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President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to upend a foundational scientific determination about the harms of greenhouse gases that underpins the US government’s ability to curb climate change.A proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to change the so-called “Endangerment Finding” was sent to the White House on June 30, a spokesperson told AFP. An announcement is expected imminently. Here’s what to know — and what’s at stake if the finding is overturned.- What is the Endangerment Finding? -The Clean Air Act of 1970 empowered the EPA to regulate “air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.”For decades, the law applied to pollutants like lead, ozone and soot.But as climate science around the dangers of heat-trapping greenhouse gases advanced in the 2000s, a coalition of states and nonprofit groups petitioned the EPA to include them under the law, focusing on motor vehicles.The issue reached the Supreme Court, which in 2007 ruled that greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants and directed the EPA to revisit its stance.That led to the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which declared greenhouse gases a threat to public health and welfare, based on overwhelming scientific consensus and peer-reviewed research.”That 2009 finding formed the basis for all of EPA’s subsequent regulations,” Meredith Hankins, a senior attorney on climate and energy for the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, told AFP.”They’ve issued greenhouse gas standards for tailpipe emissions from motor vehicles, smokestack emissions from power plants — all of these individual rulemakings trace themselves back to the 2009 Endangerment Finding.”- What is the Trump administration doing? -The Endangerment Finding has withstood multiple legal challenges, and although Trump’s first administration considered reversing it, they ultimately held back.But the finding is now a direct target of Project 2025, a far-right governance blueprint closely followed by the administration.In March, the EPA under Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a formal reconsideration of the finding.”The Trump Administration will not sacrifice national prosperity, energy security, and the freedom of our people for an agenda that throttles our industries, our mobility, and our consumer choice while benefiting adversaries overseas,” he said.The government is expected to undo the earlier finding that greenhouse gases endanger public welfare.It will argue that the economic costs of regulation have been undervalued — and downplay the role of US motor vehicle emissions in climate change.In fact, transportation is the largest source of US greenhouse gas emissions.”If vehicle emissions don’t pass muster as a contribution to climate change, it’s hard to imagine what would,” Dena Adler of the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University told AFP.”It’s fatalistic to avoid taking the many actions that could cumulatively fix climate change, because none of them can individually solve the entire problem.”Since 1970, the United States has emitted more vehicle-based greenhouse gases than the next nine countries combined, according to an analysis by the Institute for Policy Integrity that will soon be published in full.- Could they succeed? -In March, the EPA said it would lean on recent court rulings, including a landmark 2024 decision that narrowed federal regulatory power.Still, legal experts say the administration faces an uphill battle.”It will take a few years for the rule to be finalized and wind its way up to the Supreme Court for review,” said Adler. “If EPA loses before the Supreme Court, it gets sent back, and EPA then gets it back to the drawing board” — by which time Trump’s term may be nearing its end.To succeed, the high court may need to overturn its own 2007 decision that led to the Endangerment Finding.None of the justices who wrote the majority opinion remain on the bench, while three dissenters — John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito — still serve, and could spearhead a drive to upend the original ruling.Even then, market forces may blunt the impact of any rollback.”Utilities making long-term investments and companies purchasing capital goods expected to be used for decades won’t base those decisions on short-term policy changes,” said John Tobin-de la Puente, a professor at Cornell University’s business school.That’s especially true when those swings run counter to business trends and could be undone by a future administration, he added.

The US Justice Department’s deputy chief met Friday for a second day with Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned accomplice of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose infamous case has dragged President Donald Trump into a political firestorm.Todd Blanche, the DOJ number-two who is also Trump’s former personal attorney, has declined for now to say what he is discussing with Maxwell in their Tallahassee, Florida meetings.Maxwell’s lawyer David Markus has similarly declined to give details on the meetings’ content, but said after a first hours-long session on Thursday that his client had answered every question.Trump is looking to quickly move past the saga, which has seen him on rare unsure footing over claims his administration mishandled a review of the notorious case.On Friday, Trump again sought to put distance between himself and Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.”I have nothing to do with the guy,” Trump, whose past friendship with Epstein has received much media attention this week, told reporters ahead of a visit to Scotland.He urged journalists to rather “focus” on Democratic Party figures like former president Bill Clinton and his treasury secretary, former Harvard president Larry Summers, whom the president claimed were “really close friends” of Epstein.Asked whether he was considering a pardon or commutation of Maxwell’s 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking, Trump said it was something “I haven’t thought about” — but stressed he had the power to do so.Epstein’s death in his New York prison cell was ruled a suicide, but it fueled conspiracy theories that he was murdered to stop him testifying against high-profile accomplices.Trump, who had promised his base revelations about the case, has infuriated some of his supporters after his administration announced in early July that it had not discovered any new elements warranting the release of additional documents.The Department of Justice and the FBI said there was no proof that there was a “list” of Epstein’s clients, while affirming that he died by suicide.- ‘Scapegoat’? -Blanche and his team entered the Tallahassee courthouse where they were meeting Maxwell through a back door, US media reported.Maxwell’s lawyer Markus spoke briefly to journalists ahead of his client’s renewed questioning by Blanche.”Ghislaine has been treated unfairly for over five years now,” he said, describing Maxwell as a “scapegoat.””Everything she says can be corroborated and she’s telling the truth. She’s got no reason to lie at this point and she’s going to keep telling the truth,” he added, declining to give any details about the questions being put to Maxwell.Maxwell was convicted in 2022 for grooming underage girls between 1994 and 2004 so that Epstein could sexually exploit them.”The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time,” Blanche wrote on X Thursday.The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the president’s name was among hundreds found during a DOJ review of the so-called “Epstein files,” though there has not been evidence of wrongdoing.Trump filed a $10 billion defamation suit against the Journal last week after it reported that he had penned a sexually suggestive letter to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003.House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson cut short the legislative session this week, sending lawmakers home on summer recess a day early to avoid potentially combustible debate — particularly among Trump’s Republicans — on the release of files.

US President Donald Trump departed for Scotland on Friday for a mix of diplomacy, business and leisure, as a huge UK security operation swung into place amid planned protests near his family-owned golf resorts. The president, whose mother was born in Scotland, is expected to split his time between two seaside golf courses bearing his name, in Turnberry on the southwestern coast and Aberdeen in the northeast.Air Force One was due to arrive around at 8:20 pm local time (1920 GMT) with the president and White House staff, and Trump has no public events scheduled for Saturday or Sunday, the White House said.However, he is due to meet with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during the trip.”We’re going to do a little celebrating together, because we got along very well,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House Friday, calling Starmer “a good guy” doing “a very good job”.He said they would discuss “fine tuning” the bilateral trade deal struck in May, and would “maybe even improve it”.But the unpredictable American leader appeared unwilling to cede to a UK demand for flexibility over reduced steel and aluminium tariffs.Trump has exempted London from blanket 50 percent tariffs on imports of both metals, but the fate of that carve-out remains unclear.”If I do it for one, I have to do it for all,” Trump told reporters, when asked if he had any “wiggle room” for the UK on the issue. The international outcry over the conflict in Gaza may also be on the pair’s agenda, as Starmer faces growing pressure to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and announce that Britain will also recognise a Palestinian state.- Protests -Trump is expected to return to the UK in September for a state visit — his second — at the invitation of King Charles III, which promises to be lavish.During a 2023 visit, Trump said he felt at home in Scotland, where his mother Mary Anne MacLeod grew up on the remote Isle of Lewis before emigrating to the United States at age 18.The affection is not necessarily mutual.Residents, environmentalists and elected officials have voiced discontent over the Trump family’s construction of a new golf course, which he is expected to open before he departs the UK on Tuesday.Police Scotland, which is bracing for mass protests in Edinburgh and Aberdeen as well as close to Trump’s golf courses, have said there will be a “significant operation across the country over many days”.Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who will also meet Trump during the visit, said the nation “shares a strong friendship with the United States that goes back centuries”.He added it would provide Scotland with a “platform to make its voice heard on the issues that matter, including war and peace, justice and democracy”.Trump has also stepped into the sensitive debate in the UK about green energy and reaching net zero, with Aberdeen being the heart of Scotland’s oil industry.In May, he wrote on his Truth Social platform that the UK should “stop with the costly and unsightly windmills” as he urged incentivising drilling for oil in the North Sea.- US discontent -The trip to Scotland puts physical distance between Trump and the latest twists in the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier accused of sex trafficking who died in prison in 2019 before facing trial.In his heyday, Epstein was friends with Trump and others in the New York jet-set, but the president is now facing backlash from his own MAGA supporters who demand access to the Epstein case files.Many support a conspiracy theory under which “deep state” elites protected rich and famous people who took part in an Epstein sex ring. But Trump is urging his supporters to move on from the case.The Wall Street Journal, which published an article detailing longstanding links between Trump and the sex offender, is being punished by the White House.Its reporting staff plans to travel to Scotland on their own and join the White House press pool. But it has now been denied a seat on Air Force One for the flight back home.While Trump’s family has undertaken many development projects worldwide, the president no longer legally controls the family holdings.But opponents and watchdog groups have accused him of many conflicts of interest and using his position as US president to promote private family investments, especially abroad.The American NGO Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said in May that 21 development projects were already underway abroad during Trump’s second term.

With Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs against Brazil poised to take effect within days, Latin America’s largest economy is bracing for a virtual embargo on its planes, grains, and crude oil.The mercurial US president has penciled in 50 percent tariffs on Brazilian goods starting August 1, swatting aside centuries-old ties and a US trade surplus which Brasilia put at $284 million in 2024.Trump has not attempted to hide the political motivation behind the sanctions — citing a judical “witch hunt” against his right-wing ally, ex-president Jair Bolsonaro.The former artillery officer is on trial, accused of plotting a coup after losing re-election in 2022 to now-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.While Brazil’s seasoned trade diplomats rush to avoid a damaging trade war that would hurt the country’s already slow-growing economy, key sectors are bracing for impact.- Who will feel the pain? -Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of beef, chicken, soybeans, corn, coffee, sugar and orange juice.Its main exports to the United States are crude oil, semi-finished iron and steel products, coffee and aircraft.The agriculture sector alone is projecting losses of $5.8 billion, according to the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock. Other sectors, such as aeronautics, fisheries and defense, allocate more than half of their exports to the US market and may suffer “an impact on jobs,” according to economist Felipe Salto, former secretary of finance of Sao Paulo state. In the aeronautics sector, the tariff hike is “almost an embargo” and may lead to a “workforce adjustment similar to the Covid-19 pandemic,” according to Francisco Gomes Neto, CEO of Brazil’s Embraer, the world’s third-largest aircraft manufacturer.- When will the impact be felt? – Trump has become notorious for changing his mind on tariff rates, for stalling deadlines, and for claiming epic deals that fail to materialize. He may yet change his mind again.But in Brazil, the impact of his threats is already being felt.There is a preventive suspension of shipments of meat, fruit, fish, and grains, according to industry sources.About 77,000 tons of fruit are sitting in containers awaiting a diplomatic resolution before they spoil, according to the Brazilian Association of Fruit Export Producers. New shipments of beef to the United States are “under analysis” as they would only arrive after August 1, the powerful Brazilian Beef Association said. – Making a deal? -The political nature of the spat seems to make a last-minute deal less likely. Brazil has insisted the case against Bolsonaro will go ahead unless prosecutors decide otherwise.Trump “doesn’t want to talk,” leftist Lula lamented recently, reiterating that his Plan A is to continue “negotiating.” Lula has tasked Vice President Geraldo Alckmin with reaching out to the White House.But a Brazilian negotiating proposal sent in May has received no response, according to Brasilia.Ricardo Alban, president of the National Confederation of Industry, believes Brazil will continue trying to negotiate as long as possible.Its “largest bilateral trade relationship in manufactured products is with the United States,” he said.- Damage control? -As a Plan B, Lula’s government is already considering offering credit lines for tariff-hit companies. In the longer term, Brazil is trying to “restructure” its trade ties with countries beyond the United States, top government official Rui Costa said recently.The European Union, Mexico, and Canada are all potential partners. When it comes to increasing exports to China, economists see a more difficult path for some sectors.”It’s easier to redirect oil or coffee production to other countries than aircraft parts,” said Marcos Mendes of the Insper research center. “Highly specialized sectors will suffer more,” he explained.Lula promised to apply “reciprocity” if Trump’s tariff threat materializes, measures that could deepen the economic impact on both economies.

US President Donald Trump was due to arrive in Scotland on Friday for a mix of diplomacy, business and leisure, with a huge security operation swinging into place and protests planned near his family-owned golf resorts. The president, whose mother was born in Scotland, is expected to split his time between two seaside golf courses bearing his name, in southwestern coastal Turnberry and Aberdeen in the northeast.Air Force One carrying the president and White House staff was due to arrive around at 8:20 pm local time (1920 GMT) and Trump has no public events scheduled for Saturday or Sunday, the White House said.Police Scotland, who are bracing for mass protests in Edinburgh and Aberdeen as well as close to his golf courses, said there will be a “significant operation across the country over many days”.An avid golfer, Trump is expected to tear himself away from the greens to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at some point, but details of that meeting have not been released.Starmer is not reputed to be as passionate about golf as the 79-year-old Republican, and may have other concerns to tee off on.The US and the UK announced a trade agreement in May, but London is worried about Trump’s stated intention to “refine” the deal.The British leader, who has dodged the exorbitant import/export tariffs other countries have been saddled with, will aim to stay in the good graces of the unpredictable American leader.The international outcry over the conflict in Gaza may also be on the agenda, amid growing pressure on Starmer to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and announce the UK will also recognise a State of Palestine.- Protests -Trump is expected to return to the UK in September for a state visit — his second — at the invitation of King Charles III, which promises to be lavish.During a 2023 visit, Trump said he felt at home in Scotland, where his mother Mary Anne MacLeod grew up on the remote Isle of Lewis before emigrating to the United States at age 18.The affection is not necessarily mutual in Scotland.Residents, environmentalists and elected officials have also voiced discontent over the Trump family’s construction of a new golf course, which he is expected to open before he heads back to the UK on Tuesday.Scotland’s leader, First Minister John Swinney, said the country “shares a strong friendship with the United States that goes back centuries”.He said he would  meet with Trump during the visit and said the US leader’s trip provided Scotland with a “platform to make its voice heard on the issues that matter, including war and peace, justice and democracy”.Trump has also stepped into the sensitive debate in the UK about green energy and reaching net zero, with Aberdeen being the heart of Scotland’s oil industry.He said the UK should “stop with the costly and unsightly windmills, and incentivise modernised drilling in the North Sea, where large amounts of oil lay waiting to be taken”.”A century of drilling left, with Aberdeen as the hub,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform about Europe’s oil and gas hub.- US discontent -The trip to Scotland puts physical distance between Trump and the latest twists in the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier accused of sex trafficking who died in prison in 2019 before facing trial.In his heyday, Epstein was friends with Trump and others in the New York jet-set, but the president is now facing backlash from his own MAGA supporters who demand access to the Epstein case files.Many support a conspiracy theory under which “deep state” elites protected rich and famous people who took part in an Epstein sex ring. But Trump is urging his supporters to move on and drop the case.The Wall Street Journal, which published an article detailing longstanding links between Trump and the sex offender, is being punished by the White House.Its reporting staff plans to travel to Scotland on its own and join the White House press pool. But it has now been denied a seat on Air Force One for the flight back home.While Trump’s family has undertaken many development projects worldwide, the president no longer legally controls the family holdings.But opponents and watchdog groups have accused him of many conflicts of interest and using his position as US president to promote private family investments, especially abroad.The American NGO Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said in May that 21 development projects were already underway abroad during Trump’s second term.

Small business owners used the festive backdrop of Comic-Con on Thursday to discuss a sobering topic: the negative impact that US President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs are having on the toy industry.”Not the most sexy topic,” Jonathan Cathey, chief executive of collectibles company The Loyal Subjects, admitted at a panel titled “Toys, Tariffs, and Trade Wars” at the four-day convention in San Diego, California.”But this ultimately affects you guys, it affects the end user,” he said.”Prices will go up, and our rate of sales will go down.”Toy companies have been fretting about the impact of Trump’s global tariff blitz on the industry, particularly when it comes to China. Of over $17 billion worth of toys imported to the United States last year, more than $13 billion came from China.But a rollercoaster tariff row between Washington and Beijing has caused havoc for US businesses and their Chinese suppliers. Panel moderator Daniel Pickett argued that the Trump administration is “imposing truly exaggerated, somewhat crazy, and frightening measures.”He said Trump’s proposal to impose additional tariffs on imports “has only wreaked havoc on the entire industry.”Trump recently dismissed warnings by toy giant Hasbro’s CEO Chris Cocks about rising prices if higher tariffs were imposed, defending his trade policy by emphasizing it favors domestic production.But Cathey argued the rhetoric doesn’t reflect American reality.He said: “There’s like 480,000 manufacturing jobs… that aren’t even filled. So we’re going to do what, we’re going to bring a bunch of factory jobs back that nobody can fill.”The business owner suggested that US value-addition lies in innovation rather than manufacturing.”There are industries where tariffs make sense,” Cathey continued, highlighting the automotive and mining sectors.”There’s a mechanism where tariffs make sense that actually protect jobs, American workers, and our national security. Barbie ain’t it.”Brian Flynn of Super7, a collectibles and action figures brand, said the Trump administration’s shifting tariff policies have caused chaos and uncertainty.”Nobody knows what’s going to happen,” he said, adding that the triple-digit tariffs Trump has sometimes mentioned would “drive everyone out of the market.”Flynn said the impact was already visible at Comic-Con, where he had to limit himself to a small concession stand rather than a larger exhibit space. Consumers will feel the impact in their wallets next quarter, he warned. “And when it hits, that’s going to make a big difference for us.”

US President Donald Trump travels to Scotland on Friday for a mix of diplomacy, business and leisure, as he stays at family-owned golf resorts. The president is expected to split his time between two seaside golf courses bearing his name, Turnberry and Aberdeen.Trump is due to arrive in Scotland Friday at 8:20 pm local time (1920 GMT) and has no public events scheduled for Saturday or Sunday, the White House said.An avid golfer, Trump is expected to tear himself away from the greens to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at some point, but details of that meeting have not been released.Starmer is not reputed to be as passionate about golf as the 79-year-old Republican, and may have other concerns to tee off on.The US and the UK announced a trade agreement in May, but London is worried about Trump’s stated intention to “refine” the deal.The British leader, who has dodged the exorbitant tariffs other countries have been saddled with, will aim to stay in the good graces of the unpredictable American leader.Trump is also expected to return to the UK in September for a state visit — his second — at the invitation of King Charles III, which promises to be lavish.- Trumpist discontent -The trip to Scotland puts physical distance between Trump and the latest twists in the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier accused of sex trafficking who died in prison in 2019 before facing trial.In his heyday, Epstein was friends with Trump and others in the New York jet-set, but the president is now facing backlash from his own MAGA supporters who demand access to the Epstein case files.Many support a conspiracy theory under which “deep state” elites protected rich and famous people who took part in an Epstein sex ring. But Trump is urging his supporters to move on and drop the case.The Wall Street Journal, which published an article detailing longstanding links between Trump and the sex offender, is being punished by the White House.Its reporting staff plans to travel to Scotland on its own and join the White House press pool. But it has now been denied a seat on Air Force One for the flight back home.- Protests -During a previous visit in 2023, Trump said he felt at home in Scotland, where his mother Mary Anne MacLeod grew up before emigrating to the United States at age 18.The affection is not necessarily mutual in Scotland, where protests are planned Saturday in Edinburgh and Aberdeen to oppose his visit. A significant police presence will be deployed.Residents, environmentalists and elected officials have also voiced discontent over the Trump family’s construction of a golf course in Balmedie, a village in Aberdeenshire.While Trump’s family has undertaken many development projects worldwide, the president no longer legally controls the family holdings.But opponents and watchdog groups have accused him of many conflicts of interest and using his position as US president to promote private family investments, especially abroad.The American NGO Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said in May that 21 development projects were already underway abroad during Trump’s second term.The group also noted that the Trump Organization revised its own ethical charter in January to remove any prohibition from launching new international ventures with private actors, departing from the moratorium it had imposed during Trump’s first term. 

The White House lashed out at the creators of “South Park” Thursday after the bawdy satire skewered Donald Trump in an episode featuring an AI-generated version of the US president crawling naked through a desert.In a no-holds-barred season premiere, the animated Trump character is also seen begging Satan for sex, only to be rebuffed — in part because his penis is too small.The White House was not amused.”This show hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention,” spokesperson Taylor Rogers said.”President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country’s history — and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump’s hot streak.”The adult animated series, which frequently touches on hot-button issues in American life, is now in its 27th season and remains one of the world’s most valuable TV shows.The season premiere begins with the foul-mouthed Cartman appalled that NPR has been taken off the air by the president, while Randy, a parent, is disturbed by the presence of Jesus in public elementary school.Complaints to the fictional White House receive only a threat from Trump to sue the mountain town of South Park for billions of dollars.Meanwhile, animated Trump is threatening to bomb Canada “like I did Iraq.””I thought you just bombed Iran,” the Canadian prime minister replies.”Iran, Iraq, what the hell’s the difference?” replies Trump.The episode, which sees the fictional Trump ride rough-shod over many aspects of American life, ends after the town of South Park makes a financial deal with the president that includes an agreement to make public service announcements.The AI generated short that follows — ostensibly one of those announcements — shows an overweight Trump staggering through a desert as a narrator casts him as a latter-day Jesus.The short ends with a naked Trump as the narrator says: “Trump. His penis is teeny-tiny, but his love for us is large.”At a Thursday panel at pop culture event Comic-Con in San Diego, “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker revealed internal discussions over depicting a fake presidential phallus.”They’re like, ‘Okay, but we’re gonna blur the penis.’ And I’m like, ‘No, you’re not going to blur the penis’,” Parker told the audience. After “a whole conversation with a lot of grown up people for about four … days,” Parker said they decided to add eyes to it to avoid it being blurred. – Merger -The episode aired days after creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone reportedly penned a $1.5 billion streaming deal with Paramount that gives the company global rights.The deal comes at a sensitive time for Paramount, which is trying to secure government approval for a multi-billion-dollar merger with entertainment company Skydance.The CBS parent caused a furor this month when it agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit Trump had brought over an interview the storied “60 Minutes” current affairs program aired with Kamala Harris ahead of last November’s election.The payment was criticized by Democrats as little more than a bribe to help smooth the merger, with Paramount initially dismissing Trump’s lawsuit as meritless.Last week CBS sparked fury after it cancelled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” whose host is a pointed critic of the president.The network insisted it was a financial decision, but opponents have painted the move as the latest example of American institutions bowing to Trump.

Far-right MAGA influencers are treading a tightrope as outrage escalates over the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein: they are caught between a fired-up base demanding more information and President Donald Trump, who is eager to turn the page.Trump’s core Make America Great Again base has erupted in anger over the White House’s handling of the so-called “Epstein files,” viewing it as a betrayal by the Republican and his allies who have long championed the unfounded theory that powerful elites orchestrated a massive child sex trafficking cover-up.Calls for the release of those files could intensify after a US media report on Wednesday said Trump’s name was among hundreds found during an official review of documents on Epstein, a claim the White House has denied.Faced with a choice between alienating a base fervently demanding answers or defying Trump — who has implored them to move on — MAGA-aligned influencers and podcasters find themselves in a political bind.MAGA media are “definitely walking a fine line with the Epstein debacle,” Mike Rothschild, an expert on conspiracy theories, told AFP.”Trump demanding that nobody talk about Epstein should be a betrayal for them. But they’re so invested in supporting Trump, and have built their financial support around it, that they really can’t do anything but make excuses and tie themselves in knots.”Some MAGA influencers, however, turned sharply critical in recent weeks.Among them is Rogan O’Handley, who was invited to the White House in February alongside a handful of influencers and presented with binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1,” only to find they offered little new information.”This is a shameful coverup to protect the most heinous elites,” O’Handley told his 2.2 million followers on X earlier this month.”We were told multiple times the files would be released and now it looks like backroom deals have been made to keep them hidden.”- ‘Fanatically loyal’ -Charlie Kirk, a Trump loyalist and podcaster, faced an avalanche of criticism from the MAGA base after he initially said he was “done talking” about Epstein, and added he was going to trust “my friends in the administration.””Trump’s base has been fanatically loyal, and influencers are hesitant about opposing Trump directly if that threatens the size of their audiences,” Matt Gertz, senior fellow at the watchdog Media Matters for America, told AFP.Fueling the MAGA base’s anger were conclusions from the Justice Department and FBI that Epstein — a disgraced financier who died in jail in 2019 — did not maintain a “client list” as conspiracy theorists have contended. Attorney General Pam Bondi emerged as their key target for criticism after announcing no more information would be forthcoming. But Trump has defended Bondi, while claiming without evidence on Truth Social that the Epstein files were written by his political rivals “Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the losers and criminals of the Biden administration.”That response prompted disbelief from Benny Johnson, a longtime Trump supporter and right-wing podcaster.” By admitting that the Epstein Files are real, and that you’ve read them, and you don’t like their contents, and they were written by your enemies, it doesn’t make the most compelling case as far as I’m concerned. Holy moly,” Johnson said.- ‘Moving target’ -Seeking to redirect attention within the MAGA base — an echo chamber fueled by constant grievance and outrage — Trump has launched attacks on familiar enemies: former president Barack Obama and the media.The White House has promoted the unfounded claim that Obama led a “years-long coup” against Trump around his victorious 2016 election. The former president has rejected the claim.The White House has also barred The Wall Street Journal from traveling with Trump during his upcoming visit to Scotland, after the newspaper reported that he wrote a bawdy birthday message to Epstein.Trump on Friday sued the WSJ and its media magnate owner Rupert Murdoch for at least $10 billion over the allegation in the article, which Trump denies.Following those moves, Stephen Bannon, host of the influential “War Room” podcast, sought to rally influencers behind Trump, telling US media that the MAGA base was “completely unified because now we’re on offense.””The MAGA media’s take on the Epstein case is both fractured and very much a moving target,” said Gertz.”Trump’s recent attacks on The Wall Street Journal and new conspiracy theories about Obama seem to be refocusing their attention away from Epstein — though it’s unclear for how long, particularly given the new revelation that Trump himself is named in the files.”

US regulators on Thursday approved an $8 billion deal for Skydance to acquire Paramount Global amid tumult in the latter’s news and late night programming on CBS, a leading American broadcaster.Clearance of the acquisition comes after Paramount settled US President Donald Trump’s lawsuit over election coverage on CBS News’ flagship show “60 Minutes,” and a week after CBS canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” The comedian had blasted the $16 million settlement of Trump’s lawsuit as “a big fat bribe” to win approval of the merger with Skydance. Colbert’s show is slated to end in 2026, and is staple of late-night US television that often mocks Trump.CBS said in a statement the cancellation was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” and was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”Paramount reached the settlement with Trump this month in a lawsuit the entertainment giant itself had described as meritless.The Republican president had sued Paramount for $20 billion last year, alleging that CBS News’ “60 Minutes” news program deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favor.To promote the show, “60 Minutes” had shown a shortened clip or “tease” of Harris speaking on earlier network programming, and the full quote was aired on the Sunday evening broadcast. Trump objected to the use of the shorter clip.The FCC chair doubled down on the Trump administration’s criticisms of CBS News.“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately and fairly,” Carr said in the statement. “It is time for a change. That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.”- Suspicious timing? -The FCC’s approval of the merger “reeks of the worst form of corruption,” Democratic Senators Edward Markey and Ben Ray Lujan said in a joint statement.”The timing speaks for itself,” Markey and Lujan said.”Paramount settled with Trump on Tuesday and the FCC approved the merger on Thursday.”Markey last week sent a letter to Paramount Global Chair Shari Redstone demanding details about the decision to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” specifically whether anyone in the Trump administration asked for the show to be cancelled, according to a copy posted at his official website.Colbert said on Thursday the cancellation was not just the end of his show but the end of the decades-old “Late Show” franchise, which has been broadcast continuously on CBS since 1993 and was previously hosted by David Letterman.Trump celebrated the cancellation, writing on his Truth Social platform, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”Trump’s political opponents and other critics drew attention to the timing of the decision.”CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump — a deal that looks like bribery,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said on social media platform X.Colbert, once a regular on Comedy Central, made use of humor in his incisive political commentary and succeeded Letterman as the host of “The Late Show” in 2015.The late-night television landscape has long been dominated by satirical comedy shows that blend entertainment with news and political commentary. As a condition of approval, Skydance will put in place an “ombudsman” who will evaluate complaints of bias, according to Carr.”Skydance, which has no DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs in place today, has committed that it will not establish any such initiatives at the new company,” Carr said in a release.