Closing summary
Here is a recap of today’s politics blog:
Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged suicide note was released Wednesday. A federal judge has unsealed an alleged suicide note by Jeffrey Epstein, the first time the document has been made public.
The Trump administration has claimed that migration has made Europe an “incubator” for terrorism, according to a recently published report on counter-terrorism strategies. The administration will focus counter-terrorism efforts on drug cartels.
Republican politicians in Tennessee released a new congressional voting map that could go into effect before the midterm elections this November. The proposed map would eliminate the state’s only Democratic-controlled district by carving up a majority-Black voting bloc based in Memphis.
More information was released on the suspect charged in connection to Monday’s shooting near JD Vance’s motorcade. The Texas man accused of firing a gun at law enforcement officers near the Washington monument this week was walking along the path of JD Vance’s motorcade before the shooting and made a vulgar remark about the White House after the confrontation, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
The FBI’s director, Kash Patel, has allegedly given out customized bottles of bourbon at events, including ones where he is working in a official capacity, according to a report from the Atlantic.
Donald Trump will be hosting the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for a visit, a White House source confirmed to the Guardian. Trump and Lula, who was elected in 2023, will discuss “economic and security matters of shared importance”, the source said. The meeting is expected to take place this Thursday.
The next blog will be available tomorrow morning. Thank you for reading!
Updated
The Trump administration has claimed that migration has made Europe an “incubator” for terrorism, according to a recently published report on counter-terrorism strategies.
..The strategy [referring to the report] also focuses on rooting out “violent left-wing extremists” including “radically pro-transgender” groups, as Trump’s conservative administration steps up its political attacks on opponents.
It also further places drug cartels in the Americas at the centre of counter-terrorism efforts.
But some of its strongest language is reserved for Europe, home to numerous US allies who will be alarmed to see their continent in the Trump administration’s crosshairs once again.
“It is clear to all that well-organised hostile groups exploit open borders and related globalist ideals. The more these alien cultures grow, and the longer current European policies persist, the more terrorism is guaranteed,” the strategy said.
Read the full article below:
Updated
Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged suicide note matches previous writing from the disgraced financier, according to reporting from the Los Angeles Times.
…In the short handwritten note released Wednesday, Epstein allegedly wrote, “They investigated me for month — Found nuthing!!!”
The note concludes, “Whatcha want me to do — Burst out cryin!! No Fun - Not Worth It!!”
It was a phrase Epstein had used before.
In a September, 2016, email to his brother, Mark, he wrote, “whtchoo want me toodo — bust out crying” in response to news that their cousin had become a grandfather.
And in another message the following year to his childhood friend Terry Kafka, Epstein wrote, “Whatcha want me todo/bust out cryin,” in response to a message from Kafka about being nostalgic.
Epstein’s brother and Kafka did not immediately responded to requests for comment.
The line is an apparent reference to a 1931 Little Rascals short film Little Daddy, in which the character Stymie says, “Well, what do you want me to do, bust out crying?” when another character says that it will be their last breakfast together.
Read the full article here.
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Rudy Giuliani, infamous Trump adviser and former New York mayor, is out of the intensive care unit after being hospitalized in Florida last Sunday for pneumonia.
Giuliani, 81, remains in the hospital while recovering from the respiratory illness.
Here is a statement from Ted Goodman, a Giuliani spokesperson:
Mayor Rudy Giuliani is out of the ICU and will spend some time recovering before leaving the hospital.
The mayor and his family appreciate the outpouring of love and prayers sent his way.
Mayor Giuliani – the man who took down the Mafia, saved New York City, and ran toward the towers on September 11 – is the same fighter he has always been, and he is winning this fight.
The power of prayer is working. The mayor feels it. We feel it. Please keep them coming for America’s Mayor, Rudy Giuliani.
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Here is an article from Fabiola Cineas for the Guardian, profiling several survivors of Epstein:
Epstein survivors have held press conferences and met with congressional lawmakers; in November, the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed, and the release of more than 3.5m pages of documents followed. However, in the more than two months since the justice department released its latest batch of files – more than 2m documents have yet to be released – prosecutors have not brought any new charges, despite federal lawmakers on both sides of the aisle continuing to demand accountability.
As for Ghislaine Maxwell – the only person convicted in connection with Epstein’s network – she was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 and has exhausted her appeals. Rather than facing harsher scrutiny, however, Maxwell was controversially transferred from a low-security prison in Florida to a minimum-security federal camp in Texas in August.
While the lack of action has left survivors with little faith that the full scope of Epstein’s network will ever face justice, they don’t intend to back down.
Liz Stein, Danielle Bensky, Lisa Phillips and Jess Michaels discuss, in their own words, what made them come forward, the power of survivors banding together and where they want the movement to go.
Read the full article here.
Updated
Here’s a copy of the alleged suicide note from Jeffrey Epstein, disclosed in court today:
The note does not include a signature. The Guardian has not verified whether the letter was written by Epstein, and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
The note was unsealed after the New York Times published a story last week detailing the note’s existence and petitioned the court in White Plains, New York, to release it.
Jeffrey Epstein's alleged suicide note released
A federal judge has unsealed an alleged suicide note by Jeffrey Epstein, the first time the document has been made public. The note, written in messy handwriting, appeared to say:
They investigated me for months — FOUND NOTHING!!! … It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye. Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!! NO FUN – NOT WORTH IT!!”
The Guardian has not verified if the letter was written by Epstein.
The document was unsealed this evening. Nicholas Tartaglione, Epstein’s cellmate at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, said he found the note after an earlier suicide attempt by Epstein in July 2019, weeks before he was eventually found dead in his cell.
Updated
Eighteen people have been arrested as part of a federal criminal complaint in connection to a drug-trafficking investigation in Los Angeles’s MacArthur Park, the justice department announced.
A statement released by the justice department gave additional insight on the bust.
The complaint charges 25 defendants with possession with the intent to distribute, and distribution of, a controlled substance.
At one defendant’s Calabasas residence, law enforcement seized approximately 18 kilograms (40 pounds) of fentanyl.
The defendants arrested today are expected to make their initial appearances tomorrow afternoon in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. Seven defendants are considered fugitives.
‘Today, we begin reclaiming MacArthur Park from criminals and drug addicts to return this public space to the citizens of Los Angeles,’ said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli.
‘Together with our federal and local law enforcement partners, we are executing multiple arrest and search warrants targeting those who are distributing drugs in and around the park.’
Updated
Here’s more information on the shooting, AP reported:
Marx was walking along the path of Vance’s motorcade when officers spotted him near the intersection of 15th Street and Independence Avenue. The officers were responding to a Secret Service agent’s report that Marx was seen near the White House complex with a firearm concealed on the right side of his body, the affidavit says.
Marx pulled a firearm from his waistband as he ran away from Secret Service officers and fired at one of them, but a bystander behind the officer was shot in the leg, the affidavit says. Officers returned fire and struck Marx in his abdomen, a hand and his left arm, according to the filing. It says Marx spit at officers as they provided him with aid after the shooting.
The teenage bystander was not seriously injured and has been released from a hospital, ABC News reported. ABC was first to report what the suspect allegedly said after the shooting.
Updated
More information has emerged on the suspect charged in connection to Monday’s shooting near JD Vance’s motorcade.
Here’s reporting from the Associated Press:
A man accused of firing a gun at law enforcement officers near the Washington monument this week was walking along the path of JD Vance’s motorcade before the shooting and made a vulgar remark about the White House after the confrontation, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
Michael Marx, 45, of Midland, Texas, was shot multiple times during Monday’s confrontation and was in the back of an ambulance on his way to a hospital when he said, “‘F—k the White House’ and “Kill me, kill me, kill me’”, a Secret Service agent said in an affidavit.
The sworn statement does not specify whether investigators believe Marx had a particular target.
The US attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement that her office “will pursue the most serious charges available against anyone who brings gun violence to our streets, particularly when that violence unfolds steps from the seat of our government and the path of the vice-president of the United States”.
Read the full reporting here.
Updated
Patel has allegedly become enraged if bottles of bourbon go missing. Here’s more from Fitzpatrick on Patel’s ire during a March incident:
In March, Patel and his team brought at least one case of bourbon to the FBI’s training facility in Quantico, Virginia, for a ‘training seminar,’ where Ultimate Fighting Championship athletes provided mixed-martial-arts instruction to aspiring FBI agents and senior staff. At one point at least one bottle went missing, which caused the director to “lose his mind,” according to clients of Kurt Siuzdak, a retired agent who has assisted FBI agents, including whistleblowers, with legal issues.
Siuzdak told me that multiple agents contacted him for legal guidance after Patel began threatening to polygraph and prosecute his staff over the missing bottle. “It turned into a shitshow,” Siuzdak said. Other attorneys told me they received similar calls from FBI employees regarding concerns about Patel’s bottles.
Updated
Here’s more from the Atlantic’s Sarah Fitzpatrick on several reactions to Patel’s personalized bourbon among FBI personnel:
The FBI has traditionally had a zero-tolerance approach to unauthorized use of alcohol on the job and for its misuse while off duty. But that standard is bending under Patel’s leadership, one former agent told me. ‘It is so weird and uncomfortable,’ this person said.
Another former agent described the bottles as ‘demoralizing,’ because they suggest one set of standards for the director and another for the rest of the bureau. This person said he believes that many agents would worry that if the director offers you a bottle, and “you aren’t on board on receiving it enthusiastically, you are getting polygraphed for loyalty.” The fear of retribution has deterred some staff from reporting their concerns to supervisors or through channels reserved for whistleblowers.
Updated
The FBI’s director, Kash Patel, has allegedly given out customized bottles of bourbon at events, including ones where he is working in a official capacity, according to a report from the Atlantic.
The latest merch from Patel is “engraved with the words ‘Kash Patel FBI Director’ along with a makeup of the FBI shield. Patel’s name is reportedly also spelled featuring a dollar sign: Ka$h. Some pints also include Patel’s signature along with the “#9,” a nod to Patel being the ninth confirmed FBI director.
The discovery into Patel’s distillery gifts comes after a previous exposé from the Atlantic, alleging the FBI director drinks excessively and that several colleagues are concerned with his apparent erratic behavior.
Patel is currently suing the Atlantic and journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick, who wrote both pieces on Patel, for defamation.
Read the article on Patel’s party favors here (paywall).
Updated
Donald Trump will be hosting the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for a visit, a White House source confirmed to the Guardian.
Trump and Lula, who was elected in 2023, will discuss “economic and security matters of shared importance”, the source said. The meeting is expected to take place this Thursday.
Thursday’s talks will provide further insight into the current status of US-Brazil relations, which have been contentious given tariffs imposed by Trump and the two world leaders being ideologically opposed.
In August, Trump placed a 40% tariff on Brazilian goods, a sharp increase from the previous 10% tariff. In September, Lula told the BBC that he and Trump had “no relationship” and that the tariffs were not “[communicated] in a civilised manner”.
“He just published [the tariffs] on his portal, on social media,” said Lula to the BBC.
Updated
Democratic congressman Steve Cohen, whose district would be affected by redrawing efforts, commented on the redistricting attempt earlier today, in a post on X.
This is insane. The GOP’s newly proposed TN Congressional maps would have people in Shelby County all the way to Williamson County – 200+ miles apart – being “represented” by the same Congressman. It’s a blatant, corrupt power grab that would destroy the Black community’s and our entire city’s voice.
Cohen has represented the ninth district since 2007.
Updated
Republican politicians in Tennessee have released a new congressional voting map that could go into effect before the midterm elections this November.
The proposed map would eliminate the state’s only Democratic-controlled district by carving up a majority-Black voting bloc based in Memphis that is currently represented by Democrat Steve Cohen.
The latest map comes only a week after the Supreme Court’s ruling on the use of race in congressional maps, a decision that civil rights leaders have said squashes a major component of the Voting Rights Act.
In a statement on the move, State House Speaker Cameron Sexton said:
The Supreme Court has opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind. The decision indicated states like Tennessee can redistrict based on partisan politics…Tennessee’s redistricting will reduce the risk of future legal challenges while promoting sound and strategic conservatism.
Read more on the ruling here.
Here's a recap of the day so far
Following closed-door testimony from Howard Lutnick before the House oversight committee on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Democrats called the commerce secretary’s performance “embarrassing”. “If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would have fired Howard Lutnick,” said congressman Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California. Lawmakers also pointed to alleged inconsistencies between Lutnick’s previous comments on podcasts that he stopped associating with the late sex offender after 2005, despite justice department files that show Lutnick had two engagements with Epstein years past that.
Earlier, James Comer, the Republican chair of oversight committee, told reporters that Lutnick had, in the past, not been “100% truthful” about whether he had ever visited Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous private island. After the closed-door testimony Comer said that commerce secretary has been “very forthcoming” with his “three” interactions with Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade.
Ted Turner, the founder of television news network CNN, has died at the age of 87. The cause of death was not immediately released, but Turner had revealed that he was suffering from Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder, in 2018. Turner became one of the most powerful figures in US media and entertainment, after he launched CNN as the first 24-hour news channel in 1980.
The FBI has launched a “criminal leak investigation” focused on Atlantic journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick, who wrote a detailed story last month about government officials’ alarm over the bureau’s director Kash Patel’s alleged “bouts of excessive drinking” and “unexplained absences”, two people familiar have told MS NOW. The move is highly unusual, given that leak investigations are usually focused on government officials – not journalists – who may have disclosed state secrets or classified information.
In the Oval Office, Donald Trump said that Iran now wants to make a deal “very badly”. He added that the situation had changed quickly. “A few days ago. It’s a long time ago in the world of war,” Trump said. He also repeated his claims that the regime’s military capabilities have been decimated, but also added that Iran has agreed to not have a nuclear weapon moving forward.
The FBI raided the office of Louise Lucas, a Virginia state senator who played a key role in the recent fight to redraw the state’s congressional maps, according to several reports. In a statement to the Guardian, the FBI only said that it was executing a “court-authorized federal search warrant” in the city which sits next to Norfolk. They added that this is an ongoing investigation with no further information publicly available at this time.
Updated
Trump says Iran wants to make a deal 'very badly' and has agreed to not have a nuclear weapon
In the Oval Office, Donald Trump – flanked by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters ahead of a 14 June fight at the White House – said that Iran now wants to make a deal “very badly”.
“A few days ago. It’s a long time ago in the world of war,” Trump said when asked about why this moment is different. He repeated his claims that the regime’s military capabilities have been decimated, but also added that Iran has agreed to not have a nuclear weapon moving forward.
The president also claimed, falsely, that Pope Leo XIV suggested that Iran should be able to create a nuclear weapon. “If that happened, the entire world would be hostage,” Trump said, repeating baseless claims that informed his admonitions of the pontiff. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is set to meet the pope on Thursday in Rome – hoping to remedy a strained relationship between Washington and the Vatican.
Updated
Speaking to reporters after Howard Lutnick’s closed-door testimony, James Comer, the Republican chair of the oversight committee, said that the commerce secretary has been “very forthcoming” with his “three” interactions with Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade.
Comer also insisted that there is no “cover-up”, as suggested by Democratic members of the panel.
“We asked very substantive questions the first hour,” Comer added. “The Democrats, during their hour, repeated the exact same question.”
Updated
FBI searches office of Virginia state senator who played key role in redistricting fight – reports
The FBI raided the office of Louise Lucas, a Virginia state senator who played a key role in the recent fight to redraw the state’s congressional maps, according to several reports.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the Associated Press and the New York Times both report that Lucas’s district office in Portsmouth, Virginia, was searched. The AP adds that the search was part of a corruption investigation.
In a statement to the Guardian, the FBI only said that it was executing a “court-authorized federal search warrant” in the city which sits next to Norfolk. They added that this is an ongoing investigation with no further information publicly available at this time.
Lucas, 82, has been a state senator for 34 years, and is also the first woman and first African American to serve as the Virginia senate’s president pro tempore.
Updated
Trump would 'fire' Howard Lutnick if he saw video of testimony, say oversight Democrats
Following closed-door testimony from Howard Lutnick before the House oversight committee on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Democrats called the commerce secretary’s performance “embarrassing”.
“If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would have fired Howard Lutnick,” said congressman Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California.
Lawmakers pointed to alleged inconsistencies between Lutnick’s previous comments on podcasts that he stopped associating with the late sex offender after 2005.
The justice department’s release of case files showed that Lutnick had two engagements with Epstein years past that. He attended a 2011 event at Epstein’s home. And Lutnick’s family had lunch with Epstein on his private island in 2012 – four years after Epstein was sentenced to 13 months in jail for procuring a minor for prostitution.
Lutnick admitted to the 2012 lunch during his 10 February testimony before the Senate appropriations committee. “I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation,” Lutnick said. In that testimony, Lutnick also insisted that he “barely had anything to do” with Epstein.
According to Suhas Subramanyam, a Democratic representative of Virginia, the commerce secretary said “he could remember nothing about the visit to the island. Couldn’t remember why he was there. Couldn’t remember anything he saw.”
Oversight Democrats also said that Lutnick did not answer their questions about whether he spoke with Donald Trump ahead of giving testimony before the panel today.
“I feel very comfortable saying that Howard Lutnick is a pathological liar who is enabling the most egregious cover-up in American history,” congresswoman Yassamin Ansari told reporters, while noting that the commerce secretary told lawmakers it was “inexplicable” that he visited Epstein’s private island. Lutnick described his encounters with Epstein as “meaningless and inconsequential,” Ansari added.
Updated
Donald Trump’s aggressive and wide-reaching immigration-enforcement agenda has convinced increasing numbers of adults that the US is no longer a welcoming country for outsiders, a new poll has found.
About six in 10 respondents to the Associated Press-NORC poll, conducted last month, say the country used to be a great place for immigrants, but no longer is.
Another one-third said they or somebody they knew personally had been affected by the Trump administration’s crackdown in the previous 12 months, rising to about 60% of Hispanic adults.
Almost half of the Hispanic adults who responded said they had started carrying proof of their US citizenship or permanent residence for fear of being detained or deported by federal immigration agencies.
The wide-ranging poll paints a damning portrait of how opinions have changed in the 14 months since Trump returned to the White House and embarked on his long-threatened “largest deportation operation in US history”.
The survey found that only a quarter of adults still believed the US was welcoming to immigrants, while about one in 10 believed it never was.
A question about birthright citizenship, which Trump has attempted to remove by an executive order blocked by federal courts and currently under deliberation by the justices of the US supreme court, brought a mixed response.
Overall, 65% believe that all children born in the US should be entitled to citizenship regardless of their parents’ status, and 75% believe the same for children whose non-citizen parents are legally present in the US on work visas.
Read the full report here:
At the White House, Trump said the situation in Iran is “very much under control” after the president told the regime to accept a deal to end the war in the Middle East or face a new wave of US bombing “at a much higher level and intensity than it was before” in a post on Truth Social.
He claimed, at the military Mother’s Day event, that Tehran wants to “make a deal very much”, while noting the ongoing naval blockade in the strait of Hormuz is “unbelievable”.
“[Iran is] not getting anything through one way or the other, so they’re out of business,” Trump said. “We’ll see whether or not they are agreeing, and if they don’t agree, they’ll end up agreeing shortly thereafter.”
Updated
At a military Mother’s Day event at the White House, Donald Trump used the opportunity to tout his new ballroom project, which the president said now comes with a $400m price tag earlier on social media.
“We’re a little bit ahead of schedule, right on budget, but it’s going to be something great. It’ll be one of the most beautiful buildings of its kind anywhere in the world,” Trump told attendees in the East Room. “Aside from being secure, I think it’s going to be the most beautiful ballroom I’ve ever built. And it’s something that the White House has needed.”
Earlier this week, Senate Republicans released the text of a new immigration enforcement reconciliation package that includes a proposed $1bn that could go to security measures related to the ballroom, part of the president’s “East Wing modernization project”.
And in an internal memo, the Warner Bros Discovery CEO, David Zaslav, called Ted Turner a visionary and a trailblazer. He wrote to colleagues that “Ted’s entrepreneurial spirit, creative ambition and willingness to take risks changed the media industry forever”.
He did not just disrupt media. He transformed it.
In 1980, many questioned the logic of launching CNN, the world’s first 24-hour news network. Ted believed the world deserved access to news as it happened, and he acted on that conviction.
CNN fundamentally changed how the world experiences history in real time, and its impact on journalism continues to be felt every day through the work of our teams.
With the launch of TNT in 1988, and through the sports legacy he built across Turner Sports, he helped redefine sports television and created a platform that brought iconic moments into millions of homes. In founding Turner Classic Movies in 1994, Ted ensured that great films and the history of cinema would be preserved and celebrated. TCM stands as a testament to his belief that great storytelling has no expiration date, and that honoring the past is essential to shaping the future.
Zaslav also paid tribute to Turner’s philanthropy and extended his deepest condolences to the late founder’s family.
It is our responsibility to honor and carry forward the legacy he built.
Ted Turner changed our industry forever. I’m grateful for his courage, his imagination and the lasting mark he leaves on Warner Bros Discovery and the world.
Updated
Reacting to CNN founder Ted Turner’s death, fellow media mogul and longtime rival Rupert Murdoch called Turner a “trailblazer” who “transformed the media industry” and “left an indelible mark on our cultural landscape”.
Ted Turner’s vision for 24-hour cable news transformed the media industry and gave viewers everywhere a front seat to witness history unfold. His impact as a trailblazer has left an indelible mark on our cultural landscape. He was a great American and friend.
The two men famously had a long-running and often hostile rivalry, which stemmed from a yachting collision in 1983 that resulted in Turner challenging Murdoch to a fist fight.
The drama intensified when Murdoch launched Fox News in 1996 as a direct, conservative rival to CNN. Turner at one point called Murdoch a “warmonger” and compared him to Adolf Hitler (he later apologized for that choice of words).
In later years it became more of a “friendly rival”, with Turner acknowledging Murdoch’s business acumen, “He’s one of the smartest guys in the media business.”
Updated
GOP House oversight chair says Lutnick ‘wasn’t 100% truthful’ about Epstein ties as commerce secretary faces grilling
James Comer, the Republican chair of the House oversight committee, told reporters earlier as he entered a closed-door interview with Howard Lutnick that the commerce secretary had in the past not been “100% truthful” about whether he had ever visited Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous private island.
A reminder that Lutnick – the highest-ranking Trump administration official prominently named in the Epstein files, aside from Donald Trump himself – said on a podcast last year that he had decided to “never be in the room” with Epstein following a 2005 tour of the financier’s home in Manhattan that disturbed him and his wife.
But the release of case files on Epstein earlier this year showed that Lutnick had kept in contact with Epstein – even after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl – and met up with him a couple of times in 2011 and 2012.
And under questioning from Democrats during an unrelated hearing earlier this year, Lutnick confirmed he had visited Epstein’s private island with his family in 2012 for lunch.
Comer told reporters ahead of the hearing that he planned to ask Lutnick why his interactions with Epstein spanned years beyond his initial claims.
We’re going to ask him all of these questions, and we’ll let the American people judge whether the credibility was damaged or not.
At the end of the day, I haven’t seen wrongdoing in the email correspondence, but he wasn’t 100% truthful with whether he had been on the island. So we’ll see.
Updated
FBI investigating leaks to journalist who wrote about Kash Patel's drinking and behavior - report
The FBI has launched a “criminal leak investigation” focused on Atlantic journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick who wrote a detailed story last month about government officials’ alarm over the bureau’s director Kash Patel’s alleged “bouts of excessive drinking” and “unexplained absences”, two people familiar have told MS NOW.
The move is highly unusual, given that leak investigations are usually focused on government officials - not journalists - who may have disclosed state secrets or classified information.
Indeed, according to MS NOW’s sources, there is concern among some of the FBI agents assigned to the probe. “They know they are not supposed to do this,” one source said. “But if they don’t go forward, they could lose their jobs. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
Fitzpatrick cited over two dozen anonymous sources in her reporting, detailing such alarm among FBI and DOJ officials over Patel’s alcohol consumption and erratic conduct that the FBI director feared his job was in jeopardy. Patel was known to “drink to the point of obvious intoxication”, she reported, and on multiple occasions his security detail had trouble waking him in the morning.
Patel sued the Atlantic over the story, accusing the magazine of publishing “false and obviously fabricated allegations” and seeking damages for defamation.
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson denied the investigation. “This is completely false. No such investigation like this exists and the reporter you mention is not being investigated at all,” he said.
In a statement to MS NOW, the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeff Goldberg, said:
We will have further comment when we learn more. If true, this would be an outrageous, illegal, and dangerous attack on the free press and the First Amendment. We will defend Sarah and all of our reporters who are subjected to government harassment simply for pursuing the truth.
Trump praises Ted Turner and lambasts CNN: 'It became woke'
While issuing condolences on social media following Ted Turner’s death, Trump called the late media mogul “one of the Greats of All Time” and a “friend”. However, he wasted no time using his Truth Social missive to slam CNN.
“[Turner] founded CNN, sold it, and was personally devastated by the Deal because the new ownership took CNN, his ‘baby,’ and destroyed it,” he said. “It became woke, and everything that he is not all about.”
Trump noted that the “wonderful people” at Paramount Skydance, run by the president’s close ally, David Ellison, might be able to bring back CNN’s “former credibility and glory” after the multibillion deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery (CNN’s parent company) is finalized.
Updated
Michigan Democrat wins state senate special election
Chedrick Greene, a Democratic firefighter and marine veteran, won a special election in Michigan on Tuesday, allowing Democrats to retain control of state senate for the remainder of the year.
In the race for Michigan’s 35th senate district, a constituency that former vice-president Kamala Harris won by only a single percentage point in 2024, Greene beat Republican Jason Tunney – clinching more than 58% of the vote, compared with Tunney’s 39%, according to local results. The district includes parts of Bay and Saginaw counties, purple areas of the state.
Donald Trump ultimately won the state in the last election, but Michigan Democrats were hoping to hold on to their narrow majority in the senate ahead of the term-limited governor, Gretchen Whitmer, leaving office in January. Republicans control the state’s lower chamber.
“We delivered this decisive victory by listening and speaking to the things keeping everyday people up at night – worries about affordability, safety and freedom,” Greene told supporters on Tuesday, as he was declared the winner.
Hakeem Jeffries, the US House minority leader, heralded Greene’s win on social media. “State Sen.-elect Chedrick Greene’s decisive 19-point overperformance last night ensures Democrats keep control of the Michigan Senate,” Jeffries wrote on X. “A massive defeat for MAGA Republicans!”
The Senate seat had been vacant since January 2025, when Representative Kristen McDonald Rivet, a Democrat, left the post after she won a seat in the US House.
Tunney, a former prosecutor, vowed to challenge Greene again when voters return to the polls in November, to elect a representative for the 35th district for a full four-year term.
“Tonight, we fell short in the special election, but I’m incredibly proud of what this campaign accomplished together,” Tunney said. “This is only the halfway point. As we head into November, the contrast between Chedrick and myself will only become clearer to more and more voters. I’m excited about what lies ahead, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Updated
CNN founder and media mogul Ted Turner dies aged 87
Ted Turner, the founder of television news network CNN, has died at the age of 87.
The cause of death was not immediately released, but Turner had revealed that he was suffering from Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder, in 2018.
Turner became one of the most powerful figures in US media and entertainment, after he launched CNN as the first 24-hour news channel in 1980. The network set a template for worldwide news coverage of wars, trials, revolutions, and human-made and natural disasters.
In 1996 Time Warner Inc bought his Turner Broadcasting System for $7.5bn, creating the world’s largest communications company, with properties such as HBO, Warner Bros movie studio, Time magazine, CNN, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies.
According to a news release from Turner Enterprises, the media mogul was surrounded by his family at the time of his death, and is survived by his five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Updated
It’s worth noting, ahead of Howard Lutnick’s closed-door testimony before House oversight committee members today, that the commerce secretary has refused to answer questions about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein from lawmakers during congressional hearings on Capitol Hill over the last month.
In April, Represenative Madeleine Dean, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, asked whether the president expressed “concerns” about the commerce secretary’s relationship with Epstein. Lutnick refused to comment.
Instead, the commerce secretary insisted that he will respond fully to the oversight panel when he faces members.
At the time, Dean also noted that three female cabinet secretaries have been ousted from Trump’s White House: Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem and Lori Chavez-DeRemer. “If President Trump has even a shred of concern about accountability for Jeffrey Epstein’s enablers,” Dean said to Lutnick, “he would fire you too”.
When Mississippi lawmakers met in 1861 and voted to secede from the union in an effort to continue enslaving people, they did so in what is now known as the Old Capitol Museum. From 1839 to 1903, lawmakers met at a building that witnessed some of the state’s most racist history.
And now, on 20 May, when members of Mississippi’s house convene for a special session to redraw state supreme court districts, they will do so at the Old Capitol, ostensibly because of renovations in the house chamber.
Jason White, Mississippi’s Republican house speaker, told local outlet WLBT that any special session called between now and January 2027 would be held in the Old Capitol house chamber. The state senate will still use the new capitol building.
The last time lawmakers met at the Old Capitol was in 2009, when they did so to ceremonially acknowledge restoration to the building, which had been damaged during Hurricane Katrina. When lawmakers have needed to meet outside the current capitol building previously, during extensive renovations in the 1980s, they met at the old Central high school building, also in downtown Jackson.
For some, the house’s decision to use the Old Capitol now is troubling.
“I was a little taken aback with the location of the Old State Capitol,” Kabir Karriem, a Democratic state representative who leads the Mississippi’s legislative Black caucus, said. “Even though they said that they were doing some remodeling, the optics of it are horrific for 1.2 million Black folks here in the state of Mississippi.”
Prior to the supreme court’s decision in Louisiana v Callais last week, which severely weakened section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Mississippi governor Tate Reeves called lawmakers back to Jackson to redraw the state’s three supreme court districts. Many legislators predict that lawmakers will redraw districts to dilute Black voting strength.
Indiana results show that Trump holds 'unwavering allegiance' of his base, says former Obama advisor
In response to the blow to Republican legislators in Indiana who lost their primaries to Trump-backed challengers, David Axelrod –a former senior advisor to Barack Obama – noted that “survival” was ultimately the reason why so many GOP lawmakers continue to support the president, regardless of policy disagreements.
“‘[Trump] maintains the unwavering allegiance of his base and the threat to use it as cudgels against any apostates in primary elections,” Axelrod said. “That’s why following through on his retribution threat against Indiana state senators for having the temerity (and courage) to oppose the extraordinary, mid-decade re-districting he demanded was so essential to the [White House].”
Updated
A reminder that my colleagues are covering the latest developments out of the Middle East at our dedicated live blog. This includes the reaction to Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to halt Project Freedom – the administration’s operation to “guide” stranded ships through the strait of Hormuz as the naval blockade in the waterway continues.
On Truth Social, Trump expressed optimism that the Iran war “will be at an end” and the strait of Hormuz “open to all” if Iran agrees to the US’s truce proposal.
But he also vowed that the US would resume its bombing campaign “at a much higher level and intensity” than before if Iran doesn’t accept terms that have apparently already been agreed to.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy has announced the strait of Hormuz could reopen following the end of “threats from aggressors”, according to state media.
Donald Trump is in Washington today. He’ll spend the earlier part of the day in meetings, before joining the first lady, Melania Trump, for a military Mother’s Day event in the East Room at 12:30pm ET. We’ll bring you the latest lines as that gets under way.
Former presidential candidate Ramaswamy wins Republican nomination to run for Ohio governor
Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was the Republican choice to run for Ohio governor following last night’s primary vote.
The staunch Donald Trump ally will face off against former state health department director Amy Acton, who won the Democratic nomination.
The other major Republican candidate was Casey Putsch, an internet personality and auto racing engineer, who was defeated decisively.
Ramaswamy’s victory was celebrated in a Truth Social post by president Trump last night.
The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, will appear before the House oversight and reform committee on Wednesday to answer questions over his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Lutnick agreed in March to sit for a transcribed interview with the committee following the justice department’s release of millions of documents related to Epstein, which included documents showing that Lutnick continued correspondence with Epstein after the disgraced financier had been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. The session is part of the committee’s broader investigation into Epstein.
“The Secretary looks forward to addressing any questions on the record when he testifies voluntarily before the Oversight Committee,” a commerce department spokesperson said. “He looks forward to putting to rest the inaccurate and baseless claims in the media designed to distract from his historic work underway at the Commerce Department.”
The interview on Wednesday will take place behind closed doors, with a transcript released at a later date, as the committee has done with the previous transcribed interviews.
Washington believes it is close to reaching an agreement with Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and end the war, US news outlet Axios reported, citing two US officials.
According to Axios, the two sides are close to agreeing on a “one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations.”
It said the deal would involve Iran committing to a moratorium on nuclear enrichment and the United States agreeing to release billions of dollars of frozen Iranian funds.
Washington is reportedly awaiting a response from Tehran on several key points in the next 48 hours.
“Nothing has been agreed yet, but the sources said this was the closest the parties had been to an agreement since the war began,” Axios said.
A majority of Indiana Republican legislators whose opponents were backed by Donald Trump lost their primaries on Tuesday, giving the president wins in a deep-red state just months after lawmakers there rejected his redistricting plan.
Of the seven Trump-endorsed challengers to state senate candidates, at least five won.
The vote turned into a statewide referendum on political retribution, and a test of Republican staying power after the party’s state lawmakers resisted Donald Trump’s bruising campaign to pressure them into redrawing the congressional districts.
Seven state senators who voted against Trump’s mid-decade redistricting push faced challengers endorsed by the president, who said that “every one of these people should be ‘primaried’” after the effort failed.
Trump-aligned dark money groups spent upwards of $7m on TV ads in Indiana this year, according to a tally from AdImpact – the majority spent targeting Republicans who allied themselves with Democrats in the December redistricting vote.
Jim Buck, a state senator from Kokomo, lost to a Trump-backed challenger after 18 years in office.
“We’ve never had Washington meddle into our elections like they have this time,” Buck told NPR. “Now I’ve got over $1m against me in one race.”
Commerce chief Howard Lutnick to face Epstein grilling in closed-door interview today
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick will become the latest of Donald Trump’s cabinet to be questioned over ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when he sits for a closed-door transcribed interview with the Oversight Committee later today.
Lutnick has acknowledged visiting Epstein’s private island in 2012 with family members – a trip that contradicted his earlier claim that he had severed ties with Epstein in 2005.
In March, the Department of Justice briefly deleted and then restored an undated photo of Lutnick and Epstein in an island setting. CBS News reported that Lutnick and Epstein were in business together as recently as 2014.
Lutnick only agreed to the closed-door Capitol Hill testimony after Democrats on the committee publicly threatened to subpoena Lutnick if he refused to cooperate. Representative Ro Khanna of California told reporters that the votes were there to compel his testimony.
But getting to this stage has only been possible due to the cooperation of Republicans on the committee. Republican representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina called for Lutnick’s appearance, while James Comer, the Kentucky Republican who chairs the panel, said he had “proactively” agreed to the transcribed interview.
“I commend his demonstrated commitment to transparency and appreciate his willingness to engage with the Committee,” Comer said in a statement at the time.
It in unclear how many members will attend the interview but the commerce chief can expect to be probed over when his relationship with Epstein came to an end.
It comes as Politico reported last week that Mace has complained conversations with Epstein witnesses were taking place while members are out of town or traveling.
“Some of these are being scheduled when we are not in session, and that makes it more difficult,” she said. “They’re making it the most inconvenient for members of Congress to participate, and that is done on purpose.”
In other developments:
A majority of Indiana Republican legislators whose opponents were backed by Donald Trump lost their primaries on Tuesday, giving the president wins in a deep-red state just months after lawmakers there rejected his redistricting plan. Of the seven Trump-endorsed challengers to state senate candidates, at least five won. More here.
Democratic senator Sherrod Brown and Republican senator Jon Husted won their party’s nominations in Ohio’s primary elections, according to the Associated Press – teeing them up for what is expected to be a high-profile and expensive Senate race in November’s midterm elections. More here.
Senate Republicans have released a new immigration enforcement funding package that includes a proposed $1bn that could go to security measures related to the $400m ballroom that is part of Donald Trump’s “East Wing modernization project”. More here.
Marco Rubio argued the US is in a “very fortunate” position as fuel prices continue to climb nationwide amid disruption sparked by the US-Israel war on Iran. With average US fuel prices now approaching $4.50 a gallon – their highest level in four years – the US secretary of state was asked on Tuesday how long Americans should accept them at such levels. Other countries were suffering “big time”, Rubio replied. More here.
Seven of the leading contenders in California’s unexpectedly dramatic race for governor faced off on the debate stage Tuesday night, with the stakes now higher because ballots are in the mail. Becerra was a top target, as expected, given his steady rise in the polls. More here.
