NewsNation
Live: Trump signs ICE, Border Patrol funding bill
The $70 billion funding package for immigration enforcement was passed without Democratic support.
Center
BBC News
Three questions Bill Gates could face as he testifies to Congress on Epstein
Center
The Microsoft co-founder has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of his former associate's illegal activity.
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Washington Examiner
WATCH LIVE: Trump signs ICE and CBP funding bill
President Donald Trump is signing a bill on Wednesday to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. The House passed the Secure America Act in a party-line vote on Tuesday after the Senate approved the measure last week. HOUSE REPUBLICANS PASS IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT FUNDING BILL IN PARTY-LINE VOTE The $70 billion reconciliation […]
Center Right
Washington Examiner
Netanyahu to run for reelection after Trump questioning
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party announced he would run for reelection, after President Donald Trump publicly questioned whether he would. Speculation about Netanyahu’s political future increased after Trump, the prime minister’s closest international ally, voiced uncertainty, citing the Israeli prime minister’s long career. The Likud party shut down any speculation in a brief […]
Center Right
The Federalist
If Congress Can Rush To ‘Save’ FISA, Then It Can Pass The SAVE Act To Protect America’s Elections
The election integrity leader says the House should 'hold the Senate hostage', declining FISA without the SAVE America Act.
Far Right
Axios
Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra to face off in California governor's race
Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra are headed to the California governor's race in November, according to the Associated Press.The big picture: With 91% of the vote counted as of Tuesday evening: Hilton has 25% of the vote and Becerra 27.9%.The top two vote-getters, regardless of party, face off in November.Context: It took a week of vote counting for the winners to emerge, fueling a familiar ritual where early Republican leads slowly vanish. After a strong showing on Election Night, Hilton's lead slowly diminished, but he still held on to a second-place spot.The delay is in part because mail ballots postmarked by Election Day are still counted.Friction point: The race to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom has been a bumpy one.There were 61 total candidates on the ballot, and initially eight top Democrats running for the seat.Then in April, a Democrat front-m-runner, Congressman Eric Swalwell dropped out amid allegations of rape, sexual assault and sexual misconduct, which he denies.Fellow Democrat Betty Yee dropped out shortly after.Even before Swalwell's exit, political commentators were noting the lack of excitement in the race, especially in the Democratic field."The fact that there aren't any rising stars is indicative of a party that has not had for a generation competitive disagreements and healthy dialogue about who it is, and so that's atrophied," Republican strategist Mike Madrid told Axios in April.The losers: The other candidates not advancing include billionaire businessman Tom Steyer, Congresswoman Katie Porter, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco.What's next: The following months will see the Republican Hilton attempt to overcome the odds in California, where nearly half of registered voters are Democrats.Hilton, a Fox News host, has outspoken opinions on several big issues.He told Axios last month that he would use state law enforcement to clear illegal homeless encampments, allow offshore drilling on California's coast and move to a flat 7.5% tax rate to keep and attract businesses.Becerra didn't respond to Axios' questions.
Center Left
Alternet.org
Trump was 'biggest obstacle' for insiders 'paralyzed' by the Epstein scandal
President Donald Trump was the "biggest obstacle" in the way of his own administration handling the Epstein files, according to a legthy new report from The New York Times, as insiders were "paralyzed" with fear and paranoia about how to handle the growing "crisis" despite him not wanting them to say anything about it at all.The report was written by longtime Trump-beat veterans, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, based on material from their forthcoming book about his second administration. According to the pair, the sense that White House officials gave, that Jeffrey Epstein was a minor non-issue for the administration, could not have been further from the truth, and Trump's repeated insistence that the story was "boring" or a "hoax" made it nearly impossible for them to adequately address it."People in his orbit found him snapping at them if they even raised the issue of Jeffrey Epstein," Haberman explained in a video accompanying the report.In July of last year, several top administration officials convened a meeting about the issue in the Situation Room, a place typically reserved for "classified and high-stakes national security matters." At the meeting, Haberman and Swan said it was clear that Vice President JD Vance was the most adamant in pushing for full transparency on Epstein, with some in the administration suspecting that he had bought in fully to past conspiracy theories about the deceased sex trafficker.While the rest of the officials balked at Vance's suggestion, the meeting resulted in two moves that ultimately did nothing to quell the growing discontent over the Epstein files within the MAGA base: pushing for judges to release grand jury materials related to Epstein to the public, and having then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interview Ghislaine Maxwell in prison. The latter idea was put forward as a way to make the White House seem like it was fighting for disclosure, but in a way that the judges would likely never allow.In the video, Haberman noted that the idea of releasing the files became a "non-starter" for the administration as soon as it discovered that Trump's name was mentioned many times within them, even if it was often in reports detailing unverified allegations made against him over the years.Among the new revelations from their reporting, the pair revealed that they were able to view an internal document from "Trump's top pollster," Tony Fabrizio, which revealed that the Epstein files were still the sixth most important issue for GOP voters, based on focus groups conducted in March, well after an act of Congress forced the release of the files. This made it a more pressing issue for them than things like crime, safety, the military and AI data centers.“There is also a consistent mention of the Epstein files, which came up in every group and is a real negative with some of these voters," Fabrizio wrote in the "key takeaways" section of the report.Swan said that Trump was growing "more and more fed up" with the story dominating the narrative around his presidency, with Haberman adding that he was not used to losing control over what his MAGA base thought about things. She also stressed that all of the conversations roiling the administration about Epstein had to do with how to contain or "spin" the narrative, not about getting justice for his many victims."The Epstein crisis had exposed something that some of Trump’s closest advisers spent months refusing to see," the report concluded. "The president could break institutions, redirect the federal government against his enemies and bring the world’s richest men into the Oval Office bearing tribute. But he could not, it turned out, make Jeffrey Epstein disappear."
Left
Bloomberg Politics
Bill Gates Arrives for Closed-Door Epstein Panel Testimony
Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates arrived at the US Capitol complex Wednesday for closed-door testimony to the House Committee investigating the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Center
TIME
What’s In—and Not In—the Immigration Enforcement Funding Bill Congress Passed
The House passed the Secure America Act along party lines. Here’s what’s in it—and not in it.
Center Left