Donald Trump announced on Wednesday night that he had signed the bill overwhelmingly approved by US legislators that directs the justice department to release more files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased child sexual abuser.
The president’s signing sets a 30-day countdown for the Justice Department to produce what’s commonly known as the Epstein files.
The move follows months of resistance from the president and his political allies in Congress that fractured his Maga base and created rifts with some of his longtime supporters.
Trump had fought against releasing the Epstein files, calling the issue a “hoax” and railing against those who wanted to make the documents public, despite promising their release on the campaign trail.
But he reversed course in recent days after it become clear the House of Representatives would pass legislation. Trump said: “We have nothing to hide”.
It’s not clear what the department will release in response to the bill – the bill details a host of potential items that must be released, but provides exceptions for some materials.
Trump signs bill to compel release of more Jeffrey Epstein documents
The bill calls for the attorney general to make unclassified Epstein-related documents publicly available “in a searchable and downloadable format”, including all investigations into Epstein, his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, flight logs and travel records, individuals referenced or named in connection with his crimes, entities that were tied to his trafficking or financial networks, immunity deals and other plea agreements, internal communications about charging decisions, documentation of his detention and death, and details about any file deletions.
The department will have 30 days to turn over the documents. The bill provides for some exceptions, including redactions of victims’ identifying information or personal files, any depictions of child sexual abuse, releases that would jeopardize active investigations or prosecutions and depictions of death or abuse.
Trump’s anti-climate agenda could result in 1.3m more deaths globally, analysis finds
New advances in environmental science are providing a detailed understanding of the human cost of the Trump administration’s approach to climate.
Increasing temperatures are already killing enormous numbers of people. A ProPublica and Guardian analysis that draws on sophisticated modeling by independent researchers found that Trump’s “America First” agenda of expanding fossil fuels and decimating efforts to reduce emissions will add substantially to that toll, with the vast majority of deaths occurring outside the US.
Full grand jury didn’t see final Comey indictment, prosecutors admit
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday said they had never presented the final version of the indictment filed against James Comey to a full federal grand jury, a concession that adds to mounting challenges in their effort to prosecute the former FBI director.
Prosecutors acknowledged the omission during a Wednesday hearing in which Comey’s lawyers argued the case against him should be dismissed because it was a selective and vindictive prosecution.
January 6 rioter who was pardoned by Trump arrested for child sexual abuse
A man who took part in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol and was pardoned by Trump earlier this year has been arrested on multiple child sexual abuse crime charges in Florida, according to local authorities.
The man, identified as 44-year-old Andrew Paul Johnson, was taken into custody in August in Tennessee and extradited to Florida where, according to arrest records, he faces charges of lewd and lascivious child molestation of a child under 12, lewd and lascivious child molestation of a child between 12 and 16, as well as lewd and lascivious exhibition, and transmission of material harmful to a minor.
State department to cut 38 universities from research program over DEI policies
The state department is proposing to suspend 38 universities including Harvard and Yale from a federal research partnership program because they engage in diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices, according to an internal memo and spreadsheet obtained by the Guardian.
The memo, dated 17 November, recommends excluding institutions from the Diplomacy Lab – a program that pairs university researchers with state department policy offices – if they “openly engage in DEI hiring practices” or set DEI objectives for candidate pools.
Nearly all immigrants detained in Trump Chicago raid had no criminal conviction
More than 97% of immigrants detained in the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago had no criminal conviction, according to federal court records.
The data, released on Friday and first reported by the Chicago Tribune, sharply contradicts the Trump administration’s portrayal of the immigration sweeps as an effort to fight crime and, as Trump himself has described it, targeting the “worst of the worst”.
What else happened today:
Larry Summers, the former president of Harvard University, will stop teaching at the school while it investigates his connection to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, a spokesman for Summers said on Wednesday.
Democratic representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly funneling more than $5m worth of federal disaster funds from her company into her 2021 congressional campaign.
Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental activist who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, will run for California governor, he announced on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia has agreed to allow US citizen Saad Almadi to return home to Florida, five months ahead of the scheduled lifting of travel restrictions and a day after Saudi crown prince and prime minister Mohammed bin Salman met Donald Trump at the White House.
US and Russian officials have quietly drafted a new plan to end the war in Ukraine that would require Kyiv to surrender territory and severely limit the size of its military, it was reported on Wednesday as Russian drone and missile strikes killed at least 25 people in the city of Ternopil.
A longtime FBI employee has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was fired for displaying a Pride flag at his desk, naming FBI director Kash Patel, the justice department and attorney general Pam Bondi as defendants.
US officials are privately saying that they might not levy long-promised semiconductor tariffs soon, potentially delaying a centerpiece of Donald Trump’s economic agenda.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on Tuesday 18 November.
