By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has agreed to provide to Congress documents from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, a key House lawmaker said Monday in announcing a move that appears to avert, at least temporarily, a potential separation of powers clash.

Related Articles

20 states and DC sue DOJ to stop immigration requirements on victim funds

Mississippi becomes fourth state to send National Guard troops to DC in expanding federal crackdown

What to know about redistricting fights as Texas Democrats return and California starts work

US envoy to discuss long-term ceasefire with Israel after Lebanon commits to disarming Hezbollah

Conservative network Newsmax agrees to pay $67M in defamation case over bogus 2020 election claims

The records are to be turned over starting Friday to the House Oversight Committee, which earlier this month issued a broad subpoena to the Justice Department about a criminal case that has long captivated public attention, recently roiled the top rungs of President Donald Trump’s administration and been a consistent magnet for conspiracy theories.

“There are many records in DOJ’s custody, and it will take the Department time to produce all the records and ensure the identification of victims and any child sexual abuse material are redacted,” Kentucky Rep. James Comer, the Republican committee chair, said in a statement. “I appreciate the Trump Administration’s commitment to transparency and efforts to provide the American people with information about this matter.

A wealthy and well-connected financier, Epstein was found dead in his New York jail cell weeks after his 2019 arrest in what investigators ruled a suicide. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of helping lure teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The committee’s subpoena sought all documents and communications from the case files of Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. It also demanded records about communications between Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration and the Justice Department regarding Epstein, as well as documents related to an earlier federal investigation into Epstein in Florida that resulted in a non-prosecution agreement in 2007.

It was not clear exactly which or how many documents might be produced or whether the cooperation with Congress reflected a broader change in posture since last month, when the FBI and Justice Department abruptly announced that they would not be releasing any additional records from the Epstein investigation after determining that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”

That announcement put the Trump administration on the defensive, with officials since then scrambling both to tamp down angry questions from the president’s base and also laboring to appear transparent.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed Maxwell at a Florida courthouse over two days last month — though no records from those conversations have been made public — and the Justice Department has also sought to unseal grand jury transcripts in the Epstein and Maxwell cases, though so far those requests have been denied.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment Monday.

The panel separately issued subpoenas to eight former law enforcement leaders as well as former Democratic President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Bill Clinton was among a number of luminaries acquainted with Epstein, a wealthy financier, before the criminal investigation against him in Florida became public two decades ago. Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing by any of the women who say Epstein abused them.

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.

Los gobernadores de todo el país ya han comenzado a autorizar el uso de la Guardia Nacional de sus estados para apoyar los esfuerzos federales de control en inmigración.

Soldados estadounidenses de la Guardia Nacional del Distrito de Columbia en Washington, D.C., el 16 de agosto de 2025. (Fotografía del Ejército de los Estados Unidos realizada por el sargento Aaron Troutman).

Desde que era candidato a la presidencia, Donald Trump ha dicho que utilizaría a la Guardia Nacional como parte de los esfuerzos para deportar a millones de migrantes en todo el país.

Además de usar a la Guardia Nacional, que es una fuerza militar de los estados que se integra a la reserva militar, el presidente Trump también ha desplegado al ejército, para hacer cumplir políticas migratorias en la frontera.

En su segundo mandato, el presidente Trump ha desplegado la Guardia Nacional en la frontera sur y recientemente, ordenó el envío de tropas a la capital, Washington D.C., alegando que era necesario para “restablecer el orden público”.

Además de la capital, en las últimas semanas salió a la luz un memorándum al que tuvo acceso el periódico The New York Times, en el que los funcionarios del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE por sus siglas en inglés) informaban que la Guardia Nacional sería enviada para ayudar en el “procesamiento de extranjeros”, es decir, ayudaría a los agentes de ICE con tareas administrativas y de oficina, gestión de casos y transporte.

La Guardia Nacional se desplegará en 20 estados como Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, Carolina del Sur, Texas, Utah, Virginia, entre otros estados.

El Pentágono informó a The Intercept que estas tropas trabajarán bajo el Título 32, lo que significa que estarán controladas por el estado y no por el gobierno federal, a diferencia de lo que ocurre en Los Ángeles y en la frontera sur.

Los gobernadores de todo el país ya han comenzado a autorizar el uso de la Guardia Nacional de sus estados para apoyar los esfuerzos federales de control de la inmigración. 

En Nevada, por ejemplo, el gobernador republicano Joe Lombardo, ha dado un paso que ningún líder de Nevada había dado antes: activar la Guardia Nacional del estado para apoyar las operaciones de ICE.

En Nevada hay alrededor de 200.000 personas indocumentadas, y el estado no cuenta con políticas santuario, sin embargo, en agosto, el gobierno federal lo tildó de “estado santuario”.

Un portavoz de la Guardia Nacional de Nevada dijo al medio The Nevada Independient que la solicitud es para apoyo administrativo, logístico y de oficina, no para tareas policiales, con unos 35 guardias, menos del 1 por ciento del total de la Guardia Nacional del estado, apoyando la solicitud.

Así que para hablar de cómo se está llevando a cabo el despliegue de la Guardia Nacional en Nevada, invitamos a Isabella Aldrete, quien es reportera para The Nevada Independient donde cubre política y cómo ésta afecta a los latinos. 

Más detalles en nuestra conversación a continuación.

Ciudad Sin Límites, el proyecto en español de City Limits, y El Diario de Nueva York se han unido para crear el pódcast “El Diario Sin Límites” para hablar sobre latinos y política. Para no perderse ningún episodio de nuestro pódcast “El Diario Sin Límites” síguenos en Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Pódcast y Stitcher. Todos los episodios están allí. ¡Suscríbete!

The post PODCAST: ¿Dónde el presidente Trump ha desplegado la Guardia Nacional para hacer tareas de inmigración? appeared first on City Limits.

By BRIAN WITTE

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland’s first-in-the-nation tax on digital advertising violated the Constitution, a federal appeals court says, because blocking Big Tech from telling customers about the tax violates the companies’ right to free speech.

Related Articles

Google to pay $36M fine for anticompetitive deals with Australia’s largest telcos

Swiss watchmaker Swatch apologies for ad showing gesture seen as racist

Cable’s MSNBC will change its name later this year as part of corporate divorce from NBC

Big paychecks, big regrets: How to avoid splurge pitfalls

Wall Street holds at a standstill near its record heights

Supporters say Maryland needed to overhaul its tax methods in response to significant changes in how businesses advertise. The tax focuses on large companies that make money advertising on the internet such as Meta, Google and Amazon, who say they’re being unfairly targeted.

The ongoing legal fight is being watched by other states that are considering taxes for online ads. Maryland estimated the tax could raise about $250 million a year to help pay for a sweeping K-12 education measure.

Maryland’s law says the companies must not only pay the tax, but avoid telling customers how it affects pricing, with no line items, surcharges or fees, said the appeals court Friday in siding with trade associations fighting the tax.

Judge Julius Richardson cited the Colonial-era Stamp Act, which helped spark the Revolutionary War, and wrote that “criticizing the government — for taxes or anything else — is important discourse in a democratic society.”

The plaintiffs contended Maryland lawmakers were trying to insulate themselves from criticism and political accountability by forbidding companies from explaining the tax to their customers.

“A state cannot duck criticism by silencing those affected by its tax,” the judge wrote.

The unanimous ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a decision by U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby and sends the case back to her with instructions to consider an appropriate remedy in light of the panel’s decision.

Trade groups praised the decision.

“Maryland tried to prevent criticism of its tax scheme, and the Fourth Circuit recognized that tactic for what it was: censorship,” said Paul Taske, co-director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, said in a statement.

Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman, who is the defendant in the case, and the Maryland attorney general’s office, who is representing the state, declined to comment Monday.

The law has been challenged in multiple legal venues, including Maryland Tax Court, where the case is ongoing.

The law imposes a tax based on global annual gross revenues for companies that make more than $100 million globally.

Under the law, the tax rate is 2.5% for businesses making more than $100 million in global gross annual revenue; 5% for companies making $1 billion or more; 7.5% for companies making $5 billion or more and 10% for companies making $15 billion or more.

The Maryland General Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, overrode a veto of the legislation in 2021 by then-Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican.

There were an announced 80,000 fans or so, combined, at the Twins’ four-game series against the Detroit Tigers at Target Field last weekend and they all got a good, close look at the team’s future.

It didn’t look great.

The young Twins left in the wake of the team’s trade deadline purge did manage to stave off a sweep with a blowout victory over their American League Central overlords on Sunday, so that’s something — if not quite enough to make whatever vision the team has for the future make complete sense.

Now, instead of relying on matriculating prospects to adequately fill gaps between proven veterans, the Twins are counting on the young guys — none of whom have shown they can do it consistently — to be the proven producers. To be the best players on the team, and not just in a relative sense.

If they can, the Twins might have a chance to win because of a Cadillac rotation led by Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober. If they can’t, it’s gonna be tough sledding for the Local 9.

When the Twins cut around $30 million out of the payroll before the 2024 season, it signaled that management — or ownership, or both — were ready to roll the dice on those prospects being ready to complete a competitive lineup with top-line veterans Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa and Carlos Santana.

The hope was that first baseman Jose Miranda and second baseman Edouard Julien were ready, and that Royce Lewis would stay healthy and productive. Didn’t happen, and after Correa, Buxton and Ryan went down with injuries late, the team collapsed, winning only 12 of its last 39 games.

Minnesota Twins’ Brooks Lee runs the bases after hitting a grand slam during the third inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Yet with this summer’s sell-off, management isn’t just doubling down on that strategy, it’s tweaking it further by simply removing the top-line veterans part. Correa, closer Jhoan Duran, utility man and 2024 all-star Willi Castro and setup-man Griffin Jax are gone. That leaves Buxton, who looked a little like royalty in exile at the top of the Twins lineup last weekend.

The eye test, if not just plain common sense, says it won’t work — not anytime soon. Not if the goal is making the playoffs.

If it bears fruit at all, it will be at least a few years down the road, the way it did in 1987 after prospects like Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Tom Bruansky and Frank Viola grew into major leaguers and helped win the team’s first World Series. But that is a rare return on investment.

Manager Rocco Baldelli will regularly pencil four of the Twins’ own first-round picks (Royce Lewis Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner and Brooks Lee), and one second-round pick (Luke Keaschall), into the lineup the rest of the way, and only Keaschall is an official rookie (and tearing it up).

For the rest, it’s time to lock in.

These guys play a lot of baseball and get a lot of at-bats over the course of 162 games. At some point soon, the numbers will reveal the truth. By the end of next season, only Keaschall won’t be passing the milestone of 1,000 major league at-bats.

They will never have a better chance to prove themselves than over the next 38 games. They will be in the lineup and most likely playing all nine innings, regardless of the situation.

The good news is all of those players were at the center a six-run third that broke open Sunday’s 8-1 victory over the Tigers. After a Buxton homer, Larnach hustled out a double, Keaschall singled, Lewis walked and Lee brought them all home with his first major league grand slam.

It’s been almost three weeks since the sell-off, and Lee was asked Sunday if he feels the young roster is learning how they have to play in order to win games.

“I think so,” he said. “We’re young (but) we have one of the greatest players in baseball (in Buxton) and we have to take advantage of that. But, yeah, I think we’re figuring out our identity. We’re going to have to hit and play good defense, and I think today was a good example of that.”

If we see more of it over the next 38 games, maybe Twins fans will be able to approach 2026 with some enthusiasm.

Related Articles

Twins hammer former teammate in 8-1 victory over first-place Detroit

Corey Koskie followed Twins’ mantra into the team’s hall of fame

Outfielder James Outman trying to find his old swing with the Twins

Up next for Chris Paddack, a little bit of payback against the Twins

Twins manage just two hits in 7-0 loss to Tigers