Newly Unearthed FBI Records Hint at an Egyptian Link to the TWA 800 Explosion

Ken Silva
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Newly Unearthed FBI Records Hint at an Egyptian Link to the TWA 800 Explosion

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Last Friday was the 30th anniversary of the July 17, 1996, explosion of Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800—a tragedy that claimed the lives of 230 people traveling from New York City to Paris, France.

The U.S. government has maintained for decades that the TWA 800 explosion was caused by a mechanical failure—namely, the ignition of flammable fuel/air mixture in one of the fuel tanks. But thanks to dozens of witness reports and a plethora of other evidence, speculation remains that the explosion may have been caused by a missile or bomb.

And now, newly unearthed FBI records add to the theory that the TWA 800 explosion was the result of a terrorist attack. Those records were recently obtained by the transparency organization Judicial Watch, which published a documentary on TWA 800 on Monday. They include a three-page document written in the wake of the attack, stating that “FBI headquarters is in receipt of faxes generated from Cairo claiming credit.”

The document said that a meeting was scheduled for the night of July 18, 1996, to coordinate the bureau’s investigation, but no further information about Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is included. The document also includes more details about a possible missile attack.

“AN INDIVIDUAL ON LONG ISLAND, RESIDING IN THE VICINITY OF THE CRASH SITE, WHO, WHILE OUT ON A ROUTINE WALK, OBSERVED WHAT HE DESCRIBED AS A ‘FIREWORKS LIKE’ OBJECT ASCEND INTO THE AIR. HE OBSERVED A ‘WHITE PUFF’ EMERGE AND THEN BREAK IN TWO, GENERATING A FIREBALL, DESCENDING FROM THE SKY,”  the FBI document says.

“NEW YORK IS CONDUCTING INVESTIGATION IN THIS REGION IN AN EFFORT TO DISCOVER ANY EVIDENCE REMAINING, SCORCH MARKS OR PARTS CONSISTENT WITH THE FIRING OF A MISSILE FROM THAT LOCATION … [REDACTED] STATES THAT A SHOULDER FIRED ROCKET, KNOWN AS A MANPAD, WOULD FUNCTION CONSISTENT WITH THIS EYEWITNESS’ ACCOUNT.”

Meanwhile, Judicial Watch is also suing the CIA for records on the incident. The agency published a video in 1997 claiming that witnesses who claimed to see a missile were mistaken, and that they actually saw burning fuel from the already-damaged aircraft ascending after the initial explosion.

“After 30 years, serious questions remain about the federal government’s handling of the TWA Flight 800 investigation,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a press release about his group’s efforts to investigate the incident.

“We are suing for transparency about how the CIA became involved and how it reached conclusions that differ so significantly from the accounts of other experts and more than 200 eyewitnesses.”

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Mamdani Backs Off Threat to Arrest Netanyahu

Headline USA Editor
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Mamdani Backs Off Threat to Arrest Netanyahu

(Chris Wade, The Center Square) New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is backing off threats to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visits the city in September for the U.N. General Assembly meeting. 

In a video posted on social media Tuesday night, Mamdani said his administration considered every “legal avenue” to make an arrest but determined that he doesn’t “have the independent legal authority” to put cuffs on the foreign leader. 

But he called on the Trump administration to “execute the warrant” issued by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu’s arrest on war crimes over his military campaign in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war.

“It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant. The federal government, however, does,” Mamdani said in the video clip. “As I’ve said, I agree with the ICC that Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested and tried for his crimes, as I do for anyone else charged by the ICC.” 

Netanyahu and other world leaders will travel to New York City in two months for the General Assembly meeting, and the Israeli leader is expected to address the annual gathering.

Mamdani, New York City’s first Muslim mayor, has been highly critical of Netanyahu and the Israeli government. He has described the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide” and repeatedly called for the Israeli leader to be prosecuted. 

“Anyone, with their eyes, with their heart, with their conscience, should recognize the devastation he has wrought and understand that he belongs before a court of law,” Mamdani said in Tuesday’s video clip. 

Netanyahu has dismissed the mayor’s threats and accused Mamdani of siding with Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz has called Mamdani’s push to arrest Netanyahu “pure political theater” and points out that the U.S. hasn’t signed the Rome Statute, which obliges countries to arrest people who have ICC warrants. 

President Donald Trump blasted Mamdani’s threats in a social media post Monday that said Netanyahu won’t be arrested, “in any way, shape, or form,” when he visits New York for the U.N. meeting.

“He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents!”

Fetterman Tells Congress to Hurry Up and ‘Make Weed Legal’

Headline USA Editor
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Fetterman Tells Congress to Hurry Up and ‘Make Weed Legal’

(Chris Wade, The Center Square) U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and over a dozen of his colleagues in the upper chamber have re-upped their calls to end the federal ban of marijuana.

On Tuesday, Fetterman’s office sent out a press release announcing his support for the reintroduction of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, which he said would remove cannabis from the list of federally controlled substances and, as a result, empower states to create their own laws.

“I’ve always been very pro-weed,” Fetterman said. “In a very libertarian slant: I’m not going to judge anyone for using it to knock the edge off of life. I think your path to wellness should be without judgement or punishment—legal, safe, and regulated.”

“I supported President Biden and President Trump when they took steps on the issue,” he added. “But it is time for Congress to stop d—— around and make weed legal. This bill is a good step forward.”

The bill, filed on Thursday, has 17 co-sponsors, all of whom are Democrats.

According to Marijuana Moment, the latest effort is “largely similar” to versions filed in the two previous sessions of Congress, although the most recent proposal contains new provisions on hemp, specifically preventing the federal recriminalization of hemp THC products that is scheduled to take effect in November.

Fetterman believes the latest proposal provides a wide variety of benefits.

The proposal, according to Fetterman, would protect public health in a number of ways, including the establishment of a Center for Cannabis Products, which would regulate production, labeling, distribution, sales, and other manufacturing and retail elements of the cannabis industry, while also establishing programs and funding to prevent youth cannabis use.

In an effort to protect public safety, Fetterman said the proposal requires the Department of Transportation to create standards for cannabis-impaired driving and incentivize states to adopt cannabis open-container prohibitions.

This bill would also regulate and tax cannabis by transferring federal jurisdiction over cannabis to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, or TTB, eliminating the tax code’s restriction on cannabis businesses claiming deductions for business expenses and implementing an excise tax on cannabis products, and establishing market competition rules meant to protect independent producers, wholesalers, and retailers and prevent anti-competitive behavior.

Cannabis research is also encouraged in the bill in a variety of ways, including requiring the Government Accountability Office to study and report on metrics that may be impacted by cannabis legalization and requiring the Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, and the National Institutes of Health, NIH, to conduct or support research on the impacts of cannabis.

The bill would also establish grants to build up cannabis research capacity at institutions of higher education, with a particular focus on minority-serving institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities, HBCUs.

In an effort to prioritize justice, Fetterman said the bill establishes a Cannabis Justice Office at the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs and would use federal tax revenue to fund an Opportunity Trust Fund to “reinvest in communities and individuals most harmed by the failed War on Drugs.”

Fetterman also believes the bill would strengthen workers’ rights by removing federal employee pre-employment and random drug testing for cannabis and would establish grants for community-based education, outreach, and enforcement of workers’ rights in the cannabis industry.

A variety of cannabis reform supporters back this proposal, according to Marijuana Moment, including the Drug Policy Alliance, Doctors for Drug Policy Reform, and Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition.

Twenty-four states have legalized recreational marijuana, Forbes reports, while 35 have passed legislation to permit the medicinal use of cannabis.

Fetterman has a long record of calling for the legalization of marijuana and led a statewide listening tour on the matter during his time as lieutenant governor.

Marijuana regulations have also been in the news during Trump’s second term. In April, Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche issued an order immediately placing both FDA-approved marijuana products and marijuana regulated by state medical licenses in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.

That move by the federal government was celebrated by Fetterman and Gov. Josh Shapiro.

However, Marijuana Moment notes that the GOP majority in the U.S. House has advanced legislation this Congress to block the Trump administration from carrying out marijuana rescheduling.

U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., has a different view on marijuana policy.

In December, he signed a joint letter with 21 of his Republican Senate colleagues to the Trump administration opposing reclassifying the drug.

“Rescheduling marijuana to a Schedule III drug will undermine your strong efforts to Make America Great Again and to usher in America’s next economic Golden Age,” the senators write in the letter to the Trump administration. “The only winners from rescheduling will be bad actors such as Communist China, while Americans will be left paying the bill.”

During a telephone town hall that same month, McCormick referred to himself as a “big advocate of the use of medical marijuana” but said at that time he was “opposed to rescheduling Marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III.”

A Susquehanna Polling and Research survey conducted in April showed that 72% of Democrats, 67% of Republicans, and 64% of independents support the legalization of recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania.

However, because of the decision by the Trump administration in April, any marijuana not sold through a state medical program or approved by the FDA remains Schedule I.

Biggs Wins Arizona Gubernatorial Primary with 71.5% of Vote

Headline USA Editor
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Biggs Wins Arizona Gubernatorial Primary with 71.5% of Vote

(zachery Schmidt, The Center Square) U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs defeated U.S. Rep. David Schweikert in the Arizona Republican primary for governor Tuesday.

With 7% of Arizona precincts reporting, Biggs, R-Gilbert, received 71.5% of the votes, while Schweikert, R-Scottsdale, only got 16%.

Biggs will now go up against Gov. Katie Hobbs, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, in the Nov. 3 general election.

On social media after winning the nomination, Biggs said on social media he was “deeply honored to be chosen by Arizona Republicans as their nominee” to beat the governor in November.

“This campaign has been driven by our grassroots supporters from the day we launched in January 2025 with a clear mission of Restoring the American Dream in our great state,” Biggs said.

“Tonight’s results show that Arizonans overwhelmingly believe in our vision and I’m grateful to have earned their support. Our goal has always been to unite the Republican Party and we’ve done that as much as any nominee in recent memory,” he noted.

The Republican Governors Association congratulated Biggs on his victory over Schweikert.

“Throughout his career in public service, Andy has fought to lower costs, grow Arizona’s economy, unleash American energy, and secure the border,” said RGA Chair Governor Greg Gianforte.

“As governor, Andy will continue to put Arizona families first while Katie Hobbs focuses on serving special interests instead of addressing affordability, increasing the supply of housing and creating more good-paying jobs,” Gianforte said. “Arizonans have a clear choice this November, and Andy Biggs is the leader to get the state back on track.”

After securing her nomination, Hobbs said she is “grateful to every Arizonan who’s already shown up for this campaign.”

“I’ve never lost an election, but I’ve also never won one alone. This will be a close race, but I’m excited to be in this fight with all of you to keep Arizona moving forward,” she noted on social media.

Looking ahead, Hobbs has a cash-on-hand advantage over Biggs. According to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, she has nearly $2 million while Biggs has almost $1.3 million.

In other state races, Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, is beating Rodney Glassman by 12 percentage points for the Republican nominee for attorney general. Petersen had 56% of the vote on Tuesday night.

The Senate president is leading the race despite having less money on hand. According to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, Glassman had nearly $2.4 million in cash on hand compared to Petersen’s $523,863.

Attorney General Kris Mayes ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Mayes thanked Arizonans for their support on social media.

“From day one, I’ve stayed focused on the work at hand — protecting Arizona families from drug smugglers and scammers, holding greedy corporations accountable, defending our water, and keeping our communities safe,” Mayes said.

“That work isn’t done. Now we’re heading into the general election ready to win and keep delivering results for every Arizonan,” she added.

Right now, Mayes has $2.3 million of cash on hand.

For Arizona’s school superintendent races, Kimberly Yee is beating Superintendent Tom Horne in the Republican primary race by 8.2%.

Teresa Leyba Ruiz defeated Brett Matthew Newby in the Democratic nomination for school superintendent.

She had more cash on hand than Newby, with $146,232 compared to his $109,141.

Yee has $245,613 of cash on hand.

Feds Freeze $1B to California, Minnesota Medicaid

Headline USA Editor
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Feds Freeze $1B to California, Minnesota Medicaid

(Andrew Rice, The Center Square) The Trump administration is pausing more than $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday.

The administration froze more than $867 million in Medicaid funds from California and more than $200 million in Minnesota, Kennedy said.

“They violated the social contract that makes this country strong and makes our democracy function,” Kennedy said at a news conference.

Kennedy said California and Minnesota can get those funds back if they provide documentary proof that the payments are legitimate. The administration used artificial intelligence, advanced analytics and traditional financial verification to uncover the fraud in both states, he said.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Minnesota’s fraud came from 14 high-risk programs, including personal care and home health services.

Roughly $3 million were identified as fraudulent payments tied to documentation gaps, including payment claims for treatment provided to a deceased person, Oz said.

In California, Oz said, spending on in-home services over the past two years increased by 24%, double the rate of spending in other states, which accounts for $391 million of the funds deferred on Tuesday.

He also said fraud in California came from items billed more than a year after services were provided, or billing for more than four patients at the same time. Oz said individuals with “unsatisfactory immigration status” make up a significant portion of fraud in California.

“We can’t prove that they’re supposed to be in America and that they’re eligible for these services because this is an ongoing, massive problem for California,” Oz said.

Kennedy also announced that the Department of Health and Human Services will expand its exclusion authority, which would allow the secretary to block or completely eliminate certain actors suspected of fraudulent activity.

“If Gov. Gavin Newsom or Gov. Tim Walz wants this funding released, all they have to do is provide basic documentation showing that these services are legitimate and not fraudulent,” Kennedy said.

Dan Brillman, deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the states can retrieve frozen funds if they provide documentation to validate beneficiaries eligibility, services were actually delivered and go after improper payments when they are identified.

“Right now, there are hundreds of thousands of Medicaid beneficiaries waiting on what we call home- and community-based services wait lists,” Brillman said. “Every dollar lost to fraud is $1 that cannot pay for a child with complex medical needs, an adult with intellectual disabilities, or a veteran like that I serve with, are waiting to receive services at home.”

Oz said officials in Minnesota have provided the Trump administration with documents that are being evaluated. He said the fraud issues in California are more complex.

“We’re still working many issues with California,” Oz said. “It’s a much bigger program, and lots of different kinds of issues happening.”

“We have to end the fraud, waste, and abuse, and this administration will do whatever it takes to keep your taxpayer dollars out of the hands of criminals and fraudsters,” Kennedy said.  

Inside Erika Kirk’s Week In A Utah Courtroom

Jose Nino
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Inside Erika Kirk’s Week In A Utah Courtroom

(José Niño, Headline USA) Erika Kirk sat through five days of testimony in a Utah courtroom this month as prosecutors reconstructed her husband’s killing, and people close to the family say she left carrying sadness rather than the rage she expected, according to the Daily Mail.

The hearing placed her in the same room as Tyler Robinson, the 23 year old charged with assassinating Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University roughly ten months ago. Two sources close to the Kirks told the outlet that the anger never arrived.

“She was really concerned about being in the same room as him [Robinson], she didn’t know what she was going to feel, she said that a lot,” one family friend told the Daily Mail. “She thought she was really going to be angry and mad, to really hate him, but she didn’t. She just felt really sad. ‘Overwhelming sadness’ is what she called it. It made her grieve even more.”

The friend added, “She said she almost felt compassion for [Robinson] and definitely for his family, because it’s just so sad that two families were destroyed that day.”

Prosecutors presented surveillance video, forensic analysis, and testimony from Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner. Judge Tony Graf gave both sides until September 1 to file written arguments, with oral arguments set for early September, and he has not signaled when he will rule on whether the case reaches trial. Robinson faces seven counts, including aggravated murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. He has not entered a plea.

Kirk was shot in the neck on September 10, 2025, while taking student questions on the Orem campus. Conspiracy theories poured in afterward, and streamers convinced a hidden government hand was responsible slept outside the courthouse to claim seats.

Candace Owens has driven much of that traffic. Once a prominent Turning Point USA figure, she has cast doubt on Robinson’s guilt and suggested without evidence that TPUSA staff may have been involved, Erika included, who now runs the organization.

Sources describe a widow with no patience left for her. “Erika can’t stand her [Candace]. She calls her ‘that b**ch’ if she talks about her at all,” a Kirk relative said. “Erika thinks she’s the worst, most unkind person in the world. Ugly person, inside and out. She’s a soulless ghoul.”

Megyn Kelly brokered a private Nashville meeting in December that stretched past four hours, and both women called it productive. The truce did not hold. In February, Owens launched Bride of Charlie, an eight episode series picking apart Erika’s upbringing and marriage.

“That bridge is burned, it’s more than burned. It’s been blown up,” the relative said, adding that Owens “decided to make this her identity. It’s a grab for attention, building her name and her brand, and making some money off it.”

Owens told the Daily Mail the anger runs both ways. “We’re furious too. The public cannot stand that Erika refuses to answer or even ask crucial questions surrounding Charlie’s death, which she has treated more like her personal coronation rather than an increasingly bizarre story that requires a network of paid influencers to support it,” she said.

Those close to Erika say she wants clarity rather than revenge. “She wants the truth, whatever that is,” the family friend said. “She’s not looking for just ‘somebody’ to pay.”

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

Hunter Biden Claims Lindsey Graham Was in ‘Gay Mafia’

Luis Cornelio
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Hunter Biden Claims Lindsey Graham Was in ‘Gay Mafia’

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Hunter Biden repeated a longstanding claim about the late Sen. Lindsey Graham during an interview, alleging that the South Carolina Republican was gay just a week after his death.

Biden made the remarks in a July 18 appearance on the I’ve Had It podcast with left-wing host Jennifer Welch, where he claimed there was a “closeted gay mafia, largely Republican, that exists in Washington, D.C.”

Without citing sources, Biden argued that “everybody knows every single one of them who’s gay” and suggested that being in the closet triggered some lawmakers to direct vitriol toward others. He added:

“And so what they do is, their whole lives they’ve been closeted, and so you have this, like, black ball inside yourself, this, like, blackened heart by the fact that you can’t be who you want to be. And so you take it out on everybody else. And these men, largely men, have done exactly that. And everybody knows who they are. Everybody.”

Welch then responded, “Lindsey Graham.”

“Yeah. Of course,” Biden replied, adding that there is a “closeted gay mafia” of Republicans running DC.

For much of his political career, Graham faced speculation about his sexuality, in part because he never married or had children. Graham repeatedly denied that he was gay.

Graham served in the Senate from 2003 until 2026 and was friends with Joe Biden, who represented Delaware in the Senate from 1973 to 2009.

Later in the interview, Hunter Biden doubled down on the claim that “everybody knows that Lindsey Graham was gay, right?”

Pausing and stumbling over his words, he added: “And I don’t—I really had—and I liked Lindsey Graham when I was a kid, but everybody knew that he was gay, right? But, you know, we still kind of, like, talk about it on, like, CNN, like, you know.”

Accusations about a political opponent’s sexual orientation have long been used as a form of political attack, largely by the left. For instance, Trump has also faced online trolls questioning his sexuality despite having been married three times and having five children.

Just on June 24, fired former CNN host Don Lemon aired a podcast titled, “Could Donald Trump Be America’s First Gay President?!”

Trump is not the only Republican figure to have faced speculation about his sexuality. Others, including Sen. Tim Scott, Speaker Mike Johnson, former Vice President Mike Pence, Vice President JD Vance and Eric Trump, have also been targeted by similar trolls.

Mexican National Serving Decades for Murder Sues Trump

Luis Cornelio
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Mexican National Serving Decades for Murder Sues Trump

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) An illegal alien is claiming that his reputation was destroyed, not because he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, but because President Donald Trump highlighted his criminal case to condemn illegal immigration.

Ortiz-Vite, who is serving 39 to 102 years after pleading guilty in connection with the killing of Ruby Garcia, filed a handwritten federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump for $75 million after Trump used his case during the 2024 presidential campaign.

The Mexican national is also seeking a public apology from Trump and U.S. citizenship, claiming the president’s remarks about his case caused him humiliation and reputational harm, according to Fox News.

Ortiz-Vite drew national condemnation after he was arrested in connection with Garcia’s brutal killing. Garcia’s body, which had suffered gunshot wounds, was found dumped alongside a road in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in March 2024. At the time of her death, she was in a relationship with Ortiz-Vite.

As first reported by Fox News, Ortiz-Vite is representing himself in the lawsuit and named Trump and White House spokesman Steven Cheung as defendants.

As noted by the outlet, Trump previously highlighted Ortiz-Vite as an example of “America’s problem” in connection with illegal immigration. Ortiz-Vite was featured in campaign advertisements criticizing illegal immigration alongside other illegal aliens convicted of heinous crimes.

But Ortiz-Vite now claims he was the victim of political targeting.

“I was put into a category. Who I was as a person no longer mattered! What only mattered was my race,” Ortiz-Vite wrote, according to Fox News. “My case and immigration status! Once again, it belittled me, shattered my dignity and what I was as a person.”

He implied the attention brought “shame” to his family name.

“The shame it brought to my family name is a reality I have to live with now,” Ortiz-Vite wrote. “I took full responsibility for my actions but for them to use my case for political gain on TV was unjust. Humiliating. When I thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. I was center stage in front of a nation, public scrutiny at its finest!”

Without mentioning Garcia, Ortiz-Vite lamented that his criminal case became a national headline.

“It all became clear to me when I first met with my court-appointed attorneys. They explained how my case had now gotten blown out of proportion and was now a high-profile case!” he wrote. “The shock in their eyes and the tears from mine were a reaction to my realization that I was living everyone’s worst nightmare! To be publicly infamous—a target! To the United States of America, from here everything went downhill. I was now labeled a cold-blooded murderer in the eyes of the people of this nation.”

He continued that the “anxiety and despair” he experienced compared to “no other.”

His lawsuit is likely to go nowhere, as courts typically review grievances filed by inmates before allowing them to proceed, according to Fox News. The illegal alien allegedly failed to cite any specific laws in the lawsuit.

Appeals Court Rejects Biden’s Bid to Block Release of Recordings of Ghostwriter Interviews

Headline USA Editor
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Appeals Court Rejects Biden’s Bid to Block Release of Recordings of Ghostwriter Interviews

(Headline USA) A federal appeals court has rejected a request by Joe Biden to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of his interviews with a memoir ghostwriter before he was elected president.

A divided three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit suspended its decision until Aug. 3 to allow more time for Biden to consider another appeal.

The panel’s 2-1 ruling late Monday found there is a “substantial” public interest in disclosing the material that Biden wants to keep under wraps. Redactions to the recordings would help protect Biden’s privacy, the majority noted.

“We conclude that any remaining incursion on personal privacy from disclosure of the now-redacted materials likely does not outweigh the public interest in disclosure,” the ruling says.

Judge Florence Pan, who was nominated by Biden, a Democrat, wrote a dissenting opinion in which she said Biden has shown a “substantial privacy interest” in keeping the material hidden.

“The conversations at issue took place in Biden’s home, and the recordings of them were obtained by the government in the course of a criminal investigation that did not lead to an indictment,” she wrote.

The appeal also was heard by D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Gregory Katsas. Srinivasan was nominated by President Barack Obama, a Democrat who chose Biden as his vice president. Katsas was nominated by President Donald Trump, a Republican who as president lost to Biden in 2020 but was elected again to the White House in 2024.

Mark Zwonitzer, who worked with Biden on two memoirs, 2007’s “Promises to Keep” and 2017’s “Promise Me, Dad,” interviewed him at his home in 2016 and 2017. Biden’s lawyers say the conversations were candid, personal and intended to remain private.

Biden spokesperson T.J. Ducklo said the former president disagrees with the ruling but “respects the courts and the vital role an independent judiciary plays in a healthy democracy.”

“President Biden’s conversations for a book a decade ago that discussed his late son are private, and were provided to the Department of Justice on the express condition they stay that way,” Ducklo said in a statement. “Reversing course and making them public is just the latest example of this administration weaponizing the (Justice Department) for political retribution.”

The recordings were obtained by special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden’s handling of classified documents from his time as a senator from Delaware and as Obama’s vice president. Republicans in Congress demanded the material after Hur declined to file charges against the then-president.

Biden sued and sought an injunction to prevent the Justice Department under Trump from releasing the recordings to Congress and the conservative Heritage Foundation. The department previously argued that the recordings were exempt from disclosure under public records law.

Biden appealed after U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was nominated by Trump, ruled in June that the public interest in the material outweighed whatever privacy rights Biden had.

Pan noted that the majority is effectively ruling in favor of immediately disclosing the material by denying Biden’s request for an injunction pending appeal.

“That, of course, will moot this case,” she wrote.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

The Gates Foundation Met with Epstein About 30 Times

Headline USA Editor
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The Gates Foundation Met with Epstein About 30 Times

(Headline USA) Bill Gates and the staff of his charitable foundation met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein more than two dozen times even as employees expressed concerns about the reputational risk of working with him, an external review commissioned by the Gates Foundation found.

The conversations appeared to focus on a public health fund that never materialized and a grant to the International Peace Institute, which was run by an associate of Epstein.

The roughly 30 meetings, which took place from 2011 to 2014, included several visits to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and one meeting on the Gates Foundation campus, according to the review by law firm WilmerHale. The review found no evidence the foundation paid Epstein or did anything illegal. The foundation released a three-page summary of WilmerHale’s report Tuesday and did not say if it would release the full version.

Gates, who chairs the Gates Foundation, has not been accused in connection with Epstein’s crimes and has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of girls. He told a congressional committee last month that he made a “grave error in judgment” by meeting with the disgraced financier.

Gates’ name appears in the trove of documents released by the Justice Department as part of its Epstein probe. The Epstein files include the names of powerful men across tech, finance, politics and business, all of whom have denied involvement in Epstein’s crimes.

Epstein was federally indicted in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. He died by suicide while awaiting trial.

The release of the Gates Foundation summary follows last week’s revelation that Warren Buffett, a longtime friend of Gates who has put the majority of his charitable gifts toward the tech billionaire’s philanthropy, omitted the Gates Foundation from his annual donations this year. Buffett explained that the decision was more about his belief that his three children are ready to manage his fortune than it was about Gates’ “distasteful” association with Epstein.

That association began when an adviser to both the foundation and Gates’ personal office introduced the two men, according to the review. Three years earlier, Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Epstein recommended that Gates establish a charitable investment fund to pool wealthy individuals’ gifts for global public health. Staff followed up with Epstein at Gates’ request on the legal considerations and tax benefits to donors.

Those discussions led to a December 2014 breakfast at Epstein’s Manhattan residence with Gates, foundation staff and potential donors. Gates concluded that Epstein had “misrepresented” the donors’ willingness to contribute, according to the review, and the foundation stopped working on the concept.

Epstein also brought together Gates and the head of a nonprofit that would eventually receive money from the foundation. In 2012, the review concluded, Epstein introduced Gates to Terje Rød-Larsen, then the president of the International Peace Institute. The Gates Foundation reached a grant agreement the following year with the International Peace Institute related to polio eradication. Rød-Larsen resigned in 2020 over his connections to Epstein.

Throughout their interactions, according to the review, Gates knew about Epstein’s sex offense and heard concerns about their association from staff working with Epstein on the charitable investment fund.

Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman said the board has approved measures that will strengthen their vetting process and risk management.

“The work we do depends on integrity and earning and maintaining the trust of partners,” Suzman said in a press release. The foundation offered no further comment.

WilmerHale noted that its five-month review did not include access to Gates’ personal communications or encompass Epstein’s interactions with Gates in a personal capacity.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

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