Closing summary
With the president ensconced in his Scottish golf resort for the night, ahead of what he assures us will be not just a long weekend of golf, but “many meetings”, we are wrapping up our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. Here are the latest developments:
After Donald Trump reminded everyone that he is “allowed to” pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, a former associate of his who was convicted of conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to recruit, groom and sexually abuse girls, Maxwell’s lawyer suggested that Trump might be sympathetic to the argument that her conviction was unjust.
Trump is in Scotland, where he is spending the weekend at his golf resorts, and dodging questions about his long friendship with Epstein.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) is preparing to send $608m to states to construct immigrant detention centers as part of the Trump administration’s push to expand capacity to hold migrants.
California congressmen Ro Khanna and Robert Garcia on Friday sent a formal request to attorneys representing the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, demanding the release of a 2003 “birthday book” that reportedly contains a signed greeting from Donald Trump to the late sex offender.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group known as Aipac, accused Bernie Sanders, the nation’s most prominent Jewish politician, of a ‘blood libel’ on Friday for his statement denouncing what he called “the Netanyahu government’s extermination of Gaza”.
US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is reportedly planning to remove all the members of an advisory panel that determines what cancer screenings and other preventive health measures insurers must cover, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Kennedy plans to dismiss all 16 panel members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force because he views them as too ‘woke’”, unnamed sources familiar with the plan told the Journal.
A spokesperson for the health and human services department told Reuters that Kennedy had not yet made a decision regarding the 16-member US Preventive Services Task Force. “No final decision has been made on how the USPSTF can better support HHS’ mandate to Make America Healthy Again,” the spokesperson said.
In June, Kennedy, a long-time vaccine skeptic, fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel of vaccine experts, replacing them with seven handpicked members, including anti-vaxers.
The USPSTF includes medical experts serving staggered four-year terms on a volunteer basis. Its role in choosing what services will be covered by insurers was established under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
“USPTF offers recommendations for preventative health measures like breast, colon, and prostate cancer screening, aspirin use, etc. It’s a nonpartisan panel”, Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine at George Washington University, posted in response to the report. “Every recommendation is preceded with this statement: ‘Recommendations made by the USPSTF are independent of the U.S. government. They should not be construed as an official position of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.’ Will it remain independent of HHS?”
Pro-Israel lobbying group Aipac accuses Bernie Sanders of 'blood libel' for denouncing 'extermination of Gaza'
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group known as Aipac, accused Bernie Sanders, the nation’s most prominent Jewish politician, of a ‘blood libel’ on Friday for his statement denouncing what he called “the Netanyahu government’s extermination of Gaza”.
The original blood libel was the medieval myth that Jews used the blood of murdered Christian children as an ingredient in the baking of Passover matzah, but it is increasingly used by supporters of Israel to cast even factual criticism of Israeli violence against Palestinians as equally anti-semitic.
In his statement, which Aipac referred to as a “hate-filled rant”, Sanders wrote:
After 21 months of brutal war, the Netanyahu government’s extermination of Gaza is entering a new and terrible phase. America and the world cannot continue to look away. We must reckon with what is being done with our taxpayer money, our weapons and the support of our government.
More than that, we must act to stop it.
After many months of Israel blocking humanitarian aid, children and other vulnerable people are starving to death in increasing numbers. …
Having already killed or wounded 200,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, the extremist Israeli government is using mass starvation to engineer the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Don’t take my word for it, listen to Israeli minister Amichay Eliyahu, who said this week: “All Gaza will be Jewish… the government is pushing for Gaza being wiped out. Thank God, we are wiping out this evil.”
Despite these war crimes, carried out daily in plain view, the United States has provided more than $22 billion for Israel’s military operations since this war began. In other words, American taxpayer dollars are being used to starve children, bomb civilians and support the cruelty of Netanyahu and his criminal ministers.
Enough is enough. The White House and Congress must immediately act to end this war using the full scope of American influence. No more military aid to the Netanyahu government. History will condemn those who fail to act in the face of this horror.
If Democrats don't respond to Republican gerrymandering, Newsom says, 'there may not be an election in 2028'
As our colleague Sam Levine reported earlier, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, hosted six Democrats from the Texas state legislature as Republicans in their state press ahead with an effort to gerrymander congressional districts by redrawing the map of districts to make as many as 5 US House seats easier for Republicans to win in next year’s midterms.
The meeting comes as Newsom has threatened to retaliate by redrawing US House districts in California to tilt the scales in the direction of Democratic candidates.
Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, was initially resistant to the plan pushed by Donald Trump’s political team, the Texas Tribune reported, but agreed to call a special session to redraw the maps after a call with Trump.
Two Democrats who represent California in Congress, Zoe Lofgren and Ted Lieu, were also present.
“Donald Trump called up Governor Abbott for one simple reason: to rig the 2026 elections”, Newsom said in a statement. “California’s moral high ground means nothing if we’re powerless because of it. This moment requires us to be prepared to fight fire with fire. Whether that’s a special election, a ballot initiative, a bill, a fight in court. If they proceed in Texas, we will be ready.”
While Democrats have control over drawing the lines in Illinois, Newsom faces significant hurdles to redrawing California’s districts. Redistricting in California is controlled by an independent redistricting commission, not the legislature. Newsom has suggested he could try and put a quick referendum to voters to give the legislature the power to redraw the maps or try and untested legal theory and have the legislature draw the maps anyway.
“Trump knows his agenda is deeply unpopular, so he’s working to silence voters instead of win them over”, Lieu said. “It’s an attack on our democracy, plain and simple. If Texas moves forward, California will be ready to fight back in the courts, in the legislature, and at the ballot box. And every Democratic-led state should seriously consider mid-decade redistricting in response. We won’t let MAGA Republicans rewrite the rules unchallenged.”
Newsom’s office also cited statements from three fellow governors, Kathy Hochul of New York, JB Pritzker of Illinois, and Phil Murphy of New Jersey, who all suggested that they could redraw the congressional maps in their own states if Republicans press ahead in Texas and other states.
Pritzker also met with Texas lawmakers on Friday and said that he wants Texas Republicans “to understand that if they’re going to take this drastic action, that we also might take drastic action to respond”.
Speaking after the meeting, Newsom acknowledged that he had previously supported independent redistricting and believes that should be the national system.
“Things have changed, so too must we. And I believe that the people of California understand what is at stake”, Newsom said, if Democrats do not win the House in 2026. “If we don’t put a stake into the heart of this administration, there may not be an election in 2028”.
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House Democrats demand Epstein birthday book that Trump reportedly signed
California congressmen Ro Khanna and Robert Garcia on Friday sent a formal request to attorneys representing the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, demanding the release of a 2003 “birthday book” that reportedly contains a signed greeting from Donald Trump to the late sex offender.
The lawmakers are seeking a “complete and unredacted” copy of the book, which was compiled in 2003 by Ghislaine Maxwell, longtime associate who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for conspiring with Epstein to sexually traffic minors. They have asked for the document to be handed over no later than 10 August.
“The public deserves to know the truth and the survivors and their families deserve justice,” said Khanna, who criticized Congress for leaving town without voting on his bipartisan bill to release the Epstein files.
Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal for reporting that he contributed a bawdy message and signed drawing to the album, calling the document, said to have been reviewed by federal prosecutors, “fake”.
On Thursday, the New York Times published an image of Maxwell’s dedication of the leather-bound album of birthday wishes to Epstein on his 50th birthday from dozens of his friends and associates.
Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, echoed the call for transparency. “The American people deserve to know who was involved in Epstein’s trafficking network and if they are in positions of power in our government,” he said.
The lawmakers’ request comes as Democrats clamor for the release of files from the federal investigations into Epstein – accusing Republicans of attempting to shield Trump from disclosures about his close and well-documented relationship with Epstein, which appeared to end in 2004. House Republicans broke early for an August recess amid uproar over the Epstein controversy.
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In an interview with the Guardian, Angelica Salas, the president of the Los Angeles-based immigrant rights group CHIRLA, said Senator Alex Padilla’s new bill offered Congress a “simple” way to move past decades of failed negotiations over comprehensive immigration reform.
She said the old political calculation that had shaped past attempts at an immigration overhaul – increased enforcement in exchange for pathways to legalization – was no longer relevant after Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act turned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) into the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the federal government.
“The balance now is completely on the side of enforcement,” she said. “So it’s enough. It’s time to do this.”
After decades of pushing for changes to state laws and city ordinances, Salas said there was little more California or Los Angeles could do to protect immigrants without an act of Congress.
“We have done everything we can to protect our community,” she said. “And what has happened because of those protections, the federal government has come in to crush us. So we continue to ask more of our elected officials at the state and local level ... but that’s not the solution. The solution is finally to have people legalized in this country, and that’s only an act of Congress.”
The proposed legislation, Salas stressed, was simple and would include all immigrants, as opposed to past piecemeal attempts to shield Dreamers or farmworkers. The veteran immigrant rights advocate, herself a naturalized citizen from Mexico, said she was realistic about the hurdles this legislation would face in a Republican-controlled Congress that answers to Trump. But she believes a shift in public sentiment will help.
“I ask everybody in this country, so what do you choose? Do you choose what you see on TV where you have men and women being pummeled to the ground, treated as less than human,” Salas said during her public remarks. “Or do you want to update your own law so people can come out of these shadows, out of this fear and into the formal recognition that they deserve? If you can trust them with your child, if you can trust them with your mother and your father, for us to take care of them, if you trust us to feed you, can’t you trust us of the American family?”
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During a press conference in Los Angeles on Friday, Senator Alex Padilla grew emotional as he thanked the immigrant rights community for their advocacy and their support during what he described as “ long, hard summer for all of us”.
In June, as tensions peaked over Trump’s decision to send national guard troops and active-duty marines to LA to quell widespread protests sparked by immigration raids across the city, the Democratic senator was forcibly removed and placed in handcuffs after he attempted to ask a question at a press conference held by Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary.
“Your support over the last six weeks has been so much to me and to my family,” he said, his voice catching with emotion. Padilla was joined by Angelica Salas, the executive director of the immigrant rights organization, CHIRLA, as well as David Huerta, the California labor leader who was arrested while observing the protests and held in detention before being released on bond.
Among the speakers were Alejandro Barranco, a Marine veteran whose father, Narcisco, was detained by federal immigration officers while working a landscaping job he had held for more than 30 years; and Hazibi Johnson, whose brother was arrested and detained by Ice agents in June.
Barranco, who was deployed to Kabul in 2021 to assist with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, described his father’s arrest in June and detention, during which he said his father was “locked in a facility with nearly 100 others, no showers, no change of clothes, one toilet”. After being transferred to another facility, he was “forced to go 14 hours without any water, and became ill from the filthy conditions”.
His father has been released on bond. But Barranco said: “The trauma that day will never leave him – or us.”
Johsnon, whose brother Fermando, a small business owner, was arrested and detained in June, said his absence has shaken her family, especially her eight-year-old son who now panics when he sees black SUVs on the road.
“This is what injustice does. It ripples out far beyond the person being detained. It touches children, elders, entire families and communities,” she said. “The fear doesn’t disappear when someone is released. It lingers in the every day lives for those who love them.”
The press conference was held at the SEIU local 721 office in downtown LA, just a block from where masked Ice agents raided a Home Depot as part of the first wave of enforcement operations to target day laborers in the city.
Salas cited an analysis, based on data from the LA Rapid Response Network, that found recent immigration enforcement activities in Los Angeles county between 6 June to 20 July targeted areas where, on average, 80% of the residents were Latino.
“We can show a pattern of racial profiling, of blatant denial of constitutional rights, and a clear message to immigrants and US citizens alike that anyone at any moment could be a target,” she said. Yet Salas said the community remained “defiant”.
“Our families are more than tears and fear, we are loving human beings who fight to keep our families together,” she said. “We dream of a better tomorrow for future generations, and we believe in an America that is a multiracial democracy where we are all welcome.”
Updated
Senator Alex Padilla on Friday unveiled legislation that would amend existing law to allow millions of immigrants to seek legal residency in the US – a long-shot effort by the California Democrat to confront what he called the Trump administration’s “extreme cruelty”.
During a press conference at the local SEIU headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, Padilla said he was “not naive” about the odds of passing a sweeping immigration bill with a Republican-controlled legislature and Donald Trump in the White House. But he said public opinion was shifting sharply against the president’s mass deportation agenda and even some Republicans in Congress were starting to speak out about the impact raids and enforcement operations have had on communities and key industries in their states.
“The United States of America is not the United States of America without immigrants,” he said, drawing loud cheers from the coalition of labor and immigrant rights advocates in the audience.
The bill, which will be formally introduced in the Senate on Monday, proposes a “simple update” to the Immigration Act of 1929 to allow legal residency for immigrants who have lived continuously in the US for seven years and have no criminal record, Padilla said. Advocates said the bill, if passed, could immediately open a path to legalization for as many as 8 million immigrants, including Dreamers, farmworkers and TPS holders.
Padilla emphasized that the last time the law was updated was under Republican president Ronald Reagan, who he quoted as having argued that expanding legalization was a “matter of basic fairness” when he signed the amendment into law in 1986.
“It creates an opportunity for people to have lived in shadows for too long, to be able to take steps forward, first towards legalization, as a step towards residency and potentially eventually citizenship,” Padilla said. “This is nothing new. It’s not a new bureaucracy, it’s not a new agency, it’s not a new program. It’s simply updating the cut off date.”
California congresswoman Zoe Lofgren introduced companion legislation in the House.
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Maxwell's lawyer suggests Trump might be sympathetic to her case for a pardon
After Donald Trump reminded everyone on Friday that he is “allowed to” pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, a former associate of his who was convicted of conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to recruit, groom and sexually abuse girls, Maxwell’s lawyer suggested that Trump might be sympathetic to the argument that her conviction was unjust.
“We haven’t spoken to the president, or anybody, about a pardon, just yet,” Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, told reporters after her meeting with deputy attorney general Todd Blanche in Tallahassee, Florida.
“Listen,” Markus added, “the president said this morning he has the power to do so. We hope he exercises that power in the right and just way.”
Maxwell was reportedly granted a form of limited immunity for the two days of interviews with Blanche, unnamed sources told the New York Times.
Markus also explained that Maxwell’s appeal to the supreme court was based the fact that “the government at the time promised her, promised Jeffrey Epstein, that any potential co-conspirators would not be prosecuted. And so she deserves that promise.”
Markus was referring to a non-prosecution agreement offered to Epstein in 2007, after his initial arrest on charges related to sex with a minor, by the then US attorney the southern district of Florida, Alex Acosta. That agreement, which allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges in exchange for pleading guilty to lesser state crimes and serving just 13 months in jail, outraged the victims, who complained that the government had violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act when it resolved the federal investigation of Epstein without consulting with them.
A 2020 review of the case, published after Trump lost the presidency, by the department of justice’s office of professional responsibility concluded: “Acosta exercised poor judgment by deciding to resolve the federal investigation through the non-prosecution agreement and when he failed to make certain that the state of Florida intended to and would notify victims identified through the federal investigation about the state plea hearing.”
Epstein was then indicted in federal court in Manhattan in 2019 and arrested before being found dead in jail, in what was ruled a suicide. Maxwell was arrested a year later and then convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2022.
Her lawyer suggested on Friday that Trump might be sympathetic to the argument that the original non-prosecution agreement should have been honored by the government.
“I don’t think that President Trump knows that the justice department took the position that that bargain should not, that promise should not be upheld,” Markus said. “President Trump is the ultimate deal-maker. He knows that a promise made on behalf of the government should bind the government.”
“So we’re hoping the supreme court agrees with us that when the US attorney’s office in the southern district of Florida promised that no potential co-conspirators would be prosecuted that that bound the southern district of New York as well,” Maxwell’s lawyer added.
While Trump said on Friday that pardoning Maxwell is “something I have not thought about”, and suggested later that “this is no time to be talking about pardons”, his allies in the conservative media have raised the possibility in recent days that Maxwell might “just might be a victim”.
When Maxwell was arrested in 2020, Trump acknowledged that he had “met her numerous times over the years”, and offered some words of sympathy. “I just wish her well, frankly,” the president said.
Updated
Fema offers $608m to states to construct immigrant detention centers
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) is preparing to send $608m to states to construct immigrant detention centers as part of the Trump administration’s push to expand capacity to hold migrants.
The funds from Fema’s “detention support grant program” cover the cost to states and local governments building temporary facilities, according to an agency grant description. The agency has been accepting applications for funding since 9 July and states have until 8 August to apply for the funds, according to the grant description posted online.
The Trump administration has been encouraging states to build their own facilities to detain migrants. This program provides a way for the administration to help states pay for it.
The funds will be distributed by Fema in partnership with US Customs and Border Protection, according to the agency.
Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, said on Friday that the state would apply for Fema reimbursement to pay for its new Everglades immigrant detention center it calls “Alligator Alcatraz.”
The facility will cost an estimated $450m annually, according to homeland security officials.
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, has said her department will tap Fema’s $650m shelter and services program to fund Florida’s facility. Congress during the Biden administration directed the department, which includes Fema, to distribute the money to state and local governments to cover the cost of sheltering migrants.
That funding stream was separate from money Congress set aside for Fema to cover disaster relief. “Secretary Noem has been very clear that the funding for Alligator Alcatraz can be a blueprint for other states and local governments to assist with detention,” a Fema spokesperson told Reuters.
The grant program began accepting applications just days after lawyers for the department argued in court that the federal government could not be sued over Alligator Alcatraz because no funds from Fema had been used to pay for it and “DHS has not implemented, authorized, directed, or funded Florida’s temporary detention center.”
News of the new Fema grants for detention facilities came as Maryland’s Democratic governor, Wes Moore, vowed to take Donald Trump to court after the president denied the governor’s request for Fema disaster assistance relief following massive floods in May, calling it “not warranted”.
“It’s an insult to Marylanders and the community still suffering in the aftermath of this storm,” Moore said in a video response to the decision he posted on social media.
In recent weeks, Trump has boasted of approving Fema funds to flood victims in Texas and other Republican-run states that voted for him in the 2024 election.
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Trump drives past protesters outside his golf resort in Scotland
Donald Trump has arrived at his Turnberry golf resort on the coast of Ayrshire, in south-west Scotland.
His motorcade, escorted by Police Scotland vehicles and ambulance crews, drove past a small group of protesters, and at least one supporter.
While Trump has spoken fondly of Scotland, where his mother was born and raised, the country has not always returned his warmth.
During a previous visit, in 2018, Trump was greeted at his Turnberry resort by a Greenpeace activist who paraglided directly over his head trailing a banner that read: “Trump: Well Below Par”.
Ahead of his visit, one local newspaper, the National, which supports independence for Scotland, ran a preview of the visit with the headline: “Convicted US felon to arrive in Scotland – Republican leader, who was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, will visit golf courses”.
Tomorrow's front page📰
— The National (@ScotNational) July 24, 2025
Convicted US felon to arrive in Scotland pic.twitter.com/EEwAZaPXgC
Trump says 'nothing' remains to work out in trade deal with UK, as Starmer presses for 'full implentation'
In his remarks to reporters at Prestwick airport earlier, Donald Trump was asked about his scheduled talks with UK prime minister Keir Starmer, which the White House has used to portray his mainly golf-themed trip as a working visit.
“Can you explain,” a reporter asked Trump on the tarmac outside Air Force One, “what is missing in the UK deal that you have to work out?”
“Nothing,” Trump replied. “I think it’s more of a celebration than a workout. It’s a great deal for both, and we’re going to have a meeting on other things, other than the deal. The deal is concluded.”
Trump previously suggested that the talks were to “refine” the US-UK trade deal. Starmer told Bloomberg News in an interview on Thursday that the UK is still pressing for “full implementation” of the deal with the US.
The sticking point appears to be that while Trump agreed to cut US tariffs on steel imports from the UK that currently stand at 25%, the tariffs have not yet been lifted.
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In response to the House ethics committee’s report into Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s attendance of the Met Gala four years ago, her chief of staff, Mike Casca, said:
“The Congresswoman appreciates the Committee finding that she made efforts to ensure her compliance with House Rules and sought to act consistently with her ethical requirements as a Member of the House. She accepts the ruling and will remedy the remaining amounts, as she’s done at each step in this process.”
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The House ethics committee has ordered progressive Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to pay nearly $3,000 to resolve an investigation into her attendance of the 2021 Met Gala in New York City.
The inquiry began in 2022 following an allegation that Ocasio-Cortez accepted impermissible gifts when she attended the annual gala wearing a white floor-length gown with “Tax the Rich” written on the back.
In its bipartisan report released today, the ethics committee determined that despite making “significant attempts” to comply with congressional rules around accepting gifts, Ocasio-Cortez failed to do so “fully” by “impermissibly” accepting free admission to the gala for her partner, and did not pay full market price for some of what she wore to the event.
The committee found that a former campaign staff member tried to lower the congresswoman’s costs for attending the gala and made late payments to vendors involved. While it faulted Ocasio-Cortez for not properly supervising the staffer, the committee “did not find evidence that she intended to seek to lower the cost of goods provided to her or to delay payment for those goods and other services received”.
The committee determined that they will close the matter and Ocasio-Cortez will not face sanctions if she donates the $250 cost of her partner’s meal, and pays $2,733.28 to the designer from which she rented the dress and accessories.
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Former justice department lawyer provides corroborative evidence that Emil Bove wilfully defied court orders
A former Department of Justice lawyer has provided evidence to a justice department watchdog corroborating explosive claims that Emil Bove and other top officials wilfully and knowingly defied court orders, according to Whistleblower Aid, a non-profit representing the person.
A top department official and Donald Trump’s former defense attorney, Bove is currently being considered for a lifetime seat on the federal bench.
Whistleblower Aid said it was not identifying its client. They said the person had turned over “ substantive, internal DoJ documents” to the justice department’s inspector general. The evidence, the organization said, corroborate allegations from Erez Reuveni, a fired DoJ employee, who has publicly said that Bove told DoJ lawyers to defy the courts.
“What we’re seeing here is something I never thought would be possible on such a wide scale: federal prosecutors appointed by the Trump Administration intentionally presenting dubious if not outright false evidence to a court of jurisdiction in cases that impact a person’s fundamental rights not only under our constitution, but their natural rights as humans,” said Andrew Bakaj, chief counsel at Whistleblower Aid.
“Our client and Mr Reuveni are true patriots – prioritizing their commitment to democracy over advancing their careers.”
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Trump says 'good 50-50 chance' of EU trade deal – the 'biggest of them all'
Trump also said a trade deal with the European Union would be a big agreement and repeated his view that there was a “good 50-50 chance” for it.
“With the European Union, we have a good 50-50 chance,” he told reporters. “That would be the biggest deal of them all if we make it.”
He is due to meet with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday to discuss trade.
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'This is no time to be talking about pardons,' says Trump when pressed about Maxwell
Speaking to reporters at Prestwick airport, Trump denied reports that he was briefed about his name appearing in the Epstein files.
Asked about the justice department’s questioning of Ghislaine Maxwell, Trump said: “I don’t know anything about the conversation, I haven’t really been following it.”
“A lot of people have been asking me about pardons [for Maxwell]. Obviously, this is no time to be talking about pardons” he went on. “You’re making a very big thing over something that’s not a big thing.”
He then deflects further, suggesting the media should talk about Clinton and the ex-president of Harvard, but “don’t talk about Trump”.
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Trump greeted by Scottish secretary
The US president was greeted by Scottish secretary Ian Murray as he walked off Air Force One at Prestwick airport.
The pair could be seen shaking hands at the bottom of the aircraft stairs before Donald Trump walked across to a group of journalists to answer questions.
Air Force One has just landed in Scotland. I’ll bring you any key lines here if Donald Trump speaks to the media.
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Disgraced former US representative George Santos reports to New Jersey federal prison to serve seven-year fraud sentence
Disgraced former US representative George Santos reported to a federal prison in New Jersey earlier today to begin serving a seven-year sentence for the fraud charges that got him ousted from Congress.
The federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed to the Associated Press that the New York Republican was in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, in southern New Jersey.
Santos pleaded guilty last summer to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges for deceiving donors and stealing people’s identities in order to fund his congressional campaign.
Lawyers for Santos didn’t respond to phone and email messages seeking comment.
The ever-online Santos, 37, hosted a farewell party for himself on X last night.
“Well, darlings … The curtain falls, the spotlight dims, and the rhinestones are packed,” he wrote in a post afterwards. “From the halls of Congress to the chaos of cable news what a ride it’s been! Was it messy? Always. Glamorous? Occasionally. Honest? I tried … most days.”
In a Thursday interview with Al Arabiya, a Saudi state-owned news organization, Santos said he’ll serve his sentence in a minimum-security prison “camp” that he described as a “big upgrade” from the medium-security lockup he was initially assigned to.
In April, a federal judge declined to give Santos a lighter two-year sentence that he sought, saying she was unconvinced he was truly remorseful. In the weeks before his sentencing, Santos said he was “profoundly sorry” for his crimes, but he also complained frequently that he was a victim of a political witch hunt and prosecutorial overreach.
Santos lied extensively about his life story both before and after entering the US Congress, where he was the first openly LGBTQ+ Republican elected to the body. He was ultimately convicted of defrauding donors.
He has apparently been holding out hope that his unwavering support for Donald Trump might help him win a last-minute reprieve.
The White House said this week that it “will not comment on the existence or nonexistence” of any clemency request.
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A senior justice department official has told NBC News that attorney general Pam Bondi is still healing from a torn cornea, but it has not prevented her from doing day-to-day work and meeting with staff.
The update comes after Bondi abruptly canceled a scheduled appearance on Wednesday at CPAC’s anti-trafficking summit in Washington, citing recovery from a health issue.
As all the political firestorm over the Epstein saga continues to dominate the news cycle and consume Washington, there has been much online chatter about Bondi’s whereabouts.
She was last seen on Tuesday morning swearing in the new DEA administrator Terry Cole at the justice department.
NewsNation reports that following the conclusion of the DOJ interviews, David Oscar Markus, Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorney, said they were “very grateful” for the opportunity.
Markus said:
This was a thorough, comprehensive interview by the deputy attorney general. No person and no topic were off-limits. We are very grateful. The truth will come out.
Some more detail on that from the Tallahassee Democrat.
David Oscar Markus, Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorney declined to say whether Donald Trump was the focus of any of the Department of Justice’s questions during the interviewing sessions that have taken place behind closed doors at the federal courthouse in Tallahassee over the last two days.
“I’m just not going to talk about the substance,” Markus said.
Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche had asked Maxwell “every possible question”, Markus said. “He did a really good job and asked her a lot of things.”
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Maxwell's lawyer says Trump's DoJ has not offered clemency as second day of questioning ends
Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus has said the deputy attorney general has finished his questioning for the day, NBC News reports.
“We started this morning right around 9 o’clock, and went to now lunchtime, and we’re finished after all day, yesterday and today, Ghislaine answered every single question asked of her over the last day and a half, she answered those questions honestly, truthfully, to the best of her ability. She never invoked a privilege. She never refused to answer a question,” Markus told reporters as he left the federal courthouse in downtown Tallahassee, Florida.
“They asked about every single, every possible thing you could imagine. Everything.”
The justice department has not said whether Blanche intends to question Maxwell further. Markus said he did not know whether the discussions would have any impact on her case.
“We don’t know how it’s going to play out. We just know that this was the first opportunity she’s ever been given to answer questions about what happened and so the truth will come out about what happened with Mr Epstein, and she’s the person who’s answering those questions,” he said.
Prosecutors and the judge who oversaw Maxwell’s 2021 trial have said that she made multiple false statements under oath and failed to take responsibility for her actions. She was convicted for sex trafficking and other crimes, and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
“People have questioned her honesty, which I think is just wrong,” Markus said.
Asked if she’d got any offer of clemency from the government, the lawyer said no offer had been made.
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On the morning of 2 May, Florida teenager Kenny Laynez-Ambrosio was driving to his landscaping job in North Palm Beach with his mother and two male friends when they were pulled over by the Florida highway patrol.
In one swift moment, a traffic stop turned into a violent arrest.
A highway patrol officer asked everyone in the van to identify themselves, then called for backup. Officers with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) arrived on the scene.
Video footage of the incident captured by Laynez-Ambrosio, an 18-year-old US citizen, appears to show a group of officers in tactical gear working together to violently detain the three men*, two of whom are undocumented. They appear to use a stun gun on one man, put another in a chokehold and can be heard telling Laynez-Ambrosio: “You’ve got no rights here. You’re a migo, brother.” Afterward, agents can be heard bragging and making light of the arrests, calling the stun gun use “funny” and quipping: “You can smell that … $30,000 bonus.”
The footage has put fresh scrutiny on the harsh tactics used by US law enforcement as the Trump administration sets ambitious enforcement targets to detain thousands of immigrants every day.
“The federal government has imposed quotas for the arrest of immigrants,” said Jack Scarola, an attorney who is advocating on behalf of Laynez-Ambrosio and working with the non-profit Guatemalan-Maya Center, which provided the footage to the Guardian. “Any time law enforcement is compelled to work towards a quota, it poses a significant risk to other rights.”
Von der Leyen said she had a “good call” with Trump and said that at their meeting in Scotland on Sunday they will “discuss transatlantic trade relations, and how we can keep them strong”.
With EU diplomats saying earlier the deal was essentially ready and “in the hands of Trump now,” you would be forgiven for assuming it could be part of a broader political choreography leading to the announcement of the deal on the weekend – unless something goes wrong at the very last minute.
Before leaving for Scotland, Trump said it was “a 50:50 … maybe less than that”, but then we know he just loves similar games before big decisions.
EU's von der Leyen to meet Trump on Sunday as US president says 50/50 chance of trade deal
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said that she will meet Donald Trump in Scotland on Sunday to discuss trade relations between the EU and US.
Earlier today, Trump told reporters outside the White House before departing for his trip to Scotland that he felt that the EU only has a 50/50 chance of a tariff deal with the US.
I would say … we have a 50/50 chance, maybe less than that, but a 50/50 chance of making a deal with the EU.
It will be a deal that where they have to buy down their tariffs, because right now it’s 30%, they will have to buy it down. Maybe.
Or they could leave it the way they are. But they want to make a deal very badly.
The US president’s warning shows he is looking to extract more concessions from the bloc before 1 August, his self-imposed deadline for a deal, my colleague Lisa O’Carroll writes.
Boarding his plane on his way to Scotland, he breezily told reporters that he had rated chance of a recent Japan deal at worse than that, 25%, but they came with concessions and “made a deal”.
“They kept coming back, and we made a deal,” he said warning that it was up to the EU if they wanted to stick with the 30% tariff rate he has threatened to impose on 1 August.
His words will send shivers around the capitals of the EU which was hoping a second version of an agreement in principle, accepting a baseline tariff of 15% on most exports to the US, would be enough to get the US president’s approval.
Even this week sources close to German chancellor Friedrich Merz were expressing frustration that a deal had not already been done.
Half year results published today by Volkswagen (14:52) revealed the current 25% extra tariff Trump has imposed on cars is already hurting hard. The car giant said it had taken a €1.3bn hit because of the US tariffs.
There was speculation that US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and trade representative Jamieson Greer would join Trump in Scotland but they were not on the passenger list released to the media.
Trump already has a meeting scheduled with the British prime minister Keir Starmer scheduled during this trip, fuelling hopes that he will finish the trade agreement with the UK by slashing the 25% tariff he imposed on steel exports.
There is also speculation that European leaders such as Germany’s Merz may try and reach out to the US president over the weekend to try and break the impasse. Merz has had a direct line to Trump in recent weeks.
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A brother is torn from his sister. A father arrives for his immigration hearing with his family, only to find that they will be leaving without him. A woman, seemingly relieved after emerging from her hearing, finds that her life is about to change when she is apprehended by federal officials waiting just outside the door.
These are just some of the moments that happened on a single day in the Jacob K Javits federal building at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City, the largest federal immigration courthouse in Manhattan.
Courthouse detentions have been one of many flashpoints in the Trump administration’s expanding crackdown on immigration, as federal authorities seek to arrest 3,000 people a day. There have been reports of arrests at courthouses across the country, from Phoenix to Los Angeles to Chicago, turning routine hearings into scenes fraught with anxiety and fear. A recently filed class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration seeks to bar the practice of courthouse arrests.
For the full story, click here:
Speaking to CNN on Friday, Republican representative Pete Sessions of Texas said that Ghislaine Maxwell’s testimony with the justice department “holds very little water.”
Sessions said:
“Well, it’s always easy when you’re sitting in jail for 20 years to be unhappy. But she was convicted. She had her time in court. And she had that opportunity… It seems like to me that she acts like she wants to reset the record away from testimony that was given that convicted her in the first place.”
He went on to add:
“It holds very little water to me… I don’t know why they’re meeting with her except to gain her acceptance.”
The furore over Donald Trump’s ties with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continued on Friday as new revelations about the pair’s relationship threatened to mire the president’s golfing trip to Scotland.
The US president’s name appeared on a contributor list for a book celebrating Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, according to reporting from the New York Times, lending further weight to reports that Trump participated in the leather-bound collection of messages, drawings and accolades – despite denying that he contributed a signed and sexually suggestive note and drawing, as reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier this month.
Trump’s name is listed among Epstein’s friends and acquaintances who contributed birthday messages for the professionally bound book which reportedly had multiple volumes, the Times reported. The tome opens with a handwritten letter, also reviewed by the Times, from the disgraced financier’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for conspiring to sexually traffic children. Maxwell is due to have a second meeting with US deputy attorney general Todd Blanche in Florida, where she is serving her term in federal prison, on Friday.
As Republicans in their state move ahead with an effort to gerrymander congressional districts, 15 Texas Democrats are spending the day on Friday meeting with California governor Gavin Newsom and Illinois governor JB Pritzker.
The move comes as Newsom, Pritzker and other Democrats have threatened to redraw US House districts in their states to pick up Democratic seats. Donald Trump wants Texas Republicans to redraw the congressional map to add as many as 5 US House seats.
“Since Governor Abbott is acting like a child, we are going to find adults to go talk to,” representative Gene Wu, chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus said in a statement. Wu is leading the delegation to Illinois to meet with Pritzker.
“There are dozens of dead kids and people are still missing from the central Texas floods. But Donald Trump is focused on manipulating elections to help himself,” said representative Rafael Anchía, who is leading the delegation to meet with Newsom in California.
The Democratic departures from the state will not delay the Texas special session, since it was in recess on Friday. Democratic lawmakers are reportedly considering fleeing the state enmasse to deny Republicans the quorum they need to pass the maps.
While Democrats have control over drawing the lines in Illinois, Newsom faces significant hurdles to redrawing California’s districts. Redistricting in California is controlled by an independent redistricting commission, not the legislature. Newsom has suggested he could try and put a quick referendum to voters to give the legislature the power to redraw the maps or try and untested legal theory and have the legislature draw the maps anyway.
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Trump says he has not thought about pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell - but doesn't rule it out
Further to my earlier post about Trump referring to the ongoing investigation when asked about possible clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell, NBC News reports that the president also didn’t seem to rule out the possibility of pardoning her.
“I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I have not thought about,” Trump told reporters outside the White House this morning before leaving for his trip to Scotland.
His comments come as deputy attorney general Todd Blanche is meeting with Maxwell – who is serving a 20-year sentence in prison after being convicted of sex trafficking charges and other crimes after she recruited and groomed teenage girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein - and her attorney for a second consecutive day in Florida today.
Trump said he wasn’t sure how their conversation has gone, but when asked if Maxwell should be trusted to tell the truth, the president said Blanche is “a professional lawyer” and “he’s been through things like this before”.
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Donald Trump also dismissed Emmanuel Macron’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly in September.
“What he says doesn’t matter,” Trump told reporters of the French president. “He’s a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn’t carry weight.”
Yesterday Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, responded angrily to Macron’s announcement, calling it a “reckless decision” that was a “slap in the face” to victims of the 7 October Hamas attack.
In a diplomatic cable in June, the US – long Israel’s strongest backer – said it opposed any steps that would unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state.
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Donald Trump has said Hamas “did not want to make a deal” on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.
Speaking to reporters at the White House earlier, the president’s comments echoed those of his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who said yesterday the Trump team had pulled its negotiators for consultations following Hamas’s latest proposal.
Meanwhile, Israeli media report that Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Hamas for the deadlock, claiming in a statement: “Hamas is the obstacle to a hostage release deal. Together with our US allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home.”
The Associated Press reported earlier that ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume next week. Hamas official Bassem Naim said today that an Israeli delegation was due to leave for consultations early next week.
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Trump cites ongoing investigation when asked about Maxwell clemency
Speaking to reporters outside the White House earlier, Donald Trump didn’t answer when asked about possible clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell, saying it is an ongoing investigation.
His deputy attorney general Todd Blanche said last night that he plans to continue his conversation with Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accomplice and convicted sex trafficker in federal prison today, having spent several hours interviewing her yesterday.
Maxwell is seeking to have her conviction overturned.
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Donald Trump expected to be met with wave of protest as he heads to Scotland
Donald Trump is heading to Scotland this morning to visit his luxury golf resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire, and open a third in honor of his Scottish-born mother.
During what will mostly be a five-day holiday, Trump is also expected to meet with UK prime minister Keir Starmer, who will visit the president in Scotland to “refine” the trade framework reached with the US.
As my colleagues reported yesterday, Scottish protest organisers anticipate a wave of resistance to Trump’s visit from Ayrshire to Aberdeenshire this weekend as Scots take to the streets to express “widespread anger” at what they termed the US president’s increasingly extreme policies.
Deputy attorney general to hold second meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell today
Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche said last night that he plans to continue his conversation with Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accomplice and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell today.
The two spoke for several hours yesterday in federal prison, where Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence, as the administration seeks to probe her for additional information about Epstein’s case.
After the meeting, Blanche said that yesterday that he intended to spend more time interviewing her in federal prison on Friday.
“The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time,” he added.
“We want to thank the deputy attorney general for being so professional with all of us and for taking the time to meet with us,” Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus told reporters after Thursday’s interview.
According to Markus, Blanche “spent the full day and asked a lot of questions, and Ms Maxwell answered every single one”.
Maxwell is seeking to have her conviction overturned.
Blanche’s meetings with Maxwell come as the Trump administration tries to contain outrage over its decision to not release files from the federal investigation of the late sex offender, who socialized with Trump for more than a decade.
Analysis: Trump cranks up distraction machine but focus refuses to budge from Epstein
Donald Trump displayed the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Sitting in the Oval Office, he was asked by a reporter about the justice department’s hunt for evidence about the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “I don’t really follow that too much,” he said. “It’s sort of a witch-hunt.”
And then the pivot: “The witch-hunt you should be talking about is that they caught President Obama absolutely cold.” Trump was claiming a plot by Barack Obama to rig the 2016 election, accusing his predecessor of “treason”. For good measure he warned: “Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people.”
Why this and why now? It is not much of a mystery. Trump, who once claimed that he could shoot someone on New York’s Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters, has shot himself in the foot. His support base is in open revolt over his failure to release files relating to the convicted sex offender Epstein and a rumoured list of his elite clients.
The president’s solution is to reach for a very familiar playbook: distract, distract, distract.
It worked for him during his biggest crisis in the 2016 election campaign. On the same day that an Access Hollywood tape emerged in which Trump was recorded making lewd comments about women, his campaign seized on the WikiLeaks release of thousands of emails hacked from the account of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta. Trump survived and went on to win the election.
Since then, whenever he lands in trouble, his fans have been eager to help him turn the page. But the Epstein saga cuts into Trump’s core political identity as the slayer of the deep state. He is once again throwing out numerous shiny objects but they are losing their shine.
Gwenda Blair, a Trump biographer, observes:
It is the distraction machine that has worked in the past breaking down – trying the old favourites and not getting much traction. What’s happened is like massive whiplash, which happens when you’re in some sort of moving vehicle and it’s going forward, often at a pretty high speed, and you suddenly crash into something and your neck jerks back often with very dire consequences.
Democratic lawmakers seek answers from homeland security head about masked Ice agents
Democratic members of Congress are pressing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reveal information about immigration officers’ practice of wearing masks and concealing their identities, according to a letter viewed by the Guardian.
The letter marks another step in pushes by US lawmakers to require immigration officials to identify themselves during arrest operations, especially when agents are masked, a practice that has sparked outrage among civil rights groups.
Congressman Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the powerful committee on oversight and government reform, along with representative Summer Lee, wrote to DHS secretary Kristi Noem pressing for “memoranda, directives, guidance, communications” regarding immigration officers’ use of masks and unmarked cars for immigration operations.
For every person within the United States, the Fourth Amendment guarantees protection from unreasonable searches and seizures and the Fifth Amendment guarantees a right to due process under the law.
In direct violation of these principles, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has allowed its agents – primarily from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) – to conceal their identities and use unmarked vehicles while conducting immigration enforcement activities.
In recent months, as the Trump administration has escalated immigration enforcement operations, arrests, detention and deportations, the DHS and Ice have been relentlessly criticized for their agents’ use of masks and unmarked cars.
The two Democrats mention a number of examples, from the past few months under the Trump administration, in which immigration officials have hidden their identities while conducting immigration arrests and operations. They also mention a recent example, originally reported by the Intercept, in which two immigration judges in New York concealed the identities of government attorneys pushing to deport people.
This causes a dangerous erosion of public trust, due process, and transparency in law enforcement. These tactics contradict longstanding democratic principles such as the public’s right to accountability from those who enforce the law and pave the way for increased crime, making our communities less safe.
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Fed says it is 'grateful' for Trump's encouragement to complete renovation
The Federal Reserve has said that it was “grateful” for Donald Trump’s encouragement to complete its renovation project and that it “looked forward” to seeing the project through to completion.
“We remain committed to continuing to be careful stewards of these resources as we see the project through to completion,” it said in a statement, a day after the president made a rare visit to the US central bank in Washington. “The Federal Reserve was honored to welcome the President yesterday for a visit to our historic headquarters.”
The visit was notably tense as Trump tried and failed to ambush Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, during an on-camera exchange over the cost of the renovation. In the clip below you can watch Powell publicly fact-check the president over the project’s price tag.
The White House has used the rising cost of the project, which the Fed now estimates at $2.5bn, as a cudgel in Trump’s ongoing criticism of Powell. Trump said the two men also spoke privately about interest rates, which the president says should be lowered immediately to boost the economy.
The Fed, which has asserted many times that it takes independent economic decisions, is widely expected to leave its benchmark interest rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range at the conclusion of a two-day policy meeting next week.
Following his tour, Trump called the renovation “luxurious” but said he was not inclined to take the unprecedented step of firing Powell. “Because to do that is a big move and I just don’t think it’s necessary,” Trump said. “And I believe that he’s going do the right thing. I believe that the chairman is going to do the right thing.”
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Columbia University’s deal with the Trump administration after months of negotiations has drawn both condemnation and praise from faculty, students and alumni – a sign that the end of negotiations will hardly restore harmony on a campus profoundly divided since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza.
David Pozen, a professor at Columbia Law School, slammed the deal as giving “legal form to an extortion scheme”, he wrote.
“The means being used to push through these reforms are as unprincipled as they are unprecedented. Higher education policy in the United States is now being developed through ad hoc deals, a mode of regulation that is not only inimical to the ideal of the university as a site of critical thinking but also corrosive to the democratic order and to law itself,” Pozen continued.
Not all Columbia affiliates were as critical. The Stand Columbia Society, a group of alumni, students and faculty that have for months championed some of the same reforms demanded by the Trump administration, welcomed the announcement.
“The Stand Columbia Society believes this agreement represents an excellent outcome that restores research funding, facilitates real structural reforms, and preserves core principles of academic freedom and institutional autonomy,” they wrote. “We have been steadfast and consistent on what is the right thing to do, and today, both Columbia’s leaders and the federal government deserve credit for achieving this result.”
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The Trump administration’s goal of fining other universities comes after a major deal was struck this week with Columbia University. The deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, is seen as a precedent for what the White House expects in future deals.
From our Wednesday night report:
Under the agreement, Columbia will pay a $200m settlement over three years to the federal government, the university said. It will also pay $21m to settle investigations brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,” the acting university president, Claire Shipman, said.
The administration pulled the funding because of what it described as the university’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Gaza war that began in October 2023.
You can read the full report here:
Trump administration reportedly seeks fines from universities including Harvard
Good morning and welcome to the US politics blog.
We’re starting today with a new report from the Wall Street Journal saying that the Trump administration is seeking fines from other universities after Columbia agreed to pay more than $220m this week.
The White House aims to fine several universities it accuses of failing to stop antisemitism on campus, including from Harvard University, in exchange for access to federal funding, according to the Journal’s reporting.
The Trump administration is in talks with several universities, including Cornell, Duke, Northwestern and Brown – but Harvard is seen as a key target.
Stick with us today as we bring you all the latest lines from Washington and beyond.
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