Month: July 2025

President Donald Trump on Wednesday sharply criticized Republicans he dubbed his ‘past supporters’ who continue to demand the release of the so-called Jeffery Epstein files, calling them “weaklings” whose support he does not want. In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump admonished those who continue to press for more information about documents related to Epstein, dismissing the uproar over the Epstein files as a “scam” perpetuated by Democrats and suggested he no longer welcomed his backers who have called for more transparency around the documents.

Trump wrote in a scathing post on Truth Social: “Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls‑‑‑,’ hook, line, and sinker. They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years. I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!”

The Justice Department published a memo last month which stated there was no evidence of an “incriminating ‘client list,’” prompting criticism directed at Attorney General Pam Bondi over her handling of the case. The Justice Department and FBI issued in a joint memo that Epstein did not have a client list and confirmed he died by suicide in his New York City jail cell in 2019. Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, has been convicted of sex trafficking.

However several Republican members of Congress and other prominent Trump supporters are asking for transparency over the files. House Speaker Mike Johnson said during an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson: “I’m for transparency. It’s a very delicate subject but we should put everything out there and let the people decide,” and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said last week in a post on X that the DOJ should “release the Epstein client list.”

Trump has expressed frustration over the Epstein matter, stating on Tuesday: “I don’t understand it, why they would be so interested. He’s been dead for a long time. He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don’t understand what the interest and what the fascination is. I really don’t. And the credible information has been given.”

Epstein was accused in several cases of sex trafficking young girls, and ran in high-powered circles with figures that included Trump, former President Clinton, Britain’s Prince Andrew and a number of other celebrities and ultra-wealthy individuals.

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Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired two of his top aides at the Department of Health and Human Services, per CNN News. Neither Flick nor Anderson immediately responded to requests for comment.

Heather Flick Melanson, Kennedy’s chief of staff, and Hannah Anderson, deputy chief of staff of policy, were dismissed after only a few months on the job. No reason was given for the firings, though a statement provided by an HHS spokesperson said that Kennedy “has every right to make personnel decisions. Secretary Kennedy has made a leadership change within the Immediate Office of the Secretary. Effective immediately, Matt Buckham will serve as Acting Chief of Staff.  He [Buckham] brings valuable experience in personnel strategy and organizational management to this new role. Secretary Kennedy thanks the outgoing leadership for their service and looks forward to working closely with Mr. Buckham as the Department continues advancing its mission to Make America Healthy Again.”

Flick Melanson had served at HHS during President Donald Trump’s first term, first as its acting general counsel and then as acting secretary for administration and a senior adviser to then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar. Anderson joined HHS after stints on Capitol Hill as a GOP staffer, including as health policy adviser to Republicans on the Senate’s main health committee. More recently, she headed up health care issues at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute think tank.  Both Anderson and Flick Melanson had led Kennedy’s immediate office alongside two other aides, senior counselor Stefanie Spear and executive secretary Cortney McCormick. Spear is a longtime aide to Kennedy.

The new firings come after others have left the department in recent weeks, including Scott Rowell, who had served as the deputy chief of staff for operations. Rowell previously worked as a top-ranking HHS official during the first Trump administration.

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Two people were killed after flash floods struck areas of New Jersey on Monday, causing submerged cars, and flooding roadways. A state of emergency was declared in New Jersey after slow-moving thunderstorms unloaded a significant amount of rain, resulting in dangerous flash flooding across the Northeast through Monday night.

According to a Facebook post from the city of Plainfield, NJ At least two people died in Plainfield, N.J., located about 20 miles southwest of New York City, after floodwaters swept away a vehicle into Cedar Brook. Emergency personnel responded to the incident quickly, but both people in the vehicle were pronounced dead on the scene, with the incident coming days after two others were killed in severe storms in Plainfield on July 3.

Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp said in a statement: “All of Plainfield grieves this latest loss. To lose four residents in such a short span of time is unimaginable. We mourn with the families, and we remain committed to doing all we can to strengthen our emergency response systems and protect our residents from future harm.”

Monday’s flash flooding spanned from northern New Jersey to New York City to Westchester County, New York and areas of Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia. Some roads were impassable Tuesday morning, littered with debris left behind by the floodwaters.

On Monday evening, a thunderstorm in New York City caused 2.07 inches of rain to fall in just one hour. The rain gauge in Central Park filled to 2.64 inches of rain, which broke the previous daily record rainfall of 1.47 inches, set on July 14, 1908.  Water gushed into subway stations, stranding some riders aboard a stalled train. with over 1,000 flights were canceled and 1,100 more delayed at airports across the NYC area.

In Lancaster County, PA, a Declaration of Disaster was issued after over 7 inches of rain inundated the town of Mount Joy in less than five hours, which overwhelmed stormwater infrastructure. The Mount Joy Fire Department said on Facebook that “the west end of town was hardest hit, with reports of over 5 feet of water in some homes. Significant property damage was reported, including one basement wall collapse.”

Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected to continue across the mid-Atlantic through the weekend, keeping the risk of flooding high throughout the region.

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President Donald Trump and Pennsylvania Senator David McCormick showcased tens of billions of dollars in planned investments across the energy and tech sectors at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro also made an appearance and delivered remarks.

During the high-profile summit at Carnegie Mellon University, Trump addressed a room full of top business leaders gathered to discuss the future of American energy and innovation: “This is a major victory not only for Pennsylvania but for the entire nation.” The summit, hosted at one of the country’s top engineering universities, served as a platform for state officials and corporate executives to promote the state’s ambitions to become a national leader in artificial intelligence, robotics, and energy development.

Senator McCormick, now in his first term and the event’s primary organizer, said the summit was designed to unite energy firms, AI pioneers, global capital, and labor groups around President Trump’s priorities. According to a list released by Sen. McCormick’s office, the investment announcements included both new and previously planned projects, ranging from power plant upgrades to major infrastructure expansions for data centers and energy transmission systems. McCormick credited his wife, Dina Powell McCormick, with proposing the idea for the summit. A former deputy national security adviser during Trump’s first term and ex-Goldman Sachs executive, Powell McCormick currently works at BDT & MSD Partners, a global merchant banking firm.

Trump, who has long pushed for the U.S. to lead globally in energy production, especially fossil fuels, emphasized Pennsylvania’s critical role in that mission. With its vast coal and natural gas reserves, the state has been central to the former president’s vision of “energy dominance,” a key part of his policy platform in both the 2016 and 2024 elections.

Cabinet members from the Trump administration underscored the strategic need to ramp up domestic energy production—not only to boost the economy but also to gain a competitive edge in the global race for artificial intelligence supremacy, particularly against China. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during a panel session: “The AI era is already here. Under President Trump’s leadership, we will stay ahead. That means supporting clean coal, natural gas, nuclear—every resource we have. We’d be foolish not to.” Several key Trump administration officials participated, including David Sacks, the White House’s top advisor on cryptocurrency policy; Energy Secretary Chris Wright; with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also present.

Executives from some of the world’s largest corporations were in attendance, including leaders from Blackstone, Bridgewater, SoftBank, Amazon Web Services, BlackRock, and ExxonMobil. They were joined by Pittsburgh-based companies like Gecko Robotics, which uses AI-driven technology to improve energy performance.

Among the largest projects, Google committed $25 billion over the next two years to boost AI capabilities and data center operations within the PJM power grid, which serves the mid-Atlantic. Brookfield, a global investment firm, revealed it has inked deals to deliver more than $3 billion worth of hydroelectric power to Google’s facilities from two dams on Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River. Blackstone also pledged $25 billion to develop data centers and strengthen energy infrastructure in the northeastern part of the state.

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President Donald Trump met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House on Monday, where the two announced a deal that European countries will buy U.S. weapons to send to Ukraine. Trump also threatened to impose 100% tariffs on countries that do business with Russia if there is no peace deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days,

Regarding the United States’ deal to sell weapons to NATO nations, Rutte said those countries will in turn send weapons to Ukraine to replenish their depleted stockpiles. The Pentagon paused shipments of some weapons shipments to Ukraine earlier this month, but Mr. Trump reversed course last week, saying Ukraine must be able to defend itself.

Trump said at the Oval Office on Monday: “We’ve made a deal today where we’re going to be sending them weapons and they’re going to be paying for them. We, the United States, will not be having any payment made. We’re not buying it, but we will manufacture it, and they’re going to be paying for it.”

Rutte added “This is really big … And the decision is that you want Ukraine [to have] what it needs to have to maintain to be able to defend itself against Russia, but you want Europeans to pay for it, which is totally logical.”

As his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin grows following multiple calls with the Russian leader since taking office in January, Trump shared: “We’re going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don’t have a deal within 50 days. It’s very simple.  And they’ll be at 100%. We are very unhappy, I am, with Russia .. I always hang up, say, ‘Well, that was a nice phone call.’ And then missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city and I say, ‘That’s strange.’ And after that happens three or four times, you say, the talk doesn’t mean anything .. He’s — I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy. Ultimately, talk doesn’t talk, it’s got to be action, it’s got to be results.”

Zelenskyy posted on X Monday afternoon that he spoke with Mr. Trump, writing: “I spoke with @POTUS. It was a very good conversation. Thank you for the willingness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings and establish a lasting and just peace. President Trump shared details about his meeting with the
@SecGenNATO. It’s important that we have such a good relationship, and that the Alliance countries are working to increase defense spending. We discussed the necessary means and solutions with the President to provide better protection for people from Russian attacks and to strengthen our positions. We are ready to work as productively as possible to achieve peace. We agreed to catch up more often by phone and coordinate our steps in the future as well. Thank you, Mr. President! Thank you, America!”

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