by | Jul 13, 2025 | The Hill
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said in a Sunday interview that it’s time to “move on” from the controversy surrounding disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
In an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday,” Chris Stirewalt asked about Trump’s defense of the Justice Department’s handling of the case, and the calls from parts of the president’s most ardent supporters for a special counsel investigation into the case.
“Listen, I’m probably not the person to ask, because I don’t speak in conspiracy theory,” Lawler told Stirewalt.
“But, at the end of the day, there’s a lot bigger issues facing this country than Jeffrey Epstein. The guy is dead and buried. Let’s move on,” he continued.
The interview comes after Trump
amid fierce backlash from segments of his base over her handling of the Epstein files.
The Justice Department released a memo on Monday concluding there was no evidence Epstein kept a “client list,” nor that the convicted sex offender sought to blackmail powerful figures implicated in his crimes. The memo also found no evidence suggesting foul play involved in Epstein’s death, which had previously been ruled a suicide.
Those revelations contradict conspiracy theories pushed by several right-wing media personalities and internet influencers;
Monday over the memo and alleged a cover-up was taking place.
by | Jul 13, 2025 | The Hill
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) sharply criticized the administration’s sweeping tariffs, saying the policy approach amounts to “chaos” and is bad for the U.S. economy.
“No, not at all,” Beshear said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” when asked whether the people of Kentucky voted for this tariff agenda.
“This is, what was it, first across the board, then reciprocal, then industry-specific. I think there was a company-specific tariff proposed. Now, we have tariffs on countries if he doesn’t like who that country is prosecuting,” Beshear continued, referring to the president’s varying policies on tariffs.
“It is chaos. It is increasing costs. You know, the people of Kentucky, many of them, voted for Donald Trump because they thought he’d make paying the bills a little bit easier at the end of the week. And he’s just making it harder.
Beshear said he’s seeing small businesses in his state lay people off because of the tariffs on raw materials, which Americans often import and then assemble on U.S. soil.
“And when a small business is laying somebody off, it’s somebody they go to church with. It’s somebody who their kids play soccer with. This is going to impact the economy in such negative ways,” he said.
Trump on April 2 announced “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of other countries, using trade deficits to help calculate the tariff rate. But a week later, he lowered those rates to 10 percent for 90 days as markets reacted negatively, giving time for negotiations.
That 90-day deadline had been set to expire this past week, but Trump
informing them of their new “reciprocal” rates slated to take effect Aug. 1. Trump has sent
about whether there is
to negotiates those rates.
by | Jul 13, 2025 | The Hill
President Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, is causing tensions within the
as critics say his “freelancing” is damaging U.S. diplomatic negotiations and threatening national security.
The most recent controversy includes a botched effort to secure the release of Americans unjustly detained in Venezuela that fell apart because Grenell and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were negotiating separate deals,
.
Grenell’s deal reportedly included an extension for Chevron to export oil from Venezuela, a policy option that Rubio has shot down in the past.
The reported episode is shining a light on dysfunction within Trump’s inner circle, coinciding with confusion surrounding the Pentagon’s halting weapons shipments to Ukraine and ever-changing goal posts on tariffs.
“It just says that the administration, part of it doesn’t know what the other’s doing, and that can put Americans at risk,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told The Hill of the Venezuela discord.
Last month, Van Hollen joined
asking Rubio to continue efforts to free at least eight unjustly detained Americans in Venezuela.
Grenell is a divisive character in Trump world. He is lauded by supporters for being one of the president’s most ardent defenders, and for his willingness to buck conventional foreign policy thinking. But his critics within the administration succeeded in boxing him out of the top-level positions he coveted most, secretary of State and national security adviser.
Trump appointed him “envoy of special missions” with a mandate that stretched from Venezuela to North Korea. He has added to his portfolio as president of Washington’s cultural home, the Kennedy Center, and was dispatched to California to oversee the federal response to the wildfires.
But his role in Venezuela is amplifying the voices of critics who say his behind-the-scenes diplomacy is harming U.S. interests. While Grenell has brought home seven Americans unjustly detained in Venezuela, Rubio was forced
Grenell’s suggestion that Trump would extend a license for Chevron to operate in Venezuela as an exchange for the Americans.
When asked about The New York Times reporting and who Grenell takes his direction from, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Hill, “There is no fraction or division. The President has one team and everyone knows he is the ultimate decision maker.”
Elliott Abrams, who served as special representative for Iran and Venezuela in Trump’s first term, said there are “certainly” tensions between Grenell and State.
“I think that’s what happens when Grenell goes freelancing,” said Abrams. “So I think what needs to happen here is to leave foreign affairs in the hands of the State Department, and in this case, Rubio and [Deputy Secretary of State] Chris Landau and just get Grenell’s butt out.”
One source close to Trump World said that “Ric Grenell is a man in search of a job.”
And another source familiar with the thinking of the White House described Grenell as “a little untethered.”
“I would describe Ric as kind of a little bit of — maybe not even a little bit — a loose cannon. He’s involved in a million things. He’s running around. The president likes him and it’s a classic thing, like, the president likes him, these guys feel empowered. There’s no checks, no balances,” the source added.
Grenell’s appointment as special envoy did not require Senate confirmation. The New York Times reported in December that while Grenell was chasing secretary of state or a high-level intelligence role, the confirmation hearings would have forced scrutiny of
, including Hungary, Congo, Kenya and Iran.
While special envoys require Senate confirmation if under the purview of the secretary of State, the GOP-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee sided with Trump’s view that the special envoy position was operating under the purview of the president and did not require senate confirmation.
“Ric’s a good guy, close to the president, doing a good job,” Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told The Hill when asked about Grenell and Rubio’s efforts on Venezuela.
“He’s got a special role, and it’s a unique role. And as such, they have quite a bit of freedom in that role generally, and I know that he talks with us all the time. He talks with the secretary of State all the time, so that’s all I have to say.”
Trump’s other special envoys — including Steve Witkoff for the Middle East and Russia, Keith Kellogg for Ukraine and Massad Boulos for Africa — have also operated without confirmation.
Michael Rubin, senior fellow with the conservative Washington think tank the American Enterprise Institute, said Rubio needs to exercise more authority to keep Grenell in line.
“All administrations suffer from different people working at cross purposes. In the Trump administration, the problem compounds because Trump shoots from the hip and directs via social media post, and so underlings interpret their mandates in different ways,” Rubin said.
“In any administration, the job of the Secretary of State or the national security adviser is to contain this. As this is now just one person — Marco Rubio — it’s hard not to put the blame on him.”
Grenell’s reported deal is at odds with lawmakers who see any attempt to normalize or legitimize Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro as a dangerous threat to American national security.
In April, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) praised Trump and Rubio
and earlier said “there’s no scenario where the United States should do business with thugs like Maduro and his vile regime.”
The Department of Justice, during Trump’s first term,
current and former high level officials for narco-terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking and other criminal charges.
Freddy Guevara, an exiled Venezuelan opposition figure and former vice president of Venezuela’s Parliament, pointed to Maduro’s alliance with America’s adversaries as further reason the U.S. should maintain its policy of isolation.
“The Maduro regime depends on the Chinese, on the Iranians, on the Russians — the people who are thinking that they are doing realpolitik are just being naive,” he said.
“There’s nothing that the United States can provide that will be more secure than the support of Iran and China and Russia.”
Rubio is seen by insiders as having clout with Trump than Grenell, at least for now.
“He’s manifested exactly what Trump wanted. Smart, good-looking guy who’s articulating, who parrots exactly what the president wants,” the source familiar with the thinking of the White House said. “He is the president’s guy.”
by | Jul 13, 2025 | The Hill
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) on Sunday said he has confidence in Attorney General Pam Bondi despite reports that she is feuding with FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino over her handling of the case related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“I do,” Barrasso said, when asked in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” whether he has confidence in Bondi.
“We ran to make this country safer and more prosperous. Pam Bondi and her team are getting hardened criminals off the streets,” he continued. “America is safer with Pam Bondi as attorney general.”
Barrasso said, “I do,” when moderator Kristen Welker followed up to ask if he has confidence in Patel.
The interview comes after President Trump
amid fierce backlash from segments of his base over her handling of the Epstein files.
The Justice Department released a memo on Monday concluding there was no evidence Epstein kept a “client list,” nor that the convicted sex offender sought to blackmail powerful figures implicated in his crimes. The memo also found no evidence suggesting foul play involved in Epstein’s death, which had previously been ruled a suicide.
Those revelations contradict conspiracy theories pushed by several right-wing media personalities and internet influencers;
Monday over the memo and alleged a cover-up was taking place.
by | Jul 13, 2025 | The Hill
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem criticized a ruling from a federal judge that bars the Trump administration from using “unconstitutional” immigration enforcement efforts in parts of California, saying judges are “getting political” and that it is “not their job.”
During a Sunday interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Noem was asked about the
from U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong, an appointee of former President Biden. The order granted
preventing officials from targeting individuals for removal based on their race, language or employment and requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to grant detainees access to legal counsel.
“Well, this federal judge’s ruling is ridiculous. We never ran our operations that way,” Noem said.
“We’ve seen this across the country over and over and over again, where judges are getting political. It’s not their job,” she added. “I hope they can bring some dignity back to the bench because we’re lacking it now for many of these federal judges.”
Noem said the judge’s ruling is “wrong” and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not target individuals based on race, language or employment, adding that they will win their case.
“It’s been done exactly how law enforcement has operated for many years in this country, and ICE is out there making sure we get the worst of the streets,” she added. “So this judge made a decision that we will appeal and we will win, because he’s wrong. We’ve never targeted individuals based on those qualifications that he laid out.”
Her statement follows a Fox News interview with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, where he said that federal immigration agents do not need probable cause to detain people for a short period and that agents can “just go through the observations, get articulable facts, based on their location, their occupation, their physical appearance, their actions.”
“People need to understand, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officers and Border Patrol don’t need probable cause to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them,” he said on “Fox & Friends” on Friday.
His statement comes weeks after
and surrounding areas erupted over an
.
