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Documents show staff kept Epstein informed of Trump's air travel - and Epstein kept up with news about former friendA tranche of documents released by the House oversight committee on Wednesday revealed that Jeffrey Epstein's staff kept him apprised of Donald Trump's air travel as it related to his own transportation - and that the late sex trafficker kept up with news about his former friend years after their relationship soured.This disclosure of about 20,000 pages from Republican members of the committee related to Epstein comes as Trump continues to battle with the political fallout related to their past friendship - and his justice department's failure to release documents as he had long promised on the campaign trail. Continue reading...

After 42-day standoff, government is back open - and minority party won no concessions from party in powerMore than 42 days ago, beleaguered congressional Democrats employed a tactic they were not known for using - refusing to fund the government unless their demands, in this case, an extension of tax credits that lowered costs for Affordable Care Act health plans, were met.Fast forward to Wednesday evening, and the federal government is back open, the Democrats' resistance breached by the combined forces of Congress's Republican majorities and a splinter group of Democratic senators who provided just enough votes to get a funding bill past the chamber's filibuster. Continue reading...

Bill passes House with with 222 in favor and 209 against. Here's how Republicans and Democrats votedThe US House of Representatives voted to pass the funding bill to end the longest government shutdown in US history. Trump signed the bill into law on Wednesday night.The legislation comes in the wake of a Senate-brokered compromise in which a handful of Democrats voted toforego the extension of expiring healthcare subsidies, which have been at the heart of the long impasse. The bill extends government funding at current levels through January. Three year-long provisions, which fund programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the USDA and FDA, and legislative branch operations, are also included. Continue reading...

President signs bill to restart federal operations after House passes measure in 222-209 voteThe longest US government shutdown in history ended on Wednesday after more than 42 days, following the House of Representative's passage of a bill negotiated by Republicans and a splinter group of Democrat-aligned senators.The compromise sets the stage for government operations to return to normal through January, while leaving unresolved the issue of expiring tax credits for Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare health plans, which most Democrats demanded be extended in any deal to reopen the government. Continue reading...

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Release of messages by Democrats on House oversight committee likely to add to pressure on White House to release Epstein files - key US politics stories from 12 November 2025 at a glanceDamning new emails that suggest Donald Trump knew about the conduct of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were released Wednesday, including one in which Epstein said of course [Trump] knew about the girls" procured for Epstein's sex-trafficking ring, and another that said Trump spent hours" with one victim at Epstein's house.The release of the three messages by Democrats on the House oversight committee is likely to heap significant pressure on the White House to publish in full the so-called Epstein files, which reportedly detail the long-running scandal that has overshadowed Trump's second term in office. Continue reading...

Mike Johnson announces move hours after swearing in Adelita Grijalva, Democrat whose signature triggered voteMike Johnson, the US House speaker, said on Wednesday he would put the bill compelling the release of government files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on the House floor next week.We are gonna put that on the floor for [a] full vote next week, [as] soon as we get back," Johnson told reporters, as the chamber gathered to debate legislation to reopen the government. Continue reading...

Mike Johnson, the House speaker, had prevented the representative from taking her seat after a special electionArizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva was sworn in by Mike Johnson, the US House speaker, on Wednesday, ending a contentious seven-week standoff that prevented the incoming representative from taking her seat and clearing the path for a vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.House Democrats burst into applause after Grijalva took the oath of office, in a floor ceremony that took place shortly before the chamber was poised to take up legislation that would end the longest federal government shutdown in US history. The House was already out of session when Grijalva won a late September special election to succeed her father, the longtime representative Raul Grijalva, who died in March. Johnson, who kept the House in recess as a tactic to pressure Senate Democrats to compromise with Republicans on legislation to fund the government, had said he would not swear in Grijalva until after the chamber returned. Continue reading...

House Democrats vow to vote no but Republican leaders optimistic legislation to reopen government will pass

Dana Williamson among five co-conspirators in scheme to steal more than $225,000 from Xavier Becerra's campaignA former top aide to California governor Gavin Newsom has been arrested over federal charges alleging her involvement in a scheme to steal campaign money from Xavier Becerra, the former US health secretary.Dana Williamson was indicted on 23 counts that include bank and wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the US, and was scheduled to make her first court appearance Wednesday in Sacramento. It was not immediately clear whether she had an attorney who could speak on her behalf. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison. Continue reading...

Karoline Leavitt defied the laws of moral physics to insist that the true wrongdoers were Biden and the DemocratsDonald Trump was described as that dog that hasn't barked" in an email by Jeffrey Epstein. Don't tell Kristi Noem, who has a way of dealing with troublesome hounds.The US president would love nothing more than to let sleeping dogs lie, but that hope was dashed on Wednesday when Democrats released emails suggesting that Trump was aware of Epstein's conduct and had spent hours with one of the disgraced financier's victims. Continue reading...

Trump officials also cannot pressure detainees to agree to voluntary deportation while cases are pending, says judgeA federal judge has ordered the release of hundreds of people who were arrested over the last few months in the Chicago area amid the Trump administration's aggressive immigration raids across the city.On Wednesday, US district judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered the justice department to produce a list showing which of the 615 possible class members are still in custody by 19 November, the Chicago Tribune reports. Continue reading...

In messages released by House Democrats, Epstein wrote of course [Trump] knew about the girls'

Tremane Wood was convicted of a murder his brother had confessed to. Now a Republican governor will decide whether he dies on ThursdayIt may be about to execute him, but Oklahoma's department of corrections hasn't even spelled Tremane Wood's name right: it lists him on its official website as Termane" Wood.For 16 of his last 21 years in prison, following his conviction for the murder of 19-year-old Ronnie Wipf, he has been confined, often alone, to a series of windowless concrete cells in the state penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma, in an underground block that prisoners have compared to a tomb. Continue reading...

Newly released emails from Epstein's estate reignite scrutiny of the US president's old links to the sex offenderThe release of previously unseen emails sent by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has thrust Donald Trump back into the center of the long-running Epstein controversy that has plagued his administration for months, inflamed parts of his own political base and offered Democrats an ongoing line of political attack.On Wednesday, Democrats on the House oversight and government reform committee released email exchanges from 2011, 2015 and 2019 that they say were provided by the estate of the late Epstein, who died by suicide in federal prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex-trafficking minors. Continue reading...

Last one-cent coin to be pressed in Philadelphia as Trump ordered them to be canceled, citing rising production costsThe US Mint in Philadelphia is set to strike its last circulating penny on Wednesday as Donald Trump has canceled the one-cent coin.The US president has ordered its demise as costs climb to nearly four cents per penny and the one-cent valuation becomes somewhat obsolete. Continue reading...

Saga has pitted Trump against his base, with the president pleading with supporters to not waste time' on Epstein

Republican-controlled board, which questions Trump's 2020 loss, agrees to use government, not personal, accountsThe Georgia state election board has settled a lawsuit filed by a watchdog organization over access to board members' emails for $50,000 and an agreement to conduct future business without using private email.The settlement requires the Republican-controlled board, which continues to push for additional investigation into the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, to instruct its members to use official email accounts, and not to use personal email accounts, text messaging, or messaging through other applications for that purpose". Continue reading...

As polls suggest that Viktor Orban's authoritarian rule is under threat, Brussels can only wait and hopeDuring the US presidential election campaign of 2016, Viktor Orban was the only European Union leader to back Donald Trump. Which was hardly surprising. Whether in relation to the the normalisation of great replacement theory, or the bullying and harassment of the media, Mr Orban more or less wrote the playbook for the Maga movement. The former White House strategist Steve Bannon has eulogised Hungary's prime minister as the Trump before Trump".Last week, ahead of crucial Hungarian elections in less than six months' time, the US president returned some political favours. As Mr Orban seeks a fifth consecutive term presiding over a nation which he boasts of having turned into an illiberal democracy, his Fidesz party trails in the polls. As well as a few signed Maga baseball caps, an Orban visit to Washington yielded considerably more valuable pre-election gifts. Continue reading...

Skims plans to use new capital to broaden its intimates lines, and expand further into apparel and activewearSkims, founded by reality TV star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian along with CEO Jens Grede, said on Wednesday it had raised $225mn in new capital, valuing the shapewear label at $5bn.Kardashian's ventures, including her cosmetics brand SKKN, have attracted young shoppers and benefited from her vast social media following. Similarly, other celebrity-backed brands have also drawn venture capital investment, as firms bet on the marketing power and built-in audiences of high-profile founders to drive consumer demand. Continue reading...

Raphael W Bostic will retire in February - creating another vacancy on Federal Reserve's powerful policy committeeThe head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta announced plans to step down amid an extraordinary campaign by Donald Trump to exert influence over the US central bank.Raphael W Bostic, president of the Atlanta Fed, will retire from the role in February - creating another vacancy on the Fed's powerful policy committee. Continue reading...

Saga has pitted Trump against his base, with the president pleading with supporters to not waste time' on EpsteinThe Department of Justice's announcement that it did not have a list of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged clients, and that the convicted sex offender was not murdered, has plunged the rightwing world into turmoil.Conservative commentators and media figures, some of whom spent years pushing conspiracy theories about Epstein's death, have accused the government of covering up the hedge fund manager's crimes, with calls growing for Pam Bondi, the attorney general, to resign. Continue reading...

Families say the housing contractor's strict timing rules dampen holiday spirit on the baseMilitary families living on an air force base in Florida have been ordered to dismantle their Christmas decorations under a strictly enforced regulation that tells them when and where they are allowed to celebrate.Residents of Tyndall air force base received a tersely-worded memo from their landlords, private housing contractor Balfour Beatty Communities, informing them that a de facto patrol of the installation had uncovered infractions of their lease agreements in the form of early holiday inflatables, lights and other festive adornments. Continue reading...

More than 250 Venezuelans detained in Cecot prison report violations. Plus, supply boom in cheaper renewables will make decline of fossil fuels inevitable'

Binod Shah, a refugee from Bhutan, went to church, got married and started an auto shop in Twin Falls, Idaho. But an arrest record got him caught in the ICE dragnetStephanie Shah kept her eyes on the winding road as rain streaked across the windshield. Her husband, Binod Shah, sat in silence beside her, staring out the window. It was late evening in Washington state on 23 March, and they had been driving all day, trading shifts, barely speaking, while their nine-month-old son dozed beneath a blanket in the backseat. The sky hung low and gray, and evergreens, soaked and still, stood witness along the road. Inside the car, a Nepali-Christian folk song played quietly on repeat. At some point, Binod reached over and rested his hand on Stephanie's leg. It wasn't reassurance. It felt more like a final touch.When the baby started to cry, Stephanie pulled over and together they changed his diaper, working without words. Then Binod leaned down, kissed his son's forehead, and began to cry. Continue reading...

Kentucky trio oppose provision restricting hemp-derived products, with House to vote on Wednesday on funding billA last-minute provision in the federal spending bill heavily restricting hemp-derived products such as CBD and THC drinks could lead some Republicans to vote against the spending bill which, if passed, could end the government shutdown as early as Wednesday.Kentucky is one of the largest producers of hemp in the country, and Republicans in the state have shown strong support for the hemp industry. Jonathan Miller, an advocate for the hemp industry and former Kentucky state treasurer, said that Kentucky is really ground zero for the rebirth of hemp" - a niche industry until the 2018 farm bill allowed a much wider variety of legal products. Continue reading...

Once at the heart of record migration, the Texas border town now faces new fears over Trump's sweeping deportation driveAlong southern Texas, the Rio Grande forms the US-Mexico border, an arrangement established after the end of the Mexican-American war. Eagle Pass, which had been known as El Paso del Aguila, became the first US settlement on the Rio Grande.Swimming across the river has remained treacherous ever since. But migrants never stopped risking their lives to set foot on US soil - and in 2023, those numbers reach record highs as Eagle Pass, the seat of Maverick county, became the epicenter of growing backlash over the Biden administration's immigration policies. Continue reading...

Lina Khan outraged corporates and conservatives as head of the Federal Trade Commission. Expect more of the same now she's with the mayor-elect's transition teamA relatively unknown thirtysomething parachuted on to the national stage and into high political office. Energising to some of the Democratic base but lacking support from the party establishment. Not Zohran Mamdani but Lina Khan, who Joe Biden appointed to chair the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2021 when she was just 32. Khan, who left her role at the FTC when Trump returned to the White House, is now one of five women appointed to the mayor-elect of New York's transition team.Khan is the most exciting pick for a few reasons. She entered the FTC with an ambitious mandate to transform the government agency, broaden its focus to increase scrutiny of corporate mergers and do more to protect consumers - and got results. She brought down the price of inhalers (routinely being sold for hundreds of dollars) by tackling price gouging by pharmaceutical companies. She blocked a huge supermarket merger and returned more than $60m to Amazon drivers in unpaid tips. All of her achievements were delivered in four years, while navigating a bureaucracy that was sometimes hostile to her leadership. Continue reading...

The broadcaster should not cave to Trump's demandsYou can't be in the news business and avoid mistakes. That's why responsible media organizations correct their errors and acknowledge them to the public. It's why newsroom leaders take steps, internally, to repair broken processes. It's why they sometimes go so far as to apologize or take stories down.Some mistakes, of course, are worse than others. A misspelled name is one thing. Sustained coverage that is misleading or false is quite another. And there are plenty of gradations between those two poles.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Donald Trump said he had an 'obligation' to sue the BBC for misrepresenting his comments before the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol in 2021. The US president reiterated his threat of launching a $1bn legal action during an interview on Fox News, saying the British broadcaster had 'defrauded the public'. The BBC has been plunged into its biggest crisis in decades after its two most senior staff, the director general, Tim Davie, and the head of news, Deborah Turness, resigned after criticism over standards and accusations of bias at the BBC, including over how it edited a speech by Trump

Smallville actor, released from prison two years ago, tells how she helped coerce women for cult leader Keith RaniereThe Smallville actor Allison Mack says she was once riveted by the influence she wielded through her role in the Nxivm sex cult - though it eventually sent her to federal prison, and she now realizes it was abusive".I was excited by the power that I felt having these young, beautiful women look to me and listen to me," Mack, 43, maintains in a new podcast series titled Allison After Nxivm, which contains her first public remarks since her release from prison about two years ago. And - yes - the sexuality of it was exciting." Continue reading...

Human rights groups accuse Trump officials of complicity and draw comparison with scandal at Abu Ghraib prisonMore than 252 Venezuelans expelled to El Salvador under Donald Trump's mass deportation policy suffered systematic and prolonged torture and abuse, including sexual assault, during their detention, according to a report published on Wednesday.The report, compiled jointly by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Cristosal - a group investigating violations in Central America - says conditions at El Salvador's sprawling terrorist continent center" (Cecot) breached the UN's standard minimal rules for the treatment of prisoners. It cites inhumane prison conditions, including prolonged incommunicado detention, inadequate food" and other shortcomings. Continue reading...

Schlossberg has drummed up a large following on social media with frequent posts weighing in on national issuesJohn F Kennedy's grandson Jack Schlossberg has said he will run for the US House next year, announcing Tuesday that he was seeking a key New York seat set to be vacated by longtime Democrat Jerry Nadler.This district should have a representative who can harness the creativity, energy and drive of this district and translate that into political power in Washington," Schlossberg said in a campaign video posted on social media late Tuesday. Continue reading...

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President called the agreement that passed the Senate Monday a very big victory' amid the record-breaking government shutdown - key US politics stories from 11 November 2025Democrats' resolve cracked this week, when a splinter group in the Senate joined with the GOP to craft a compromise bill that reauthorizes government funding through January, without extending healthcare tax credits.Donald Trump called the agreement a very big victory" during remarks at Arlington National Cemetery. Continue reading...

More uncertainty after justices allow temporary block on full payments for Snap, relied upon by 42 million AmericansMillions of Americans grappling with food insecurity will face more uncertainty this week after the US supreme court enabled the Trump administration to continue withholding funds for food stamps.In an administrative stay issued on Tuesday, the highest court upheld the administration's request to extend a pause on a federal judge's ruling that would have required $4bn in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Snap, the food aid relied on by 42 million people, to be distributed. The funding freeze has been given two additional days, and will now remain in place until midnight on Thursday. Continue reading...

Fannie Mae officers were investigating whether Trump ally inappropriately accessed mortgage details of Letitia James, Adam Schiff and othersEthics officials at Fannie Mae were removed from their jobs as they investigated whether a top Trump ally improperly accessed mortgage documents of Letitia James, the New York attorney general, and other Democratic officials, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.William Pulte, a staunch Trump defender and the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), has accused James, Adam Schiff, a California senator, and Lisa Cook, a federal reserve governor, of mortgage fraud. All three have denied the accusations and James was indicted on specious federal charges last month. Continue reading...

Report including responses from more than 500 museum directors finds median loss of $30,000 in grants or contractsOne-third of US museums have lost government grants or contracts since Donald Trump took office, according to a new survey.The findings, released by the American Alliance of Museums on Tuesday and based on responses from more than 500 museum directors across the US, shed new light on the challenges cultural institutions are facing under the Trump administration. Continue reading...

Alyssa Wilson, a resident at a sober living home, stole a minivan and was chased for hours until crossing the borderA woman who had been staying at a women's sobriety home in California stole a minivan and was chased by police for hours until she crossed over to Mexico on Monday.A second woman, Nicolle Walters, 45, reported to authorities that her 2004 gray Toyota Sienna was missing, along with her car key, according to a statement by the Ventura county sheriff's office. Walters, owner and operator of two women's sober living homes, identified the suspect as Alyssa Wilson, one of the residents at Diana's House Sober Living in Thousand Oaks, which is about an hour's drive north-west of Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Marion county agrees to apologize over 2023 raid that led to national outcry over press freedom, said newspaper's editorA rural county in Kansas has agreed to pay more than $3m and apologize over a raid by police on a small-town weekly newspaper in August 2023 that sparked a national outcry over press freedom, the paper's editor said on Tuesday.Eric Meyer, the editor and publisher of the Marion County Record, told the Associated Press he is hoping the size of the payment is large enough to discourage similar actions against news organizations in the future. Continue reading...

Democrats are demanding an extension of tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans set to expire at end of year

Lawsuit alleges doctor at Fort Hood was allowed to continue working despite complaints against him for yearsMilitary officials in Texas have suspended a US army gynecologist over allegations he inappropriately touched and secretly filmed dozens of women during appointments at an on-base medical center.A civil lawsuit filed in Bell county on Monday alleges that Blaine McGraw, a doctor and army major at Fort Hood, repeatedly groped a woman during a series of seven or eight consultations, and took intimate videos and photographs of her that were later found on his phone. Continue reading...

Government argues funding mechanism behind Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is unlawfulThe Trump administration has launched its most direct attempt yet to shut down the top US consumer watchdog, arguing the current funding mechanism behind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is unlawful.Attorneys for the administration claimed in a court filing that the agency anticipates exhausting its currently available funds in early 2026", setting the stage for it to be dismantled. Continue reading...