The day so far
Deputy US attorney general Todd Blanche announced the latest – and final – release of the justice department’s files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including 3m pages, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos.
Blanche insisted that no men, including Donald Trump, were protected in the release of the files, and that the White House “had no oversight” over the DoJ’s review. Blanche explained what material had not been included, and that every woman’s face had been redacted. Epstein’s victims had been thorough “unspeakable pain”, Blanche said, adding that he shared frustration “with the entire process”. He also defended the DoJ’s missing its congressionally set deadline (which expired in December), comparing the amount of material to “two Eiffel towers of pages” and citing a need to protect victims.
We’re launching a separate live blog on the Epstein files now, which you can continue to follow here.
Also today:
Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor, was arrested late last night on charges that he violated federal law during a protest at a church in Minnesota earlier this month. His arrest sparked outrage from former colleagues, first amendment advocates and members of Congress. “This is outrageous and cannot stand. The First Amendment is under attack in America!” Lemon’s former CNN colleague Jim Acosta wrote in a post on X. Read our report here.
Iran said it’s ready to negotiate with the US, but only if talks are not under duress and do not extend to Iran’s missile programme, as diplomats scramble to head off the threat of a regional conflict. More here.
The US Senate is scrambling to find agreement on a government funding package as a partial shutdown looms at midnight, after the killings of two US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis upended spending talks and has given Democrats rare leverage over Trump’s mass deportation campaign. The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, has outlined a series of reforms to federal agents he wanted codified in the DHS’s funding measure, including the requirement that officers wear body cameras, abide by a code of conduct and cease wearing masks and conducting “roving patrols” aimed at people they suspect of being illegally in the US. More on that here.
And Trump announced Kevin Warsh as his nomination for the next chair of the Federal Reserve, selecting a candidate who has been an outspoken critic of the US central bank and ending months of speculation about who the president would pick to replace Jerome Powell. Trump has waged an extraordinary campaign to influence policymaking at the Fed by repeatedly calling for interest rate cuts. Powell’s second term as chair is due to end in May. More here.
Updated
Also in the files is Ghislaine Maxwell’s US naturalization certificate, which lists her home address at Little St James Island, one of Epstein’s two private islands in the US Virgin Islands.
Update: Trump did not say anything about the files. If he says anything as the day progresses, we’ll have it here.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has been speaking from the Oval Office after signing an executive order aimed at launching an IndyCar race in Washington DC this summer.
He’s taking questions from reporters now, if he says anything about the Epstein files I’ll let you know here.
Among the files released by the US justice department today is a copy of Ghislaine Maxwell’s police booking intake form from July 2020.
It includes a picture of Maxwell in what looks like a prison orange jumpsuit, along with personal details including her full name and a redacted address in Bradford, New Hampshire.
Updated
White House 'had no oversight' over review of files released today, Blanche says
Blanche also told reporters earlier that the White House “had nothing to do” with the DoJ’s review of the files it released today.
Asked if he had updated the White House about today’s announcement, Blanche replied:
They had nothing to do with this review. They had no oversight over this review. They did not tell this department how to do our review, what to look for, what to redact, what to not redact.
Blanche added that the White House knew he was holding today’s news conference and that the DoJ was releasing the files, but “there’s no oversight by the White House into the process that we’ve undertaken over the past 60 days”.
Updated
Here’s a quick rundown of what Blanche said is not in the release:
files that contain personally identifiable information of victims or victims’ personal and medical files, and any similar files that, if disclosed, would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy
any depiction of child sexual abuse material or child abuse images
anything that would jeopardize an active federal investigation
anything that depicts or contains images of death, physical abuse or injury
files covered by various privileges, including deliberative process privilege, work product privilege, and attorney client privilege
“Although the act allows for withholding for items necessary to keep secret in the interest of national security or foreign policy, no files are being withheld or redacted on that basis,” Blanche added.
Updated
The justice department’s Epstein Library now includes an age verification, asking users if they’re over 18.
Blanche earlier told reporters that some of the content being released includes pornography, with redactions.
Blanche defends DoJ missing congressionally set deadline on release of files
Blanche says he won’t be commenting on criticism the DoJ has faced on its handling of the release of the files and defends its missing the congressionally set deadline.
People can criticise all they want, my point was to make plain that when it comes to what we’ve been doing the past two months and why, we weren’t able to complete the review of over six million pages.
You’re talking about two Eiffel Towers of pages in 30 days in a way that made sure we complied with the act.
He says the department was “obviously” not defying the 30-day deadline set by Congress (a reminder, that expired in December), but was complying with the need to protect victims.
Updated
Blanche tells reporters:
There’s this built in assumption that somehow there’s this hidden tranche of information of men that we know about that we’re covering up or that we’re choosing not to prosecute. That is not the case.
I don’t know whether there are men out there that abused these women. If we learn about information and evidence that that allows us to prosecute them, you better believe we will. But I don’t think that the public or you all are going to uncover men within the Epstein files that abuse women.
Updated
DoJ 'did not protect' Trump when reviewing Epstein files, Blanche insists
Blanche insists that no men, including Trump, were protected in the release of the Epstein files.
I can assure that we complied with the statute, we complied with the act. We did not protect President Trump. We didn’t protect or not protect anybody, I think there’s a hunger or a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents. There’s nothing I can do about that.
Trump’s direction to the DoJ was to be “transparent” and “that’s exactly what we did”, Blanche says.
Updated
Epstein's victims have gone through 'unspeakable pain', says Blanche
Asked about survivors that have “expressed frustration” at the DoJ’s process for releasing the files, Blanche responds: “Same here.”
If there’s frustration with quote, the entire process, same here.
“The victims of Epstein have gone through unspeakable pain,” he adds. He says that he hopes that the release of the files has been able to “bring closure” to the victims.
Updated
The deputy attorney general also said that no further files were due to be released.
Todd Blanche told reporters: “Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act.”
Blanche declined to comment on the arrest of former CNN anchor Don Lemon last night.
Do I have a ‘reaction’ to it? I don’t know what that means. Are you looking for me to do, jump up and down? No I don’t have a reaction to it, I don’t know that the charges are unsealed yet. So, no. I’m not going to comment on that.
Updated
Todd Blanche addressed mistakes made during the first release of Epstein files in December. People examining the files at the time discovered that some of the file redaction can be undone with Photoshop techniques, or by simply highlighting text to paste into a word processing file.
On Friday, Blanche said: “Mistakes are inevitable. We, of course, want to immediately correct any redaction errors that our team may have made. And so the department has established an email and inbox for victims to reach us directly to correct redactions and any concerns when appropriate.”
The justice department faced criticism for not releasing all the Epstein files as required by law.
After missing a 19 December deadline set by Congress to release all of the files, the justice department said it tasked hundreds of lawyers with reviewing the records to determine what needs to be redacted, or blacked out, to protect the identities of victims of sexual abuse.
The number of documents subject to review has ballooned to 5.2 million, including duplicates, the department said.
On Friday, Blanche rejected any accusations that the DoJ was not taking child exploitation or trafficking seriously enough.
He said:
Just last year, the FBI located located over 2,700 victims of child exploitation. The Department of Justice found and terminated 3.8 million dark web pedophile accounts.
In August, we charged 11 defendants for extensive sex trafficking in Los Angeles of illegal immigrants and underage women. Last month, we charged five men who were engaged in a sadistic extortion extortion network of deranged young men abusing women.
Over the past, several months last summer and into the fall, we executed Operation Restore Justice, rescuing 205 child victims and arresting 293 offenders. I point this out because I take umbrage at the suggestion, which is totally false, that the attorney general or this department does not take child exploitation or sex trafficking seriously, or that we somehow do not want to protect victims. We do.
Updated
Every woman's image has been redacted in latest release, Blanche says
During his press conference on Friday morning, Todd Blanche addressed redactions made by the justice department.
We redacted every woman depicted in any image or video, with the exception of Miss [Ghislaine] Maxwell. We did not redact images of any man unless it was impossible to redact the woman without also redacting the man.
To this end, though, and to ensure transparency, if any member of Congress wishes to review any portions of the responsive production in any unredacted form, they are welcome to make arrangements with the department to do so.
Updated
The files, posted to the DoJ website, include some of the several million pages of records that officials said were withheld from an initial release of documents in December.
They were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was enacted after months of public and political pressure on the Trump administration.
DoJ releasing 3m more Epstein files
The justice department is releasing more than 3m pages from its Jeffrey Epstein files, deputy attorney general Todd Blanche announced this morning.
Blanche said they include 2,000 videos and 180,000 images related to Epstein.
Blanche added that the images included lots of commercial pornography and images seized from Epstein’s devices.
We’ll bring you more on this as we get it.
DoJ releases more Epstein files today
Blanche announces that the DoJ is releasing more documents tied to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Updated
Deputy AG holds press conference on Epstein files
Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche has said he will hold a news conference at 11am ET at the Department of Justice.
NBC News hears from two senior administration officials this will be related to the Epstein files. We’ll bring you all the latest once that gets under way.
Updated
Noem concedes she may have got her response to Pretti shooting wrong
Kristi Noem has conceded that she may have got some information wrong in her initial response to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents.
“We were being relayed information from on the ground from CBP agents and officers that were there,” Noem said in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity last night, describing a “very chaotic” situation when the host asked if her responses had been “premature”. “We were using the best information we had at the time,” she said.
The DHS secretary has been facing calls to resign amid widespread and mounting outrage, even among some Republicans, over her response to the killing of Pretti during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis last weekend.
Shortly after his killing, Noem claimed without any evidence that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” that had been “brandishing a gun” at officers – a narrative directly contradicted by video footage of the incident.
Noem dodged questions from Hannity about why she believed the term “domestic terrorist” to describe Pretti and Renee Good, also killed by a federal officer earlier this month, was appropriate.
“Well, Sean, we’re continuing to gather information, and the FBI leading this investigation is important to make sure that we talk about both these situations appropriately,” she replied.
Asked about Democrats (and notably not the aforementioned Republicans) calling for her to go, Noem dismissed the “radicals” calling for her firing.
These radicals are attacking me, but I’m just doing my job. I’m following the law, enforcing the laws like President Trump promised he would do, to keep people safe in this country.
The arrest of former CNN anchor Don Lemon has sparked outrage from former colleagues, first amendment advocates and members of Congress.
“This is outrageous and cannot stand. The First Amendment is under attack in America!” Lemon’s former CNN colleague Jim Acosta wrote in a post on X.
Seth Stern, director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, called Lemon’s arrest “a naked attack on freedom of the press”.
“Lemon’s arrest under a bogus legal theory is a clear warning shot aimed at other journalists,” he said in a statement to the Guardian. “The unmistakable message is that journalists must tread cautiously because the government is looking for any way to target them.”
After weeks of federal insurgency, Minnesota fought back, and it seems Donald Trump has lost faith in the people running his ICE operation in the state. So where does this leave Trump’s ‘ICE patriots’? How do Republicans unite over immigration policies that kill Americans? And where does it leave the far-right agitators in Trump’s cabinet?
In the latest edition of our Politics Weekly America podcast, Jonathan Freedland speaks to George Conway, a founding member of the Lincoln Project, who is running for Congress, about what happens next.
Have a listen here:
Updated
Independent journalist among those arrested for Minnesota church protest
Among those arrested by federal agents for a protest earlier this month at a Minnesota church is Georgia Fort, an independent journalist who was covering the demonstration.
“Agents are at my door right now. They’re saying that they were able to go before a grand jury sometime, I guess, in the last 24 hours, and that they have a warrant for my arrest,” Fort said in a video posted to Facebook, apparently shortly before she was taken into custody.
She continued:
This is all stemming from the fact that I filmed a protest. As a member of the media, we are supposed to have our constitutional right of the freedom to film, to be a member of the press. I don’t feel like I have my first amendment right as a member of the press, because now federal agents are at my door, arresting me for filming the church protest a few weeks ago.
Fort concluded with: “I’m going to have to hop off here and surrender to agents. As a member of the press, I filmed the church protest a few weeks ago, and now I’m being arrested for that.”
Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries blasts arrest of Don Lemon
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrat House minority leader, has issued a statement on X defending Don Lemon following his arrest by federal agents earlier today:
Don Lemon is an accomplished journalist whose urgent work is protected by the First Amendment.
There is zero basis to arrest him and he should be freed immediately.
The Trump Justice Department is illegitimate and these extremists will all be held accountable for their crimes against the Constitution.
The arrest could become a topic of investigation for House Democrats, if they win back control of the chamber in the November midterm elections, which would give them the power to issue subpoenas.
Attorney general Bondi announces arrest of Don Lemon, three others over church protest
The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, has confirmed the arrests of former CNN anchor Don Lemon along with three other people for the protest earlier this month at a Saint Paul, Minnesota, church.
Here’s what Bondi wrote on X:
At my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St Paul, Minnesota.
More details soon …
Updated
Here’s everything we know about the arrest of former CNN anchor Don Lemon, from the Guardian’s Sam Levine, Jeremy Barr and Anna Betts:
Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor, was arrested late Thursday on charges that he violated federal law during a protest at a church in Minnesota earlier this month, according to his lawyer.
Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Lemon, said that Lemon was “taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards”.
“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Lowell said. “The first amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”
“Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump justice department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case,” Lowell added. “This unprecedented attack on the first amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.”
The New York Times and CBS News also both reported the arrest on Friday morning. It is understood that Lemon remains in custody as of Friday. The Guardian has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.
“This is outrageous and cannot stand. The First Amendment is under attack in America!” Lemon’s former CNN colleague Jim Acosta wrote in a post on X.
Don Lemon’s arrest comes as the justice department pursues charges against protesters who disrupted a service at the Cities church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, earlier this month.
The protesters believed that the church’s pastor was a field director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose agents have swarmed the Twin Cities in recent weeks in an aggressive immigration enforcement campaign that has resulted in the deaths of two US citizens.
However, the government’s prosecutions have faced roadblocks in the form of federal judges who have refused to approve charges against those allegedly involved in disrupting the service – including Lemon, at least prior to today.
Here’s more about that:
Updated
Federal agents arrest former CNN anchor Don Lemon
Don Lemon, a former CNN anchor, was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles, his lawyer said on Friday, days after a magistrate judge refused to approve charges against him for documenting a protest at a church in Minnesota.
“Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards. Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” his attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement.
He continued:
Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case. This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.
Here’s more about the justice department’s previous effort against him:
Updated
Writing on his Truth Social platform about the appointment of Kevin Warsh as chair of Federal Reserve, Donald Trump said:
I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best. On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down. Congratulations Kevin!
Warsh won out over Trump loyalist Kevin Hassett. The president posted on Truth Social that:
Their [sic] was great speculation that highly respected Kevin Hassett was going to be named Chairman of the Fed, and a great Chairman he would have been but, quite honestly, he is doing such an outstanding job working with me and my team at the White House, that I just didn’t want to let him go. Kevin is indescribably good so, as the expression goes, ‘if you can’t do better, don’t try to fix it!’ Thank you Kevin for doing such a great job!
Updated
Trump to Iran: end nuclear ambitions and stop killing protesters or face US military
Donald Trump has warned Iran it must end its nuclear programme and stop killing protesters if the large US armada of warships deployed in the Middle East are not to be used.
Trump was speaking at the premiere of the documentary Melania as the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, landed in Turkey to discuss whether there was a basis for a deal with the US.
The US president said protesters were being killed in their thousands, but that he had stopped Iran from carrying out executions.
Trump’s own administration has come under renewed scrutiny after US immigration officers killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Keith Porter in Los Angeles, and Silverio Villegas González in Illinois. ICE observers have reportedly faced violence, teargas and arrests.
Iran is prepared for the resumption of talks with the United States, but they should be fair and not include Iran’s defence capabilities, Iran’s chief diplomat said on Friday.
“If negotiations are fair and equitable, Iran is ready to participate in such talks,” foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said in a press conference with his Turkish counterpart in Istanbul.
Araqchi said no talks between Tehran and Washington were currently arranged.
Trump nominates Kevin Warsh as US Federal Reserve chair
Donald Trump has nominated the former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh as its next chair amid an extraordinary attempt by the president to tighten his grip on the US central bank and flout its longstanding independence.
Trump told reporters on Thursday that he planned to announce his choice for chair of the Federal Reserve on Friday morning, hinting that “a lot of people think that this is somebody that could have been there a few years ago”. He then announced early Friday, as teased, and it was indeed Warsh.
If confirmed by the Senate, Warsh will replace Jerome Powell, who Trump first appointed in 2018, but later infuriated the US president by defying his repeated calls for lower interest rates.
In December, Trump said of Warsh: “He thinks you have to lower interest rates.”
Read more:
Opening Summary
Activists have called for a nationwide shutdown on Friday, advocating “no work, no school, no shopping” in a protest against the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdowns.
Organisers say Friday’s “blackout” – or general strike, as some are calling it – is part of a growing non-violent movement to combat ICE’s aggressive enforcement tactics, which have come under renewed scrutiny after a series of fatal shootings involving federal agents.
“We are calling for this strike because we believe what we have been doing in Minnesota should go national,” said Kidus Yeshidagna, president of the Ethiopian Students Union at the University of Minnesota and one of the students organising the strike.
“We need more people and lawmakers across the country to wake up.”
In other updates:
The Democrats and the White House reached a deal to avoid a government shutdown, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer’s office confirmed to the Guardian on Thursday. The deal will advance a package of spending bills, while separating a Department of Homeland Security spending bill from the package. The agreement will include funding for DHS for two weeks at current levels, while Democrats continue negotiating further guardrails on immigration agents in light of the recent fatal shootings in Minneapolis.
Donald Trump sued the US Treasury and Internal Revenue Service for $10bn (about £7.9bn) over an unauthorized disclosure of his tax returns during his first term, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday evening. Thursday’s lawsuit puts Trump in the unusual position of suing government agencies that are part of the executive branch, which he leads. Trump famously broke precedent by not releasing his tax returns while running for, and then attaining, the presidency.
Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan held a news conference in Minneapolis today, where he said ‘no agency is perfect’ but crucially did not mention the fatal shootings of US citizens by immigration agents there this month. During Thursday’s press conference, Tom Homan noted that the administration has “recognised that certain improvements could and should be made” in the ongoing immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota, but didn’t specify what those looked like or when they would be implemented. The border czar also refused to comment on the newly published video footage of Alex Pretti earlier this month, which appears to show officers grabbing Pretti and bringing him to the ground during intense protests that have gripped Minneapolis. “We’ll let the investigation play out and let it go where it goes,” Homan added.
Trump signed an executive order on Thursday laying the groundwork to slap tariffs on goods from countries that provide oil to Cuba, the White House said. The order, which ratchets up Trump’s pressure to topple the Communist government, declares a national emergency and establishes a process for the US secretaries of state and commerce to assess tariffs against countries that sell or otherwise provide oil to the island nation. The White House has yet to specify tariff rates for violating its new policy of blocking Cuba from buying oil.
