Vanity Fair Editor Allegedly Had an Affair with a Congressman

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Vanity Fair Editor Allegedly Had an Affair with a Congressman

(José Niño, Headline USA) A political reporter’s alleged pattern of pursuing sources romantically has come under scrutiny after her ex fiancé detailed what he describes as affairs with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mark Sanford.

Olivia Nuzzi, the 32-year-old reporter who sent raunchy photos of herself to Kennedy, 71, after interviewing him for New York magazine in 2023, disclosed new information this week about the scandal in excerpts from her upcoming memoir, according to a Daily Beast report. 

On Monday, Nuzzi’s former fiancé, fellow journalist Ryan Lizza, 51, asserted in a Substack post that Kennedy was not her first romantic entanglement arising from journalistic work during their relationship.

In a post titled “Part 1: How I Found Out,” Lizza describes discovering a love letter from Nuzzi addressed to “a famous politician, 32 years older than Olivia, and well known for a sex scandal” who was also “a presidential candidate, a source and the subject of Olivia’s recent profile for New York.”

The revelation comes at the conclusion. He was not describing Kennedy, but former Republican congressman and South Carolina governor Mark Sanford.

Lizza claims Nuzzi conducted an affair with former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford following an interview while Sanford was challenging President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2019.

Lizza places his discovery of Nuzzi’s alleged involvement with Sanford, 65, who served in Congress until 2019 and suspended his presidential campaign in November that year, in March 2020.

Lizza wrote, “She later explained to me that she became ‘infatuated’ with him after their interview, that she couldn’t get him out of her head, and that as her obsession intensified, she sent him increasingly risqué pictures and texts, secretly followed him on the campaign trail when she told me she was out covering other candidates and fantasized about a rendezvous, which was consummated at his home in South Carolina one night after she went dark on me and made up a story about how she was dealing with a crisis concerning her sick mother.”

The Daily Beast has contacted Nuzzi and Sanford for comment.

Lizza, who worked for Politico until launching his Substack earlier this year, stated that while he and Nuzzi had experienced cycles of breakups and reconciliation, they were in “a period of tranquil domesticity” when he learned about her alleged affair with Sanford.

Lizza and Nuzzi remained together despite the alleged affair and became engaged in 2022.

However, the couple ultimately separated after Nuzzi’s alleged affair with Kennedy became public in late summer 2024.

The Health and Human Services secretary, who has been married to actress Cheryl Hines, 60, since 2014, has denied ever being romantically involved with Nuzzi. He and Hines have remained together.

New York magazine terminated Nuzzi’s employment in October 2024, but she has since joined Vanity Fair as an editor.

Lizza makes clear in his post that he objects to Nuzzi’s forthcoming memoir, noting she had told him earlier this year that she would “never talk about any of this again.”

“…it wasn’t true, and, unfortunately, silence no longer seems advisable or even possible,” he wrote.

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

Hillary, Bill Clinton Defy Subpoena Seeking Testimony on Epstein Ties

Luis Cornelio
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Hillary, Bill Clinton Defy Subpoena Seeking Testimony on Epstein Ties

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA)  Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, allegedly refused to appear before the House Oversight Committee for interviews in connection with the congressional investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. 

GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna suggested Monday that the Clintons stonewalled a congressional subpoena over their long-standing Epstein connections. “Notice how House Democrats suddenly have nothing to say about it,” she wrote. 

Their refusal could violate subpoenas issued by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who demanded they testify about their potential knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. 

Willfully defying a congressional subpoena without basis is a federal offense that has put former Trump officials Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro in jail. 

Cover letters released in August said the Clintons benefited from their ties to Epstein, citing Bill Clinton’s flights on Epstein’s private jet in 2002 and 2003. Flight logs show he flew on the plane at least 26 times. 

The letter also cited a photo showing Bill Clinton receiving a massage from an Epstein victim during one of those flights. 

It also noted that Hillary Clinton hired a nephew of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and co-conspirator. He worked on her 2008 presidential campaign and later joined the State Department after she took over in 2009. 

Responding to Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who said the Clintons “have been really quiet this week,” Bill Clinton spokesman Angel Urena insisted Monday, “These emails prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing.” 

He added, “The rest is noise meant to distract from election losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else.” 

Neo-Nazi Leader Admits Plot to Give Poisoned Candy to Jewish Kids in New York City

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Neo-Nazi Leader Admits Plot to Give Poisoned Candy to Jewish Kids in New York City

(Headline USA) The leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi group has pleaded guilty in New York to trying to recruit others to commit violent attacks against Jews and racial minorities, including one plot that would have involved dressing as Santa Claus to hand out poisoned candy to children.

Federal prosecutors said they would seek a sentence of up to 18 years for Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 22-year-old from the Republic of Georgia who goes by the nickname “Commander Butcher.” He pleaded guilty Monday before a federal judge in Brooklyn to soliciting hate crimes and distributing information about making bombs and ricin.

Prosecutors described Chkhikvishvili as the leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, an international extremist group that adheres to an ideology that promotes violence intended to trigger a racial and religious war.

They said the group’s violent solicitations — promoted through Telegram channels and outlined a manifesto called the “Hater’s Handbook” — appear to have inspired multiple real-life killings, including a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier this year that left a 16-year-old student dead.

Chkhikvishvili was arrested in July 2024 in Moldova. He was extradited to the United States in May.

Since 2022, Chkhikvishvili has traveled on multiple occasions to Brooklyn, where he bragged about beating up an elderly Jewish man and instructed others, primarily through text messages, to commit violent acts on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult, according to prosecutors.

When he was approached by an undercover FBI agent in 2023, Chkhikvishvili recruited the official to various schemes, including one that would have involved dressing up as Santa Claus to give poisoned candy to racial minorities, according to prosecutors.

The plot later evolved into poisoning children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said in a court filing that when Chkhikvishvili described his desire to carry out a mass casualty attack in the United States, he said he saw the country as having “big potential” because of easy access to firearms. They also said he suggested targeting homeless people because the government wouldn’t care “even if they die.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

The LA County Sheriff is Investigating a New Sex Battery Claim Against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

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The LA County Sheriff is Investigating a New Sex Battery Claim Against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

(Headline USA) The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it’s investigating a new sexual battery allegation against hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is serving a four-year prison sentence on prostitution-related convictions.

A male music producer and publicist said he was asked in late 2020 to come to a photo shoot involving clothing belonging to the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. at a Los Angeles warehouse, according to a police report. Once there, Combs exposed himself, told the man to perform a sex act, then tossed a dirty shirt that once belonged to the rapper at the man, according to the police report.

The accuser, whose name is redacted from the police report, said he did not tell anyone for several years because he felt embarrassed. He came forward to police in Largo, Florida, this September, shortly after Combs was convicted on other charges.

Combs’ lawyer did not respond to an email Monday from The Associated Press seeking comment on the latest allegations.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Monday that it received an official copy of the report from the Florida department on Friday, and will investigate the allegations.

The report also details a March 2021 encounter in which the accuser claims two men covered his head before Combs came into the room, called him a snitch and sexually assaulted the accuser, according to the police report.

Combs was convicted in July of flying his girlfriends and male sex workers around the country to engage in drug-fueled sexual encounters in multiple places over many years. However, he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life.

He is set to be released in May 2028, though he can earn reductions in his time behind bars through his participation in substance abuse treatment and other prison programs.

B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace, collaborated with Combs on music. He was fatally shot in Los Angeles in 1997.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Federal Judges Block Texas From Using Its New US House Map in the 2026 Midterms

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Federal Judges Block Texas From Using Its New US House Map in the 2026 Midterms

(Headline USA) A federal court on Tuesday blocked Texas from using a redrawn U.S. House map that touched off a nationwide redistricting battle and is a major piece of President Donald Trump’s efforts to preserve a slim Republican majority ahead of the 2026 elections.

Texas this summer was the first state to meet Trump’s demands in what has become an expanding national battle over redistricting. Republicans drew the state’s new map to give the GOP five additional seats, and Missouri and North Carolina followed with new maps adding an additional Republican seat each. To counter those moves, California voters approved a ballot initiative to give Democrats an additional five seats there.

“The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics. To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map. But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map,” the ruling states.

The 2-1 decision followed a nearly two-week trial in El Paso, Texas. Texas’ expected appeal would be directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, under a federal law dealing with redistricting lawsuits.

A coalition of civil rights groups representing Black and Hispanic voters argued the map reduced the influence of minority voters, making it a racial gerrymander that violates the federal Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.

They sought an order blocking Texas from using the map while their case proceeded, which would force the state to use the map drawn by the GOP-controlled Legislature in 2021 for next year’s elections.

The panel of judges granted the critics’ request, signaling that they think those critics have a substantial chance of winning their case at trial. Judges appointed by Trump and Democratic President Barack Obama formed the majority. An appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan dissented.

“Without an injunction, the racial minorities the Plaintiff Groups represent will be forced to be represented in Congress based on likely unconstitutional racial classifications for at least two years,” the ruling said.

Republicans in Texas said repeatedly during the Legislature’s debates this summer, and after, that they were redrawing districts solely to help Republicans win more seats. The U.S. Supreme Court gave states the go-ahead to pursue partisan gerrymandering by ruling in 2019 that it’s a political issue beyond the reach of the federal courts.

But the two appeals judges concluded that a major reason that GOP Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican lawmakers moved was a letter from the head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in July, directing Texas to redraw four districts that it said violated the Voting Rights Act.

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant U.S. attorney general overseeing the division, cited a ruling last year by the conservative federal appeals court for Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 does not allow separate minority groups to “aggregate their populations” to argue that a map illegally dilutes minority voters’ ability to elect the candidate of their choice. The court said each group’s situation must be analyzed separately.

Dhillon argued that so-called “coalition” districts, where no group has a majority but minority voters together outnumber non-Hispanic white voters, must be dismantled as “vestiges of an unconstitutional racially based gerrymandering past.”

“The Legislature adopted those racial objectives,” the majority said. “The redistricting bill’s sponsors made numerous statements suggesting that they had intentionally manipulated the districts’ lines to create more majority-Hispanic and majority-Black districts.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the ruling.

Republicans hold 25 of Texas’ 38 congressional seats, with Democrats holding two of their 13 seats in districts that Trump carried in 2024. Had the new map been in place last year, Trump would have carried 30 congressional districts by 10 percentage points or more, making it likely that the GOP would have won that many seats as well.

Democrats across the U.S. have described the redistricting in Texas and other states as a power grab by Trump designed to prevent a congressional check on him, regardless of voter anger. Republicans are keen to avoid a repeat of the 2018 midterms, when they lost the majority and the Democratic-controlled House twice impeached Trump.

The new map decreased from 16 to 14 the number of congressional districts where minorities comprise a majority of voting-age citizens.

In doing so, they eliminated what had been five of nine coalition districts. Five of six Democratic lawmakers drawn into districts with other incumbents are Black or Hispanic.

Yet Republicans argued that the map is better for minority voters. While five “coalition” districts are eliminated, there’s a new, eighth Hispanic-majority district, and two new Black-majority districts.

Critics consider each of those new districts a sham, arguing that the majority is so slim that white voters, who tend to turn out in larger numbers, will control election results.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

Meta Prevails in Historic FTC Antitrust Case, Won’t Have to Break off WhatsApp, Instagram

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Meta Prevails in Historic FTC Antitrust Case, Won’t Have to Break off WhatsApp, Instagram

(Headline USA) Meta has prevailed over an existential challenge to its business that could have forced the tech giant to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp after a judge ruled that the company does not hold a monopoly in social networking.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued his ruling Tuesday after the historic antitrust trial wrapped up in late May. His decision follows two separate rulings that branded Google an illegal monopoly in both search and online advertising, dealing yet another regulatory blow to the tech industry that for years enjoyed nearly unbridled growth.

The Federal Trade Commission “continues to insist that Meta competes with the same old rivals it has for the last decade, that the company holds a monopoly among that small set, and that it maintained that monopoly through anticompetitive acquisitions,” Boasberg wrote in his ruling. “Whether or not Meta enjoyed monopoly power in the past, though, the agency must show that it continues to hold such power now. The Court’s verdict today determines that the FTC has not done so.”

Meta Platforms Inc., the FTC had argued, has maintained a monopoly by pursuing CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s strategy, “expressed in 2008: ‘It is better to buy than compete.’ True to that maxim, Facebook has systematically tracked potential rivals and acquired companies that it viewed as serious competitive threats.”

During his April testimony, Zuckerberg pushed back against the FTC’s contention that Facebook bought Instagram to neutralize a threat. In his line of questioning, FTC attorney Daniel Matheson repeatedly brought up emails — many of them more than a decade old — written by Zuckerberg and his associates before and after the acquisition of Instagram.

While acknowledging the documents, Zuckerberg has often sought to downplay the contents, saying he wrote them in the early stages of considering the acquisition and that what he wrote at the time didn’t capture the full scope of his interest in the company. 

But the case was not about the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp more than a decade ago, which the FTC approved at the time, but about whether Meta holds a monopoly now. The FTC, Boasberg wrote in the ruling, could only win if it proved “current or imminent legal violation.”

The FTC’s complaint said Facebook also enacted policies designed to make it difficult for smaller rivals to enter the market and “neutralize perceived competitive threats,” just as the world shifted its attention to mobile devices from desktop computers.

Meta said Tuesday’s decision “recognizes that Meta faces fierce competition.”

“Our products are beneficial for people and businesses and exemplify American innovation and economic growth. We look forward to continuing to partner with the Administration and to invest in America,” the Menlo Park, California-based company said in a statement.

The social media landscape has changed so much since the FTC filed its lawsuit in 2020, Boasberg wrote, that each time the court examined Meta’s apps and competition, they changed. Two opinions to dismiss the case — filed in 2021 and 2022 — didn’t even mention popular social video platform TikTok. Today, it “holds center stage as Meta’s fiercest rival.”

Quoting the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, “that no man can ever step into the same river twice,” Boasberg said the same is true for the online world of social media as well.

“The landscape that existed only five years ago when the Federal Trade Commission brought this antitrust suit has changed markedly. While it once might have made sense to partition apps into separate markets of social networking and social media, that wall has since broken down,” he wrote.

Emarketer analyst Minda Smiley said Meta’s win “is not necessarily surprising considering the lengths it’s gone to in recent years to keep up with TikTok.”

“But from a regulatory standpoint, Meta is far from out of the woods: next year, major social networks will face landmark trials in the US regarding children’s mental health,” she added. “Still, today’s win is surely a boost for the company as it battles criticism and questions over how its massive AI spending will ultimately benefit Meta in the long run.”

Facebook bought Instagram — then a scrappy photo-sharing app with no ads and a small cult following — in 2012. The $1 billion cash and stock purchase price was eye-popping at the time, though the deal’s value fell to $750 million after Facebook’s stock price dipped following its initial public offering in May 2012.

Instagram was the first company Facebook bought and kept running as a separate app. Up until then, Facebook was known for smaller “acqui-hires” — a type of popular Silicon Valley deal in which a company purchases a startup as a way to hire its talented workers, then shuts the acquired company down. Two years later, it did it again with the messaging app WhatsApp, which it purchased for $22 billion.

WhatsApp and Instagram helped Facebook move its business from desktop computers to mobile devices, and to remain popular with younger generations as rivals like Snapchat (which it also tried, but failed, to buy) and TikTok emerged. 

However, the FTC has a narrow definition of Meta’s competitive market, excluding companies like TikTok, YouTube and Apple’s messaging service from being considered rivals to Instagram and WhatsApp.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Lawmakers, Victims Call for Release of Epstein Files Ahead of Vote

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Lawmakers, Victims Call for Release of Epstein Files Ahead of Vote

(Andrew Rice, The Center Square) Republicans, Democrats and alleged victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein called on the U.S. House of Representatives to approve a resolution to release unclassified documents related to Epstein.

Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Penn.; Thomas Massie, R-Ky.,; and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., spoke at a news conference ahead of an expected vote at 2 p.m.

The resolution calls on the Justice Department to “publicly disclose all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in its possession that relate to Epstein or [his associate Ghisalene] Maxwell.”

On Tuesday, Massie highlighted the path to obtain enough signatures on the discharge petition that would bring the bill to a House vote. A discharge petition requires 218 signatures from the House of Representatives to force a bill out of committee and into an official vote.

“We’ve fought the president, the attorney general, the FBI director, the speaker of the House and the vice president to get this win,” Massie said.

Trump has vowed to fund a political challenger to take Massie’s congressional seat.

Ahead of the vote, victims of Jeffrey Epstein spoke called on the House to approve release of the documents and highlighted their involvement in details of the case.

Annie Farmer, one of those speaking at the conference, said she and her sister Maria met Epstein and Maxwell when Annie was 16. She said Maria reported Epstein and Maxwell’s actions to the FBI in 1996 but did not receive a follow up.

“This is not an issue of a few corrupt Democrats or a few corrupt Republicans, this is a case of institutional betrayal,” Farmer said.

Sky Roberts, brother of Virginia Giuffre, spoke as well. Giuffre, a victim of Epstein, died by suicide in April.

“Today, we find ourselves in a place of deep sorrow, shattered by the loss of our beloved sister, yet we are honored and privileged to carry her voice forward and continue her relentless fight alongside her fellow survivor sisters,” Roberts said. “These are not just political tools for you to use, these are real survivors, real trauma,” Roberts said.

Charlene Rochard, another woman who met Epstein as a child, called for transparency.

“Let me be clear, this is not a hoax,” Rochard said. “What we endured was real, and it has scarred lives across five presidential administrations.”

Khanna said he hopes President Trump will meet with Epstein’s victims.

“My goal is to get justice here, so I hope he will meet them and really hear what’s happened and actually take action,” Khanna said.

After calling the legislation “a Democratic hoax,” President Trump called on House Republicans to approve the release of documents.

“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party,” Trump wrote.

In a separate news conference on Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would vote to release the files on Epstein.

“I think it could be close to a unanimous vote,” Johnson said.

Massie called on the U.S. Senate to pass the same legislation after it gets approved in the House of Representatives.

“It may be tempting for them to get cute and to do things that will limit the release of these documents,” Massie said. “They are afraid that people will be embarrassed, well that’s the whole point here, they need to be brought to justice and embarrassment has no reason to stop it.”

House Votes Overwhelmingly to Force Release of Epstein Files, Sending Bill to Senate

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House Votes Overwhelmingly to Force Release of Epstein Files, Sending Bill to Senate

(Headline USA) The House voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill Tuesday to force the Justice Department to publicly release its files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a remarkable display of approval for an effort that had struggled for months to overcome opposition from President Donald Trump and Republican leadership.

When a small bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a petition in July to maneuver around House Speaker Mike Johnson’s control of which bills reach the House floor, it appeared a longshot effort — especially as Trump urged his supporters to dismiss the matter as a “hoax.”

But both Trump and Johnson failed in their efforts to prevent the vote. Now the president has bowed to the growing momentum behind the bill and even said he will sign it if it also passes the Senate.

The bill passed 427-1, with the only no vote coming from Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican who is a fervent supporter of Trump. He also chairs a subcommittee that initiated a subpoena on the Justice Department for the Epstein files.

Tuesday’s vote further showed the pressure mounting on lawmakers and the Trump administration to meet long-held demands that the Justice Department release its case files on Epstein, a well-connected financier who killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges he sexually abused and trafficked underage girls.

“These women have fought the most horrific fight that no woman should have to fight. And they did it by banding together and never giving up,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as she stood with some of the abuse survivors outside the Capitol Tuesday morning.

“That’s what we did by fighting so hard against the most powerful people in the world, even the president of the United States, in order to make this vote happen today,” added Greene, a Georgia Republican and longtime Trump loyalist.

A separate investigation conducted by the House Oversight Committee has released thousands of pages of emails and other documents from Epstein’s estate, showing his connections to global leaders, Wall Street powerbrokers, influential political figures and Trump himself. In the United Kingdom, King Charles III stripped his disgraced brother Prince Andrew of his remaining titles and evicted him from his royal residence after pressure to act over his relationship with Epstein.

Pushing for more accountability, the survivors of Epstein’s abuse cast the current effort in Congress as a step towards accountability for Epstein’s crimes after years of government failure under multiple presidential administrations.

Trump has said he cut ties with Epstein years ago, but tried for months to move past the demands for disclosure. On Monday, he told reporters that Epstein was connected to more Democrats and that he didn’t want the Epstein files to “detract from the great success of the Republican Party.”

Still, many in the Republican base have continued to demand the release of the files. Adding to that pressure, several survivors of Epstein’s abuse rallied outside the Capitol Tuesday morning. Bundled in jackets against the November chill and holding photos of themselves as teenagers, they recounted their stories of abuse.

“We are exhausted from surviving the trauma and then surviving the political conflicts that surround it,” said Jena-Lisa Jones, one of the survivors.

She added that she had voted for Trump, but had a message for the president: “I beg you Donald Trump, please stop making this political.”

The group of women also met with Johnson and rallied outside the Capitol in September, but have had to wait months for the vote.

That’s because Johnson kept the House closed for legislative business for nearly two months and also refused to swear-in Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona during the government shutdown. After winning a special election on Sept. 23, Grijalva had pledged to provide the crucial 218th vote to the petition for the Epstein files bill. But only after she was sworn into office last week could she sign her name to the discharge petition to give it majority support in the 435-member House.

It quickly became apparent the bill would pass, and both Johnson and Trump began to fold. Trump on Sunday said Republicans should vote for the bill.

Yet Greene told reporters that Trump’s decision to fight the bill had betrayed his Make America Great Again political movement. It’s one of the reasons behind her prominent split with the president.

“Watching this turn into a fight has ripped MAGA apart,” she said.

Rather than waiting until next week for the discharge position to officially take effect, Johnson is moving to hold the vote under a procedure that requires a two-thirds majority.

But Johnson also spent a morning news conference listing off problems that he sees with the legislation. He argued that the bill could have unintended consequences by disclosing parts of federal investigations that are usually kept private, including information on victims.

“This is a raw and obvious political exercise,” Johnson said.

Still, he planned to vote for the bill. “None of us want to go on record and in any way be accused of not being for maximum transparency,” he added.

Meanwhile, House Democrats celebrated the vote as a rare win for the minority.

“It’s a complete and total surrender, because as Democrats we made clear from the very beginning, the survivors and the American people deserve full and complete transparency as it relates to the lives that were ruined by Jeffrey Epstein,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.

It’s not clear how the Senate will handle the bill.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has previously been circumspect when asked about the legislation and instead said he trusted the Justice Department to release information on the Epstein investigation.

But what the Justice Department has released so far under Trump was mostly already public. The bill would go further, forcing the release within 30 days of all files and communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the investigation into his death in federal prison. Information about Epstein’s victims or continuing federal investigations would be allowed to be redacted, but not information due to “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”

Johnson also said he wants to see the Senate amend the bill to protect the information of “victims and whistleblowers.”

But the bipartisan pair who sponsored the bill, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., warned senators against doing anything that would “muck it up” and said they would face the same public uproar that forced both Trump and Johnson to back down.

“We’ve needlessly dragged this out for four months,” Massie said, adding that those raising problems with the bill “are afraid that people will be embarrassed. Well, that’s the whole point here.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Dramatic Year for Silver: Market On Pace for Fifth Straight Supply Shortfall

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Dramatic Year for Silver: Market On Pace for Fifth Straight Supply Shortfall

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) The silver market is on track for its fifth straight structural market deficit.

The recent silver squeeze that pushed the silver price to a record high was partly due to a displacement of metal. There was too much silver in New York and not enough in London and India. However, the situation underscored a more fundamental problem in the silver market.

There isn’t enough metal being produced to meet demand.

A Dramatic Year!

Metals Focus called 2025 a “dramatic year” for the silver market, citing “record metal prices, an unprecedented liquidity squeeze resulting in record-high lease rates, record volumes being delivered into CME vaults as a reflection of tariff concerns in the U.S., and silver being officially designated as a critical mineral by the U.S. government.”

“These developments coincide with elevated macroeconomic and geopolitical risks, including US trade policy, prompting investors to lift allocations to precious metals for portfolio diversification. As a result, investment demand has strengthened noticeably, comfortably offsetting the weakness across all key areas of silver demand.”

The silver price has gained over 74 percent this year and set a new record of $54.48. That compares to a 52 percent price increase for gold and a 14 percent gain for the S&P 500.

According to projections by Metals Focus, overall silver demand is forecast to decline by 4 percent year over year, driven by a 2 percent decline in industrial offtake.

According to the Silver Institute, industrial demand softened this year due to “global economic uncertainty stemming from tariff policies and geopolitical tensions, as well as a more rapid pace of thrifting due to soaring silver prices.”

However, despite the modest drop in demand, 2025 will still likely come in with the second-highest silver industrial offtake on record.

Jewelry demand is also soft due to higher prices. Metals Focus forecasts the use of silver in jewelry will fall by 4 percent, with a more significant 11 percent decline in silverware.

While silver bar and coin buying are up significantly, there are also higher levels of selling as some investors seek to book profits. This is especially evident in the U.S., where selling is exceeding buying. Weakness in the U.S. market is offsetting gains in India, Germany, and Australia.

Meanwhile, silver held by ETFs was up by 18 percent as of November 6.

Mine supply is projected to remain flat this year at 813 million ounces. With recycling, global supply is expected to rise by a modest 1 percent.

Given the forecast supply and demand levels, Metals Focus projects demand will outstrip supply by 95 million ounces. That would bring the cumulative 5-year market deficit to 820 million ounces, an entire year of average mine output.

Since 2010, the silver market has accumulated a supply deficit of over 580 million ounces.

Even with higher prices, it is unlikely that mine supply will quickly grow to erase the supply shortfall.

Silver mine output peaked in 2016 at 900 million ounces. Up until last year, silver production had dropped by an average of 1.4 percent each year. In 2023, mines produced 814 million ounces of silver.

It appears that for the next few years at least, we will have to depend on drawdowns of above-ground stocks to meet the silver supply deficit.

This is fundamentally bullish for the silver market, and why many analysts believe the silver bull run is just getting started.

Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

Immigration Arrests Escalating in Charlotte

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Immigration Arrests Escalating in Charlotte

(Alan Wooten, The Center Square) Three days of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in Charlotte are in the books, and the arrests are piling up.

Raleigh is next on Tuesday.

Critics and protestors are getting heavy criticism for their actions now compared to when Iryna Zarutska was killed on a city light rail train. Supporters are hopeful a dent in international gang activity is being achieved, and public safety is being enhanced.

The battle line has fallen along the major party lines of Republicans (for it) and Democrats (against). While there have been protest scenes and even attempts to stop lawmen from their work in Charlotte, there were no protests when Zarutska was killed.

Decarlos Brown is the suspect charged with first-degree murder of Zarutska and indicted by a federal grand jury. Zarutska was aboard a light rail train in North Carolina’s largest city on Aug. 22 when she died.

Video evidence released by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police and a signed affidavit with still shots from the video shows Brown, 34, stabbing her to death. Brown is not someone who came illegally into the country.

On Monday, U.S. Homeland Security led by Secretary Kristi Noem said Operation Charlotte’s Web netted 130 arrests of people illegally in America over the first two days. Criminal records of 44 of them included aggravated assault, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault on a police officer, battery, driving under the influence, and hit-and-run.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday night said 450,000 migrant children nationwide are being sought in order to reunite them with families.

In a statement, Homeland Security said, “There is absolutely no excuse to continue allowing criminal illegal aliens to terrorize our American communities. These are violent assailants, gang members, and repeat offenders who have zero regard for the rule of law in our country. They are here illegally and should never have been here in the first place.

“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we are removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from our communities once and for all.”

Second-term Republican President Donald Trump has sent the National Guard to the cities of Washington, Los Angeles and Memphis, with authorizations for Chicago and Portland blocked by judges. Throughout his second term since Jan. 20, regional offices of Enforcement and Removal Operations, the FBI led by Kash Patel, and Homeland Security led by Noem have spotlighted removal by the thousands of people illegally in the United States.

In North Carolina, three members of the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 5 asked first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein to deploy the National Guard to Charlotte. The former two-term state attorney general refused.

The efforts to enforce the nation’s laws have been met by sympathizers, many holding protests and others – including media outlets and elected politicians – suggesting ways for immigrants illegally in the country to avoid federal lawmen. There are accusations of mistreatment, including by Stein; and there are accusations of lawmen such as county sheriffs failing to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In North Carolina, it is illegal for any of the 100 county sheriffs or their deputies to not cooperate with ICE. Former two-term Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, a four-term top prosecutor in the state, three times vetoed legislation of the requirement; the last was overturned by the General Assembly in 2024.

Published reports say about 15% of students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools did not attend the 185 public schools on Monday.

In a statement, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said in part, “The rights and constitutional protections of every person in Charlotte – regardless of immigration status – must be upheld. Our city has a long-standing commitment to fairness, dignity and justice.”

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