Key events
A majority of Americans blame Donald Trump for surging gasoline prices, which is weighing on his Republican party ahead of November’s congressional midterm elections, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Some 77% of registered voters in the poll, which concluded early this week, said Trump bears at least a fair amount of responsibility for the recent rise in gas prices, which was sparked by his decision to launch a war on Iran along with US ally Israel.
The view was widely shared across the political spectrum, with 55% of Republican voters, 82% of independents and 95% of Democrats pinning blame on the president for the higher costs.
Some 58% of voters, including one in five Republicans and two-thirds of independents, said they would be less likely to support candidates in the November midterms who support Trump’s approach to the conflict with Iran.
Epstein files release to be investigated by DOJ watchdog
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The Justice Department’s internal watchdog will review the agency’s handling of records related to financier Jeffrey Epstein, including whether all relevant documents were disclosed and properly redacted.
William Blier, acting head of the department’s Office of Inspector General, said the inquiry will examine compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, legislation passed by Congress in November requiring the public release of records related to Epstein, with limited exceptions.
He said:
Our preliminary objective is to evaluate the DOJ’s processes for identifying, redacting, and releasing records in its possession as required by the Act.
Blier added that the office will also look into “DOJ’s processes for addressing post-release publication concerns.”
President Donald Trump, who had previously dismissed controversy surrounding Epstein as a “hoax” driven by Democrats, initially opposed the measure before ultimately backing and signing it amid pressure from fellow Republicans.
The Justice Department released approximately 3.5 million pages of documents related to its Epstein investigations, though the disclosure came more than a month after the statutory deadline for release.
Politico reported on Thursday:
Alleged victims of sexual abuse by Epstein have complained that DOJ repeatedly failed to redact photos and other details that could reveal their identities and did not make public all the information prosecutors have about Epstein associates who were allegedly aware of his crimes or conspired with him but were never charged.
Lawmakers have made similar complaints and have said they suspect DOJ has not released some relevant documents.
In other developments:
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The Trump administration has moved to reclassify marijuana, more than four months after Trump signed an executive order directing the attorney general to move it from schedule I to schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act.
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Trump, apparently abandoning his attempt to frighten Iran’s leaders into negotiating by channeling Richard Nixon’s “madman” theory, ruled out the use of nuclear weapons in his conflict with Iran.
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Trump has decided to invite wanted war criminal Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in December at Trump’s Doral golf resort, the Washington Post reports.
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Trump confirmed that the government is considering a plan to bail out or ‘“just buy” Spirit Airlines, but confused Barack Obama with Joe Biden, and Jet Blue with People Express, which has been defunct since 1987.
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India’s foreign ministry denounced comments from the rightwing US commentator Michael Savage, posted on social media by Trump, which argued against awarding birthright citizenship to the US-born children of immigrants “from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet”.