The state of New Mexico has sued the Department of Justice and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, saying the federal government has blocked it from carrying out its own investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. The lawsuit said the Justice Department and Blanche had actively harmed victims and undermined public interest by withholding information from state investigators. It said New Mexico was one of the few jurisdictions that could still bring criminal charges related to Epstein's crimes. The Justice Department said it was withholding some information from New Mexico to protect victims' privacy and conform with court rulings about evidence.
From
To
A California man who was arrested at President Donald Trump’s Los Angeles-area golf course was pretending to be part of the security detail preparing for Trump’s visit and had a stash of illegal weapons in his car and home. Taele's initial appearance in downtown Los Angeles federal court Wednesday was cancelled. He is not yet in federal custody. Authorities say Jeanine John Taele appeared to be monitoring security before the president's visit there. Law enforcement officials say they seized guns and ammunition from Taele's home after he was arrested Sunday at Trump National Golf Club. Trump attended a Republican National Committee fundraiser at the club on Tuesday. Taele faces both state and federal charges.
Lawyers for former Tennessee basketball player Zakai Zeigler have filed an amended lawsuit over his eligibility. The new complaint uses the NCAA’s recent sweeping changes to its eligibility rules to bolster Zeigler's case challenging the previous policy of limiting athletes to four seasons in five years. The amended lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for Tennessee’s Eastern District cites the new age-based eligibility rules that the NCAA adopted in June. For years, the NCAA allowed athletes five years to complete four years of competition. Zeigler challenged that rule but ultimately dropped his bid to play a fifth season of basketball.
A federal appeals court has ruled that the Trump administration improperly ended a multi-billion-dollar program for clean energy projects. This decision supports a lower court's ruling that nonprofits chosen to run the Biden-era effort should have access the funds. The ruling is temporarily on hold, allowing the Environmental Protection Agency time to appeal to the Supreme Court. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, known as a "green bank," was designed to finance small energy projects. The Trump administration accused the nonprofits of mismanagement and fraud, freezing the funds. The groups denied wrongdoing and sued, claiming legal violations.
Federal appeals court says Trump administration wrongly terminated multi-billion program to boost clean energy projects.
The man serving two life terms plus 40 years after pleading guilty to federal charges related to killing a top Democratic lawmaker and her husband has made his initial appearance in state court. The procedural hearing for Vance Boelter comes less than two weeks after his sentencing in federal court. He pleaded guilty to the federal charges related to the killing of former House Speaker Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as critically wounding state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. If convicted of the state charges, Boelter could face mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole.
AP Wire
Twenty-five states sued the Trump administration Monday over its latest tariffs, calling them a pretext for replacing import taxes the Supreme Court struck down in February. The United States last month imposed double-digit tariffs on 59 countries and the European Union, charging that they had not done enough to crack down on imports produced by forced labor. The new tariffs took effect just as the clock ran out on temporary tariffs President Donald Trump had turned to after the Supreme Court defeat. “After losing at the Supreme Court, the administration is once again trying to illegally raise taxes on families and businesses with a new round of tariffs,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
25 states sue over Trump's latest tariffs, calling them pretext for replacing levies Supreme Court struck down.
AP Wire
Two Republican senators who threatened to block acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s bid to lead the Justice Department say they will vote to advance his nomination. The announcement Monday ends an impasse over plans to create a fund to compensate allies of President Donald Trump. The statement from Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis came after Blanche issued an order late Sunday formally rescinding the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate people who believe they were unfairly prosecuted by the Justice Department. Cornyn and Tillis had said they would not support Blanche’s nomination without written confirmation that the fund is dead.
Opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin, a critic of the war in Ukraine, has left Russia after crackdown that barred him from running in this year's parliamentary election. On Monday, Nadezhdin shared a video from Paris, saying he's alive and free but not in Russia. Last month, a Russian court fined him for displaying “extremist symbols,” which he called absurd. That legal action and a “foreign agent” label prevented him from running in September’s parliamentary vote. Nadezhdin, a veteran politician to tried to challenge President Vladimir Putin in the 2024 election, was one of the few high-profile opposition critics still in Russia. Earlier this year, he said he considered leaving the country.