The New York Times
July 24, 2025
Trump Administration Live Updates: Justice Dept. to Interview Epstein Associate Ghislaine Maxwell
Where Things Stand
Ghislaine Maxwell: Justice Department officials are expected to interview Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday, two people with knowledge of the situation said. The interview of Ms. Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, is part of the department’s effort to quell criticism that it is concealing details of Mr. Epstein’s crimes and interactions with high-profile figures, including President Trump. Read more ›
U.N. ambassador: Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire broke with fellow Democrats to send Mr. Trump’s nominee for U.N. ambassador to the full Senate. She cited an unusual reason to advance the nomination of Michael Waltz: In exchange for her vote, administration officials promised to release $75 million in frozen aid, money already approved by Congress, to feed people in Haiti and Nigeria. Read more ›
Epstein files: A lawyer for hundreds of Mr. Epstein’s victims said the executors of the financier’s estate have a copy of a book in which Mr. Trump was reported to have signed a bawdy poem and drawing for Mr. Epstein’s 50th birthday. The lawyer told MSNBC that he believed the estate would be willing to give the book, compiled by Ms. Maxwell in 2003, to federal authorities. Mr. Trump has denied signing the book. Read more ›
Reporting from the Capitol
After Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, cast the tiebreaking vote on Thursday to advance President Trump’s nominee for American ambassador to the United Nations to the floor, she cited an unusual reason.
Part of her decision to vote Michael Waltz’s nomination out of the panel, she said, was that he “represents a moderating force with a distinguished record of military service and an extensive background in national security policymaking.”
The Agriculture Department will move most of its Washington-based employees out of the nation’s capital, the agency announced Thursday.
Brooke L. Rollins, the agriculture secretary, said in a memo that the agency would keep no more than 2,000 of the 4,600 members of its current Washington work force at offices in the area, instead spreading employees across five regional hubs. The memo also outlined plans to consolidate or eliminate local offices for subagencies focused on research, statistics, nutrition, forestry and conservation.
President Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, said the administration was recalling its team in Doha, Qatar, where they were attempting to mediate a cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel, after a Hamas response to the latest offer showed “a lack of desire to reach a cease-fire in Gaza.”
He added, “We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza.”
The nomination of Michael Waltz, the former national security adviser, to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations advanced out of committee with one Democrat voting yes and one Republican voting no in the final 12-to-10 count. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was the sole Republican who sought to impede Waltz’s path to a full Senate vote, while Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire broke with her fellow Democrats to support his nomination.
Shaheen acknowledged in a statement Waltz’s use of an unclassified app, Signal, to discuss sensitive information with other administration officials, but said he “represents a moderating force with a distinguished record of military service and an extensive background in national security policymaking.”
Speaker Mike Johnson said in a television interview that he did not consider the Jeffrey Epstein case to be a hoax, a label President Trump has used in the face of backlash over his administration’s handling of materials in the case. “It’s not a hoax,” he told CBS News on Wednesday. “Of course not.”
Justice Department officials are expected to interview Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, in Tallahassee, Fla., on Thursday, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
Todd Blanche, the No. 2 official at the department who brokered the meeting, flew to Florida on Wednesday night, though it was not clear whether he would attend or conduct the interview, one of those people said.
It was also unclear what information Ms. Maxwell, who has made it plain she wants out of prison, could provide beyond what is already in the public record.
The interview is part of the department’s effort to quell criticism that federal officials are concealing details about Mr. Epstein’s crimes and interactions with high-profile figures, including President Trump. A report in The Wall Street Journal, which described a bawdy birthday poem signed by Mr. Trump as part of a book that Ms. Maxwell put together for Mr. Epstein’s 50th birthday, has further fueled the firestorm.
The involvement of Mr. Blanche, a former criminal lawyer for Mr. Trump, in contacting Ms. Maxwell is an extraordinary effort by an administration official to address a presidential political crisis. It has little, if any, law enforcement implication, and is one of several harried and hurried actions in recent days intended to distract from the furor over the administration’s decision to not release more files in the Epstein case. The case is an obsession of many far-right influencers at the core of Mr. Trump’s base, and officials now in the administration had suggested during the campaign that they would release the files.
On Wednesday, a House Oversight subcommittee voted to subpoena the department for all of the remaining documents that have not been released, a rebuke of the decision this month by Attorney General Pam Bondi and the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, to reverse course and not release documents and video, citing concerns for victims and witnesses.
All of these efforts by the White House and the Justice Department appear to be stoking even more interest in the case. Increasingly, critics are focusing on Mr. Trump’s friendship with Mr. Epstein, which ended in rancor two decades ago.
Ms. Bondi informed Mr. Trump in the spring that his name appeared in the Epstein files, according to three people with knowledge of the exchange.
The disclosure came as part of a broader briefing on the re-examination by F.B.I. agents and prosecutors of the case against Mr. Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. It was made by Ms. Bondi during a meeting that also included Mr. Blanche and covered a variety of topics. Ms. Bondi frequently meets with Mr. Trump to brief him on various matters, officials said.
Mr. Blanche and Ms. Bondi, who also served as a lawyer for Mr. Trump, informed the president that his name, as well as those of other high-profile figures, had come up in their re-examination of documents connected to the case that were not public.
It is not clear how significant the references to Mr. Trump are.
In an interview on Wednesday night, a lawyer for hundreds of Mr. Epstein’s victims said the disgraced financier’s estate has a copy of the birthday book.
The lawyer, Brad Edwards, made the comment in an interview with the MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell. Mr. Edwards also said he believed the estate would turn the book over to federal authorities if requested.
“I know the executors are in possession of this book,” Mr. Edwards said.
The birthday book, a compilation of messages from some of Mr. Epstein’s associates and friends at the time, was compiled in 2003 by Ms. Maxwell, The Journal reported last week.
In a statement, the Epstein estate said it would comply with all lawful processes.
Mr. Edwards did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Trump has denied writing the message and has sued The Journal for defamation.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the senior Democrat in the Senate, called on the Trump administration to give a closed door briefing to all senators on the files the Justice Department has on Jeffrey Epstein. “The Senate deserves to hear directly from senior administration officials about Donald Trump’s name appearing in these files and the complete lack of transparency shown to date,” Schumer said.
A lawyer for hundreds of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims said the disgraced financier’s estate has a copy of a birthday book in which President Trump is reported to have signed a bawdy poem and drawing in honor of Mr. Epstein’s 50th birthday.
The lawyer, Brad Edwards, made the comment in an interview on Wednesday night with the MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell. Mr. Edwards also said he believed the estate would turn the book over to federal authorities if requested.
Justice Department officials are expected to interview Ghislaine Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein associate serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for sex trafficking, in Tallahassee, Fla., on Thursday, according two people with knowledge of the situation. Todd Blanche, the No. 2 official at the department who brokered the meeting, is in Florida, though it was not clear whether he would attend or conduct the interview, one of those people said. The interview is part of the department’s effort to quell criticism that it is concealing details about Epstein’s interactions with high-profile figures, including President Trump.
Mattathias Schwartz covers the federal courts.
A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that President Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship violated the Constitution, affirming a district court judge’s nationwide injunction and bringing the issue one step closer to a full constitutional review by the Supreme Court.
In a 48-page opinion, two of the three judges on the panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that Mr. Trump’s executive order “contradicts the plain language of the 14th Amendment’s grant of citizenship to ‘all persons born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’”
The Justice Department announced on Wednesday the formation of a task force to look into unsubstantiated allegations by President Trump that President Barack Obama and his aides ordered an investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s connections to Russia to destroy him.
The move was posted in an ambiguous, bare-bones statement on the department’s website. It demonstrated Mr. Trump’s determination to deploy the levers of federal law enforcement to pursue a campaign of retribution and self-vindication against those who once sought to hold him accountable.
Chris Cameron covered President Trump’s 2024 campaign and his many publicity stunts through the election and the opening months of his second term. He reported from Washington.
Throughout his political career, President Trump has perfected his ability to command media attention through incendiary statements and made-for-headlines announcements. He has also mastered shifting blame to his subordinates and political opponents, turning the public spotlight to his benefit.
But the last two weeks have tested this well-worn strategy as Mr. Trump has tried to pivot attention away from his administration’s decision to close the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. He has also sought to distance himself from Mr. Epstein after new reports in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times detailed their past relationship.
The Latest on the Trump Administration
E.P.A.: The environmental agency is said to have drafted a plan that would end its ability to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and fight climate change.
Transgender Care: Under pressure from the administration, hospitals across the United States have moved recently to curtail transgender services to minors, even in cities and states led by Democrats.
FEMA: The head of the agency’s urban search and rescue unit has resigned, and is said to have told colleagues that he was frustrated by hurdles the administration imposed that delayed the response to deadly flooding in Texas.
UNESCO: The administration announced it would withdraw from the U.N. cultural organization by the end of 2026, saying U.S. involvement was “not in the national interest.”
Showdown in New Jersey: After a panel of federal judges rejected a bid by Alina Habba, a former Trump lawyer, to remain the state’s U.S. attorney, Attorney General Pam Bondi quickly intervened.
National Park Service: Employees have flagged descriptions and displays at scores of sites for review in connection with President Trump’s directive to remove or cover up materials that “inappropriately disparage Americans.”
How We Report on the Trump Administration
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