Politics

A woman whose concerns about Jeffrey Epstein were brushed off by the FBI three decades ago was vindicated Friday after the Department of Justice finally made her complaint public. Maria Farmer’s complaint was buried in the thousands of files related to Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking cases that the DOJ published as part of its obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The document was dated Sept. 3, 1996, more than 10 years before...

President Trump is rightfully angry that some of his top choices for U.S. attorneys in Democrat-controlled states are being blocked by Democrats and their leftist allies in the judicial branch. But the recent attacks from some supporters of the president against Sen. Chuck Grassley, Trump’s most effective ally in the Senate, are misplaced. To start, remember who Grassley is. He’s a dignified statesman but also a shrewd legislator, fearless investigator and Senate workhorse. He doesn’t...

Preparations for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan are underway, according to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. The announcement comes after representatives from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey participated in high-level U.S.-led talks in Miami. ‘In our discussions regarding phase two, we emphasized enabling a governing body in Gaza under a unified Gazan authority to protect civilians and maintain public order,’ Witkoff wrote on X. ‘We also discussed regional integration measures, including trade facilitation,...

A bipartisan Obamacare fix remains out of reach in the Senate, for now, and lawmakers can’t agree on who is at fault.  While many agree that the forthcoming healthcare cliff will cause financial pain, the partisan divide quickly devolved into pointing the finger across the aisle at who owns the looming healthcare premium spikes that Americans who use the healthcare exchange will face.  Part of the finger-pointing has yielded another surprising agreement: Lawmakers don’t see...

From a distance, Margarita Island looks like a Caribbean escape. Palm-lined beaches, duty-free shops, and resort towns sell the image of a tropical playground just off Venezuela’s northeastern coast. But U.S. officials say the Venezuelan outpost has become something else entirely: Hezbollah’s most important base of operations in the Western Hemisphere, strengthened by Iran’s growing footprint and the Maduro regime’s protection. That threat, U.S. officials warn, reflects a broader security challenge emerging from the region....

It’s not just Minnesota. The past few weeks have made clear that fraudsters stole billions of dollars from states’ welfare programs, much of it from Medicaid. It also appears that Democratic politicians tolerated the heist for their own political benefit.  Yet politicians in virtually every state have let waste, fraud and abuse spread like wildfire in Medicaid, putting taxpayers on the hook for an estimated $2 trillion in improper spending over the next decade alone. ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow would refrain from launching new attacks on other nations provided his country is treated ‘with respect.’ The Kremlin made the remarks during his annual televised press conference in Moscow as concerns persist among European nations that Russia poses a security threat, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. ‘Will there be new special military operations? There will be no operations if you treat us with respect, if you observe our...

A photo of former President Bill Clinton topless in a dimly lit hot tub with his arms folded behind his head was included in a massive trove of Jeffrey Epstein files released Friday by the Department of Justice (DOJ). In another photo, Clinton is seen wading in a pool next to Ghislaine Maxwell and a woman whose face was redacted by authorities. Subsequent photos showed Clinton posing with American pop stars Michael Jackson and Diana...

The Department of Justice began releasing final documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein Friday, with a massive trove of documents that predominantly shows photos and heavily redacted materials categorized into four different sections.  The DOJ on Friday afternoon released four different data sets of thousands of photos, New York grand jury material and evidence related to investigations surrounding Epstein. The documents and photos were released on the DOJ’s official website.  Epstein was a...

On Friday, I debated cannabis legalization at AmericaFest 2025, the annual convention for Turning Point USA, the group led by Charlie Kirk until his assassination in September. Here’s my opening argument: My opponent this afternoon is Katherine Mangu-Ward, the editor-in-chief of Reason magazine and a staunch libertarian. Katherine’s pinned post on X calls for the legalization of heroin, so at least she is consistent. I too am consistent. I believe the liberal and libertarian effort...