redacted additional material.Phang alleges in her suit against acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that the department nevertheless violated the Epstein Act for several reasons.Zoom in: In his opinion granting the preliminary injunction, Sullivan noted that Phang alleges the DOJ redacted the names of senders and recipients in "at least eight email exchanges" with Epstein regarding a "torture video" and alleged sexual activity involving young women, including minors.She accuses Blanche of "redacting the names of co-defendants in a draft indictment, the names of individuals identified as 'co-conspirators.'"Phang also alleges that Blanche withheld 36 materials mentioning President Trump, specifically, "notes from FBI interviews with a victim who has alleged that in the 1980s, when she was about 13 years old, Epstein introduced her to Trump, who in turn assaulted her."State of play: The DOJ said in a filing this month that Phang can't sue because she should have made a Freedom of Information Act request, but the journalist's lawyers argued that she had been denied FOIA requests related to the Epstein files, CBS News reported.Trump has denied wrongdoing in relation to Epstein allegations and he hasn't been charged with a crime in connection with them.Representatives of the DOJ did not immediately respond to Axios' Thursday evening request for comment.
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