Trump's labour secretary says 'no regrets' over handing of Jeffrey Epstein case as new alleged child victim comes forward
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Donald Trump has tried to downplay his relationship with disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein after previously labelling the former Mar-a-Lago guest “a terrific guy”, insisting: ”I don’t think I have spoken with him for 15 years. I was not a fan.”
The financier was arrested and charged in a New York court on Monday with sex trafficking, accused of luring dozens of underage girls to his luxury homes and paying them for sex, a development inspiring Democratic calls for labour secretary Alexander Acosta to resign over his involvement in the Epstein case while working as an attorney in Florida in 2008.
The news comes as the president prepares to host a social media summit at the White House on Thursday, with alt-right meme-makers and a political cartoonist whose work has been branded “blatantly antisemitic” by the Anti-Defamation League in attendance.
Mr Acosta meanwhile addressed his involvement in the Florida case during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, saying that when he was a federal prosecutor in Florida, his office acted appropriately when it came to the secret plea deal offered to Epstein.
Mr Acosta was asked if he owed an apology to women who said Epstein molested them when they were underage.
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He said the prosecution didn’t want to share with the victims that there were efforts to gain restitution for them from Epstein.
He also said there was concern that if negotiations fell through, Epstein’s counsel could use the prospect of restitution to question their credibility.
Mr Acosta said, “In our heart we were trying to do the right thing for these victims.”
Sir Kim Darroch, the UK ambassador to the US, has resigned after his criticism of the "inept" Trump administration was leaked to The Mail on Sunday, provoking an angry response from the president, who called him "wacky" and "a pompous fool" despite admitting he did not know him personally.
The diplomat announced his departure by saying his job had become “impossible” after his savaging by the US president.
A federal court ruled on Tuesday that it was unconstitutional for President Trump to block American citizens on Twitter while in the White House, news met with glee by his opponents around the world.
It could have repercussions for other political icons with a big social media presence, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has already been made the subject of a lawsuit after blocking conservative trolls from interacting with her personal account.
The president appears to have fallen out with Fox News in recent days - attacking the right-wing network repeatedly on Twitter over the weekend - but it carries on pushing his interests.
Tucker Carlson launched into a vicious critique of outspoken Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar last night, calling her "living proof that the way we practice immigration has become dangerous to this country".
...While Laura Ingraham entertained smears against Christine Blasey Ford, the California academic who came forward with sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh ahead of his Supreme Court nomination hearing last year.
"I certainly was not struck by any sense that I’m sitting before a genius."
Here's Chris Riotta on James Nolan, the former admissions officer at Pennsylvania's Wharton School, who met with the young Trump to consider his application for Ivy League glory.
For Indy Voices, here's Molly Jong-Fast questioning Tom Steyer's newly announced run for the presidency and whether another rich old white dude is really the answer.
The Pentagon has said it spent $1.2m (£962,500) on the president's Fourth of July "Salute to America", as Trump says he will do it all over again next year.
“The Department of Defence supported the ‘Salute to America’ with demonstrations by aircraft, static displays of equipment and ceremonial unit participation,” it said in a statement.
“Funding for the demonstrations came from the military services’ training budgets that facilitate flying hours, which are imperative to military readiness. Additional funding was used for the transportation of static displays and equipment.”
The event was dogged by controversy in the run up over the military showboating involved and the cost of tanks being carried to Washington by rail, risking damaging the city's historic monuments and open spaces.
When it finally went ahead, Trump address the crowd in a rainstorm, making a memorable gaffe about George Washington's revolutionary army capturing the airports in 1775, as a fight broke out between flag-burning protesters and members of the Proud Boys in front of the White House. It was otherwise peacefully observed.
Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot and the first female captain to fly the F/A-18 on a combat mission, earned herself another accolade on Tuesday when it was announced she broke fundraising records during the first day of her senate campaign race against Mitch McConnell.
Mark Nickolas, campaign manager to Ms McGrath, said the 24-hour fundraising haul amounted to $2.5m (£2m) — the most ever raised on the first day of a senatorial campaign.
The average donation amounted to $36.15 (£28.89) and more than $1m (£799,090) was contributed within five hours of the campaign launch, NBC News reported.
The record-breaking figures arrived after Ms McGrath’s campaign announcement drew national headlines throughout the week, and even a contentious pair of tweets from Donald Trump, who called out the Democratic candidate for past comments she made in an interview and defended Mr McConnell, an ally of the president in the US Senate.
Ben Garrison, who was invited to the White House for a social media summit despite criticism from the Anti-Defamation League and other groups for his “Jewish conspiracy” cartoon and other drawings, has reportedly been uninvited to the Thursday event.
Mr Garrison’s work was described as “blatantly anti-Semitic” and his invitation to the summit drew backlash from activists and media personalities, including CNN’s Jake Tapper, who brought attention to the development on his Saturday night broadcast.
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