By STEPHEN GROVES and LISA MASCARO, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson is rebuffing pressure to act on the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, instead sending members home early for a month-long break from Washington after the week’s legislative agenda was upended by Republican members who are clamoring for a vote.

Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said Tuesday morning that he wants to give the White House “space” to release the Epstein information on its own, despite the bipartisan push for legislation that aims to force the release of more documents.

“There’s no purpose for the Congress to push an administration to do something they’re already doing,” Johnson said at his weekly press conference, his last before lawmakers depart Washington on Wednesday for their traditional August recess.

The speaker’s stance did little to alleviate the intra-party turmoil unfolding on Capitol Hill as many of President Donald Trump’s supporters demand that the administration meet its promises to publicly release a full accounting of the sex trafficking investigation into Epstein, who killed himself in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. Under pressure from right-wing online influencers, as well as voters back home, rank-and-file Republicans are demanding that the House intervene in the matter.

“The public’s not going to let this die, and rightfully so,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., stops to answer reporters about calls to release documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Johnson’s control of the House is under threat

The dynamic left Johnson with slipping control of his Republican conference and several crucial committees. Even before Johnson spoke Tuesday morning, a Republican-controlled subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight was advancing a resolution to subpoena Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, for a deposition.

Johnson decided to end the House’s legislative business early this week after he essentially lost control of the powerful House Rules Committee, which sends bills to the floor for debates and votes. Late Monday evening, business on that panel ground to a halt when the Republicans on the committee abruptly recessed proceedings rather than risk more proposals from Democrats pushing them to release Epstein files.

Republicans had teed up votes on legislation to increase penalties for migrants who enter the country illegally, to ease permitting for water infrastructure and to rollback several Biden-era regulations. But all of those bills were put on hold at least until after the August recess.

Frustration in the House has been running high since last week, when Republican leaders signaled possible support for a vote on the Epstein files as they raced to pass a $9 billion package of spending cuts. GOP leader unveiled a resolution that has no legal weight but would urge the Justice Department to produce more documentation. Trump, meanwhile, has asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of testimony from secret grand jury proceedings in the case, though that effort is unlikely to produce new revelations.

Echoing Trump’s position, Johnson insisted he, too, wants the files released, but only those that are “credible.” Johnson, who has relied heavily on Trump to hold onto leadership in the House, cast the president’s reticence to release information as out of concern for the victims of Epstein.

“We have a moral responsibility to expose the evil of Epstein and everybody who was involved in that — absolutely — and we’re resolved to do it,” Johnson said. “But we also have an equal moral responsibility to protect the innocent, and that is a fine needle to thread.”

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A political wedge

Even with the month-long break, the pressure on Johnson is unlikely to end. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican whose contrarian stances are often a thorn in the side to leadership, is gathering support for a legislative maneuver to force the bipartisan bill to a House vote, even without leadership’s consent.

“Now, there are a lot of people here in the swamp who think that, ‘Oh, well, if we spend five weeks on vacation, the pressure for this will dissipate. I don’t think it’s going to dissipate.’” Massie told reporters Monday evening.

Democrats have watched it all unfold with glee and worked to inflame the conflict among Republicans by making their own calls for transparency on the Epstein investigation. They have repeatedly tried to force votes on the matter, casting it as an issue of trust in the government.

“It’s about transparency in government. It’s about whose side are you on? Are you on the side of the rich and powerful, protecting men? Or are you on the side of young girls and America’s children?” said Rep. Ro Khanna, the California Democrat who put forward the legislation alongside Massie.

Epstein sexually abused children hundreds of times over more than a decade, exploiting vulnerable girls as young as 14, authorities say. He couldn’t have done so without the help of Maxwell, his longtime companion, prosecutors contend.

Massie said the case is palpable enough to carry significant political consequences.

“This will be an issue that does follow Republicans through the midterms, and it will follow each individual Republican through the midterms. It will follow people into their primaries. Did you support transparency and justice, or did you come up here, get elected and fall into the swamp?” he told reporters.

He added, “I think it is a watershed moment for the speaker of the House and the president.”

After firing a shotgun and getting into the closed Sherburne County Government Center on Saturday morning, Zha Kong Vang checked several locked doors and went back outside, where he approached motorists while carrying the gun and a knife, charges say.

The criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Sherburne County District Court against Vang, 51, of Elk River, says video surveillance from inside the building in Elk River showed Vang trying to gain access to the locked court area. He then checked locked doors in a hallway that leads to the law enforcement and jail areas of the building, which includes more than 500 federal detainees and inmates.

The complaint does not say whether he agreed to an interview with law enforcement afterward. No motive is mentioned.

On June 30, Vang was ruled incompetent to face Sherburne County charges stemming from an August incident in which he allegedly threatened several relatives with a gun in Big Lake Township. A week earlier, after an evaluation was completed, Vang’s attorney filed a notice of defense, citing Vang’s mental illness and intoxication.

Judge Kristi Stanislawski suspended the case following the June 30 hearing, and signed off on his conditional release from jail. He was released the same day.

Three days later, on July 3, a county prosecutor filed a notice of intent to prosecute when Vang regains competency. A review hearing was scheduled for Dec. 10.

According to Tuesday’s complaint:

Just before 9 a.m., a jail employee called dispatch and reported that a male had just broken through a door of the government center, located on U.S. 10 west of U.S. 169, and was walking around the building with a gun.

About three minutes later, dispatch received a call from a woman who reported that she and her daughter were parked in the lot when a man holding a long gun walked up to her car and hit it several times.

“She later reported to law enforcement that she believed she and her child were about to die,” the complaint states.

Cmdr. Ben Zawacki and Capt. Ryan Broich of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office responded and saw Vang walking on the north side of the building while carrying a long gun.

After repeated commands to drop the gun, Vang placed it on the ground and was arrested. He also had a large sheathed knife similar in size to a machete.

Video surveillance showed Vang shooting out a door window, then firing a second shot at an interior window in the building, causing damage to another window and desk area.

Once inside the building’s second set of doors, video surveillance showed Vang unsuccessfully trying to get through doors and a hallway.

After he left through another door, he fired a round at a maintenance building that damaged exterior and interior walls.

Video showed Vang approach the woman’s car and strike the front passenger window four times with the barrel and butt of the firearm before she backed out and left the lot.

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Video also showed Vang approach a county van parked in the lot and slash the front tire, flattening it.

He then approached a car while carrying the shotgun in his left hand and the knife in his right hand. He jabbed the knife into the open window of the car at the face/neck area of the driver, who sped away.

The driver told law enforcement that he heard someone yelling as he left the government center, but paid no attention. He said he was in his car with his window half open, looked up and saw a  man yelling at him while holding a machete. The man jabbed the machete fully into his car toward his face.

“(The man) stated that he drove off because he was scared and in a panic,” the complaint said.

Law enforcement found Vang’s car parked on an entrance sidewalk next to the government center. An explosive detection K-9 and bomb technician were called to the scene and the car was cleared.

Vang was charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree criminal damage to property, possessing a dangerous weapon in a courthouse and three counts of second-degree assault.

By DAVID KLEPPER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — People with congestive heart failure, undergoing treatment for schizophrenia or who have a history of paraphilic disorders will no longer be eligible for a medical waiver to serve in the military, according to new rules issued by the Pentagon on Tuesday.

The guidance signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth updates a list of conditions that disqualify potential recruits from serving in the armed forces. The decision comes after the Pentagon announced earlier this year that it would ban transgender troops and review other medical conditions that are currently eligible for a waiver.

“America’s warfighters must be physically and mentally capable of performing their duties in the harshest of conditions,” Hegseth wrote in the memo announcing the changes. “Severe underlying medical conditions introduce significant risks on the battlefield and threaten not only mission priorities, but also the health and safety of the affected individual and their fellow service members.”

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Waivers have long been used to enlist young people who might otherwise be unqualified for military service due to a wide array of medical, conduct or other reasons.

Most waivers are issued for medical conditions ranging from asthma, eyesight problems or skin disorders to more complex health conditions, such as past psychological illness or previous sports injuries that may have healed but still must be evaluated.

Prior to the new rules, heart failure, current treatment for schizophrenia and a history of paraphilic disorders — defined as a persistent sexual interest in atypical objects or activities — were among a long list of physical and mental health conditions in which waivers were allowed.

Multiple sclerosis, a history of cystic fibrosis, past organ transplants or a suicide attempt within the past 12 months also will be considered disqualifying conditions that make a person illegible for service.

The new rules list several conditions in which a waiver may only be granted by the secretary of a military branch. Those conditions include a missing eye, hand or foot, past corneal transplants, liver failure, kidney disease, past psychotic disorders or the presence of an implanted pacemaker or defibrillator.

The detailed rules governing which medical conditions quality for a waiver have come under greater scrutiny amid the Trump administration’s ban on transgender troops.

New rules required active duty troops as well as National Guard and Reserve troops to identify themselves as transgender and voluntarily leave the service or face involuntary separations.

By MEG KINNARD and DARLENE SUPERVILLE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, seen by some as the problem child of the Democratic Party for legal and drug-related woes that brought negative attention to his father, is lashing out against Democratic “elites” and others over the way he says his father was treated during last year’s presidential campaign.

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Hunter Biden spoke publicly in recent interviews about last year’s election, when Joe Biden ultimately dropped his bid and Donald Trump won the White House. In a three-hour, expletive-filled online interview with Andrew Callaghan of Channel 5, he directed ire toward actor and Democratic Party donor George Clooney for his decision to call on the elder Biden to abandon his 2024 reelection bid.

He also ranted against longtime Democratic advisers he accused of making money off the party and trading off previous electoral successes, but not helping candidates’ current efforts.

The lengthy screed made plain the younger Biden’s feelings that his father was mistreated by those around him in the waning days of his candidacy and administration. He also laid bare critiques of the party’s operation and operatives that, he says, aren’t well-serving its opposition to Trump and the Republican Party.

Here’s a look at some of the moments in Hunter Biden’s interview:

He blasted George Clooney

Hunter Biden spared no feelings in his assessment of the actor, questioning why anyone should listen to the “Ocean’s Eleven” star.

Clooney supported Joe Biden’s bid for a second term, even headlining a record-setting fundraiser for the then-president, but changed his stance after Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump in June 2024.

Clooney made his feelings known in an opinion piece in The New York Times, adding his voice to mounting calls for the then-81-year-old president to drop his presidential bid. Biden ended up leaving the race a few weeks later and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, who went on to lose to Trump.

“What right do you have to step on a man who’s given 52 years of his f——— life to the services of this country and decide that you, George Clooney, are going to take out basically a full page ad in the f——— New York Times to undermine the president,” Hunter Biden said before he trailed off to talk about how Republicans are more unified than Democrats.

Los Angeles-based representatives for Clooney did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Screed against longtime Democratic advisers

There were also weighty critiques of a number of longtime Democratic advisers.

Anita Dunn, a longtime Biden senior adviser, has made “$40 to $50 million” off of work for the Democratic Party, Hunter Biden said. James Carville, adviser to former President Bill Clinton, “hasn’t run a race in 40 f——— years.”

Former Obama strategist David Axelrod, Hunter Biden said, “had one success in his political life, and that was Barack Obama — and that was because of Barack Obama.” Other former Obama aides who now host “Pod Save America,” are “four white millionaires that are dining out on their association with Barack Obama from 16 years ago,” he said.

One of the four, Tommy Vietor, Monday on social media applauded Hunter Biden’s decision “to process the election, look inward, and hold himself accountable for how his family’s insular, dare I say arrogant at times, approach to politics led to this catastrophic outcome we’re all now living with.”

In a message Tuesday, Axelrod told The Associated Press, “Never have the words ‘no comment’ felt more appropriate.” Dunn did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Biden’s debate performance and Ambien effects

As for the debate performance, the fallout from which ultimately led to the calls for his father to step down from the 2024 presidential campaign, Hunter Biden said his father may have been recovering from Ambien, a medication that he had been given to help him sleep following trips in the weeks before the debate to Europe, as well as the Los Angeles fundraiser at which Clooney said his interactions with Biden made him feel the president wasn’t mentally capable.

“He’s 81 years old, he’s tired as shit,” Hunter Biden said. “They give him Ambien to be able to sleep, and he gets up on the stage and he looks like he’s a deer in the headlights.”

A spokesperson for Joe Biden declined to comment on the interview.

Another podcast with Jaime Harrison

Hunter Biden also appeared Monday in an episode of “At Our Table,” a new podcast hosted by former Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison.

“Yeah, Joe Biden did get old. He got old before our eyes. … But you know what? A few changes does not mean that you do not have the mental capacity to be able to do your job.”

In that interview, Hunter Biden also talked about the calamitous presidential debate.

“And then they saw him at that debate. It was awful, and it was truly horrible,” he said, saying he was opposed to holding it, given Trump’s recent convictions on 34 felony charges in a New York hush money case.

To Harrison, Hunter Biden also addressed Clooney, saying, “I love George Clooney’s movies, but I don’t really give a s—- about what he thinks about who should be the nominee for the Democratic Party.”

Asked by Harrison about his father’s decision to quit the 2024 race, Hunter Biden said “I think that he could have won” but still made the right choice for Democrats broadly.”

“I know that it wasn’t a mistake in that moment,” Hunter Biden said, adding that his father “chose to save the party” over saving himself.

Why are these podcasts coming out now?

The podcast drops come just days ahead of the expected beginning of court proceedings in a Los Angeles federal court.

Hunter Biden is suing Patrick Byrne, alleging that the former CEO of Overstock.com falsely claimed that Hunter Biden was reaching out to the Iranian government in the fall of 2021 and offering to have his father Joe Biden “unfreeze” $8 billion in Iranian funds “in return for $800 million being funneled into a numbered account for us.”

In the waning days of his administration, Joe Biden pardoned his son, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family.

The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move came weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before Trump returned to the White House.

Kinnard reported from Chapin, S.C., and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.

Follow the AP’s coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.